PROCRASTINATION EXPERT
Check out the nearest post office on April 15 and you'll find a line of latecomers filing last-minute tax returns.
If you ever want to examine why people procrastinate, contact Regina Conti, assistant professor of psychology at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY. She researches procrastination.
While most people probably put off taxes because they don't enjoying preparing them, Conti notes that people will procrastinate over the most pleasant activities. In her studies, Conti found that motivation, rather than personality, played a stronger role in procrastination.
She says that tasks must have the right blend of reward and requirement to be done in a timely way. There needs to be a certain sense of obligation to make a commitment to do a project at all. After that initial amount of extrinsic motivation, it seems there has to be an amount of intrinsic motivation, to avoid procrastination on a task.
In other words, people put off filing their taxes because they don't enjoy doing them, but they eventually prepare their returns because there is a penalty for failing to file on time. However, people put off or abandon "want to" projects--such as taking the kids fishing, spring cleaning or writing a book--because there is no sense of obligation.
Editors & Reporters: Feel free to contact Dr. Conti at 315-228-7661 (office). Her e-mail address is Internet: [email protected] Please contact Steve Infanti of Dick Jones Communications at 814-867-1963 if you need any assistance.
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