Wednesday, September 16, 2009
An experiment in procrastination
Orange Crate Art: "Students have three papers to write. Students in one class make their own deadlines. Students in a second class are given one deadline for all three papers: the last day of class. Students in a third class are given three deadlines for the three papers: the fourth, eighth, and twelfth weeks of classes. Which class gets the best grades?"
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8 comments:
I'd really like to know how the people who set their own deadlines did. One of the comments following said that Ariely (PS I LOVE HIS NAME!) noted that the vast majority of self imposed deadline students did very well as well. But did those students have to stick to their own deadlines? Because then I feel like it is the same as the teacher imposed ones. I usually greatly prefer when teachers give me a deadline. If i self-impose and don't HAVE to stick to it, the work can (and does) get pushed off, which is not a good thing. Sometimes the time crunch is beneficial.
There are definitely a lot of benefits to having the work spread out, and not only forced time management. By turning over the work earlier, the student can get feedback on their work and hopefully improve his or her writing skills. Sometimes it allows the student to understand the professor's preferred writing style better. For me personally, the biggest benefit of it is the deadlines. The less time I have to do something, the sooner I get started. That's part of why I love theater. Not having downtime becomes addictive, makes you feel productive. When I have time to sit at my computer and write my paper, I tend to procrastinate, as almost every other college student I presume. So while there are other factors to think about, I can see why the class with deadlines did better.
This article is so true that if a student is given deadlines that are spread out. but the student with no deadlines till the end of the class should have given him self deadlines so then he would not what to do them till the last min. if i was in a class with no deadline i would try to get all of the papers done as soon as possible so that i did not have to worry about it. also for the teacher it is easer for them to grade the papers if they are spread out that is just what i think. so this is toaly right but people should not procrastinate any way
This experiment really does make sense. As a student, if I don't have regularly scheduled or planned deadlines for a class, I will normally put things off. If I'm putting things off, I won't be thinking of them on a regular basis, thus I will be learning less because the subject matter will just be on my mind less. If the student does set out their own schedule for the work, and sticks to it, then they will be able to achieve a similar level of understanding, assuming that they don't put off their own imposed schedule. If all the work is due at the end of the semester, the students won't be receiving regulated feedback, thus they won't know how to alter their work to what the professor is really interested in. Time management is an issue everyone struggles with, and this experiment is a way to show us that most people need a greater force that imposes a schedule. If you have that little bit of added pressure, you're going to do better than if you have a boatload of added pressure all at once at the end of a term.
It's not exactly a new experiment. Having student involvement in the process beyond being a sponge to soak up new knowledge has long been shown to improve their performance as well as their attitude toward the class (often a cause for the improvement in their performance). If a class is allowed, as a group, to determine their own deadlines they would quite often select a reasonable set of dates, especially when prompted with the right questions and comments from the teacher. (it's not hard to get a group of students to adopt their own schedule and rules that almost exactly match what you had written on a piece of paper when you walk into the class, a few suggestions to consider the outcomes of their choices are usually all it takes.)
Oh, god. I have so much trouble sticking to my own deadlines. I have trouble enough sticking to other peoples' deadlines. To quote Douglas Addams, "I love deadlines. I love the wooshing sound they make as they fly by." I would never finish anything if I wasn't made to by some outside force.
The results of this experiment are fairly predictable. It would be interesting to see some of the psychology behind it. My personal procrastination is intensely tied to perfectionism and a fear of failure.
This 'experiment' really does not surprise me in anyway. As many before me have stated, most people are not very good at managing their own time. As much as people complain about too many deadlines, without them most people would be completely lost. Deadlines are good! They keep you focused on your goal and keep you on track.
this definitely seems like it would be an interesting book (if it's not filled with just things that we could have already "assumed"). That's funny the way that most students actually would've found the last class the coolest yet, it would be the one with the lowest grades. I think that this is more a cultural thing than a psychological thing. In Eastern cultures, the line between school and home is blurred a lot more than it is in Western culture. Since the older children take to teaching their younger siblings, not only are they reviewing the material themselves but, are integrating school as a larger part of their lives in a way that's agreeable.
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