The self-regulation of motivation model suggests that under certain circumstances, people will strategically vary a boring task to enhance their motivational experience. In three experiments we tested whether the likelihood of this task variation depends on a person’s orientation to promote success or prevent failure. Across studies, all participants engaged in a boring letter-copying task whic...

Although gossip serves several important social functions, it has relatively infrequently been the topic of systematic investigation. In two experiments, we advance a cognitive-informational approach to gossip. Specifically, we sought to determine which informational components engender gossip. In Experiment 1, participants read brief passages about other people and indicated their likelihood t...

Sets of dry and wet boring experiments are conducted to estimate the amount of heat transferred into the workpiece and the cutting fluid heat convection coefficient in a boring operation by an inverse heat transfer method. The temperature distribution in the bore is predicted using a heat transfer model that includes heat convection on the inner and outer bore walls. The developed model is solv...