Now that we’re more than halfway through this semester, everyone is starting to get tired of the constant, schoolwork grind. This online semester also has been helpful with my procrastination skills, as I’ve gotten very good at it – so good at it that it made me wonder if there was any other reason for it. 

In 2014, a study done by Gustavson, Miyake, Hewitt, and Friedman looked at the evolution of procrastination, as they were looking to answer two questions: Why are some people more prone to procrastination? What are the cognitive and biological reasons behind this? They studied the relationship between procrastination and impulsivity, since impulsivity is a known evolutionarily basic trait, as hunter-gatherers needed to satisfy their survival needs quickly and were not focused on long-term goals. However, nowadays, long-term goals are a big part of our lives. The study analyzed data from a twin study to look at how procrastination and impulsivity are correlated, and they found that not only are they highly correlated, but that they are both highly heritable (some people are more genetically predisposed than others) and that procrastination is a by-product of impulsivity. 

While we cannot infer causation from correlation, these positive correlations do lead us to believe that procrastination could lead to an increase to someone’s impulsivity when they have a deadline approaching. In order to see whether there could be another variable that could be causing this correlation, Gustavson added questions about perfectionism to questionnaires since perfectionism has been correlated with procrastination. A correlation was found with both procrastination and impulsivity, however there was almost no shared variation, leading the researchers to claim that the correlation of procrastination and impulsivity. 

Let’s also look at the connection between procrastination and managing goals. Not to my surprise, procrastination, along with impulsivity, were linked to the failing of effective management of goals. This is very relevant with college students since we all have the goal of getting a degree, so goal management is a very important skill for us to have. This week was class registration and if you haven’t already, it is important to plan your path to a degree. Procrastination is a behavioral problem that not only can have a negative effect on your psychological, physical, and financial well-being, but can even harm people who count on you. So, if you’re feeling stressed and down, and are thinking of watching a movie instead of writing that paper that’s due on Friday, maybe save that movie as a reward for when you’ve finished your paper. Finishing and submitting schoolwork early will feel very rewarding and will take a large weight off of your shoulders, allowing you to participate in fun activities without having that thought of all the work you haven’t done in the back of your mind. 

References

Gustavson, D. E., Miyake, A., Hewitt, J. K., & Friedman, N. P. (2014). Genetic relations among procrastination, impulsivity, and goal-management ability: Implications for the evolutionary origin of procrastination. Psychological science, 25(6), 1178-1188.