Locus Of Control And Task Difficulty On Procrastination
The Effects of Locus of Control and Task Difficulty on Procrastination
Introduction
The main topic that the authors were interested in learning more about was the way individuals can control events that affect them and the task difficulty on procrastination. Procrastination is putting off something or delaying something. In a previous study an estimate of forty six percent to ninety five percent of college students procrastinated on academic assignments. The longer the students were in college the more they would tend to procrastinate. in the end researchers realized that procrastination was associated with difficulties in test anxiety, missed deadlines for assignments, poor semester grades, depressed affect, low self-esteem, and social anxiety. There were three hypotheses in this journal article. The first hypothesis is students with internal control expectancies will procrastinate less than those with external control expectancies. The second hypothesis is students who receive the difficult assignment will procrastinate more than those who receive the easy assignment. The third hypothesis …show more content…
is there will be an interaction between locus of control and task difficulty, such that students with external locus of control expectancies who receive the difficult assignment will procrastinate the most.
Materials and Method
The people involved in the study were forty two undergraduate college students.
Ten of them were men and thirty two of them were woman. The researchers measured procrastination by the time that passed between the date the assignment was given and the dates when the students began, completed, and returned the assignment. The researchers measured locus of control by a twenty eight true or false questionnaire that was designed to assess the locus of control with relation to academic outcomes. The higher the scores indicated that the student had external control expectancies. The students were enrolled in two psychology students in a small college. Randomly selected students were assigned either an easy article of a difficult article. The students were assigned work sheets and were instructed to return them as soon as they were finished, with no actual
deadline.
Results
The second and third hypothesis did not support the results of the study. The first hypothesis did support the results in the study, the effect of the locus of control when procrastination was defined as the number of days that passed before students began assignments.
Discussion
The study showed that procrastination leads to poor time management skills. In this study, students with internal control expectancies took less time to complete and return the assignment and external control expectancies took more time to complete and return the assignment. Researchers also realized that the difficulty level of the article did have an effect on procrastination. Researchers believe that in future studies, participants with different ages, ethnicities, and occupations may be very helpful in defining the relation between locus of control and procrastination.
Introduction
The main topic that the authors were interested in learning more about was the way individuals can control events that affect them and the task difficulty on procrastination. Procrastination is putting off something or delaying something. In a previous study an estimate of forty six percent to ninety five percent of college students procrastinated on academic assignments. The longer the students were in college the more they would tend to procrastinate. in the end researchers realized that procrastination was associated with difficulties in test anxiety, missed deadlines for assignments, poor semester grades, depressed affect, low self-esteem, and social anxiety. There were three hypotheses in this journal article. The first hypothesis is students with internal control expectancies will procrastinate less than those with external control expectancies. The second hypothesis is students who receive the difficult assignment will procrastinate more than those who receive the easy assignment. The third hypothesis …show more content…
is there will be an interaction between locus of control and task difficulty, such that students with external locus of control expectancies who receive the difficult assignment will procrastinate the most.
Materials and Method
The people involved in the study were forty two undergraduate college students.
Ten of them were men and thirty two of them were woman. The researchers measured procrastination by the time that passed between the date the assignment was given and the dates when the students began, completed, and returned the assignment. The researchers measured locus of control by a twenty eight true or false questionnaire that was designed to assess the locus of control with relation to academic outcomes. The higher the scores indicated that the student had external control expectancies. The students were enrolled in two psychology students in a small college. Randomly selected students were assigned either an easy article of a difficult article. The students were assigned work sheets and were instructed to return them as soon as they were finished, with no actual
deadline.
Results
The second and third hypothesis did not support the results of the study. The first hypothesis did support the results in the study, the effect of the locus of control when procrastination was defined as the number of days that passed before students began assignments.
Discussion
The study showed that procrastination leads to poor time management skills. In this study, students with internal control expectancies took less time to complete and return the assignment and external control expectancies took more time to complete and return the assignment. Researchers also realized that the difficulty level of the article did have an effect on procrastination. Researchers believe that in future studies, participants with different ages, ethnicities, and occupations may be very helpful in defining the relation between locus of control and procrastination.