Essay About Such Personality Traits And Procrastination Of Academic Tasks

Perspectives on Academic Procrastination
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Procrastination of academic tasks is a commonly
observed phenomenon amongst undergraduate students.
There are various propositions to explain this
procrastinatory behaviour amongst some students which
in turn depend on the proponents perceptions of
procrastination. Some of the proposed definitions of are:
“the act of needlessly delaying tasks to the point of
experiencing subjective discomfort” by Solomon and
Rothblum (1984), “frequent failure at doing what ought
to be done to reach goals” by Lay (1986) and “the desire
to avoid an activity, the promise to get it late, and the
use of excuse making to justify the delay and avoid
blame” according to Ellis and Knaus (2002). Due to the
differences in these definitions, the origins of
procrastination are also differently understood. While
Popoola (2005) considers procrastination a dispositional
trait, Schouwenberg (1995) regards it as arising jointly
from such personality traits and a general discounting
mechanism (definition discussed in later sections)
arising from social temptations. Similarly, reported rates
of procrastination in college students also varies
between 46% (Solomon and Rothblum, 1984) to 95%
(Ellis and Knaus, 1977).
Due to the disparity in the definitions available in
existing literature, we opted to construct a definition of
academic procrastination by asking the participants in
the study about what they felt constituted academic
procrastination. Based on the definition and constitution
proposed, further questions were asked. The aim of such
semi-structured interviews was to understand the
common perception of what academic procrastination is
and its various causes and affects spanning both personal
and social contexts. Further we tried to gauge whether
students felt that their college life is a compromise
between studying and social interactions as proposed by
Schouwenberg and Groenewoud (2001). We also tried to
understand whether procrastination is a self-worth
preservation mechanism to provide another plausible
reason for imminent failure (Covington, 1992;
Rhodewalt & Vohs, 2005).
TABLE I
INTERVIEW SCHEDULE
What is academic procrastination?
1. Describe academic procrastination in your own
words.
2. What activities constitute academic
procrastination?
prompt: and what would you not include
3. What are the different ways of procrastinating
that you use?
prompt: specific examples
Effect of procrastination on academic
performance
1. When do you indulge in such activities the most?
prompt: w r. t. exams and project deadlines
2. Do you think these activities have significantly
affected your academic performance?
3. Do you often feel bad about procrastination
affecting your performance?
Other effects of procrastination
1. Do you think it always affects you negatively?
a. If yes, examples
b. If no, examples, specifically about
personality development
2. How does it make you feel?
prompt: happy, low on self-esteem, makes you
more efficient
3. Does it affect other spheres of your life?
Origins of and resistance to academic
procrastination
1. Does the interest in the subject have a role to
play?
2. How does it start?
prompt: because of you or do you join in
3. Do you start/join such activities as an impulsive
act or is it planned?
4. Are you forced into joining an activity leading to
procrastination by your peers?
5. How often do you say no to such attempts?
6. When do you stop procrastinating?
prompt: when do you realise you can no longer
handle it
7. Are your evaluations about when to stop correct?
8. If you have performed poorly initially, what do