Profile of a Procrastinator

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Profile of a Procrastinator

• Teya Jakovina

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APA Citation

• Lay, Clarry . H. (1987). A modal profile
  analysis of procrastinators a search for types.
  Personal Individual Differences, 8, 705-714.

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Definitions

• Neurotic Disorganization difficult to focus
  attention on the details of everyday activity
  absent-minded, easily distracted, forgetful,
  poorly organized.
• Non-achievement syndrome underachiever a
  consistent pattern of underachievement in absence
  of any mental disorder

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Rationale

• The article is based on the results of two
  studies
• The purpose of these studies was to find out if
  procrastinators could be put into specific
  categories

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Study OneMethod

• 30 males and 64 females were used
• They were responsible for answering a 128-item
  true/false questionnaire
• Subjects were asked to list and rate 10 personal
  projects that they would most likely do in the
  following month
• dimensions

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Results

• There were four types of procrastinators found,
  with two which scored high on the procrastination
  scale
• Profile 1 was found to be characterized by high
  procrastination, rebelliousness and neurotic
  disorganization personal projects were high on
  stress wide low levels of progress made.
• Profile 2 had high procrastination and neurotic
  disorganization they had low levels of stress
  and difficulty and high levels of organization,
  energy levels and achievement

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DiscussionProfile 1

• It was discovered that Profile 1 types tend to
  perceive tasks as hard and stressful
• Yet it is also these same people who had high
  rebelliousness levels

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Profile 2

• This type of procrastinator resemble the
  traditional non-achievement syndrome under
  achiever
• In other words, this type is known for having low
  energy levels and need-achievement (usually
  described by others as being lazy or
  unmotivated)

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Study TwoMethod

• Participants were required to fill out a 228-item
  true/false questionnaire
• Subjects were made up of 122 males and 215
  females (average ages were 30.0 years and 27.6
  years)

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Results

• It must be noted here that due to computer
  program restraints, 15 of the female participants
  were randomly eliminated
• As before, procrastination was heavily related to
  neurotic disorganization and organization
• In this study, the procrastinator scored high on
  the cognitive failures scale as well as the fear
  of failure scale

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Discussion Males

• In Profile 2, males were characterized by
  procrastination and neurotic disorganization, and
  other-directed self-monitoring at one end, and
  low levels of organization and fear of rejection
  at the other.
• Profile 4 also head procrastinators, but these
  had a different reason for being called such
  they had wide breadths of interest (meaning they
  were just too busy to finish tasks), and were
  self-reflective (high private self-consciousness).
  

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Discussion Females

• Profile 1 showed signs of high procrastination,
  neurotic disorganization, and cognitive failures
  at one side, but on the other had low
  organization, energy levels and self-esteem.
• Profile 2 featured neurotic disorganization, a
  lack of planfulness and little systemization.
• All such females had low energy levels,
  self-esteem and achievement.

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Discussion, general

• There was a low connection between self-esteem,
  achievement, energy level and sensitivity to
  rejection found in all the males
• Also brought up was the fact that
  Procrastination, with females, may be a
  manifestation of non-achievement/low esteem,
  coupled with a lack of organization.

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Wrap Up

• As we can see, procrastinators are not just lazy
  or unmotivated, there are reasons for their lack
  of motivation
• This information can help us pin-point peoples
  problems and help them overcome their laziness