Sample included 111 psychology undergraduate students

Point Loma Nazarene University

1. Simulated a real-life, multiple-tasks environment in a real estate company. Participants were presented with 30 tasks (15 smaller tasks and 15 larger tasks) each requiring retrieval of information from a price-list of apartments.
2. Participants were required to make repeated task scheduling choices within a fixed time interval of 15 minutes. During this time, they could earn points to enter lotteries for shopping coupons. (The number of points earned were contingent on the number and type of tasks completed). 
3. Since participants were informed they couldn’t complete all the takes within the allotted timeframe, their goal was to schedule tasks in a way that would maximize the overall number of points earned. 

The Study: Task Management Game (The Psychology of Task Management: The Smaller Tasks Trap)

Rusou, Z., Amar, M., & Ayal, S. (2020). The Psychology of task management: The smaller tasks trap. Judgment and Decision Making, 15(4), 586–599. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1930297500007518

The Psychology of Task Management: The Smaller Tasks Trap

The image below shows the different task management game screens. (See Figure 1) 

The amount of information retrieved in each task type and the number of points awarded were designed to pit normative (cost-benefit) considerations against the smaller tasks trap. The larger tasks were more taxing, but also more profitable that smaller tasks.

Task Management Game Screens (The Psychology of Task Management: The Smaller Tasks Trap)

Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions:

1. Smaller tasks first
2. Larger tasks first 
3.  Free choice 

Those who were randomly assigned to the smaller/larger tasks first conditions were instructed to start with smaller/larger tasks respectively and were told afterward they were free to choose which tasks to address. The smaller/larger tasks first conditions examined the impact of manipulated prioritizing of smaller/larger task on the total number of task earned. The free choice condition was aimed at examining actual task management behavior.

Design (The Psychology of Task Management: The Smaller Tasks Trap)

1. The Impact of Larger/Smaller Tasks First
2. Free Choice Results


Results (The Psychology of Task Management: The Smaller Tasks Trap)

1. Participants will tend to fall into the small tasks trap. 
2. Participants address smaller tasks first, resulting in suboptimal total performance compared to those who addressed the larger tasks first. 

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