Interestingly enough, it is entirely possible to procrastinate while researching procrastination and trying to write a large blog post about it. Finding a topic that interested me and related to the university in any way seemed quite the daunting task at first. Then I thought to myself, “I really need to stop procrastinating and just… wait, that’s it!” Yeah, inspiration kind of struck like a two-by-four to the back of the head, which in turn led to further procrastination and self-congratulation after having finally completed step one of the blog-writing process. Like they always say, “I’ll do it later.” Or maybe that’s just me.
Believe it or not, there is such a disorder known as chronic procrastination. That doesn’t mean that it will work as an excuse for late papers or homework. No, that’s not the case at all; however it does mean that it has been recognized as a legitimate disorder and, therefore, it had piqued the interest of three psychology researchers. Their names were Joseph Ferrari, Christopher Mason, and Corey Hammer. In their study, entitled “Procrastination as a Predictor of Task Perceptions: Examining Delayed and Non-delayed Tasks Across Varied Deadlines,” they defined procrastination as reporting “frequent rates of task delays or incompletion across many situations in [one’s] life,” and this is the real kicker, “The frequency of procrastination has been estimated to be as high as 70% for academic-specific tasks among college students” (Ferrari 1, p1). That’s more than half of college students that don’t want to get started on their work. Go figure, right?
Seriously, though, there are definitely large differences in the level of severity of procrastination as well as different causes and reasons for it. In an earlier study done by Ferrari and two other colleagues, Jean O’Callaghan and Ian Newbegin, entitled “Prevalence of Procrastination in the
What is called a “convenient sample” was used for this experiment. This pretty much means that they used volunteers for this program without trying to evenly select different ethnicities or genders. They just used the rabble that showed up (most of them were first or second year students participating in order to get credit for their introductory psychology class). Here’s a quick synopsis of the experiment. The guinea pigs participants filled out a generic questionnaire first, then they were given a folder describing two different tasks (these were everyday tasks, not something particularly difficult or monumental; also they were told on one of these tasks that they had to assume they had delayed starting or finishing and on the other, they assumed they had started on time), each task came with a deadline concerning one of three time periods (they didn’t do the tasks, but they were to assume they did or were supposed to).
The deadlines were either in the past (with a deadline that was over a week before), the present (with a deadline in a couple of days or so), or the future (with a deadline in a few weeks).After seeing the contents, participants were told to write about their given tasks for three minutes describing their worries, annoyances, and pretty much how they went about, or would go about, performing it (that’s three minutes per task, just to clarify). Those of us who are procrastinators probably already know the outcome for each of these scenarios to the letter.
After the writing they were given a second questionnaire. These questions went along the lines of satisfaction, clarity, difficulty, and impact (positive/negative) on the individual in regards to the tasks they wrote about. It turned out that procrastinators found the past tasks more difficult, less enjoyable, and needing more effort to complete, as well as being unclear. Interestingly enough, the procrastinators found that the task had a positive personal impact if they had completed it (Ferrari 1, p6). I found it interesting that people who procrastinated felt that way about incomplete or delayed tasks, but when I looked at some of my own past experiences I realized I felt the same way in some cases. Like that one time I actually started and finished an English paper prior to the night before it was due. I felt good and accomplished about that one, but I normally feel exhausted and on the cusp of life and death after finishing a paper. I blame that on the fact that I normally start the paper around 11pm the night before it’s due… yeap, that’s me. Alright, back to the experiment.
The experimenters reached the surprising conclusion that it didn’t matter how inclined the person was to procrastinate that affected the person’s perception of the task at all. They only viewed the task as more difficult, boring, taxing, or what-have-you if the task had been delayed in its beginning or completion and whether or not the deadline had passed or was nearing. It is rather funny how it came as a surprise to the experimenters that there was no change in the task perception for the future tasks by the procrastinators. They speculated as to why this was, and reached the proper conclusion that procrastinators don’t worry about the future task because “the notion of a deadline might not have affected how procrastinators viewed the task because the deadline date was considered in a distant future. The procrastinator might have considered he/she could still complete the task and work well under the time pressure” (Ferrari 1, p7). While those that do procrastinate know these things without a doubt, it may help those that want to try and change their postponing ways to see it spelled out as plainly as the experimenters did at the end of this experiment. “Procrastinators are more likely to see tasks that they postpone as being more difficult, less enjoyable, and requiring more effort; as well as stating that they lacked clarity on how to do the task, but had they completed the task, it would have impacted on them positively” (Ferrari 1, p7)
1) Ferrari, Joseph R., Christopher P. Mason, and Corey Hammer. "Procrastination as a Predictor of Task Perceptions: Examining Delayed and Non-delayed Tasks Across Varied Deadlines." Individual Differences Research 4.1 (2006): 28-36.
2) Ferrari, Joseph R., Jean O'Callaghan, and Ian Newbegin. "Prevalence of Procrastination in the
2 comments:
Joaquin, I really like this post. I think you captured a really good tone and the fact that you made the research meaningful to yourself really tied the whole thing together. Great job! Of course there are a few things I can criticize. My biggest complaint is this sentence:
Those of us who are procrastinators probably already know the outcome for each of these scenarios to the letter.
As a person who has always prided himself on NOT being a procrastinator, I was honestly puzzled as to what the answers would be to the survey questions. Remember, your primary job is to convey information and you shouldn't let your tone get in the way of that mission.
Hehe...so this is what you find when you google yourself.
You might also want to check out Hammer & Ferrari (2002). I analyzed data we'd taken from blue and white collar workers. Oddly enough, white collar workers report higher levels of procrastination.
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