Social comparisons by procrastinators: Rating peers with similar or dissimilar delay tendencies

JR Ferrari, T Patel - Personality and individual Differences, 2004 - Elsevier
JR Ferrari, T Patel
Personality and individual Differences, 2004Elsevier
This study examined how procrastinators judge a peer who delays academic or everyday
real-world activities. Participants (103 women, 57 men) previously self-reported
procrastination tendencies and then read a brief hypothetical conversation between a
procrastinator or a non-procrastinator focusing on either academic tasks (declaring a major,
studying, and working on an assignment) or everyday tasks (buying tickets for a concert,
making vacation travel plans, getting a summer job). Participants then were asked to …
This study examined how procrastinators judge a peer who delays academic or everyday real-world activities. Participants (103 women, 57 men) previously self-reported procrastination tendencies and then read a brief hypothetical conversation between a procrastinator or a non-procrastinator focusing on either academic tasks (declaring a major, studying, and working on an assignment) or everyday tasks (buying tickets for a concert, making vacation travel plans, getting a summer job). Participants then were asked to allocate monetary resources, via choice matrices, and to complete rating and attribution scales regarding both persons in the conversations. Results indicated that across academic and everyday activities procrastinators favored non-procrastinators by attributing to similar procrastinating peers fewer resources, lower character ratings, and more internal attributes for performance. Implications related to the social perceptions of procrastinators suggest that persons with high rates of task delays are dissatisfied with the delay tendencies of other procrastinators, perhaps reflecting a dislike of their own behavior style.
Elsevier