Procrastination. We all do it. Some people are procrastinators out of habit, but in some cases, procrastination really might have to do with neuropsychology. This takes procrastination past the point of just cognition, emotion, and personality, and digs deeper into what causes procrastination, and why humans do it. Procrastination can also be linked to anxiety, and how it causes people to fall into the trap of procrastination.
The executive functioning part of the brain, the frontal part that deals with activities like problem solving, planning, and self-control have started to be studied on in connection with procrastination. Laura Rabin of Brooklyn College says that no one had ever examined this connection before. Rabin says, “Given the role of executive functioning in the initiation and completion of complex behaviors, it was surprising to me that previous research had not systematically examined the relationship between aspects of executive functioning and academic procrastination — a behavior I see regularly in students but have yet to fully understand, and by extension help remediate”. For the experiment, Rabin used a sample of 212 students ande monitored them for procrastination, and then impulsivity, self-monitoring, planning, organization, activity shifting, task initiation, task monitoring, emotional control, working memory, and overall orderliness. Rabin reported in 2011 that they found a link between procrastination and all nine of the other attributes. Although correlations were found, Rabin says the work was limited. The findings were correlative, so it is not exactly clear that procrastination was caused by the subsets of executive functioning. In conclusion, Rabin states that, procrastination might be an “expression of subtle executive dysfunction”, but people who this may apply too still may be neurologically healthy. In another case, Siriois and Pychyl tried to correlate the emotional side of procrastination with the temporal side. They made a two-part theory that connects “short-term, mood-related improvements with long-term, time-related damage.” The idea that they proposed concludes that, “…procrastinators will comfort themselves in the present with the false belief that they’ll be more emotionally equipped to handle a task in the future.”
In an article from Psychology Today, 6 reasons why anxiety causes procrastination are listed. The first reason is the memory being overwhelmed. You have assignments due in every class, a paper for English, soccer practice, and your room is a mess. Generally, this would make people feel overwhelmed; so they push things off and avoid responsibilities until the last minute. The next reason is the “Intolerance of Uncertainty”. People feel unsure of what they want to do, so they hold it off and avoid making a decision. People with this issue get too worked up to commit to an answer or decision, and instead just don’t make one at all. The third issue is that people overestimate the number of tasks they can achieve in the amount of time given. People can experience both negative and positive cognitive biases. Taking on a heavier work load than you can handle is an example of a positive cognitive bias. The 4th reason for anxiety induced procrastination is having an “all or nothing” mentality. You might think you need to write 7 pages for your English class in one night, instead of writing a page a day for a week. Or cleaning your room for 4 hours because it was so messy, instead of picking up after yourself each day. The 5th reason people struggle with procrastination is predicting a negative outcome. The final reason anxiety can impact procrastination is having an “uneven cognitive profile”. When people have difficulties with planning, sequencing, or initiating, it may be difficult for them to complete a task regularly, or make decisions quickly about a task. A person’s anxiety could make cognitive processes much more difficult.
I found it really interesting reading about procrastination, and how it may not be just due to the lack of motivation, or not wanting to complete a task. Certainly, this does not count as an excuse to not complete assignments, but I hope that more research goes into the neuropsychology of procrastination in the near future. Whether it is due to cognitive abilities, or anxiety, I think that procrastination effects a lot of students, and adults alike, and it would be very beneficial to know more about it.