Studies of goal pursuit suggest that the meaning assigned to past progress can influence whether people persist. Participants who treated completed tasks as evidence of commitment tended to continue working. By contrast, participants who construed the same tasks as evidence that they had already contributed enough often stopped, even though they still considered the unfinished goal worthwhile. For the latter group, the accomplishments served as a ______ for disengagement.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
For a challenging words-in-context question, identify the exact function the missing word must name. Distinguish closely related possibilities—such as permission, cause, standard, and replacement—by using every qualification in the passage, especially statements about what has and has not changed.
Hints
Use the contrast
Compare the effect of interpreting completed tasks as evidence of commitment with the effect of interpreting them as evidence of having done enough.
Consider the qualification
The participants still value the unfinished goal, so the blank should not imply that the accomplishments take the goal's place.
Distinguish related roles
Ask whether the accomplishments initiate disengagement, establish a standard for it, replace it, or make it seem allowable.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what remains unchanged
The participants still regard the unfinished goal as worthwhile, so their disengagement does not result from the goal losing its value.
Determine the accomplishments' role
The participants interpret their accomplishments as evidence that they have already done enough. The accomplishments therefore make stopping seem permissible rather than establishing an objective rule or replacing the goal.
Choose the most precise word
In its figurative sense, a "license" is permission or freedom to do something. Thus, the accomplishments serve as a license for disengagement.