Abstract
One negative consequence related to poor future planned behaviour is chronic procrastination, the purposive and frequent delay in beginning or completing a task to the point of experiencing subjective discomfort. Although shown to be associated to affective, behavioral, and cognitive characteristics reflecting more than inefficient time management, the concept of procrastination remains closely related to meeting deadlines within a specific timeframe. Procrastination can be considered as a consequence of temporal self-regulation failure that reflects a disjunction between past, present and future time perspectives. Despite the obvious importance of time to procrastination, little research has examined this important relationship although the temporal component seems to be a key defining concept of procrastination. But, what do we know about this complex tendency? What is the relationship between procrastination and time perspective? In this chapter the principal characteristics notes of procrastination (concept and definition, measure and some correlates) and the results of recent research related to procrastination and time perspective were presented.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ackerman, D., & Gross, B. L. (2005). My instructor made me do it: Task characteristics of procrastination. Journal of Marketing Education, 27, 5–13.
Aitken, M. E. (1982). A personality profile of the college student procrastinator. Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1982). Dissertation Abstracts International, 43, 722.
Ajzen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.
Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines and performance: Self control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13, 219–224.
Baumeister, R. F. (1997). Esteem threat, self-regulatory breakdown and emotional distress as factors in self-defeating behavior. Reviews of General Psychology, 1, 145–174.
Boniwell, I., & Zimbardo, P. G. (2004). Balancing one’s time perspective in pursuit of optimal functioning. In P. A. Linley & S. Joseph (Eds.), Positive psychology in practice. Hoboken: Wiley.
Boyd, J. N., & Zimbardo, P. (2005). Time perspective, health, and risk taking. In A. Strathman & J. Joireman (Eds.), Understanding behavior in the context of time (pp. 85–10). Mahwah: LEA.
Brislin, R. W., & Kim, E. S. (2003). Cultural diversity in people’s understanding and uses of time. Applied Psychology, 52, 363–382.
Buehler, R., Griffin, D., & McDonald, H. (1997). The role of motivated reasoning in optimistic time predictions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 238–247.
Burka, J. B., & Yuen, L. M. (1983). Procrastination: Why you do it and what to do about it. Reading: Addison-Wesley.
Dewitte, S., & Schouwenburg, H. (2002). Procrastination, temptations, and incentives: The struggle between the present and the future in procrastinators and the punctual. European Journal of Personality, 16, 469–489.
Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2006). Estructura factorial y fiabilidad del Inventario de Perspectiva Temporal de Zimbardo [Factorial structure and reliability of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory]. Psicothema, 18, 565–571.
Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2007). Morning and evening-types: Exploring their personality styles. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 769–778.
Díaz-Morales, J. F., Ferrari, J. R., Díaz, K., & Argumedo, D. (2006a). Factorial structure of three procrastination scales with Spanish adult population. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 22, 132–137.
Díaz-Morales, J. F., Ferrari, J. R., Díaz, K., & Argumedo, D. (2006b). Procrastination and demographic characteristics in Spanish adults: Further evidence. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 629–633.
Díaz-Morales, J. F., Cohen, J., & Ferrari, J. R. (2008a). An integrated view of personality styles related to avoidant procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 45, 554–558.
Díaz-Morales, J. F., Ferrari, J. R., & Cohen, J. R. (2008b). Indecision and avoidant procrastination: The role of morningness-eveningness and time perspective in chronic delay lifestyles. The Journal of General Psychology, 135, 228–240.
Digdon, N. L., & Howell, A. J. (2008). College students who have an eveningness preference report lower self-control and greater procrastination. Chronobiology International, 25, 1029–1046.
Effert, B. R., & Ferrari, J. R. (1989). Decisional procrastination: Examining personality correlates. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 4, 151–161.
Ferrari, J. R. (1991a). Self-handicapping by procrastinators: Protecting social-esteem, self-esteem, or both? Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 245–261.
Ferrari, J. R. (1991b). A preference for a favorable public impression by procrastination: Selecting among cognitive and social tasks. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 1233–1237.
Ferrari, J. R. (1992). Psychometric validation of two procrastination inventories for adults: Arousal and avoidance measures. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 14, 97–110.
Ferrari, J. R. (1993). Christmas and procrastination: Explaining lack of diligence at a “real-world” task deadline. Personality and Individual Differences, 14, 25–33.
Ferrari, J. R. (2001). Procrastination as self-regulation failure of performance: Effects of cognitive load, self-awareness, and time limits on “working best under pressure.”. European Journal of Personality, 15, 391–406.
Ferrari, J. R. (2010). Still procrastinating: The no regrets guide to getting it done. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Ferrari, J. R., & Beck, B. L. (1998). Affective responses before and after fraudulent excuses by academic procrastinators. Education, 118, 529–538.
Ferrari, J. R., & Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2007a). Procrastination: Different time orientations reflect different motives. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 707–714.
Ferrari, J. R., & Díaz-Morales, J. F. (2007b). Perceptions of self-concept and self-presentation by procrastinators: Further evidence. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 10, 91–96.
Ferrari, J. R., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Examining behavioral processes in indecision: Decisional procrastination and decision-making style. Journal of Research in Personality, 34, 127–137.
Ferrari, J. R., & Emmons, R. (1995). Methods of procrastination and their relation to self-control and self-reinforcement: An exploratory study. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 135–142.
Ferrari, J. R., & Patel, T. (2004). Social comparisons by procrastinators: Rating peers with similar and dissimilar delay tendencies. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 1493–1501.
Ferrari, J. R., & Pychyl, T. A. (2000). Procrastination: Current issues and new directions. Corte Madre: Select Press.
Ferrari, J. R., & Pychyl, T. A. (2012). “If I wait, my partner will do it:” The role of conscientiousness as a potential mediator for academic procrastination and perceived social loafing. North American Journal of Psychology, 14, 13–24.
Ferrari, J. R., Johnson, J., & McCown, W. (1995). Procrastination and task avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. New York: Plenum Press.
Ferrari, J. R., Harriott, J. S., Evans, L., Lecik-Michna, D. M., & Wenger, J. M. (1997). Exploring the time preferences of procrastinators: Night or day, which is the one? European Journal of Personality, 11, 187–196.
Ferrari, J. R., O’Callaghan, J., & Newbegin, I. (2004). Prevalence of procrastination in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia: Arousal and avoidance delays among adults. North American Journal of Psychology, 6, 1–6.
Ferrari, J. R., Doroszko, E., & Joseph, N. (2005). Procrastination in corporate settings: Sex, status, and geographic comparisons of arousal and avoidance types. Individual Differences Research, 3, 140–149.
Ferrari, J. R., Díaz-Morales, J. F., O’Callaghan, J., Díaz, K., & Argumedo, D. (2007). Frequent behavioral delay tendencies by adults: International prevalence rates of chronic procrastination. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 38, 458–464.
Ferrari, J., Özer, B., & Demir, A. (2009). Chronic procrastination among Turkish adults: Exploring decisional, avoidant, and arousal styles. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149, 302–308.
Gupta, R., Hershey, D. A., & Gaur, J. (2012). Time perspective and procrastination in the workplace: An empirical investigation. Current Psychology, 31, 195–211.
Haghbin, M., McCaffrey, A., & Pychyl, T. A. (2012). The complexity of the relation between fear of failure and procrastination. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 30, 249–263.
Hammer, C. A., & Ferrari, J. R. (2002). Differential incidence of procrastination between blue-and whitecollar workers. Current Psychology, 21, 333–338.
Harriott, J., & Ferrari, J. R. (1996). Prevalence of procrastination among samples of adults. Psychological Reports, 78, 611–616.
Hess, B., Sherman, M. F., & Goodmand, M. (2000). Eveningness predicts academic procrastination: The mediating role of neuroticism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 61–74.
Jackson, L. A., & Gerard, D. A. (1996). Diurnal types, the “big five” personality factors, and other personal characteristics. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 11, 273–284.
Jackson, T., Fritch, A., Nagasaka, T., & Pope, L. (2003). Procrastination and perceptions of past, present, and future. Individual Differences Research, 1, 17–28.
Janis, I. L., & Mann, L. (1977). Decision making: A psychological analysis of conflict, choice, and commitment. New York: Free Press.
Jones, J. M., Banicky, L., Lasane, T., & Pomare, M. (1996). The temporal orientation scale. Unpublished measure available from T. Lasane, Department of Psychology, St. Mary’s College, St. Mary’s City, MD
Karoly, P. (1993). Mechanisms of self-regulation: A system view. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 23–52.
Lasane, T. P., & Jones, J. M. (2000). When socially-induced temporal myopia interferes with academic goal-setting. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 75–86.
Lay, C. H. (1986). At last, my research on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 479–495.
Lay, C. H. (1990). Working to schedule on personal projects: An assessment of person-project characteristics and trait procrastination. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 91–103.
Lay, C. (1992). Trait procrastination and the perception of person-task characteristics. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 7, 483–494.
Lay, C. H., & Burns, P. (1991). Intentions and behavior in studying for an examination: The role of trait procrastination and its interaction with optimism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 91–193.
Lay, C. H., & Schouwenburg, H. C. (1993). Trait procrastination, time management, and academic behavior. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 8, 647–662.
Lay, C. H., Edwards, J. M., Parker, J. D. A., & Endler, N. S. (1989). An assessment of appraisal, anxiety, coping, and procrastination during an examination period. European Journal of Personality, 3, 195–208.
Mann, L. (1982). Decision making questionnaire: Parts I and II. In J. R. Ferrari, J. L. Johnson, & W. McCown (Eds.), Procrastination and task avoidance. New York: Plenum Press.
Mariani, M. G., & Ferrari, J. R. (2012). Adult Inventory of Procrastination scale (AIP): A comparison of model with and Italian sample. Testing, Psychometric, Methodology in Applied Psychology, 19, 3–14.
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41, 954–969.
McCown, W., Petzel, T., & Rupert, P. (1987). An experimental study of some hypothesized behaviors and personality variables of college student procrastinators. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 781–786.
McCown, W., Johnson, J., & Petzel, T. (1989). Procrastination, a principal components analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 10, 197–202.
Milfont, T. L., & Schwarzenthal, M. (2014). Explaining why larks are future-oriented and owls are present-oriented: Self-control mediates the chronotype-time perspective relationships. Chronobiology International, 31(4), 581–588.
Milgram, N., & Tenne, R. (2000). Personality correlates of decisional and task avoidant procrastination. European Journal of Personality, 14, 141–156.
Özer, B. U., Demir, A., & Ferrari, J. R. (2009). Exploring academic procrastination among Turkish students: Possible gender differences in prevalence and reasons. The Journal of Social Psychology, 149, 241–257.
Pychyl, T. A., Morin, R. W., & Salmon, B. R. (2000a). Procrastination and the planning fallacy: An examination of the study habits of university students. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 135–150.
Pychyl, T. A., Lee, J. M., Thibodeau, R., & Blunt, A. (2000b). Five days of emotion: An experience sampling study of undergraduate student procrastination. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 239–254.
Schmuck, P., y Sheldon, K. M. (2001). Life goals and well-being. Seattle: Hogrefe & Huber.
Schouwenburg, H. C., & Lay, C. H. (1995). Trait procrastination and the Big-Five factors of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 18, 481–490.
Schouwenburg, H. C., Lay, C. H., Pychyl, T. A., & Ferrari, J. R. (2004). Counseling the procrastinator in academic settings. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Simpson, W. K., & Pychyl, T. A. (2009). In search of the arousal procrastinator: An investigation of the relation between procrastination, arousal-based personality traits and beliefs about procrastination motivations. Personality and Individual Differences, 47, 906–911.
Sirois, F. M., Melia-Gordon, M. L., & Pychyl, T. (2003). “I’ll look after my health, later”: An investigation of procrastination and health. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1167–1184.
Smith, C. S., Reilly, T. C., & Midkiff, K. (1989). Evaluation of three circadian rhythm questionnaires with suggestions for an improved measure of morningness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 728–738.
Solomon, L. J., & Rothblum, E. D. (1984). Academic procrastination: Frequency and cognitive-behavioral correlates. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 31, 503–509.
Specter, M. H., & Ferrari, J. R. (2000). Time orientations of procrastinators: Focusing on the past, present, or future? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15, 197–202.
Steel, P. (2007). The nature of procrastination: A meta-analytic and theoretical review of quintessential self-regulatory failure. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 65–94.
Steel, P. (2010). Arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist? Personality and Individual Differences, 48, 926–934.
Stolarski, M., Ledzińska, M., & Matthews, G. (2013). Morning is tomorrow, evening is today: relationships between chronotype and time perspective. Biological Rhythms Research, 44, 181–196.
Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., y Edwards, C. S. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 742–752.
Sunddendorf, T., y Corballis, M. C. (1997). Mental time travel and the evolution of the human mind. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 123, 133–167.
Tuckman, B. (1991). The development and concurrent validity of the Procrastination Scale. Educational Psychological Measurement, 5, 473–480.
Van Eerde, W. (2003). A meta-analytically derived nomological network of procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 1401–1418.
Vodanovich, S. J., & Seib, H. M. (1997). Relationship between time structure and procrastination. Psychological Reports, 80, 211–215.
Watson, D. C. (2001). Procrastination and the five-factor model: A facet level analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 149–158.
Zaleski, Z. (1994). Psychology of future orientation. Lublin: Lublin University Press.
Zaleski, Z. (1996). Future anxiety: Concept measurement and preliminary research. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 165–174.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Boyd, N. (1999). Putting time in perspective: A valid, reliable, individual-differences metric. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 17, 1271–1288.
Zimbardo, P., Sword, R., & Sword, R. (2012). The time cure: Overcoming PTSD with the new psychology of time perspective therapy. San Francisco: Wiley.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Díaz-Morales, J.F., Ferrari, J.R. (2015). More Time to Procrastinators: The Role of Time Perspective. In: Stolarski, M., Fieulaine, N., van Beek, W. (eds) Time Perspective Theory; Review, Research and Application. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07368-2_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07368-2_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-07367-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-07368-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral ScienceBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)