title: So what if the clock strikes? Scheduling style, control, and well-being.
abstract: Individuals vary in the way they schedule their daily tasks and activities. In particular, 2 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 1 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.
authors.affiliation: Marketing Department, HEC Paris.
authors.forename: Anne-Laure
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Sellier
authors.affiliation: Marketing Department, Yeshiva University.
authors.forename: Tamar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Avnet
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D013995:Time; D013998:Time Perception; D055815:Young Adult