Types of procrastinator
Procrastination typologies group chronic delay into recurring patterns, most commonly avoidant procrastination (delaying tasks that threaten self-esteem), arousal procrastination (delaying for the deadline rush) and decisional procrastination (delaying decisions themselves). The three-type scheme traces to Joseph Ferrari's work in the 1990s, though later analyses, including Steel's, suggest the types overlap heavily and may reflect one underlying self-regulation problem.
| Field | Personality psychology |
|---|---|
| Key researchers | Joseph Ferrari, Piers Steel, Fuschia Sirois |
| Related concepts | Avoidance, perfectionism, decisional procrastination, self-regulation |
Why it matters for procrastination
Types are best used as pointers to mechanisms, not identities. Avoidant delay responds to lowering the emotional stakes: smaller first steps, drafts labelled as drafts, self-compassion rather than pressure. Deadline-rush delay responds to manufacturing urgency early with timeboxes and interim deadlines. Decisional delay responds to constraining choices and setting decision deadlines. The scientific caveat matters too: Steel's 2010 psychometric work found the arousal and avoidance subtypes poorly separable, so if a quiz assigns you a type, treat it as a hint about which levers to pull first, not a fixed trait.
Related
Active vs passive procrastinationSelf-regulation
Frequently asked questions
What are the main types of procrastinators?
The most cited scheme is Ferrari's three: avoiders (delay to protect self-esteem), arousal seekers (delay for the last-minute rush) and decisional procrastinators (cannot settle on a choice). Popular articles expand this to perfectionists, dreamers and others, but those finer types have little direct research support.