Quiz — Chapter 23: Procrastination and Time Mastery

25 questions. Multiple choice unless otherwise noted. Answer key at the end.

1. The current research consensus frames procrastination primarily as:

a) A time management deficit b) A character flaw associated with laziness c) An emotion regulation problem — avoidance of task-related negative affect d) A rational response to absent or delayed consequences

2. "Hyperbolic discounting" refers to:

a) The consistent tendency to underestimate how long tasks will take b) The disproportionately steep discounting of future rewards in the near term relative to the long term c) The tendency to overvalue current achievements relative to future ones d) The mathematical relationship between deadline distance and motivation strength

3. The planning fallacy (Kahneman & Tversky) describes:

a) The tendency to make plans that are too rigid to adapt to changing circumstances b) The failure to specify implementation intentions alongside goal intentions c) The consistent underestimation of how long tasks will take, driven by inside-view optimism d) The tendency to overplan rather than execute

4. The Zeigarnik effect refers to:

a) The increased satisfaction derived from completing a difficult task b) The tendency for incomplete tasks to occupy working memory preferentially over completed ones c) The phenomenon of better task completion when working in groups d) The motivation boost that comes from approaching a deadline

5. Which of the following is the most effective framing for an implementation intention targeting procrastination?

a) "I will work on the strategy document this week." b) "I will try to spend more time on important tasks." c) "When I arrive at my desk at 8:30 AM, I will open the strategy document before email and write one paragraph." d) "When I feel motivated, I will start on the strategy document."

6. Pychyl and Sirois's research on procrastination and wellbeing found that, in the short term, avoidance:

a) Produces no measurable effect on mood b) Produces a small positive mood shift (relief) c) Immediately increases anxiety and self-criticism d) Produces a lasting sense of calm that fades over 24 hours

7. Research by Neff and Wohl on self-forgiveness and procrastination found that students who forgave themselves for procrastinating on an exam:

a) Showed the same procrastination rates on subsequent exams b) Procrastinated more on subsequent exams (permissive effect) c) Procrastinated less on subsequent exams d) Showed improved performance but unchanged procrastination rates

8. The primary mechanism by which implementation intentions reduce procrastination is:

a) Increasing the perceived importance of the task b) Pre-loading the behavioral response to a situational cue, reducing deliberation at the moment of action c) Creating external accountability through written commitment d) Restructuring the goal as a learning goal rather than a performance goal

9. David Allen's "next action" discipline addresses procrastination primarily by:

a) Creating external accountability structures b) Reducing the cognitive load of deciding what to do next at the moment of initiation c) Restructuring tasks as smaller, more achievable sub-goals d) Using reward systems to reinforce task completion

10. The Eisenhower Matrix's Quadrant 2 (Not Urgent + Important) is significant because:

a) It contains the tasks most likely to generate immediate crises if ignored b) It contains the tasks that are most important for long-term outcomes and most systematically under-invested c) It is the quadrant where most people naturally spend the most time d) It represents tasks that should be delegated to others

11. "Behavioral activation" refers to:

a) Using external rewards to activate behavioral engagement b) Acting before motivation arrives, expecting engagement to follow initiation c) The activation of automatic avoidance behavior in response to aversive stimuli d) Setting goals before beginning a task to increase motivation

12. Perfectionism-driven procrastination is most effectively addressed by:

a) Raising standards to ensure the work justifies the time investment b) Using punitive consequences to motivate completion despite imperfection c) Separating generative and evaluative thinking in time — producing the draft before assessing it d) Setting more specific goals to clarify what "perfect" looks like

13. The planning fallacy is most effectively corrected by:

a) Adding a 10% buffer to all time estimates b) Breaking tasks into smaller sub-tasks and estimating each separately c) Using the outside view — reference class forecasting based on how similar projects typically take d) Consulting with a trusted colleague about the accuracy of your timeline

14. According to Zimbardo's time perspective research, a "balanced time perspective" includes:

a) Equal emphasis on past, present, and future orientations b) Past-positive + present-hedonistic + future-positive orientations c) Present-fatalistic + future-negative orientations d) Future-positive orientation with minimal attention to past or present

15. SDT research on procrastination consistently finds that tasks experienced as controlled (externally imposed, autonomy-thwarting) produce:

a) Higher performance due to external accountability b) Lower procrastination due to the clarity of external expectations c) More procrastination than tasks experienced as genuinely chosen d) Higher procrastination but lower performance anxiety

16. The Pomodoro Technique works primarily by:

a) Creating a reward structure for task completion b) Defining a finite, manageable time horizon for focused work, reducing the psychological weight of the open-ended task c) Using social accountability through shared pomodoro records d) Improving task performance through timed practice sessions

17. "Present bias" in behavioral economics describes:

a) The tendency to be more aware of present conditions than future ones b) The consistent preference for smaller, sooner rewards over larger, later ones, even when the rational preference is clearly for the larger option c) The bias toward completing tasks that are currently in progress over new tasks d) The tendency to underestimate the emotional impact of future events

18. In the ego depletion model of procrastination, which condition would make procrastination MOST likely?

a) Beginning a task immediately after a relaxing activity b) Working on a task that is intrinsically interesting and engaging c) Working on a difficult regulatory task after a morning of self-control demands d) Having a clearly defined implementation intention for the task

19. The Zeigarnik effect suggests that starting a task has which specific benefit over not starting?

a) It commits the person to completion through consistency pressure b) It generates external accountability once others can see progress c) It shifts the cognitive status of the task from unstarted (maximum intrusion) to in-progress, reducing mental load d) It activates motivational systems that make subsequent progress easier

20. Research on the temporal experience of procrastinators finds that the anticipated aversiveness of beginning a task is typically:

a) Accurate — the task is as bad as anticipated b) Underestimated — the task turns out to be more aversive than anticipated c) Overestimated — the actual engagement is less aversive than the anticipation d) Unrelated to actual task engagement — anticipation and experience are independent

21. "Reference class forecasting" (Flyvbjerg) improves time estimation by:

a) Breaking projects into reference classes of similar sub-tasks b) Consulting published benchmarks for similar projects in the industry c) Using outside-view data (how long similar projects typically take) rather than inside-view optimism about the specific plan d) Setting a reference deadline and working backward from it

22. The chapter's claim that procrastination is an emotion regulation problem implies that the most effective interventions will:

a) Focus primarily on strengthening discipline and willpower b) Improve time management systems and scheduling practices c) Address the negative affect associated with the task — its source and the avoidance cycle d) Use external rewards to override the internal resistance to engagement

23. Csikszentmihalyi's flow research suggests that flow — deep absorption in challenging work — is most likely under which conditions?

a) Low stakes, clear external rewards, and unlimited time b) High challenge, clear goals, immediate feedback, and absence of self-monitoring c) Social context, collaborative goals, and external accountability d) Intrinsic motivation and absence of deadlines

24. The self-regulation failure model (Baumeister) predicts that procrastination would be HIGHEST when:

a) The task is intrinsically uninteresting to the person b) The person's self-regulatory capacity is depleted from prior regulatory demands c) External consequences for non-completion are absent d) The task requires creative rather than analytical thinking

25. "Timeboxing" addresses procrastination primarily because:

a) It creates external accountability for task completion b) It rewards task completion with the scheduled break c) Defining a finite endpoint reduces the perceived scope of the task, making initiation less aversive d) It forces prioritization by limiting available time

Answer Key