O estudo da procrastinação humana como um estilo interativo

Abstract

Procrastination has gained relevance over the years for its effects on education, health, and daily life in general. However, despite its importance, it has not been studied systematically. We examined the effect of response cost on procrastination in humans. Twelve engineering undergraduate students, between 18 and 20 years of age, were randomly assigned to an experimental and a control group. The task consisted in indicating by clicking one of two buttons whether the amount of green dots presented on the computer screen was larger or smaller than the amount of blue dots. Throughout the experiment, participants were allowed to engage in distracting activities while performing the task. Three response cost conditions comprised the experiment, one with a high response cost (200 exercises) and two with a low response cost (100 exercises). There does not seem to be a systematic effect of response requirement on procrastination. However, some participants procrastinated regardless of the condition to which they were exposed, whereas others never did it, which suggests that procrastination is an interactive style. We discuss the need for more studies in order to identify the variables related to the phenomenon.