Researchers of a new study found that procrastination is a by-product of impulsivity and is inherited.
"Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today." Despite being familiar with this saying, all of us procrastinate at some point in time or the other. University of Colorado Boulder researchers were curious to know why some people do it more often than others and how the concept of procrastination evolved.
"Everyone procrastinates at least sometimes, but we wanted to explore why some people procrastinate more than others and why procrastinators seem more likely to make rash actions and act without thinking," study author Daniel Gustavson of the University of Colorado Boulder explained in a press statement. "Answering why that's the case would give us some interesting insights into what procrastination is, why it occurs, and how to minimize it."
The evolution of impulsivity, the opposite of procrastination makes sense. Since there was no guarantee of a tomorrow, our ancestors had to make the best of their todays, which compelled them to take actions on impulsivity. But what gave rise to procrastination?
Researchers speculate that modern human beings have more long term goals than short-term ones. These don't need immediate action and hence can be put off till the next day. Adding to this, impulsivity acts like a big distraction leading to procrastination. For example, say a person has a goal of buying a house and for this he needs to save. One day he sees the car of his dreams. Impulsivity gets the better of him and he spends all his saved money on the car, thus delaying his long-term goal to buy a house.
Hence, it is safe to say that people who are perpetual procrastinators would also be highly impulsive. Although many studies have confirmed this link, it is unclear what cognitive, biological, and environmental influences are responsible for it.
The best way to understand this link was to study identical twins that share 100 percent of their genes. Gustavon and his team did exactly that, enrolling 181 identical-twin pairs and 166 fraternal-twin pairs (twins that share 50 percent of their genes). All participants were asked to complete several surveys to measure their tendencies toward impulsivity and procrastination, as well as their ability to set and maintain goals. Researchers found that like impulsivity, procrastination can also be inherited.
"The link between procrastination and impulsivity also overlapped genetically with the ability to manage goals, lending support to the idea that delaying, making rash decisions, and failing to achieve goals all stem from a shared genetic foundation," the authors said.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
