TITLE:
Should We Start with an Easy Task Having a Short Deadline, or a Difficult Task Having a Long Deadline
AUTHORS:
Miki Adachi, Keisuke Adachi
KEYWORDS:
Task Order, Procrastination, Pre-Crastination, Self-Control
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.12 No.11,
November
30,
2021
ABSTRACT: Prior studies have investigated people’s task-order decisions, whether people put off a task or start the task as soon as possible. However, the effect of the time frame, whether the task has a long or a short deadline, on task order decisions has not been clarified. We hypothesized that 1) starting a series of tasks with a difficult task when given a long deadline is related to increased self-control; 2) starting with an easy task given a long deadline is related to reduced self-control and starting with an easy task given a short deadline enhances well-being and self-control. A cross-sectional study (N = 1085, 21 - 78 years age) supported these hypotheses. These findings are extended current knowledge by identifying differences in the time frame and expected to clarify how people make task order decisions.