2008 Woodie Awards
Weird Science
Brett Sowerby
Issue date: 12/13/07 Section: Style
Delving away from the culture of procrastination, there has been a fair amount of psychological research conducted in the field.
According to Dr. Timothy Pychyl of Ottawa's Carleton University, procrastination is closely related to "avoidant coping styles." This is psychology lingo for a tendency to neglect problems that cause anxiety rather than confront them.
Apparently, as most college students already know, procrastination has deeper roots than just poor time-management skills. Pychyl explained, "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up." He pointed out that procrastinators showed little difference in their perception of time, but were more optimistic about the amount of time remaining.
We - because let's face it, this is being written under a deadline - also tend to actively look for distractions. Anyone who has logged six weeks on FirstClass can attest to the thought process of "I'll start this … right after I check my e-mail for the 406th time today."
As it turns out, slackers actually tend to lie to themselves. Lies like "I'll feel more like studying tomorrow," or "I do my best work under pressure," only work against the chronic procrastinator. In fact, these statements are just rationalizations for the last-minute warriors to allow them to put work off guilt-free.
Interestingly, Dr. Steven Scher of Eastern Illinois University probed the common belief that procrastinators suffer from a "fear of failure." Scher challenged that belief and found that procrastinators seem to care less than their peers about how others perceive their success or failure.
They also tend to drink more, according to Dr. Joseph Ferrari of De Paul University in Chicago. This appears to be related to a manifestation of generalized problems in self-regulation. They don't mean to; they simply misjudge the amount of alcohol they've taken in, according to Ferrari.
According to Dr. Timothy Pychyl of Ottawa's Carleton University, procrastination is closely related to "avoidant coping styles." This is psychology lingo for a tendency to neglect problems that cause anxiety rather than confront them.
Apparently, as most college students already know, procrastination has deeper roots than just poor time-management skills. Pychyl explained, "Telling someone who procrastinates to buy a weekly planner is like telling someone with chronic depression to just cheer up." He pointed out that procrastinators showed little difference in their perception of time, but were more optimistic about the amount of time remaining.
We - because let's face it, this is being written under a deadline - also tend to actively look for distractions. Anyone who has logged six weeks on FirstClass can attest to the thought process of "I'll start this … right after I check my e-mail for the 406th time today."
As it turns out, slackers actually tend to lie to themselves. Lies like "I'll feel more like studying tomorrow," or "I do my best work under pressure," only work against the chronic procrastinator. In fact, these statements are just rationalizations for the last-minute warriors to allow them to put work off guilt-free.
Interestingly, Dr. Steven Scher of Eastern Illinois University probed the common belief that procrastinators suffer from a "fear of failure." Scher challenged that belief and found that procrastinators seem to care less than their peers about how others perceive their success or failure.
They also tend to drink more, according to Dr. Joseph Ferrari of De Paul University in Chicago. This appears to be related to a manifestation of generalized problems in self-regulation. They don't mean to; they simply misjudge the amount of alcohol they've taken in, according to Ferrari.
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