Theories of Procrastination
Sometimes there seems to be as many theories on a topic as there are people researching it. Fortunately, over the last 30 years, we have been testing these theories, trying to determine which one works best. Here I review four of the most popular theories of procrastination and consider the evidence for and against them. Much of the empirical evidence comes from my meta-analysis, The Nature of Procrastination, which received American Psychological Association’s George A. Miller award for outstanding contribution to general science (and then formed the basis for my book The Procrastination Equation). The theory with the most support is Temporal Motivation Theory, which is presented last.
1. Anxiety: Fear of Failure, Perfectionism, etc.
There is a host of anxiety-related reasons that have been thought to cause procrastination. Essentially, people are believed to procrastinate on tasks because the task itself is aversive or stressful. Consequently, those who are more susceptible to experiencing stress should procrastinate more. There are a variety of conditions that make people anxious, especially irrational beliefs. Irrational beliefs, cognition, or thought is a broad term that includes several dysfunctional or anxiety-provoking worldviews. Ellis (1973) characterizes them as: (1) almost certainly hindering the pursuit of happiness and fulfillment of desires, and (2) almost completely arbitrary and unprovable. Some examples of irrational beliefs are fear of failure and perfectionism.
Evaluation
This theory is not supported.
- First, it explains why we might avoid tasks entirely, but not why we delay them. In fact, more anxiety is typically experienced closer to the deadline, so procrastination appears to be a way of increasing anxiety, not reducing it.
- Second, empirical evidence indicates a weak or even no relationship between anxiety or irrational beliefs and procrastination. For example, on average, perfectionists actually report slightly less procrastination than other people.
2. Self-Handicapping
There is dispute over whether self-handicapping should be considered a form of procrastination. Self-handicapping is when people place obstacles that hinder their own good performance. The motivation for self-handicapping is often to protect self-esteem by giving people an external reason, an “out,” if they fail to do well. However, self-handicapping isn’t necessarily a form of procrastination, which is: “To voluntarily delay an intended course of action despite expecting to be worse-off for the delay.” Self-handicappers appear to be acting in their own self-interest, thinking they are protecting themselves from shame and humiliation. Consequently, Dr. Clarry Lay, one of the first researchers into procrastination and developer of the General Procrastination Scale, concludes “to intend to put off some activity to protect one’s self-esteem in not procrastinatory behavior.”
Evaluation
This theory is not supported.
- Self-handicapping is still an important issue and can share some commonalities with procrastination (i.e., delaying a task can be a way to self-handicap). However, because the motivations for delaying are not the same, the two will differ regarding causes and treatments and so it is best to study them separately.
3. Rebelliousness
According to the clinical literature, rebelliousness, hostility, and disagreeableness are thought to be major motivations for procrastination. For those with these personality traits, externally imposed schedules are more likely to be experienced as aversive, and thus avoided. Also, by delaying work and starting it on one’s own schedule, autonomy is reasserted.
Evaluation
This theory is not supported.
- First, like anxiety, it explains why we might avoid tasks entirely, but not why we delay them. In fact, more autonomy might be expressed by not doing a task at all instead of just delaying it. By doing it at the last minute, procrastination may appear to express capitulation, “caving in,” rather than autonomy.
- Second, empirical evidence indicates an extremely weak relationship, virtually nil, between rebelliousness and procrastination.
4. Temporal Motivation Theory: Core theory of The Procrastination Equation
Temporal Motivation Theory (aka The Procrastination Equation) represents the most recent developments in motivational research; it is an integrative theory from which most other motivational theories can be derived. It suggests that the reasons why people make any decision can be largely represented by the following equation:
Motivation indicates the drive or preference for a course of action, what economists call utility. Naturally, the higher the utility, the greater the preference. On the top of the equation, the numerator, we have two variables: Expectancy and Value. Expectancy refers to the odds or chance of an outcome occurring while Value refers to how rewarding that outcome is. Naturally, we would like to choose pursuits that give us a good chance of having a pleasing outcome. On the bottom of the equation, the denominator, we also have two variables. Impulsiveness refers to your sensitivity to delay. The more impulsive you are, the less you like to delay gratification. Finally, Delay indicates how long, on average, you must wait to receive the payout, that is the expected reward. Since delay is in the bottom of the equation, the longer the delay, the less motivated we feel about taking action.
How does this theory relate to procrastination? Essentially, we are constantly beset with making decisions among various courses of action. Should we go to the gym or watch TV? Should I make dinner or order-in? TMT suggests, unsurprisingly, that we are more likely to pursue goals or tasks that are pleasurable and that we are likely to attain. Consequently, we are more likely to put off, to procrastinate, difficult tasks with unenjoyable qualities.
Even more important regarding procrastination is the effects of delay. We like our rewards not only to be large but also to be immediate. Consequently, we will most likely procrastinate any tasks that are unpleasant in the present and offer rewards only in the distant future. In other words, we would be more likely to put off higher priority tasks if there are options available that are immediately pleasurable (even if they have sizeable but delayed costs). We tend to call such options temptations.
An Example
To help illustrate these elements of TMT, the following example is put forth: the college student’s essay paper. A college student who has been assigned an essay on September 15th, the start of a semester and it is due on December 15th, the course end. This student likes to socialize but he also likes to get good grades. The figure below maps the changes in expected utility for him over the course of the semester regarding his two choices, studying vs. socializing. Since the reward for socializing is always in the present, it maintains a uniformly high utility. For writing, its reward is distant initially, diminishing its utility. Only towards the deadline do the discounting effects of time decrease and writing becomes increasingly likely. In this example, the switch in motivation occurs on December 3rd, leaving just 12 days for concentrated effort. During this final stretch, it is quite likely that earnest but empty promises (i.e., intentions) are made to start working earlier next time.
For a simulation of this, see Christian Burkhart’s model.
Evaluation
There is strong evidence that TMT provides a good summary of why we procrastinate.
- First, procrastination is strongly associated with expectancy. Specifically, those people with low self-efficacy, that is feelings of incompetence, are more likely to procrastinate.
- Second, procrastination is strongly associated with the value of the tasks. The more unpleasant people find a task, the more likely they are to put it off. Also, those low in need for achievement, that is how much pleasure they get from achieving, are more likely to procrastinate.
- Third, procrastination is strongly associated with sensitivity to delay. Specifically, people who are more distractible, impulsive, and have less self-control tend to procrastinate more.
- Fourth, procrastination is strongly associated with time delay. The closer we are to realizing a goal, the harder we work at it.
- Fifth, TMT predicts an intention-action gap, where we intend to work but fail to act on these intentions. As expected. procrastinators tend not to act on their intentions.
- Sixth, observed work behavior matches what is predicted by TMT.
See “Integrating Theories of Motivation” published in the Academy of Management Review, as it shows that most motivational theories are converging on an integrated model of motivation. TMT concludes that many of the previous theories were right, but only in part. They typically touch on only one piece of the puzzle, such as task aversiveness, and then only certain forms of it. For example, consider rebelliousness. If you are a rebellious individual and feel some work is foisted upon you, then you will likely also find it more aversive. Since anything that makes work more unpleasant increases the likelihood of procrastination, rebelliousness would indeed be one contributor to procrastination, though in general its contribution is extremely small.
Procrastination and Science 
Hi, Mr. Steel
i want to introduce myself, my name is Yasri Meilani, I am a psychology student from Indonesia, i am very interested in conducting research on “self-efficacy” and “procrastination work”. Can I use a measuring device that I use on your procrastination work variable?
is there an Indonesian who has ever used a measuring instrument that has been translated into Indonesian?
may I request permission to request the file and use thanksyou
Im very sorry for disturbing your time Thankyou.
From Yasri Meilan
Get me at steel@ucalgary and I will send you all the files.
Please sir i’d love to know the year of publication….
Thank you
https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-2909.133.1.65
https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMR.2006.22527462
Hello Dr. Steel. I’m Emir. I’m a student. My department is psyhcology, fourth grade. I have a homework and its subject is procastination. Please would you mind suggest a reserach source? Which am I find to source? Thank you for ccoperation.
HI Emir,
Well I did write a book on the topic that is pretty good.
Best,
Piers
Good day, Mr. Steel! I appreciate your theory and this really suits our study. We are currently conducting a thesis about how time deadline pressure affects audit quality. If it is okay can we use TMT as one of our theoretical frameworks? As well as the equation and the example graph? Thank you so much!
That’s what it is there for, so please use. If you are looking for something even more advanced, check out:
Click to access The-Building-Blocks-of-Motivation.pdf
Hello Dr. Steel,
first off, I’d like to say that I love Your work and I really thank you for it! TMT seems to explain so much and I really appreciate how it integrates several earlier theories. Wish I got acquainted with Your work sooner, but better late than never I guess 🙂
I have a question though – is there some solid research on the correlation between the Big 5 traits + IQ and which of the 3 subjective aspects (E, V, I) would usually be the critical aspect for an individual to watch out for?
Meaning that Your book’s Tom is probably rather Extroverted and Open, so he should watch out for Impulsiveness, Eddie seems Neurotic, so he should watch out for Expectancy and so on.
I’m aware that this is going to vary across different tasks and environments, but it still feels like obtaining someone’s Big 5 assessment should yield at least some general pointers on how to approach goal-setting with them. Therefore, if You could kindly point me to any articles on this, I’d be eternally grateful.
Wish You all the best!
Personality and IQ are almost completely separate ( you get a little crossover with Openness to Experience). Impulsiveness is by far the most important trait to predict procrastination. Matching self-regulatory techniques to profiles is the future, so very little done on that except my articles saying we should actually do this. Hope this helps.
Thank you Dr. Steel about the files that you send to me. Temporal Motivation Theory was useful, it supported our study.
Sir can I use your “temporal motivation theory” in my research about “The Lived experiences of procrastination among Senior High School students:?
Hey sir, can i ask from what year does the twmpiral notivation theory was published abd by whom-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporal_motivation_theory
Hello, Sir can I use the tenporal motivation theory in my research of Procrastination and Social Media Usage in Senior High School Student. Thank You so much..
Of course. Suggest updates to the Wikipedia on it if you like too.
hello Sir can i use this theory in an essay about how procrastination affects work ethic?
Hello sir. Can I use temporal motivation theory in my research abot the Procrastination factors and its effects on the academic performance of College students? Thank you.
Of course!
I am very interested in your research. Would you be able to share your findings?
Hello Sir, may I ask if you have an existing questionnaire regarding academic procrastination and self-efficacy because I will be using it for our instrumentation. Also, we`ll be using TMT for our study. Our research is entitled “The Correlation of Academic procrastination and Self-efficacy on the Selected Board Courses of Jose Rizal University”. Our study has three variables including academic procrastination and self-efficacy as the dependent variable while board courses will be the independent variable. I find your theory interesting since it does not focus on the personality or the behaviour of a person, but it depends on how rewarding the outcome is. To be exact I correlate self-efficacy on my study because based on your theory the greater the numerator, the higher motivated the person is. in which the students is less likely to procrastinate, but there are some instances that even the reward is high there are still some students tends to procrastinate despite of how rewarding the outcome is and because of that I included self-efficacy to explin this phenomenon, by explaining whether having a high or low self-efficacy affects the tendency of a person to procrastinate academically. nevertheless, your immediate response is highly appreciated. Thank you so much Sir Piers Steel.
I’m not sure what the question is, but this is indeed consistent with TMT.
Hi. I am conducting a study in which i will have to correlate academic procrastination with students’ gadget usage, will the Temporal Motivation Theory suit my study, if not what theory do you recommend? I hope you guys can help me. Thanks!
Sure. Measure how much they like using their gadgets (value) and how impulsive they are.
Thank you, sir.
i like this theory but it is that easy to measure whole procrastination with just one equation…i try to use it and my respondent ask about that she had fear of being failure and she said she only procrastinate when she had fear that she cannot complete her task and my other responded said she did procrastination because she know that her teacher did not did not ask her about assignments and it work as reinforcement for her ….she always didn’t complete her assignment on time and her teacher did not say any thing to her and it become reason for her procrastination
best article ever it help me in my conceptualization for scale development.. i am gonna make a academic procrastination scale and it help me
Dr Steel,
Thank you for sharing the Procrastination Equation in such an easy to understand way; I have found it most illuminating.
I wondered how the theory works when the task concerned offers high value – that is, why might a procrastinator put off a pleasant or rewarding task?
Good question. This can happen for a few reasons but the primary one is that there is a more immediate reward. So you are trapped playing Candy Crush instead of socializing with friends. Also, move to a new activity, redirecting, requires energy. So if you are tired…
Last example: What if the change’d come only on December 14, leaving only one day for the essay – not enough for the student to finish it? Would it still be procrastination?
Voluntary delay despite expecting to be worse off. If you didn’t have reason to expect to be worse off, no procrastination.
Dr. Steel, I found you post on procrastinating both, interesting and informative. I was particularly drawn to your reference about the Gustavson test of your Procrastination Equation Theiry, and Ferrari’s research. Please email me more specific information about the two or more specifically the complete title of their works.
I have not yet read your Procrastination Equation publication, but it is on my “required reading” list.
Here’s thanking you in advance for assistance in adding to the body of knowledge on procrastination, a construct I assume we share mutual interest.
Please forgive the “typos”. I was rushed and didn’t take time to edit my post. The word “you”in the original post should be replaced with “your” and “Thiery” should be replaced with “Theory”.