Welcome to the Procrastination Research Group (PRG). Over the past 20 years, our exclusive focus has been on researching the breakdown in volitional action we commonly call procrastination. We seek to understand why we become our own worst enemy at times with needless, voluntary delay. Although our research and site originates at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada), it represents a compilation of information and research on procrastination from all over the world.

Recent Conference Presentations

The 11th Biennial Procrastination Research Conference

(University of Sheffield, UK, July 25-26, 2019)



Each of the submissions below was co-authored by Dr. Pychyl.

Daniil D. Barabanov (Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Department of Personality Psychology and Differential Psychology), Saif Amali & Shamarukh Chowdhury (Carleton University). – An activity-semantic conceptualization of volitional regulation in relation to procrastination

Shamarukh Chowdhury – A critique of the construct validity of Active Procrastination.

Saif Amali – An electronic diary study examining the moderating effects of affect-related personality traits in the relation between temptation experience and procrastination

Spencer Bell & Shamarukh Chowdhury – Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Coping and Procrastination \

Mariam Hanna & Shamarukh Chowdhury– The Role of Affective Forecasting in Exercise Procrastination

Scott Taylor & Shamarukh Chowdhury – ADHD, Inattention, Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Executive Functioning: Key Aspects of the Relation Between ADHD and Procrastination

Recent Research Publications

Chowdhury, S., & Pychyl, T.A. (2018). A critique of the construct validity of Active Procrastination. Personality and Individual Differences, 120, 7-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.08.016 Read it (or read this media summary)



Amali, S., Chowdhury, S., & Pychyl, T.A. (2017). The relation between affect Intensity and procrastination. Psicologia di Comunità, 13, 11-23. DOI: 10.3280/PSC2017-001002

Blouin-Hudon, E-M., C., & Pychyl, T.A. (2017). A mental imagery intervention to increase future self-continuity and reduce procrastination. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 66(2), 326–352. doi: 10.1111/apps.12088

Rahimi, S., Hall, N.C., & Pychyl, T.A. (2016). Attributions of responsibility and blame for procrastination versus delay. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1179 .



Gagnon, J., Dionne, F., & Pychyl, T.A. (2016). Committed Action: An initial study on its role in the prediction of academic procrastination. Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science, 5, 97-102.

Flett, A., Haghbin, M., & Pychyl, T.A. (2016). Procrastination and depression from a cognitive perspective: An exploration of the associations among procrastinatory automatic thoughts, rumination, and mindfulness. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy, 1-18 DOI 10.1007/s10942-016-0235-1

How to Overcome Procrastination – a short video summary