Self-Regulation (C8894): Essential Reading, Week 5
Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation:
Consequences for Future Self
Sirois, F., & Pychyl, T. (2013). Procrastination and the priority of short ‐term mood
regulation: Consequences for future self. Social and personality psychology
compass, 7(2), 115-127.
Procrastination Voluntary delay of an intended action, even though one knows that they
will be worse off for the delay (e.g., Steele, 2007). (Page 115)
If an individual chooses to voluntarily delay a task, this shows that self-regulation
(SR) has been broken down. This breakdown usually occurs when one is faced
with an aversive task (i.e., boring; irritating). (Page 115)
By procrastinating, people prioritise their current mood over the potential
consequences of inaction for their future self. (Page 116)
Procrastination: Quintessential Self-Regulatory Failure
Measures of procrastination share variance with various core personality traits,
such as conscientiousness. (Big Five) (e.g., Watson, 2001) (Page 116)
Procrastination is associated with task characteristics, such as timing of
associated task rewards (e.g., O’Donoghue & Rabin, 1999) or perceived
aversiveness of a task (e.g., Blunt & Pychyl, 2000). (Page 116)
Procrastination can be seen as a lack of self-control (SC), in the context of
engaging in a task at an appropriate time. (Page 116)
Tice and Bratslavsky (2000) suggest that focusing on regulating mood and feeling
states in the short term can result in a failure of SC in other connected areas in
our existence. (Page 117)
Tice and Bratslavsky (2000, p. 153): “Even a seemingly artificially induced
negative mood proved to be enough to make people postpone an important SC
goal”. (Page 117)
Interventions such as positive mood induction (Tice, Baumeister, Shmueli, &
Muraven, 2007) or self-affirmation (Schmeichel, Vohs, 2009) restore SR. (Page
117)
Prioritising the repair of short-term mood usually results in the individual feeling
worse, even if immediate positive change was necessary. (Page 117)
The present self does not anticipate consequences to the future self. (Tappolet,
2010)
Procrastination and the Future Self
Temporal perspective: A focus on short-term mood repair characterised by
procrastination suggests that the individual prioritises immediate positive mood
more so than long-term goals and rewards. Additionally, this suggests a
prioritisation of the present self over the needs of the future self. (Page 118)
Mindfulness is beneficial for maintaining self-regulation because it reduces stress
(Brown & Ryan, 2003) and allows non-judgemental awareness of discrepancies
between current and desired future states that may increase persistence on
challenging tasks (Evans, Baer, & Segerstrom, 2009).
A focus on the gap between one’s present and future self may lead to negative
mood states. (Page 118)
Procrastination and the Process of Temporal Mood Regulation
