00:00:00
Sometimes the urge to put off something unpleasant
-- like homework or calling to make a doctor’s
00:00:04
appointment -- is just too strong to resist.
00:00:06
Even though you know you’re going to have
to do it eventually, and you can feel the
00:00:08
pressure building.
00:00:09
Let’s face it: procrastination affects all
of us. At least a little bit.
00:00:13
But procrastination is more complex than just
laziness or bad time management. In fact,
00:00:17
every subfield of psychology has a slightly
different way of looking at it.
00:00:20
A neuropsychologist might call it a failure
of executive function, or how you plan ahead
00:00:25
and prioritize things.
00:00:26
A social psychologist, on the other hand,
might see it as a problem related to emotion
00:00:29
regulation, or trying to avoid bad feelings
like stress.
00:00:32
And evolutionary psychologists think it could
be partly genetic.
00:00:35
Even though all their approaches to studying
it are a little different, researchers can
00:00:38
agree that procrastination is not so great
for us.
00:00:41
So why do we do it, and how can we beat it?
00:00:54
Procrastination has been around for quite a while.
00:00:56
A Greek poet even wrote about it in 700 BCE,
basically warning not to put off your work,
00:01:01
or your life will kinda suck.
00:01:03
And according to a 2014 study by researchers
from the University of Colorado, Boulder,
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it might even be part of our evolutionary
makeup.
00:01:10
To try to figure out if there’s a genetic
component to procrastination, researchers
00:01:13
asked pairs of twins about their work habits.
00:01:16
And the key thing is: they compared fraternal
twins, who only share some of their DNA like
00:01:19
any set of siblings, with identical twins,
who share all of their DNA.
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Because each set of twins grew up together
-- with basically the same environmental influences
00:01:27
-- comparing their responses could help see
if their genetics corresponded at all to their
00:01:31
procrastination habits.
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The researchers developed a mathematical model
to calculate whether procrastination seemed
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to be inherited. They found that about half
the time, differences in procrastination habits
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could be because of differences in genetics.
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Which is the case with lots of inherited behavioral
traits -- they have some variation due to
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environmental factors.
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Not only that, but they reproduced a finding
from other studies -- that genetic variations
00:01:51
in procrastination habits are related to genetic
variations in another trait: impulsivity.
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In other words, the researchers found that
putting things off and acting impulsively are
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behaviors that might be inherited together.
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Both these traits are also probably related
to goal-management, which they said could
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be something to focus on in future research.
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They also suggested an evolutionary reason
why the procrastination and impulsive behaviors
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might be linked.
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Early human life was focused mainly on short-term
survival. You don’t have time to think about
00:02:17
next month when you don’t know if your tummy’s
going to be full tomorrow.
00:02:20
So our ancestors who prioritized short-term
goals -- making rash decisions and putting
00:02:24
off the things with more distant and uncertain
rewards -- could’ve been better at surviving.
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And then they might’ve passed down some
of their behavioral traits to their kids.
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But these days, our world of skyscrapers and
smartwatches places far more importance on
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long-term goals.
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Save for retirement! Plan your vacation six
months in advance! Know what you're gonna do with your whole life by the time you turn 18!
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So that genetic factor that prioritized the
short-term over the long-term is suddenly
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not so much in our favor, but it still makes
us prone to procrastination.
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But, hold up. You can’t just blame your
procrastination on your genes.
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There are lots of related psychological factors
to procrastination and impulsiveness, like how
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you manage your goals and self-regulate.
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On a neuropsychological level, procrastination
can be described as a problem with executive
00:03:04
function, which is the skill set that allows
us to plan, prioritize, and carry out tasks.
00:03:08
Executive function is basically the ability
to say “I’m gonna do the thing!” And
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then do it.
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Procrastination is the opposite: “I know
I need to do the thing, but I’m not gonna
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do it right now.”
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Which is why it’s often seen as an failure
of executive function.
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In 2010, researchers from the City University
of New York found that undergraduate students’
00:03:25
own reports of their executive function could
predict their tendency to procrastinate.
00:03:29
There are lots of different types of executive
function skills, which provide multiple steps
00:03:32
where procrastination can happen.
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For example, one student might sit down to
get started on an assignment, but then spend
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ages getting their study materials together.
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Another person might plan to work, but have
trouble getting focused enough to just sit
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down and start.
00:03:43
They get stuck at different points in the
process, but they both end up putting off work.
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Other social psychology researchers describe
procrastination as a failure of mood regulation.
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Canadian psychology professor Timothy Pychyl
says that procrastination is “giving in
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to feel good.”
00:03:57
We’re cashing in a short-term good feeling
even though we can be pretty sure it’s going
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to come back to haunt us later.
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In other words, procrastination is an attempt
to avoid bad feelings, like the stress or
00:04:05
unpleasantness of the task itself.
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We can rationalize this to ourselves pretty
easily.
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You may not want to start writing a big essay
when you’re tired, so you tell yourself
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you’ll do it later when you’ve had some
rest. Nothing wrong with that.
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Researchers like Pychyl argue that the trouble
is when you do this all the time, with smaller
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excuses -- habitually putting off tasks and
pushing off those bad feelings.
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But future-you will eventually have to confront
that stress.
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So procrastination isn’t just about time
management and setting goals.
00:04:31
Mood regulation comes in when you accept those
feelings of stress and recognize that they’re
00:04:35
not going to just disappear later.
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It sounds like basic self-discipline, but
it can be tricky to deal with emotions
00:04:39
that come with large or difficult tasks. And
we’ve all avoided negative feelings at some
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point or another.
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Mood regulation and executive function both
relate to what psychologists call self-regulation,
00:04:49
so these definitions are just slightly different
approaches to studying procrastination.
00:04:52
But is procrastination really that bad, though?
00:04:55
Lots of people claim they procrastinate on
purpose because they work better under pressure.
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And certain kinds of procrastination do have
some benefits.
00:05:01
Like if you go to the gym to avoid starting
a paper -- sure, you didn’t get the paper
00:05:04
done, but hey, you went to the gym!
00:05:06
But you’ll be hard pressed to find psychology
researchers who are in favor of procrastination.
00:05:11
Everyone puts things off every now and then,
but people who do so chronically are sometimes
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found to have higher levels of stress. And
there may be a complex link to things like
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depression and anxiety.
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In fact, there might even be physiological
consequences of procrastination.
00:05:23
One 2015 study in the Journal of Behavioral
Medicine even found that serial procrastinators
00:05:27
had trouble managing high blood pressure and
heart disease. Mainly since it’s not a good
00:05:31
idea to procrastinate taking care of your
health.
00:05:34
And because there are so many different approaches
to studying procrastination, there are also
00:05:38
a lot of suggestions for how to beat it.
00:05:39
So don’t be surprised if someone’s list
of anti-procrastination tips on Tumblr doesn’t work for you.
00:05:44
That being said, there have been a few scientific
studies done on what makes people more likely
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to overcome their procrastination.
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Most of these studies are conducted on undergrad
psychology students, and focus on academic
00:05:54
procrastination -- basically, putting off
school assignments until right before they’re due.
00:05:57
The authors of the City University of New
York study -- the one that focused on executive
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function -- suggested ways instructors could
work with students to help them engage with
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big tasks.
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Instead of assigning one big project at the
end of the semester, for example, it could
00:06:09
be broken up into periodic deadlines or quizzes.
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People tend to procrastinate less when the
deadline is closer. And when the task is broken
00:06:15
up into small chunks, they feel like they’ve
accomplished something every time they turn
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in one of those chunks.
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This makes students feel generally more positive,
and it could make getting started easier,
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because the task seems less intimidating.
00:06:25
So breaking up a task into bite-size pieces
could be a good strategy, both for instructors
00:06:29
and for anyone who’s trying to get something
done.
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Remind yourself that you don’t have to do
it all at once -- tackle it a bit at a time,
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and reward yourself for making progress.
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Dr. Pychyl’s research group -- the one that
studied mood regulation -- also studied how
00:06:40
academic procrastination could be linked to
how students viewed their future selves.
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In an earlier study, a group of researchers
at Stanford had asked people to imagine their
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future selves. They also asked them to picture
their present selves, as well as a stranger.
00:06:51
And the whole time, the team monitored the
subjects’ neural activity.
00:06:54
When some people pictured their future selves,
neurons were activated in a similar pattern
00:06:58
to when they pictured their present selves.
They felt a high degree of continuity
00:07:02
with who they would be in the future.
00:07:03
But other people’s mental images of their
future selves activated a pattern of neurons
00:07:07
that looked like they were picturing a stranger.
00:07:09
Pychyl’s research group built on those results,
and found that the people with less future
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self-continuity -- the people who saw their
future selves as strangers -- tended to procrastinate more.
00:07:17
Basically, these students didn’t feel as
strongly that they’d be the ones feeling
00:07:20
the consequences. You know, just let future-you -- somebody
else -- deal with it.
00:07:24
So maybe you can try to beat your procrastination
by remembering that future you is also you.
00:07:29
It sounds kind of silly when you put it that
way, but it just means that you should remember
00:07:32
that you’re going to have to do it sooner
or later -- whether it’s present-you or
00:07:35
future-you.
00:07:36
And you’re probably not going to like to do it
any more later.
00:07:38
This also means acknowledging your bad feelings
about doing whatever it is you have to do.
00:07:42
Have anxiety about getting started?
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These researchers recommend accepting that
feeling -- rather than using it to avoid your
00:07:47
work -- and understanding that getting things
done is a way to help get rid of that bit
00:07:51
of stress.
00:07:51
There’s definitely no one-size-fits-all
cure for procrastination -- yet. Different
00:07:55
studies can offer different advice, and since
we’re all different people, it can help
00:07:59
to have multiple perspectives and strategies
to try.
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In the end, though, all of this research seems
to boil down to self-regulation, and confronting
00:08:06
something you don’t want to do instead of
avoiding it.
00:08:08
It may sound easy in theory, but it isn’t
always.
00:08:10
And if you’re watching this video to procrastinate
working on something -- go get started!
00:08:15
Thanks for watching this episode of SciShow,
which was brought to you by our patrons on
00:08:17
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00:08:22
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