Precommitment and Procrastination: Behavioral Tools for Students
Imagine being a student today. Every time you sit down to open your books, your phone buzzes, or your laptop pings. Entire films and television series are accessible at the click of a button. Celebrities, friends and family all continuously post social updates; on almost every platform imaginable. Modern technology has been designed so as to demand all of our attention, all of the time; and the tactics for doing so are becoming increasingly sophisticated. The temptation to procrastinate from doing your work is more irresistible, and easier, than ever.
Procrastination (from the Latin, pro: for, cras: tomorrow) is a special case of our more general present-bias: our tendency to give stronger weight to payoffs that are closer to the present time when considering future trade-offs [1]. It is a common feeling; we all make noble plans about how much we are going to study, how we will hand in all of our assignments on time, and how we are going to be more focused and productive than ever. All of this starting tomorrow, of course. When it comes to it, we tend to choose the instant gratification of ‘just one more’ YouTube video over long hours spent studying; which, according to our present-bias-informed preferences, feels difficult, boring, and daunting. Instant gratification is all well and good, but it can seriously disrupt our more rational, long-term study goals. In fact, evidence seems to suggest that almost all students procrastinate more than they would like to.
So, in a world designed to exploit our searches for instant gratification and short attention spans, is there any hope for the student? Well, the good news is that behavioral insights can offer students smarter strategies to block out temptation, and focus on their work.
References
[1] O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (1999). Doing It Now or Later. The American Economic Review, 89(1), 103-124. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/116981.
[2] Ariely, D., & Wertenbroch, K. (2002). Procrastination, Deadlines, and Performance: Self-Control by Precommitment. Psychological Science, 13(3), 219-224.
doi:10.1111/1467-9280.00441.
[3] Fischer, C. (2008). Feedback on household electricity consumption: a tool for saving energy? Energy Efficiency, 1(1), 79-104.
doi:10.1007/s12053-008-9009-7.
[4] Association for Psychological Science. (2008). Decisions, Decisions: Feedback Influences Decision Making. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081112124424.htm.
[5] Altmann, E.M., Trafton J.G., & Hambrick, D.Z. (2014) Momentary interruptions can derail the train of thought. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 143(1), 215-26.
doi: 10.1037/a0030986.
[6] Thornton, B., Faires, A., Robbins, M., & Rollins, E. (2014). The mere presence of a cell phone may be distracting: Implications for attention and task performance. Social Psychology, 45(6), 479-488. https://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000216.
[7] Vohs, K., Baumeister, R., Schmeichel, B., Twenge, J., Nelson, N., & Tice, D. (2008). Making choices impairs subsequent self-control: A limited-resource account of decision making, self-regulation, and active initiative. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(5), 883-898.
About the Author
Johnny Hugill
Johnny Hugill is a graduate student in Philosophy from the University of Cambridge. His research interests include promoting trust, cooperation and social capital through public policy. He is currently co-editing a research project with the Wilberforce Society, investigating how behavioral insights can be used to promote gender equality.
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