The Influence of Length of Delay and Task Aversiveness on Procrastination Behaviors

Abstract

Procrastination is a common form of self-regulatory failure that is not entirely understood. Since procrastination is becoming increasingly prevalent in work and academic environments, it is critical to determine procrastination’s causes in order to mitigate it. In this study, an experiment is conducted to examine whether procrastination is impacted by (1) the amount of time until the task is due or (2) the aversiveness of the task. Results demonstrate that people are more likely to delay on more aversive tasks, but we did not find any significant relationship with the length of delay. Previous findings on the influence of task aversiveness in procrastination are confirmed in the experiment. Findings and future directions for research on procrastination are discussed.