The dissonance view of interruption was the basis of a prediction that volition for task commitment and expectation of task completion would affect differential recall of interrupted and completed tasks. 140 university students were randomly assigned to 4 treatment combinations of the 2 independent variables and individually asked to perform 20 paper-and-pencil tasks, half of which were interrupted. It was found that volition and expectation were related to recall of interrupted, but not completed, tasks in an interactive way. That is, higher volition led to better recall of interrupted tasks under low expectation while there was no differential effect under higher expectation. The interactive results, taken as a whole, suggested an inverted-U relation between magnitude of dissonance and recall of interrupted tasks.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AlperT. G.Memory for completed and incompleted tasks as a function of personality: An analysis of group data. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1946, 41, 403–420.
2.
AlperT. G.Predicting the direction of selective recall: Its relation to ego strength and N achievement. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1957, 55, 149–165.
3.
AtkinsonG. W.The achievement motive and recall of interrupted and completed tasks. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1953, 46, 381–390.
4.
BrehmJ. W.CohenA. R.Explorations in cognitive dissonance. New York: Wiley, 1962.
5.
BrownW.Social psychology. New York: Free Press, 1965.
6.
BussA. H.BrockT. C.Repression and guilt in relation to aggression. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963, 66, 345–350.
7.
ButterfieldE. C.The role of competence motivation in interrupted task recall and repetition choice. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 1965, 2, 354–370.
8.
CaronA. J.WallachA. A.Personality determinants of repressive and obsessive reactions to failure stress. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1959, 59, 236–245.
9.
CattellR. B.WarburtonF. W.Objective personality and motivation tests. Urbana: Univer. of Illinois Press, 1967.
10.
CottrellN. B.WackD. L.Energizing effects of cognitive dissonance upon dominant and subordinate responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1967, 6, 132–138.
11.
EriksenC. W.Psychological defenses and “ego strength” in recall of completed and incompleted tasks. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1954, 49, 45–50.
12.
GerardH. B.FleischerL.Recall and pleasantness of balanced and unbalanced cognitive structures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1967, 7, 332–337.
13.
GreenD. R.Volunteering and the recall of interrupted tasks. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 1963, 66, 397–401.
14.
JordanN.Cognitive balance as an aspect of Heider's cognitive psychology. In AbelsonR. P. (Eds.), Theories of cognitive dissonance: A source book. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1968. Pp. 169–178.
15.
KanungoR. N.Retention of affective material: Role of extraversion and intensity of affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1968, 8, 63–68.
16.
MackinnonD. W.HenleM.Experimental studies in psychodynamics: A laboratory manual. Cambridge: Harvard Univer. Press, 1948.
17.
MarrowA. J.Goal tensions and recall: Parts 1 and 2. Journal of General Psychology, 1938, 19, 3–35, 37–64.
18.
MyersJ. L.Fundamentals of experimental design. Boston: Allyn-Bacon, 1966.
19.
RichterM. N.Jr.The concept of cognitive dissonance. Journal of Psychology, 1965, 60, 291–294.
20.
RosenzweigS.An experimental study of “repression” with special reference to need-presistence and ego-defensive reactions to frustration. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1943, 32, 64–74.
21.
SchlachetP. J.The effect of dissonance arousal on the recall of failure stimuli. Journal of Personality, 1965, 33, 443–461.
22.
SmockC. D.Recall of interrupted and non-interrupted tasks as a function of experimentally induced anxiety and motivational relevance of the task stimuli. Journal of Personality, 1957, 25, 589–599.
23.
WatermanC. K.KatkinE. S.Energizing (dynamogenic) effect of cognitive dissonance on task performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1967, 6, 126–131.
24.
YangK. S.Cognitive dissonance and recall of interrupted and completed tasks. Unpublished doctoral thesis, Univer. of Illinois, 1969.
25.
ZeigarnikB.On finished and unfinished tasks. In EllisW. D. (Ed.), A source book on Gestalt psychology. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1933. Pp. 300–314.
