Sigma Xi Conference Presentation at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College

1. Mark Connelly and Bianca Bramblett

2.  70% of college students procrastinate (Ferrari, 1995).
 Leads to missing deadlines for submitting
assignments, claiming test anxiety, obtaining low
course and semester grades, and low cumulative
GPA (Beswick, Rothblum, & Mann, 1988; Rothblum, Solomon, & Murakami, 1986;
Watson, 2001).

3.  Students who procrastinate report more
◦ colds and flu
◦ gastrointestinal problems
◦ insomnia (Ferrari, 2004).

4.  There are three different time perspectives
◦ Past (positive and negative)
◦ Present (hedonistic or “pleasure-seeking” and
fatalistic or “fate based”)
◦ Future (Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999.)

5.  The Big Five Mini-Marker is a shortened
version of the Big Five Aspect Scale.
◦ Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of
procrastination (Schouwenberg & Lay,1995).

6. 1. Will an intervention reduce the amount of
procrastination displayed by college
students?
2. Will students with different time
perspectives react differently to the
intervention?
3. How do personality factors influence
procrastination?

7. 1. Can GPA be a predictor of procrastination?
2. Will the students turn essays in faster after
the intervention than they did before it?
3. Will students become more aware of their
cognitive processes?

8.  Consisted of 46 students from the first year
psychology seminar class.
 (30 Females and 16 Males)

9.  Stanford Time Perspective Inventory-short form
(STPI)
 Big Five Mini-Markers Scale
 The Aitken Procrastination Inventory
 Metacognitive Awareness Inventory
 A brief demographic survey

10.  Aitken Procrastination Inventory Example:
 “I often wait until the last minute to get things done.”
 Rated on a 1-5 Likert Scale
 STPI Example
 “It upsets me when people are late for appointments.”
 Rated on a 1-5 Likert Scale
 Metacognitive Awareness Inventory Example:
 “I ask myself periodically if I am meeting my goals.”
 Answered either true of false

11.  The participants completed a survey in class
consisting of the measures for both the pre and
posttests after giving informed consent.
 It was used to assess whether the students turned
assignments in faster after the intervention.

12.  Created the syllabus along with Dr. Blasko
◦ Utilized methods of preventing procrastination (e.g.
chunking, time management skills)
 Taught a lesson to the class utilizing pretest
results to show how they ranked.
◦ Offered areas of improvement.

13. t(36) = 3.5, p = .001

14. Time Perspective Correlations
N=46 Past Past Present Present Future
Negative Positive Fatalism Hedonism
Procrastination -.057 .180 .350* .412* -.722**
Note. **Indicates that correlation is significant at the 0.01 level * Indicates
significant at the .05 level

15. School Factors Correlations
N=46 Essay Turn in High School Predicted GPA
Time GPA
Procrastination -.438* -.180 -.097
Note. **Indicates that correlation is significant at the 0.01 level * Indicates
significant at the .05 level

16. 5
4
Mean Score
3
2
1 Pretest
0 Posttest
Future:
t(36) = 3.13, p = .003
Present Fatalistic:
t(36) = -4.01, p = .000

17. 1. Will an intervention reduce the amount of
procrastination displayed by college
students? Yes
2. Will students with different time
perspectives react differently to the
intervention? Yes
3. How do personality factors influence
procrastination? No Supporting Data

18.  Can GPA be a predictor of procrastination? No
Supporting Data
 Will the students turn essays in faster after
the intervention than they did before it? Yes
 Will students become more aware of their
cognitive processes? Yes (M= 35.38) to (M=
38.97).

19.  We did not have a comparison group.
 Factors could influence procrastination that
were not measured.
 The study is being conducted on a very select
group of students.

20.  Possible new tools and methods for reducing
procrastination in an academic setting.
 Can help to reduce student anxiety and also
has the potential to help the students achieve
higher grades and learn more.

21.  Beswick, G., Rothblum, E. D. and Mann, L. (1988), Psychological antecedents
of student procrastination. Australian Psychologist, 23, 207–217.
 Ferrari, J. R., Johnson, J., & McCown, W. G. (1995). Procrastination and task
avoidance: Theory, research, and treatment. New York: Plenum Press.
 Rothblum, E., D.; Solomon, L., J.; Murakami, J. (1986). Affective, cognitive,
and behavioral differences between high and low procrastinators. Journal
of Counseling Psychology, 33(4), 387-394.
 Schouwenberg, H.C., & Lay, C. L. (1995). Trait procrastination and the big
five factors of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 18,
481-490.
 Watson, D.C. (2001). Procrastination and the five-factor model: A facet level
analysis. Personality and Individual Differences, 30, 149-158.
 Zimbardo, P. G. & Boyd, J. N. (1999). Putting Time in Perspective: A Valid,
Reliable Individual-Differences Metric. Journal of Personality & Social
Psychology, 77(6), 1271-1288.

22.  The authors would like to thank Dr. Dawn
Blasko, our faculty advisor, for her guidance
and support throughout the research
process, along with Dr. Robert W.
Light, Senior Associate Dean, for his financial
support through the grant program at Penn
State Behrend.