The Procrastination Equation (29 page)

Thase, M. E. (1995). Cognitive behavior therapy. In I. D. Glick (Ed.), Treating depression (pp. 33–70). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

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A Kids in the Hall comedy sketch called “Chocolate” depicts this back and forth between wanting to diet and to wanting to eat chocolate. After a few bites, our protagonist throws away his chocolate bar, only to change his mind over and over.

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Ramanathan, S., & Menon, G. (2006). Time-varying effects of chronic hedonic goals on impulsive behavior. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(4), 628–641.

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Furnham, A. (2002). Personality at work: The role of individual differences in the workplace. New York: Routledge.

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Díaz-Morales, J., Ferrari, J., & Cohen, J. (2008). Indecision and avoidant procrastination: The role of morningness-eveningness and time perspective in chronic delay lifestyles. Journal of General Psychology, 135(3), 228–240.

Digdon, N., & Howell, A. (2008). College students who have an eveningness preference report lower self-control and greater procrastination. Chronobiology International, 25(6), 1029–1046.

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(3), 187–196.

Hess, B., Sherman, M. F., & Goodman, M. (2000). Eveningness predicts academic procrastination: The mediating role of neuroticism. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 15(5), 61–74.

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Klein, S. (2009). The secret pulse of time: Making sense of life’s scarcest commodity. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Lifelong Books.

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Oaten, M., & Cheng, K. (2006). Longitudinal gains in self-regulation from regular physical exercise. British Journal of Health Psychology, 11(4), 717–733.

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Though Jim Horne, from the University of Loughborough’s Sleep Research Centre, contends we are actually sleeping better now than in most of history.

Horne, J. (18 October, 2008). Time to wake up to the facts about sleep. New Scientist, 2678, 36–38.

Mooallem, J. (November 18, 2007). The sleep-industrial complex. The New York Times.

National Sleep Foundation (2008). Sleep in America Poll. Retrieved from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/atf/cf/%7Bf6bf2668-a1b4-4fe8–8d1a-a5d39340d9cb%7D/2008%20POLL%20SOF.PDF

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Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Ollendick, T., King, N., & Bogie, N. (2001). Children’s nighttime fears: Parent-child ratings of frequency, content, origins, coping behaviors and severity. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39(1), 13–28.

Tooby, J., & Cosmides, L. (1990). The past explains the present: Emotional adaptations and the structure of ancestral environments. Ethology and Sociobiology, 11(4–5), 375–424.

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Bettelheim, B. (1977). The uses of enchantment: The meaning and importance of fairy tales. New York: Knopf.

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Ferrari, J. R., & McCown, W. (1994). Procrastination tendencies among obsessive-compulsives and their relatives. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 50(2), 162–167.

Rachman, S. (1993). Obsessions, responsibility and guilt. Behaviour Research & Therapy, 31(2), 149–154.

Kaplan, A., & Hollander, E. (2004). Comorbidity in compulsive hoarding: a case report. CNS Spectrums, 9(1), 71–73.

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Benton, T. H. (2005). Productive procrastination. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 52(1).

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Bandura, A. (1976). Self-reinforcement: Theoretical and methodological considerations. Behaviorism, 4(2), 135–155.

Febbraro, G., & Clum, G. (1998). Meta-analytic investigation of the effectiveness of self-regulatory components in the treatment of adult problem behaviors. Clinical Psychology Review, 18(2), 143–161.

Ferrari, J. R., & Emmons, R. A. (1995). Methods of procrastination and their relation to self-control and self-reinforcement: An exploratory study. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 10(1), 135–142.

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Eisenberger, R. (1992). Learned industriousness. Psychological Review, 99, 248–267.

Renninger, K. (2000). Individual interest and its implications for understanding intrinsic motivation. In C. Sansone & J. M. Harackiewicz (Eds.), Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance (pp. 373–404). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Stromer, R., McComas, J. J., & Rehfeldt, R. A. (2000). Designing interventions that include delayed reinforcement: Implications of recent laboratory research. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 33, 359–371.

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Technically known as impulse pairing or fusion.

Ainslie, G. (1992). Picoeconomics: The strategic interaction of successive motivational states within the person. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Murray, H. A. (1938). Explorations in personality. New York: Oxford University Press.

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Though this is the common term, some practitioners find it derogatory, dismissing the skill it can involve.

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Dibbell, J. (June 17, 2007). The life of the Chinese gold farmer. The New York Times Magazine.

Jin, G. (2006). Chinese gold farmers in the game world [Electronic Version]. Consumers, Commodities & Consumption 7. Retrieved from https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/dtcook/www/CCCnewsletter/7–2/jin.htm.

Jin, G. (2008). Gold farmers. Retrieved from http://chinesegoldfarmers.com/Index.html

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Akerman, D. S., & Gross, B. L. (2007). I can start that JME manuscript next week, can’t I? The task characteristics behind why faculty procrastinate. Journal of Marketing Education, 29(2), 97–110.

Sansone, C., & Harackiewicz, J. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The search for optimal motivation and performance. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

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Bordens, K., & Horowitz, I. (2001). Social psychology. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Moreland, R. L., & Beach, S. R. (1992). Exposure effects in the classroom: The development of affinity among students.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 28
(3), 255–276.

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Fouad, N. (2007). Work and vocational psychology: Theory, research, and applications. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 543–564.

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If you want to know your own profile, there are a variety of free versions available online. Just conduct an Internet search using the term “RIASEC.”

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Lubinski, D., & Benbow, C. P. (2000). States of excellence. American Psychologist, 55(1), 137–150.

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It is possible to select a job for you with considerably more accuracy than currently available, directing you to areas of work that you would love as well as those in which you would excel. Unfortunately, despite being designed, proven, and patented, such a system has yet to be built. Sorry for this, but I have been busy writing a book. The patent number is US 20080027771. Interested parties should contact University Technologies International ([email protected]).

Scherbaum, C. A. (2005). Synthetic validity: Past, present, and future. Personnel Psychology, 58(2), 481–515.

Steel, P. D., Huffcutt, A. I., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2006). From the work one knows the worker: A systematic review of the challenges, solutions, and steps to creating synthetic validity. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14(1), 16–36.

Steel, P., & Kammeyer-Mueller, J. (2009). Using a meta-analytic perspective to enhance Job Component Validation. Personnel Psychology, 62(3), 533–552.

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Tullier, L. (2000). The complete idiot’s guide to overcoming procrastination. Indianapolis, IN: Alpha Books.

Chapter Nine

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Akerlof, G. A. (1991). Procrastination and obedience. American Economic Review, 81, 1–19.

Arneklev, B., Elis, L., & Medlicott, S. (2006). Testing the General Theory of Crime: Comparing the effects of “imprudent behavior” and an attitudinal indicator of “low self-control.”
Western Criminology Review, 7
(3), 41–55.

Carver, C. S. (2005). Impulse and constraint: Perspectives from personality psychology, convergence with theory in other areas, and potential for integration.
Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9
(4), 312–333.

Glomb, T., Steel, P., & Arvey, R. (2002). Office sneers, snipes, and stab wounds: Antecedents, consequences, and implications of workplace violence and aggression. In R. G. Lord, R. J. Klimoski, & R. Kanfer (Eds.),
Emotions in the workplace: Understanding the structure and role of emotions in organizational behavior
(pp. 227–259). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Gottfredson, M. R., & Hirschi, T. (1990).
A General Theory of Crime.
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Hirschi, T. (2004). Self-control and crime. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.),
Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications
(pp. 537–552). New York: Guilford Press.

Schmidt, C. (2003). Impulsivity. In E. F. Coccaro (Ed.),
Aggression: Psychiatric assessment and treatment
(pp. 75–87). New York: Informa Health Care.

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Roberts, B. W., Walton, K. E., & Viechtbauer, W. (2006). Patterns of mean-level change in personality traits across the life course: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 132, 1–25.

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Funder, D. C. (2001). Personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 197–221.

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Ainslie, G. (1975). Specious reward: A behavioral theory of impulsiveness and impulse control. Psychological Bulletin, 82(4), 463–496.

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Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, deadlines, and performance: Self-control by precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219–224.

Funk, I. K. (1895). The complete preacher: Sermons preached by some of the most prominent clergymen in this and other countries, and in the various denominations. University of Michigan: Funk & Wagnalls.

Sally, D. (2000). I, too, sail past: Odysseus and the logic of self-control. Kyklos, 53, 173–200.

Stanford, W. (1954). The Ulysses theme: A study in the adaptability of a traditional hero. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

Strotz, R. (1956). Myopia and inconsistency in dynamic utility maximization. Review of Economic Studies, 23(3), 165–180.

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Precommitment is a term devised by Thomas Schelling, the Nobel Prize winning economist. Known for influencing fields from strategic bargaining to global warming, Schelling was also particularly good at dreaming up precommitment examples.

Schelling, T. (1984). Choice and consequence: Perspectives of an errant economist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Schelling, T. C. (1992). Self-command: A new discipline. In G. Loewenstein & J. Elster (Eds.), Choice over time (pp. 167–176). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

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O'Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (2008). Procrastination on long-term projects. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 66, 161–175.

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This lack of self-awareness is known as a “projection bias,” whereby we project our present desires onto our future selves.

Loewenstein, G., & Angner, E. (2003). Predicting and indulging changing preferences. In R. F. Baumeister, G. Loewenstein & D. Read (Eds.), Time and decision: Economic and psychological perspectives on intertemporal choice (pp. 351–391). New York: Russell Sage Foundation.

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That he burnt his ships is a myth, probably caused by a mistranslation or confusing the story with William the Conqueror. Regardless, it still makes for a good example.

Reynolds, W. (1959). The burning ships of Hernán Cortés. Hispania, 42(3), 317–324.

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Ibeji, M. (2001). 1066: BBC History. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/normans/1066_01.shtml

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Working at my university office, I can’t really use this nudist technique without people starting petitions and protests. However, it might confine me to my home, which is also a great technique. In his book on precommitment Thomas Schelling cites the Times Literary Supplement for January 22, 1982, in which George Steiner interviews the Hungarian radical Georg Lukacs: “When I first called on him, in the winter of 1957–8, in a house still pockmarked with shell bursts and grenade splinters, I stood speechless before the armada of his printed works, as it crowded the bookshelves. Lukacs seized on my puerile wonder and blazed out of his chair in a motion at once vulnerable and amused: 'You want to know how one gets work done? It’s easy. House arrest, Steiner, house arrest!'”

Schelling, T. (1984).
Choice and consequence: Perspectives of an errant economist.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Wallace, I. (1977). Self-control techniques of famous novelists.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10
(3), 515–525.

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Weir, W. (January 12, 2006). Wake up! You snooze, you lose—Multiple hits on the snooze alarm may be hazardous to your sleep and motivation. Newsday.

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Richtel, M. (June 14, 2008). Lost in E-mail, tech firms face self-made beast. New York Times.

Williams, A. (October 19, 2008). Drunk, and dangerous, at the keyboard. New York Times.

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It is based on the Irvine Welsh book of the same name, but I have only seen the movie.

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To underscore the importance of this wisdom, there are dozens of other sayings to this effect. For instance, George Eliot noted: “No man can be wise on an empty stomach”; Albert Einstein thought: “An empty stomach is not a good political adviser”; and William Cowper concluded: “No man can be a patriot on an empty stomach.” My favorite, though, is number 214 of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.

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Not always though. As Maslow wrote: “We have spoken so far as if this hierarchy was a fixed order, but actually it is not nearly so rigid as we may have implied. It is true that most of the people with whom we have worked have seemed to have these basic needs in about the order that has been indicated. However, there have been a number of exceptions . . .”