Just hours until the deadline, I could not help but to think why I procrastinate so much. Why did I leave assignments until the latest possible time? I began to question whether procrastination is genetic or if it is a learned trait. Also I wondered if procrastination could be a good thing as well.
A study shows that 20 percent of people chronically look for other things to do when there is a more difficult task at hand. People that procrastinate say that they “perform better under pressure” (Psych Today). This statement has no evidence to back it up though and so we cannot directly link procrastination to working better under pressure from this.
A genetics study showed that, “procrastination is moderately heritable, and that genetically it was not separate from impulsivity” (Psych Today 2). This does not mean that procrastination is an impulse; it is about a person’s time management as well as goal setting and completing abilities.
A study was done with identical and fraternal twins to see whether procrastination was genetic or if it was just because of the family environment that a person was raised in. The research found that 46 percent of the variance in procrastination has a genetic contribution (Psych Today 2). Now this does not mean that procrastination is all genetic, but the study found that there is most likely a little genetic effect on whether a person procrastinates or not.
University of San Diego professor Frank Partnoy believes that procrastination can be a good thing. He claims that the longer we wait, the more we can asses the situation and make the correct decision about how we are going to go about doing our task at hand. He also says that procrastination has just become a part of our society and that if he had an academic paper due on September 1, people would begin to question him if he turned it in early, in the month of August (Smithsonian).
Although peer pressure and the “social norm” may have an affect on our procrastination, this anecdote may not be entirely the best. He may seem to have a point but this could just be his excuse for never completing tasks well in advance. Also not every task has to be analyzed for a long time before we begin, so in some cases waiting until the last minute might not have any benefit at all.
A survey done on more than 24,000 people around the world found that 95 percent of people confess to at least occasional procrastination and 25 percent of these people are chronic procrastinators (NY Times). Dr. Steel believes that this is due to the changing of society and the flexibility of jobs. This may be true, but procrastination could be caused by other variables so just singling out our changing lifestyle is very unlikely.
There are some links to genetics that suggest that procrastination is determined by a person’s genetic makeup, but to reject the null hypothesis, that procrastination is not genetic, would be getting ahead of things. The evidence is there to show that the way we live may have an effect on how much and when we procrastinate but saying that this is the reason we procrastinate cannot be entirely true. There are many things that can affect our procrastination and many of us wish that we did not procrastinate as much.
Resources:
I enjoyed this article because I too procrastinate a lot! I find it interesting that procrastination could be somewhat genetic. I would have totally thought that it had to do with you environment and personality. Overall it was a great article, even for procrastinating.
I really liked this post because I find myself procrastinating all the time. Now that I am in college, I try to manage my time better and get work done well in advance of the deadline, but every now and then I leave something till the last minute to complete which is never a good thing. I did some research on this topic and found a survey which explains the reasons for why people procrastinate so much. The main reason, as expected is because people just do not feel like completing the task at hand. Generally, kids do not like the work they are doing and thus will not want to complete it during the time that they can be doing something they actually enjoy. Other reasons are kids are not sure if they want to complete the assignment or not, and they will also think that there is just no time left to complete it. I found my research here (http://sidsavara.com/personal-productivity/procrastination/procrastination-survey-results).
Very interesting. I know many students who procrastinate and do amazing, and others that receive terrible grades. Why? Mostly because of what you said – some people do better under pressure or find their work more accurately done if they wait to examine the situation. Then there are the others who will just wait because the task is either too difficult or the just flat out do not want to do work.
I am not throughly convinced that procrastination can be caused through genetics. Do you think procrastination can be taught by those who influence our lives? For example: if a parent / guardian / sibling / friend has a high influence in someones life and this influential person tends to put tasks off till the last minutes – will that affect the students idea of doing work?
Since there is not too much ‘solid’ results to the studies that really proves a point either way – is this more just how society works as a whole [since 95% does procrastinate sometimes] – we just become tired and lazy and do not want to do work – or is it a major issue that people need to do more studies on?
Interesting post! I found this particularly interesting because I am one of those people who say I “preform best under pressure” AKA, I procrastinate. I think the idea that procrastination could be genetic sounds interesting, and based on the study that you mentioned with the twins, it seems highly possible. I wonder if the study on the twins reflects the genetic “passing down” that parents do onto their children. That is, I wonder if because the twins suggested that it was genetic, would the same results come if this test was done on a parent and child?