Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2009. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-189).

The thesis consists of three stand-alone essays. Defaults are influential, cheap to change, and therefore of great interest to policymakers. However, it is still unclear what explains their influence. Optimal Defaults and Uncertainty presents a model in which uncertainty contributes to default inertia: decision makers may be content to stick with the default and avoid the costs of learning their optimal decision. The socially optimal default policy I find differs significantly from optimal policy in models where procrastination alone drives default inertia. I show that alternative policy measures may be more effective in improving welfare, and so the effectiveness of defaults may be more limited than previous models suggest. In Screening Salient Thinkers, I explore a model of second-degree price discrimination in which consumers with context-dependent preferences choose from a menu of price-quality bundles. Specifically, the range of prices and qualities in the menu determines the weight that consumers give to the two attributes when they evaluate bundles. 'Focusing thinkers' place more weight on the attribute that varies the most within the menu; for 'relative thinkers' the opposite is true. The monopolist exploits both types of bounded rationality. In the focusing case the cost of asymmetric information is directly reduced; with relative thinkers the monopolist can use a 'decoy good' to extract higher revenues from all consumers. Finally How Long Is Now? explores an important degree of freedom in models of present-biased preferences: when does the present end and the future begin? First I present evidence that illustrates how economists have used this degree of freedom to explain behaviour in a variety of different contexts. Second, using a novel, between-subjects experimental design, I test a hypothesis that endogenises the cut-off between the present and the future: the 'as soon as possible' effect. The effect predicts that the soonest option in a menu fixes the present horizon and implies a time-specific form of menu dependence. The experimental data collected does not support the hypothesis and this result appears robust to a number of analytical approaches.

A qualitative empirical phenomenological study was undertaken to determine the self-experience of procrastinating behaviour. Five students each gave an account of an occasion when they procrastinated. The resultant protocols were analysed and the Situated Structure of each individual’s experience was reported. From these, the General Structure of procrastinating behaviour was determined. A further, novel step was added to the standard methodology, whereby ‘themes’ were extracted from participant protocols and a ‘Composite Reality’ of everyday-life procrastination was rendered. Participants’ accounts suggest they are concerned the results of intellectual tasks they undertake will be seen as equivalent to their quality of being-as-an-individual: poor work results will be interpreted by important-others as evidence of participants’ poor quality of self – which is to be avoided. This study suggests that procrastination is a ploy used by individuals to avoid criticism, by deflecting assessment of their capacity to complete a task well, to instead, what they are capable of when only a limited time is available. Conclusions drawn by the important-others of participants’ true ability are thereby confounded. The results achieved in the phenomenological study were compared with others originating from various quantitative studies, and considerable overlap was found. The experiential richness of the phenomenological results point to a worthwhile methodological strategy for future procrastination research.

This study sought to examine the relationship between the procrastination involved in thesis writing and Jungian personality type. A sample of 50 graduate students enrolled in the Department of Counselling Psychology at the University of British Columbia participated in the study. These individuals were classified into one of two groups: those who procrastinated while writing their thesis and those who did not. Procrastination was measured using length of time taken to complete the thesis coupled with self-report. The 50 subjects were then administered the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which measures Jungian personality type. These two groups were then compared to determine if significant differences in personality type existed between the procrastinating and nan-procrastinating groups. Five hypotheses were tested. A t-test (two tailed) was performed using the continuous scores of the four scales of the MBTI to test the first four hypotheses to determine if a statistical difference could be found between these two groups on these dimensions. No differences were found on the first three scales (extraversion-introversion; sensation-intuition; thinking-feeling), but a significant difference was found on the judging-perceiving index (p=.008). Procrastinators tended to score toward the perceiving end of the scale while non-procrastinators scored toward the judging end of the continuum. A chi-square analysis using tire dichotomous scores of the MBTI was performed to test the fifth hypothesis which predicted that a significantly higher number of NFP types would be procrastinators than nan-procrastinators. This hypothesis was accepted (p=.0017) indicating that specific personality variables do tend to correlate with procrastination. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

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Ο σκοπός της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι διπλός. Πρώτον, επιδιώκει την δημιουργία ενός προγράμματος ομαδικής συμβουλευτικής παρέμβασης με στόχο την αντιμετώπιση του φαινομένου της αναβλητικότητας των φοιτητών και την αναζήτηση πρακτικών λύσεων σχετικά με την ολοκλήρωση των ακαδημαϊκών τους καθηκόντων. Αποτελεί μια πρωτότυπη ερευνητική προσπάθεια, τουλάχιστον στην εγχώρια ερευνητική δραστηριότητα, καθώς έρχεται να καλύψει ένα κενό, αυτό της ομαδικής συμβουλευτικής παρέμβασης. Ο δεύτερος στόχος της εργασίας μας, αφορά την προσπάθεια αξιολόγησης του προγράμματος και της αποτελεσματικότητας του ως προς την αντιμετώπιση και την μείωση της αναβλητικότητας. Δεν σταθήκαμε, λοιπόν, μόνο στην κατάθεση ενός ολοκληρωμένου σχεδίου αντιμετώπισης της αναβλητικότητας, αλλά προχωρήσαμε στην υλοποίηση του θέτοντάς το εν συνεχεία σε πειραματικό έλεγχο με βάση συγκεκριμένες υποθέσεις. Ως εκ τούτου, γίνεται φανερό ότι η φύση του φαινομένου που επιζητούμε να μελετήσουμε καθιστά αναγκαία την υιοθέτηση μιας πειραματικής μεθοδολογίας και στρατηγικής. Το δείγμα της παρούσας έρευνας αποτέλεσαν φοιτητές του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. Ο αριθμός των συμμετεχόντων στο πρόγραμμα διερεύνησης/μείωσης της αναβλητικότητας συνολικά ανέρχεται σε 40 υποκείμενα. Είκοσι (20) άτομα, εκ των οποίων 8 άνδρες και 12 γυναίκες, αποτέλεσαν την ομάδα παρέμβασης, έχοντας μέσο όρο ηλικίας τα 23 έτη. Τα υπόλοιπα 20 άτομα (10 άνδρες και 10 γυναίκες) απάρτισαν την ομάδα ελέγχου της έρευνας, με μέσο όρο ηλικίας τα 25 έτη. Τα μέλη της ομάδας παρέμβασης συμμετείχαν σε έξι συνεδρίες του προγράμματος, καθεμία εκ των οποίων εστίαζε σε συγκεκριμένες θεματικές. Για την συλλογή των δεδομένων χρησιμοποιήθηκαν κατάλληλα ερωτηματολόγια και κλίμακες αξιολόγησης. Τα ευρήματα της έρευνας επιβεβαιώνουν την κύρια αρχική μας πρόβλεψη, ότι μετά την παρακολούθηση της ομαδικής συμβουλευτικής παρέμβασης, οι φοιτητές θα ανέφεραν μείωση της τάσης τους για αναβλητική συμπεριφορά στα ακαδημαϊκά καθήκοντα, στατιστικά σημαντική εν συγκρίσει με τους φοιτητές της ομάδας ελέγχου. Δεν επιβεβαιωθήκαμε ωστόσο ως προς το μέγεθος της διαφοροποίησης του χαρακτηριολογικού άγχους και της αυτοεκτίμησης μεταξύ των ομάδων παρέμβασης και ελέγχου. Λέξεις – κλειδιά: συμβουλευτική, αναβλητικότητα, ακαδημαϊκή αναβλητικότητα, ομαδική συμβουλευτική παρέμβαση, άγχος, αυτοεκτίμηση / -

The present study investigated the relative efficacy of paradoxical, behavioral, and reflection-support treatments among college students who complained about procrastination of studying. Although there is much literature describing successful use of paradoxical treatment, there has been little substantive research. Paradoxical techniques offer more complex theoretical explanations than behavioral therapy even though in practice the procedure of each are often quite similar. Subjects were selected by their response to an ad in the school newspaper that offered free treatment for students who had problems with procrastination. Further screening of participants was done through clinical interviews. Thirty-three subjects were selected for treatment of procrastination with three clients randomly assigned to each of 11 advanced psychology graduate students who served as therapists. Each therapist provided all three types of treatment, one type of treatment to each of their three assigned clients.

A model of the person as a "community of selves" was used to investigate how adopting the perspective of different selves influenced anticipated compliance with therapy homework designed to decrease academic procrastination. A model of resistance to change derived from personal construct theory was used to predict which selves subjects would tend to see as more likely to take on the role of carrying out the homework. Focusing on different selves was found to influence anticipated compliance, and the model of resistance to change was partially successful in predicting which selves would be seen as more likely to carry out the homework. Implications for therapy and research are discussed within the framework of a model of first and second order change.