Original title: Breaking Procrastination Down: Differential Effects of Subtasking and Reinforcement on Engagement and Persistence
People who had been delaying a real task worked on it for 15 minutes in one of three setups: no added structure, subtasks, or subtasks plus rewards. Breaking the task into subtasks increased how engaged they felt, but rewards did not boost engagement further. Rewards did increase willingness to keep going, and participants who found effort more rewarding were more willing to persist. The results suggest that starting and continuing rely on different kinds of motivation.
Imagine cleaning a cluttered room when you have been putting it off. Splitting the job into small chores can make it easier to begin, but a reward may matter more once you are already working and deciding whether to continue. In this paper, small chores stand for subtasks, and the reward stands for reinforcement: one helps people get started, while the other helps effort feel worth continuing.
People who put off work may need different help to begin and to continue. Structuring a task can support the first step, while rewarding effort may help sustain work—even when the task still feels just as unpleasant.
The abstract reports a 15-minute work period and measures of engagement, willingness to continue, task appraisal, and effort valuation. It does not establish whether these effects last beyond that period, apply to tasks beyond those participants chose, or improve long-term task completion.
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Breaking Procrastination Down: Differential Effects of Subtasking and Reinforcement on Engagement and Persistence — Anusha Garg, Jonathan W. Schooler — Behavioral Sciences — doi:10.3390/bs16101832
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.