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An Overview of Procrastination

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Procrastination and Task Avoidance

Abstract

Chronic procrastination and task-avoidant behavior are extraordinarily common problems. As we will suggest later in this chapter and throughout this book, procrastination is often related to a variety of psychiatric syndromes. Moreover, as it will be hypothesized in Chapter 7, procrastinatory behavior may constitute a causal stress that contributes to psychological dysfunctions and maladaptive behavior patterns.

Sloth is equal in nefariousness to greed, lust, theft, and murder ...

Henry Wykliffe, 1142

Procrastination is not merely a curious human aberration, one of the many instances in which people failed to pursue their interest in an efficient and productive manner. It represents a dysfunction of human abilities that are important, if not essential, for coping with the myriad tasks, major or minor, that accumulate daily on our desks, in our memo books, or in our minds.... When we procrastinate we waste time, miss opportunities, and do not live authentic lives ...

Norman Milgram, 1991

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© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Ferrari, J.R., Johnson, J.L., McCown, W.G. (1995). An Overview of Procrastination. In: Procrastination and Task Avoidance. The Springer Series in Social Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0227-6_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0227-6_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0229-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0227-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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