So What If the Clock Strikes? Scheduling Style, Control, and Well-Being

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, Forthcoming

61 Pages Posted: 26 Jun 2014

See all articles by Anne-Laure Sellier

Anne-Laure Sellier

HEC Paris

Tamar Avnet

Yeshiva University - Syms School of Business

Date Written: June 24, 2014

Abstract

Individuals vary in the way they schedule their daily tasks and activities. In particular, two scheduling styles are commonly followed: clock-time (where tasks are organized based on a clock) and event-time (where tasks are organized based on their order of completion). This research shows that adopting a clock-time or an event-time scheduling style has consequences that go beyond the direct effect on task organization. In particular, adopting one scheduling style versus the other is shown to potentially influence personal control and well-being. We demonstrate that the reliance on clock- versus event-time affects individuals’ perception of the causal relationship between events in the social world (experiments 1 and 2). Specifically, we show that individuals following clock-time rather than event-time discriminate less between causally related and causally unrelated events, which in turn increases their belief that the world is controlled by chance or fate. In contrast, individuals following event-time (vs. clock-time) appear to believe that things happen more as a result of their own actions. We further show that this difference in internal locus of control compromises the ability of individuals following clock-time to savor positive emotions (experiments 3a-5). We discuss the implications of these findings for future research in social and cognitive psychology.

Keywords: Scheduling style, clock-time, personal control, well-being, self-regulation

Suggested Citation

Sellier, Anne-Laure and Avnet, Tamar, So What If the Clock Strikes? Scheduling Style, Control, and Well-Being (June 24, 2014). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2458673

Anne-Laure Sellier

HEC Paris ( email )

1 rue de la Libération
Jouy-en-Josas, NY 78350
France

Tamar Avnet (Contact Author)

Yeshiva University - Syms School of Business ( email )

New York, NY
United States

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