Research & Teaching
|
Health |
| Overview | The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Procrastinating
Overview:Procrastination, Stress, and PerformanceHave you ever written a paper the night before it was due? Read the text the day before the exam? Probably everyone is guilty of procrastination once in a while. Did you get away with procrastinating? Hopefully, you got an A on that paper or test. But maybe you were stressed out beyond belief and ended up with a grade that didn't reflect your ability. Psychologists are divided on the effects of procrastination. Some psychologists believe that procrastination leads to higher than normal levels of anxiety and stress. High levels of stress often interferes with performance. Roy Baumeister, one of the authors of the article, calls this choking under pressure. If this is the case, then procrastination could lead to poor performance and, therefore, low grades. Other psychologists believe that procrastination can have a positive benefit. One benefit of procrastinating is that the person who waits to the last minute to write a paper might be able to incorporate recently learned information into the paper. Another benefit is that the looming deadline might lead to more efficient behavior by the procrastinator. In this case, procrastination is an effective time management technique. Tice and Baumeister examined the relationships between procrastination, stress, health, and academic performance by students in a health psychology class. |