Ferrari (1992): Two Kinds of Chronic Procrastinator
Joseph Ferrari's 1992 study validated two questionnaires for chronic procrastination in adults and linked them to two proposed styles: arousal procrastinators, who claim to delay for the deadline rush, and avoidant procrastinators, who delay to dodge tasks that threaten their self-image. Together with his work on decisional procrastination, this became the popular three-types model. Later large-scale research suggests the types do not hold up as distinct groups, but the paper remains a foundation of adult procrastination measurement.
| Citation | Ferrari, J. R. (1992). Psychometric validation of two procrastination inventories for adults: Arousal and avoidance measures. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 14(2), 97–110. |
|---|---|
| Study type | Psychometric validation study of two adult self-report scales |
| Key finding | Lay's General Procrastination Scale and the Adult Inventory of Procrastination were reliable but only moderately correlated, interpreted as tapping arousal-based and avoidance-based delay respectively |
| Related construct | Decisional procrastination, delaying decisions rather than tasks, studied separately by Ferrari and colleagues |
What the study found
Ferrari gave adults two existing procrastination questionnaires and examined how they behaved statistically. Both were internally consistent, but they overlapped less than expected and correlated with different traits, which he read as evidence for two styles of chronic delay: arousal procrastinators who say they work best under pressure and delay for the adrenaline of the last minute, and avoidant procrastinators who delay unpleasant or self-threatening tasks so a poor result can be blamed on lateness rather than ability. With decisional procrastination added, this grew into the widely repeated three-types model.
Why it matters
The typology gave the field, and the self-help world, a vocabulary for the observation that people procrastinate for different reasons. It also matters practically: if your delay is avoidance of a feeling, the fix is reducing task aversiveness and shrinking the first step, and if it is decision paralysis, the fix is forcing a choice. The 'I work best under pressure' story, however, deserves suspicion, see the caveats.
Caveats
This is the biggest caveat on the page: Steel's 2010 reanalysis, titled 'Arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators: Do they exist?', pooled large samples and found the supposed types collapse onto a single general procrastination factor, with little evidence that arousal procrastinators are a real group rather than procrastinators rationalising delay. The 1992 samples were also modest and self-report only. Treat the types as a useful description of motives, not as validated categories of people.
Peer-reviewed validation study in the Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. Verified via Crossref.
Related
Procrastination types, the fuller pictureSteel's meta-analysis of what actually predicts procrastination
Frequently asked questions
What are the 3 types of procrastinators?
The classic answer from Ferrari's work is arousal, avoidant and decisional procrastinators. The honest answer is that later research, especially Steel's 2010 paper, found these do not form distinct groups: most chronic procrastination looks like one general pattern of self-regulation failure with different excuses attached.
Do some people really work better under pressure?
Mostly no. When tested, self-described arousal procrastinators do not perform better under deadline pressure, and Ferrari's own later lab work found chronic procrastinators perform worse under time constraints. The deadline rush feels productive because it finally removes the option to delay.