Procrastination theories : A psychological framework for explaining procrastination

𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

There are currently two main academic theories regarding the psychological causes of procrastination:

• 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 which states that procrastination occurs when people prioritize their short-term mood over long-term goal achievement and wellbeing, primarily by postponing aversive tasks in order to postpone associated negative emotions.

• 𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲 which states that procrastination occurs when people’s motivation is low, which can happen because of some combination of low-value outcomes, low expectations of achieving outcomes, high delay before achieving outcomes, and high sensitivity to the delay of outcomes. 

𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲

According to the emotion-regulation theory (sometimes also called the temporal mood-repair theory), procrastination occurs when people prioritize their short-term mood over long-term goal achievement and wellbeing.

This primarily happens when people postpone a task that they find aversive—because it’s boring, frustrating, confusing, frightening, or unpleasant in some other way—in order to postpone the associated negative emotions, a behavior commonly described as “giving in to feel good” (or mood repair). However, this can also happen when people postpone tasks to avoid the absence of positive emotions (e.g., if a task isn’t exciting), or to create, increase, or prolong positive emotions (e.g., when a more appealing alternative is available, like digital entertainment).

A significant component of the emotion-regulation theory is temporal disjunction, where people feel disconnected from their future self, which leads them to prioritize the desire and needs of their present self. For example, this can involve procrastinating on an important task in order to improve the mood of the present self, while ignoring or downplaying the consequences that the future self will have to deal with because of this.Temporal motivation theory

𝐓𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐲

According to the temporal motivation theory (TMT), procrastination occurs when people have low motivation to engage in a task.

Under TMT, people’s motivation (or the utility of a given task/choice, meaning how desirable it is to an individual) is captured through an equation (sometimes called the procrastination equation). There, motivation is equal to the value of an outcome times its expectancy (i.e., how much the person expects to achieve it), which are divided by the delay of the outcome times the person’s sensitivity to delay (sometimes described as impulsiveness). In addition, a constant of “1” can be added to the denominator of the TMT equation (i.e., to the part with delay and sensitivity to delay), to prevent motivation from approaching infinity as the remaining delay approaches zero.

Based on this theory and equation, people’s motivation increases the more they value an outcome and the more they expect to achieve it. Conversely, people’s motivation decreases the greater the delay before they will achieve the outcome and the more sensitive they are to delay.