Brian Crittenden - Journal #3

The Nature of Procrastination

From this source, I learned that the majority of college students procrastinate. About 80%-90% of students in college engage in procrastination. In addition, there are two types of procrastination: positive procrastination and negative procrastination. Positive procrastination is defined as waiting until new information comes out before making a decision or completing an action. Negative procrastination is defined as deferring an action without a good reason. This source also dives into the history of procrastination and characteristics of procrastination. Based on this source, I never realized how big of issue procrastination is for humans. Procrastination has been an issue in society since 800 B.C. I believe that procrastination has always been and will always be an issue for humanity. Some questions came up from examining this source: can procrastination be considered a trait, what specifically causes procrastination, and how do males/females react differently to procrastination. This new information strengthens my view that procrastination is definitely a problem and that is causes stress and anxiety. The author speaks about procrastination in the point of view as a negative thing. In my opinion, the audience is intended for those within the psychological field as well as for those who are concerned with procrastination.

Academic procrastination and anxiety statistics

            From this source, I learned that in fact 95% of college students procrastinate. Academic procrastination has been associated with negative academic outcomes, including missing deadlines for submitting assignments, low course grades, and course withdrawal. In addition, procrastination includes a tendency to nearly always or always experience problematic levels of anxiety. Based on this source, I can really see how much procrastination affects peoples’ behavior and emotions. I feel like procrastination has a negative effect on people because it causes stress, anxiety, and a decrease in work ethic. A big question that came up from this source is how would the statistics differ if a larger group of participants were used. The statistics in this source strengthen the argument that procrastination has negative side affects because anxiety levels were significantly higher for those who did procrastinate. In my opinion, the author has a neutral point of view and reports the findings from the investigation of the relationship between procrastination and anxiety. The source is intended for those who are researching the effects of procrastination or for those in the psychological field. The author may be biased towards procrastination as being negative due to the results of the reports.