You ’ve no doubt heard ofprocrastination . You might be procrastinating right now by reading this story . But have you meet procrastination ’s cousin-german , “ pre - crastination ” ?
The term was of late strike by research worker from Penn State University , whodefineit as “ the inclination to nail tasks quickly just for the saki of get things done sooner rather than afterwards . ”
Pre - crastinators are compel to check things off their to - do list ASAP , whether or not the job is well done , agree to inquiry by psychology professorDavid RosenbaumandCory Potts , a alum bookman .
The researchers get along to this conclusion after examine the economics of cause . They asked participant to carry one of two pail a certain aloofness . One bucket was closer to the subject area , and the other closer to the finish line . Theywonderedwhether people would naturally beak up the pail they could carry the least — that is , the one confining to the finish line . That require the least amount of try .
But to their surprisal , that ’s not what many participants did . “ We become instead this foreign thing where they were oft pick up the closemouthed of the two buckets , ” Potts explain tomental_floss . Over and over , in a serial publication of nine experiments involve 250 participants , many mass prefer the bucket secretive to them and convey it all the way to the cultivation line , increasing the amount of endeavor they had to expend . Why ?
“ ‘ I wanted to get it done more quickly , ’ ” Potts says these participants account . But there was no rationality for them to consider that peck up the closer bucket would get the job done quicker . They had to walk the same distance regardless .
We see real - life examples of pre - crastination all the time . “ multitude answer emails immediately rather than carefully contemplating their replies,”explainsRosenbaum inScientific American . “ And , people grab items when they first inscribe the grocery shop , carry them to the back of the store , pick up more groceries at the back , and then return to the front of the store to pay and outlet , thus tot the items far than necessary . ”
Rosenbaum and Potts speculate that our pre - crastination tendencies are take root in organic evolution . ( In other experiment they run , pigeon demonstrate to be pre - crastinators too . ) One theory is that getting thing done quickly frees up part of our working retentivity , making way for other more demanding tasks . Or perhaps it ’s a leftover of our need to take whatever we can while it ’s available — a sort of “ low - hang fruit ” approach .
But maybe the answer is even simple-minded , Potts says . Checking things off a to - do listing just feels good , no matter how trivial the task . How many clip have you put on your to - do list something that ’s easy to fulfill just so you could cross it off ?
expect , so now we have to worry about not getting thing done too lateortoo early ? really , Rosenbaum and Potts say these two force can work together . “ Break larger task into smaller ones , ” Rosenbaumsays . “ Such little undertaking , when nail , will promote a horse sense of accomplishment , will bring one closer to the final goal , and , via trial - and - error learning , may digest the breakthrough of even more adaptive or groundbreaking shipway of behaving . ”
And we look up to pre - crastinators . “ complete tasks chop-chop develop you a report as being a conscientious person , ” Potts says .
