Procrastinators put off doing things – or do something else instead – or think the task through thoroughly before doing it. They can’t do the painting because they are doing the gardening, or they’ll write the report after they have washed the dishes. Or they’ll wash the dishes after they have played with the children. Impulsive people will act on the spur of the minute, without too much thought. They’ll buy things on impulse, or go on holidays on impulse, or move the furniture in their apartment on impulse. Procrastination and impulsiveness appear to be opposite ends of a continuum of personality traits. But maybe not …
Research
indicates that procrastination is an evolved trait in humankind. It seems that
when humans lived in caves, hunting and gathering were the first priorities and
anything after that they could ponder for ages. Impulsiveness too is an evolved
trait, say the researchers. Again, from our cave days, acting on impulsive was
more likely to ensure that the family was fed and that the population grew,
instead of carefully thinking about what the future would look like (Canberra
Times, April 21, 2014). In addition, researchers maintain that procrastination
and impulsiveness co-exist side-by-side.
A team of psychologists, neuroscientists, and geneticists from the University of
Colorado in America conducted a study, published in the journal, Psychological Science, to determine how
much the tendency to procrastinate was linked to genetic inheritance, and
whether procrastination and impulsiveness were derived from the same genetic
origins.
From
the study, researchers noted that procrastinators were likely to be impulsive
people, and impulsive people were highly likely to be procrastinators. This
suggested that these once-adaptive traits must be genetic. So the team of
researchers looked at twins and their similarities and differences, and
inferred the degree to which their shared and not-shared traits were the result
of shared DNA – because twins have common genes.
Identical
twins come from a single embryo created by one egg and one sperm – so it is
thought that they share all of their DNA. Fraternal twins come from two
separate embryos, from two distinct sets of eggs and sperm – however, there is
some overlap in their genes. If behaviour traits are shared then statistically
the trait comes from the genetic code. If they are different, then environment
or experiences or other factors may play a part in the development of a
behaviour trait.
Researchers
studied the behavioural tendencies of 347 same-sex twin pairs – 181 of them
identical or “monozygotic” twins and 166 fraternal or “dizygotic” twins. The
average age of the twins was 22 years, and all had been recruited to
participate in an ongoing twin study in Colorado, says the article.
The
twins completed an online assessment (a rating scale) of their reliance on deadlines,
their tendency toward neglecting their goals, avoidance of activities, their
inclination to speak before thinking, to resist temptation, whether they did
things on the spur of the moment, whether they forgot to do tasks, failed to
notice signs, and whether they left chores unfinished.
The
researchers found that, in a broad population of people, genetic inheritance
significantly influenced whether the average person would be a procrastinator,
accounting for 46% of cases. Genetic inheritance was even stronger for
impulsiveness, accounting for 49% of cases. The genetic correlation (link)
between procrastination and impulsiveness was 100%. Where there was
procrastination there was impulsiveness! It also meant that where a person is a
procrastinator but not impulsive, or vice versa, only an environmental
difference could explain the mismatch.
Researchers
also found that impulsive people were more likely to resist the urge to
procrastinate if they had a specific future goal – such as finishing their
studies. So procrastination and impulsiveness go hand-in-hand. And one way to
beat procrastination is to have a goal, or two. Goals = less time
procrastinating.
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