Time perspectives and precrastination: Understanding early task completion in a time-moving perspective

This study examines the relationship between precrastination—a tendency to complete tasks early—and the time-moving perspective. Given the opposing nature of precrastination and procrastination, we hypothesize that precrastination correlates positively with a time-moving perspective, based on the fi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Juanjuan Wang, Yi Sun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-06-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825002884
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Summary:This study examines the relationship between precrastination—a tendency to complete tasks early—and the time-moving perspective. Given the opposing nature of precrastination and procrastination, we hypothesize that precrastination correlates positively with a time-moving perspective, based on the finding that procrastination correlates with an ego-moving tendency. To test this, we conducted a survey with 366 participants (172 females aged 17 to 68), assessing their tendencies toward precrastination and their responses to the classic “ambiguous meeting question” (McGlone & Harding, 1998). Participants who selected “Monday” as the answer to the ambiguous time-related question displayed higher precrastination scores than those who chose “Friday,” supporting the hypothesis. To address the potential subjectivity of self-reported data, we included an objective measurement by recording participants' arrival times for a scheduled test in a controlled setting involving 84 students (42 females aged 18 to 25). The results showed that participants who arrived early were more likely to choose “Monday” in a modified version of the “ambiguous meeting question,” further validating our hypothesis. This study highlights the significant role of precrastination in shaping time perception.
ISSN:0001-6918