Five days of emotion: An experience sampling study of undergraduate student procrastination

Affective correlates of procrastination were examined through experience-sampling. Forty-five undergraduate students carried electronic pagers for five days preceding an academic deadline. Students were paged eight times daily. At each signal, the participants indicated what they were doing, extent of procrastination and affective state. Contrary to previous research, procrastination was not found to be correlated with either positive or negative affect. Participants' appraisals of their tasks when paged revealed that they procrastinated on unpleasant, stressful and difficult tasks, while engaging in activities that were significantly more pleasant. Specious rewards, self-regulation and the apparent shortterm benefits of procrastination are discussed in relation to these findings and as a basis for counseling intervention.