"Temporal motivational theory" (Procrastination)

[Prada]

Found this interesting that someone would devote so much time on procrastination.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0110090851.htm

We're Sorry This Is Late ... We Really Meant To Post It Sooner: Research Into Procrastination Shows Surprising Findings

Science Daily — A University of Calgary professor in the Haskayne School of Business has recently published his magnum opus on the subject of procrastination -- and it's only taken him 10 years.

Joking aside, Dr. Piers Steel is probably the world's foremost expert on the subject of putting off until tomorrow what should be done today. His comprehensive analysis of procrastination research, published in the recent edition of the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin, presents some surprising conclusions on the subject, such as:

* Most people's New Year's resolutions are doomed to failure
* Most self-help books have it completely wrong when they say perfectionism is at the root of procrastination, and
* Procrastination can be explained by a single mathematical equation

"Essentially, procrastinators have less confidence in themselves, less expectancy that they can actually complete a task," Steel says. "Perfectionism is not the culprit. In fact, perfectionists actually procrastinate less, but they worry about it more."

Other predictors of procrastination include: task aversiveness, impulsiveness, distractibility, and how much a person is motivated to achieve. Not all delays can be considered procrastination; the key is that a person must believe it would be better to start working on given tasks immediately, but still not start.

It's estimated that about 15-20 per cent of the general population are procrastinators. And the costs of procrastinating can add up well beyond poor work performance, especially for those who delay filing their taxes or planning their retirement.

Steel says motivational failures such as difficulty in sticking to diets and exercise regimes -- frequently the focus of New Year's resolutions -- are related to procrastination because impulsiveness is often at the root of the failure. "Temptations that are close at hand are difficult to resist. Addicts often relapse after returning from treatment facilities because drugs and alcohol become easily available and daily habits reassert themselves. Or we load up on bread in the restaurant before the meal is served. Or we check our email 10 times an hour instead of completing a project."

The good news is that willpower has an unusual capacity. "The old saying is true: 'Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're probably right'," Steel says. "And as you get better at self control, your expectancy about whether you can resist goes up and thus improves your ability to resist."

Steel has also come up with the E=mc2 of procrastination, a formula he's dubbed Temporal Motivational Theory, which takes into account factors such as the expectancy a person has of succeeding with a given task (E), the value of completing the task (V), the desirability of the task (Utility), its immediacy or availability (Γ) and the person's sensitivity to delay (D).

It looks like this and uses the Greek letter Γ (capital gamma): Utility = E x V / ΓD

It's still unclear why some people may be more prone to developing procrastination behaviour, but some evidence suggests it may be genetic. Steel concludes: "Continued research into procrastination should not be delayed, especially because its prevalence seems to be growing."

The title of the paper is "The Nature of Procrastination: A Meta-Analytic and Theoretical Review of Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure." The American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin is arguably the top academic journal for the social sciences. Steel's research on the subject is referred to as a meta-analysis, in which he distills and synthesizes the evidence on procrastination from 691 other research sources.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of Calgary.

[Kärnfysikern]

What baffels me most is that some scientists can find some topics interesting. Offcourse those same people are probably baffled why someone would find nuclear physics interesting.

But spending 10 years researching procrastnation(thats officialy a world I will never be able to spell or pronounce)

[Snrf]

he only spent 10 mins researching procrastination...the rest he spent procrastinating

[Snrf]

procrastinating on his procrastination research......ha

[Prada]

Ive seen that word quite often actually, its not something thats used seldomly
It pretty straight foward actualy: Pro-Crast-ee-nation
just say it fluidly.

Well, who are we to judge? They may say spending an hour a day in the political forum of a AAS website is quite awkward. To each his own, i guess.

I found the equation or formula interesting actually Utility = E x V / ΓD
but you are right, 10 years!! You know some Profs. are unique and quite lonely.

[Prada]

he only spent 10 mins researching procrastination...the rest he spent procrastinating

Not bad, not bad

[singern]

Ill read the article later, I promise........

[3Vandoo]

later

[J.S.N.]

eff you guys beat me to it.