Disengaging From a Task

Abstract

This study tests the assumption that disengagement from a task indicates poor self-control, especially following little progress. A total of 120 undergraduate students worked on Sudoku puzzles, a logical reasoning task for which progress could be measured. A binary logistic regression revealed a three-way interaction among dispositional self-control, dispositional self-awareness, and actual task progress in predicting disengagement versus persistence. Among individuals with high self-awareness, greater self-control was associated with significantly higher probabilities of task persistence during high task progress. Alternatively, greater self-control was associated with lower probabilities of task persistence during low task progress among individuals with high self-awareness. These results support theories of adaptive goal disengagement suggesting that how individuals apply control is dependent on factors other than self-regulatory capacity. Specifically, assessments of progress among highly self-aware individuals may facilitate adaptive self-regulation.