The present study examined a potential mechanism underlying college students’ resisting in-class media multitasking under contextual control from a behavioural economic perspective. Using a hierarchical cluster analysis, we first identified subgroups of students who differed in frequencies of media multitasking across two contexts (preferred and non-preferred classes). We then compared a subgroup of students who could resist media multitasking in one context but not in another context with other subgroups of students in terms of rates of delay discounting and levels of impulse control. In the delay-discounting task, participants made a series of choices between smaller amounts of hypothetical monetary rewards available immediately and a larger amount of hypothetical monetary rewards available after a delay. Impulse control was measured by a self-reported scale. The primary finding was that the subgroup of students who could resist media multitasking in preferred but not non-preferred classes showed significantly lower rates of delay discounting than the subgroup of students who frequently engaged in media multitasking in both preferred and non-preferred classes. Implications for developing effective intervention strategies from a behavioural economic perspective are discussed.

AYUMI, a mechanism that improves software quality and productivity and by which the development process is refined, is described. A series of methods which span activities from data evaluation to the feedback of findings has been developed. This methodology has approximately 100 evaluation items, including both quantitative and qualitative types. These items are categorized into about 40 groups and scored on a scale from one to five. The evaluation results are compiled into tables and reported to the project team. Work in the field is monitored, and feedback improves the development process. The operation of AYUMI is described, and some possible applications are discussed.>