The Magnitude of Task Difficulty and its Effects on Appraisals and Task Performance

Abstract

There is theoretical and empirical rationale to expect that some stressors, depending on their magnitude, might have curvilinear effects on outcomes such as appraisals. Nevertheless, only a few studies attempted to vary the magnitude of stressors, such as task difficulty, to see the impact this has on outcomes. This preregistered study offers the first experimental test of the effects of the magnitude of task difficulty on challenge and hindrance appraisals and task performance in a cognitive task. Task difficulty was manipulated in the n-back task at four difficulty levels. In a sample of 369 participants, we found that increase in task difficulty led to increase in challenge appraisals. However, as task difficulty increased further, the associated increase in challenge appraisals became non-significant. The expected non-linear effects of task difficulty on challenge appraisals were not found. The effects of the magnitude of task difficulty on hindrance appraisals were positive and linear. Also, we found negative relationships between appraisals and task performance and support for the mediating role of the hindrance appraisals in the task difficulty-performance relationships. The results highlight the importance of considering the magnitude of stressors, such as task difficulty, and appraisals when attempting to explain how stressors affect performance.