Moderate to high procrastination has been found to promote more creative ideas. It both allows people to continue thinking about the problem for a longer time before acting on their ideas, pushing the due date as far back as possible, and it allows flexibility in thinking by removing people from a set headspace where they can only think of the obvious solutions or ideas.

Proscrastination allows incubation time for ideas

Procrastination can help promote creativity when intrinsic motivation is low.

Grinnell College

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

The cognitive ability to produce creative ideas. It is part of everyday eminent creativity, and is one of the sources of creativity. It is affected by motivation and other factors.

Creative Ideation

Pulling from the Latin roots "*pro*" (meaning forward, forth, in favor of) and "*crastinus*" (of tomorrow), procrastination is an irrational, but voluntary decision to delay an intended behavior or task.
- *Irrationality* is defined as "... choosing course of action[,] despite expecting that it will not maximize your utilities..."
- *Intended* is defined as something that one wants to interact with; the avoidance of random or irrelevant tasks would not be considered procrastination.

Procrastination

Creativity is the ability to generate, create, or discover new ideas, solutions, and possibilities.

Creativity

When the performance (engagement) of some activity is the end in its own right. For example, I play a sport because I enjoy doing it and may have fond memories of doing it. Intrinsic motivation relates to the personal satisfaction one feels from doing the behavior.

Intrinsic Motivation

Shin, J & Grant, A. (unpublished). When putting work off pays off: The curvilinear relationship between procrastination and creativity. 

When Putting Work Off Pays Off

The degree of confidence individuals have in their capacity to be creative. It also acts as a mediating factor between Creative ideation and Active procrastination

Creative Self-efficacy

Ways to measure creative ideation

Creativity and Procrastination

Divergent thinking is a cognitive process characterized by the ability to generate multiple, unique solutions to a problem, often described as 'thinking outside the box.' It is considered a key component of creativity.

Divergent Thinking

Temporal Motivation Theory (TMT) explains the behavior of procrastination by providing a quasi-mathematical framework, by examining the underlying behavioral components that contribute to (or combat) procrastination. The five components are:
- Value: the tangible and intangible rewards that an individual would receive from completing a task.
- Expectancy: the individual's belief and self-confidence in completing said task.
- Delay: the the period of time an individual needs to wait before receiving the reward from completing said task.
- Sensitivity to delay: the willingness of an individual to tolerate longer delays.
- Utility: the likeness for the individual to perform said task.

Temporal Motivation Theory

References on Procrastination

Where one intentionally delays studying or completing the academic work that they need to submit. 
Factors that contribute to procrastination levels:
- time management
- self-regulation
- participation levels

Procrastination in an Academic Setting

Note that, in addition to causing people to put off their work till the last minute, procrastination causes people to postpone engaging in healthy behaviors (e.g., exercising, meditation, improving eating habits) until the "last minute" (e.g., when they are diagnosed with a life-threatening chronic illness). "1 day later" often becomes "1 year later," which then usually becomes "1 decade later." Hence, overall health is harmed, and the risk for chronic diseases increase.

Procastination | Connection to Health and Chronic Diseases

People can be any combination of -

- Productive/Unproductive procrastinators

- Active/Passive procrastinators

Types of procrastination

Much of the research has been conducted on binary gender identifying participants. The data has problems with inconsistent results, but it appears that men have greater risk for procrastinating in academic life. 

- men are more likely than women to procrastinate
- women show higher levels of academic performance, correlated with less procrastination
- men's procrastination adversely impacts their performance and satisfaction

Gender differences with procrastination

Academic procrastination is the practice of avoiding or postponing academic tasks. It is associated with various negative impacts, including a reduction in the quality and quantity of a student's work, lower goal commitment, less time allotted to studying, decreased course achievement, and a decline in long-term learning. In addition to poor academic performance, academic procrastination can elicit negative emotional reactions such as frustration, anxiety, shame, and guilt.

Academic Procrastination

The expectation that a person who is intrinsicly motivated will show less procrastination is not backed by research. Less than 10 persent of variance in procrastination is due to high levels of inttrinsic motivation. It may have an influence on how people will directtheir attention during the time they are procrastinating, possibly causing specific types of procrastination or more thought focus on the task.

Intrinsic motivation does not mediate procrastination

There is a curvilinear relationship between procrastination and the quality of work, and the creativity of work. 
- Low procrastination can causally influence low creativity and moderate productivity.
- Moderate procrastination can causally influence high creativity and, with intrinsic motivation, high task efficiency.
- High procrastination tends to influence low creativity and low task efficiency, possibly due to time crunch.

Levels of procrastination

This study aimed to see if self-reported procrastination is correlated with people's actual procrastination behavior. The researchers found this to be the case.

Links between self-reports of procrastination and actual procrastination study

Procrastination is often acknowledged in therapeutic treatment of ADHD, but it is not officially seen as an ADHD-related symptom. As a result, little is known about the role of procrastination in symptomology of ADHD. This study aims to explore the relationship between procrastination and ADHD-related symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity in undergraduate college students. Results indicated that only inattention was correlated with general procrastination, as well as susceptibility to temptation.

The relation between procrastination and symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in undergraduate students

This could consist of learning how to break down large tasks into smaller chunks, how to set more realistic deadlines for themselves, and reconsidering perfectionistic beliefs.

Procrastination Mitigation CBT Training for ADHD

- Divergent thinking
- Convergent thinking 
- Group brainstorming 
- Creative cognition
- Latent inhibition (LI)
- Savant syndrome
- Common characteristics of creative individuals

Focuses of Research on Creativity

Creativity library

Intrinsic motivation and few guidelines allow people to have discression about their work. Having both intinsic motivation and the freedom of choice promotes creative ability and allows for generation of novel ideas.

Intrinsic motivation promotes creativity

In a study using fMRI to compare the cognitive processes of improvised and memorized musical sequences played by pianists, it was found that prior to performing an improvised melody, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex deactivated, whereas it stayed active during a memorized tune.

Jazz Improvisation and Impulse Control

Highly creative individuals often exhibit a combination of traits, including possessing deep knowledge in a particular field, dedicating years to their work, exploring novel solutions, and taking risks. A crucial characteristic is their engagement with others; they benefit from seeking advice, mentorship, and collaborative discussions, as significant creative developments rarely occur in isolation.

Characteristics of Highly Creative People

Creativity is not confined to artistic expression; it is a vital form of intelligence that drives innovation across many disciplines. Its application can be seen in all areas of life, ranging from everyday problem-solving, like decorating a home, to significant scientific discoveries, such as developing a new understanding of cellular biology.

Creativity Beyond the Arts

Creativity, while often viewed as an individual strength, is significantly enhanced by social interactions. Nobel laureate Dr. Tom Steitz emphasized the crucial role of mentorship, especially early in a career, and ongoing dialogue with colleagues. He argued that major discoveries and insights do not happen in isolation but are fostered by these collaborative processes.

Collaboration and Mentorship in Creativity

A software developer has been working for years on a complex coding problem and has deep expertise in the subject, but cannot find a solution. She attends a workshop with graphic designers and, after hearing them discuss their methods for visual problem-solving, she conceives a novel algorithm that solves her problem. Based on this scenario, which factor was most instrumental in her creative breakthrough?

Intrinsic motivation is the result of the prospect of fulfilling a "basic desire". Some identify this desire as wanting mastery or competency  (White 1959) and others wanting  pleasure  (Kahneman, Diener, and Schwartz 1999)

Roots of intrinsic motivation

Leads to the direct satisfaction of psychological needs (R. M. Ryan & Deci, 2000a, 2000b). In SDT, they include:
- personal growth
- relationships/affiliation
- community contribution
- health

Intrinsic goals

- Intrinsic motivation and extrinsic incentives jointly predict performance: A 40-year meta-analysis
- Teachers’ perceptions of academic intrinsic motivation for students with disabilities

References about extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

Incentivizing or convincing users to contribute content on the platform. This can be showing them that the utility of adding content is greater than the cost of having to create it.

Encouraging contributions in online communities

Meeting the expectations of one's peers draws on both behavioral and emotional engagement, and can facilitate further discussion that is usually absent when being assessed by a lecturer.

"Motivated by the knowledge that there is an audience."

"The extrinsic reward structures of engagement-contingent rewards, completion-contingent rewards, and performance-contingent rewards all undermine intrinsic motivation in most cases... Adding too many extrinsic badges, points, or rewards may undermine your efforts." (Kapp 2012).



Extrinsic - Intrinsic Motivation Conflicts

Motivational interviewing is a client-centered counseling approach that guides individuals in making changes by helping them to find intrinsic motivation. In motivational interviewing, the counselor believes that the client cannot be pushed to change and they must take responsibility and initiative on their own when they are ready.

Motivational Interviewing

This study investigates whether there are differences in a teacher's ratings of academic intrinsic motivation (IM) in students with different types of disabilities. The researchers also investigated whether controlling factors such as parental expectations, teacher competence, and student classroom collaboration provided an explanation for why these ratings were given.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Academic Intrinsic Motivation for Students With Disabilities

A proper parent-child relationship is supposed to support the child physically and emotionally. When done effectively, children are more likely to succeed in school and be happier in life. Negative parent-child relationships harm the ability of a student to succeed in academic settings.

Parent-Child Relationships in Education 

Research shows that Intrinsic Motivation is a significant factor in performance and also innovation. At a personal level, intrinsic motivation makes your work fulfilling. It is a major factor in deciding if you should stay at a job or not and it also helps keep your stress level at bay


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