Why is procrastination normal at university, more than in the general population? Tim Pychyl says procrastination is about feeling good, now. (Pychyl, 2012)

I know what I should do, but I just want to have some me-time first. (A failure of self-regulation.)

But friends and peers should help. The example of others around me helps me feel ready to make a better choice. (Social regulation.)

So when we see a crowd of procrastinators together, I wonder,

• Does this crowd attract procrastinators?
• Or does this crowd make procrastinators?

 

References

Ellis, A. & Knaus, W.J.  1977, Overcoming procrastination, Signet Books, New York.

Harriott, J. & Ferrari, J.H. 1996, Prevalence of procrastination among samples of adults,
Psychological Reports, 78:611–616

Michinov, N., Brunot, S., Le Bohec, O., Juhel, J. & Delaval, M. 2011, “Procrastination, participation, and performance in online learning environments”,Computers & Education, vol. 56, no. 1, pp. 243-252

Pychyl, T. (2012) Teaching Talk: Helping Students Who Procrastinate. EDC Video Channel, Youtube.