Sometimes there seems to be as many theories on a topic as there are people researching it. Fortunately, over the last 25 years, we have been testing these theories, trying to determine which one works best. Here we review four of the most popular theories of procrastination and consider the evidence for and against them. The empirical evidence comes from a recent meta-analysis, which is a systematic review of the all the literature written on the topic. The theory with the most support is Temporal Motivation Theory, which is presented last.
There is a host of anxiety related reasons that have thought to cause procrastination. Essentially, people are thought to procrastinate on tasks because they are aversive or stressful. Consequently, those who are more susceptible to experiencing stress should procrastinate more. There are a variety of conditions that make people anxious, especially irrational beliefs. Irrational belief, cognition, or thought is a broad term that includes several dysfunctional or anxiety-provoking worldviews. Ellis (1973) characterizes them as: (1) almost certainly hindering the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment of desires, and (2) almost completely arbitrary and unprovable. Some examples of irrational beliefs are fear of failure and perfectionism.
This theory is not supported.
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First, it explains why we might avoid tasks entirely, but not why we delay them. In fact, more anxiety is typically experienced closer to the deadline, so procrastination appears to be a way of increasing anxiety, not reducing it.
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Second, empirical evidence indicates a weak or even no relationship between anxiety or irrational beliefs and procrastination. For example, self-perfectionists actually report slightly less procrastination than other people.
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There is some dispute over whether self-handicapping should be a considered a form of procrastination. Self-handicapping is when people place obstacles that hinder their own good performance. The motivation for self-handicapping is often to protect self-esteem by giving people an external reason, an "out," if they fail to do well. However, self-handicapping isn't necessarily a form of procrastination, which is: "To voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse-off for the delay." Self-handicappers appear to be acting in their own self-interest, thinking they are protecting themselves from shame and humiliation.
Self-handicapping is still an important issue and can share some commonalities with procrastination (i.e., delaying a task can be a way to self-handicap). However, the two will differ regarding causes and treatments and so it is best to study them separately.
According to the clinical literature, rebelliousness, hostility, and disagreeableness are thought to be major motivations for procrastination. For those with these personality traits, externally imposed schedules are more likely experienced as aversive, and thus avoided. Also, by delaying work and starting it on one's own schedule, autonomy is reasserted.
This theory is not supported.
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First, like anxiety, it explains why we might avoid tasks entirely, but not why we delay them. In fact, more autonomy might be expressed by not doing a task at all instead of just delaying it. By doing it at the last minute, procrastination may appear to be express capitulation, "caving in," rather than autonomy. |
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Second, empirical evidence indicates an extremely weak relationship, virtually nil, between rebelliousness and procrastination.
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Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) represents the very cutting edge of motivational research. It suggests that the reasons why people make any decision can be largely represented by the following equation:
Utility indicates preference for a course of action. Naturally, the higher the utility, the greater the preference. On the top of the equation, the numerator, we have two variables: Expectancy (E) and Value (V). Expectancy refers to the odds or chance of an outcome occurring while Value refers to how rewarding that outcome is. Naturally, we would like to choose pursuits that give us a good chance of having a pleasing outcome. On the bottom of the equation, the denominator, we also have two variables. G refers to the subject's sensitivity to delay. The larger G is, the greater is the sensitivity. Finally, D represents Delay, which indicates how long, on average, one must wait to receive the payout. Since delay is in the denominator of the equation, the longer the delay, the less valued the course of action is perceived.
How does this theory related to procrastination? Essentially, we are constantly beset with making decisions among various courses of action. Should we go to the gym or watch TV? Should I make dinner or order-in? TMT suggests, unsurprisingly, that we are more likely to pursue goals or tasks that are pleasurable and that we are likely to attain. Consequently, we are more likely to put off, to procrastinate, difficult tasks with lackluster qualities.
Even more important regarding procrastination is the effects of delay. We like our rewards not only to be large but also to be immediate. Consequently, we will most likely procrastinate any tasks that are unpleasant in the present and offer recompense only in the distant future. In other words, we would be more likely to put off higher priority tasks if there are options available that lead to more immediate rewards with more remote costs. We tend to call such options temptations.
To help illustrate these characteristics, the following prototypical example is put forth: the college student's essay paper. A college student who has been assigned an essay on September 15th, the start of a semester, due on December 15th, the course end. This student likes to socialize but he also likes to get good grades. The figure below maps the changes in expected utility for him over the course of the semester regarding his two choices, studying vs. socializing. Since the reward for socializing is always in the present, it maintains a uniformly high utility evaluation. For writing, its reward is temporally distant initially, diminishing its utility. Only towards the deadline do the effects of discounting decrease and writing becomes increasingly likely. In this example, the switch in motivational rank occurs on December 3rd, leaving just 12 days for concentrated effort. During this final hour, it is quite likely that earnest but empty promises (i.e., intentions) are made to start working earlier next time.
There is an extremely strong evidence that indicates that this is why we procrastinate:
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First, procrastination is strongly associated with expectancy. Specifically, those people with low self-efficacy, that is feelings of competence, are more likely to procrastinate.
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Second, procrastination is strongly associated with value of the tasks. The more unpleasant people report a task, the more likely they are to put it off. Also, those people low in need for achievement, that is how much pleasure they get from achieving, are more likely to procrastinate.
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Third, procrastination is strongly associated with sensitivity to delay (i.e., G). Specifically, people who are more distractible, impulsive, and have less self-control tend to procrastinate more.
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Fourth, procrastination is strongly associated with time delay. The closer we are to realizing a goal, the harder we work at it.
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Fifth, TMT predicts an intention-action gap, where we intend to work but fail to act on these intentions. As expected. procrastinators tend not to act on their intentions.
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Sixth, observed behavior matches what is predicted by TMT.
See "Integrating Theories of Motivation" in the Academy of Management Review to see that most motivational theories are converging on similar conceptions of motivation. |
Of note, TMT suggests that many of the previous theories were right, but only in part. They deal with one piece of the puzzle, task aversiveness, and only for the small percentage of people that suffer from the specific condition. For example, consider rebelliousness. If you are a rebellious individual and feel some work is foisted upon you, then you likely also will find it more aversive. Since anything that makes work more unpleasant increases the likelihood of procrastination, rebelliousness would indeed be one contributor to procrastination, though in general its contribution is very small. |
