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Choices to procrastinate doing math were idiosyncratic across college students.

Non-Cognitive Predictors of Student Success:�A Predictive Validity Comparison Between Domestic and International Students

INTRO

  • Zentall, Case, & Andrews (2018) showed pigeons procrastinated in a concurrent chains task.
  • We adapted their procedures to a human operant model in which college students completed math problems.

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METHOD

  • 4-digit subtraction
  • 6 undergraduate students
    • 3 with unsignaled links
    • 3 with signaled links
  • Reinforcement = 1 min phone access

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Alexandra W. Knerr,

Stephanie L. Kincaid,

& Rachelle L. Yankelevitz

Examining Procrastination in a Human Operant Setting

Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

Unsignaled

Signaled

X on graph indicates trials in which reinforcement was not delivered due to absence of correct responding.

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Procedure

  • Derived from Zentall, Case, & Andrews (2018)
  • Procrastination: Wait 1 min, Work 3 min, Phone 1 min
  • Control: Work 3 min, Wait 1 min, Phone 1 min
  • Session Order
    • Four forced-choice trials (Trials 1-2; Trials 7-8)
    • Eight subject-choice trials (Trials 3-6; Trials 9-12)
  • Subject chose problem set to work on
    • Red or Blue for unsignaled subjects
    • Triangle or Square for signaled subjects
    • Stimuli associated with Procrastination and Control were counterbalanced across participants
  • Work was 4-digit subtraction problems using the “Write” feature on Quizlet
    • Subjects were required to get at least 1 correct answer to earn 1 min access to their phone
    • If no correct answers, the Phone period was replaced with a Wait period

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Zentall, T. R., Case, J. P., & Andrews, D. M. (2018). Procrastination in the pigeon: Can conditioned reinforcement increase the likelihood of human procrastination? Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 25(5), 1952-1957.

Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

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Unsignaled vs Signaled

Unsignaled

  • Red and Blue chains
  • Subjects were not informed of chain components
  • All three subjects showed a bias toward the blue problem set

Signaled

  • Square and Triangle chains
  • Sign was posted indicating the link order for each chain
  • Subjects were verbally told the link order for each chain
  • During trials, a card was displayed showing the current link

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Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

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Example of Task Problems

Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

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Procrastination Survey

Lay’s Procrastination Scale (Student Version)

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Mean Scores

  • S0001 – 2.00
  • S0003 – 1.95
  • S0004 – 1.85
  • S2005 – 3.35
  • S2006 – 3.05
  • S2007 – 3.05

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Lay, C. (1986). At last, my research article on procrastination. Journal of Research in Personality, 20, 474-495.

Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

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Thank You!

  • Alexandra Knerr: aknerr@rollins.edu
  • Stephanie Kincaid: skincaid@rollins.edu
  • Rachelle Yankelevitz: ryankelevitz@rollins.edu

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Poster Presentation at the 39th Annual Florida Association for Behavior Analysis Conference

Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida