The difference between adults and 3-year-olds, according to some (e.g., Yates & Mischel, 1979), is that 3-year-olds are not aware of strategies that can help them succeed in the delay of gratification task, while older children (and presumably adults) are aware of those strategies and try to use them. It's a minor point, I know. :)

I think this is an important distinction, Gal, thanks for making it explicit. It is even more "damning" to adults to add this, as they have even less excuse for "acting like 3-year-olds".

I'm not always sure that adults try to use the strategies. In fact, one of the points made in the article I'm summarizing here is that adults may not apply strategies. Instead, they focus on trying to make themselves feel better, instead of delaying that feeling for after the task.

thanks again!
tim

When you say "The problem is that focusing on regulating our moods and feelings can lead to self-control failure in other areas." and use the word "strategy", it implies that this is something conscious whereas it is the avoidance of procrastination that involves consciously controlled behaviour and strategies. The focus on regulating mood and feeling is not conscious behaviour.

The fact that we may come up with justifications for all the things we do when we procrastinate is the usual after-the-fact BS that our consciousness comes up with to delude itself that it has control over our actions.

Despite this criticism, this is the first article I've come across that gives insight into what is going on when we procrastinate - the urge to regulate mood is stronger than the urge to avoid future pain. That is a key piece of information that I've not come across before (or at least not stated so succinctly).

I love the article, but I just can't jive with thinking of procrastinating as "giving in to feeling good"...I guess because procrastinating feels horrible! Every moment that I do it, I am aware that I am doing it, and I feel massive anxiety. But maybe the anxiety of avoidance is more palatable than the anxiety of feeling stupid and the fear of screwing up my task. Growing up with an authoritarian stepfather, it was straight As all the time or I was in for trouble. Even now, anything performance-based for an authority figure (school & job) makes me feel a ton of anxiety and I get this digging in my heels avoidance feeling. I just don't know how to get rid of that. (Is there a magic pill? Please say yes.)

I think Katie adds to this even tho it is apparently a different problem on the surface. Anti-authoritarianism seems to be different from procrastination but also appears to be a motive. The common thread for me of procrastination: avoiding risk....paralyzed by the prospect of it. Isn't risk taking genetic in nature?

Katie seems tho to be conscious of her attempts to regulate her mood even as it is unsuccessful. It seems equally true that others may not be so aware as MikeE commented also. The ability to analyze risk and access probability is likely a skill that is not equal for everyone. We probably all can rationalize our estimations of risk after the fact even if less than successful.

Success feels good and usually actions do too as well so does resting motionless at times. But then again sometimes winning is losing depending upon the scale of time. Probably there are arguments valid even for losing/submission/victimization as giving some sense of satisfaction. Existential coping....what pill turns that on/off?

When you say when introverts acted like extraverts it made them feel happier you imply introverts don't feel happy acting like introverts. There is happiness to be gained from interaction with others, to be sure, but there is an equal amount of happiness to be gained from enjoying solitary activities as well.

Hi Valara,
I agree that introverts are happy people. The thing is, recent research has shown that extraverts are happier in general, and introverts who act extraverted do report being happier than normal. Interesting, isn't it? Of course, many people argue that there's a cost to "acting out of character" like this, but no one has established very much evidence for these costs.

I'm an extravert who enjoys more introverted time (solitary, as you note). So, I'm certainly not being prescriptive in my writing, only reflecting the research literature in terms of happiness ratings, and extraverts report being happier.
tim

Curious...is the recent research about extroverts and introverts and who is happiest based solely on our (American) culture? I feel like if the study were conducted in an Eastern, more readily known to be introverted, country, the result might not show that the extroverts are happiest. Maybe the results are based upon the (what seems like a) fact that extroverted personalities seem to be more accepted and praised in the U.S....? I am mostly introverted and when I've tried to act more extroverted than normal I usually feel more like a fraud than a happy person... Although I suppose frauds could be happy too, haha.

Just last night I had to battle an urge to procrastinate, and I was able to defeat it so that carrying on with my task went more quickly and effectively than it otherwise would have. I was trying to learn to play several difficult songs for my band, I was stuck, my progress grinding, halting, and I desired to just put it off, but I reasoned to stop and visualize my end goal, strategically, I commanded myself to imagine the end result of all this practice, the eventual gigs we would play, the lights, the smells of the scene, the pretty ladies in the crowd dancing drunk and disorderly, getting paid at the end of the night, etc., and thus it was then much easier to conquer the songs. I revitalized my desire to succeed in my task through focus on the end goal, which made the strategy to arrive there a much more steady flow. I read an article yesterday on Psychologytoday.com about the Polgar sisters, Chess Grandmasters, and it instilled me with the point of how life is like a chess game, wherein sometimes you must sacrifice a piece, in this case, my urge to feel momentarily good via procrastination, in order to achieve better position in the endgame.

"The problem is that focusing on regulating our moods and feelings can lead to self-control failure in other areas."

I, too, would argue that what we're speaking of does not involve a conscious focus - rather, a lack of focus and awareness.

Practicing awareness of one's feelings in the hopes of regulating them is almost always positive, IMO, in terms of enabling the practice of better self-control.

One last thing....readers should keep in mind that self-control may be best learned *after* one masters - truly masters - radical self-acceptance.

Such a fantastic article. I remember reading something similar to this in Scott Peck's "The Road Less Travelled." He would argue that doing instead of avoiding and delaying gratification conjure up to present a more disciplined individual.

I think this is similar to the purpose served by OCD rituals, addictions, and angry outbursts - they reward the person by reducing tension in the moment, but cause greater tension in the long run. I look forward to your suggestions for helping manage tension through examining long-term gains/losses.

There wasn't one speculation about the neural circuitry in the "reward" or "pleasure" center, and the demonstrated addictive biochemistry associated with every "feel-good" activity from sex and sugar consumption, to gambling and shopping spending sprees. Procrastination is just another activity that lends itself to feeling good. Write some grant proposals for fMRI studies, Canada. The old term of "the biological model" is not just merely where psychology is going, anymore, as it was taught in my first undergraduate general psych class decades ago; it's where psych has arrived, and will probably remain, for decades to come.