It's 1:10 P.M. Exam time is a little less than 2 hours away. You studied a bit for it last night, but nothing that will be of any benefit. From the time you woke up until now you've watched a movie, ate some food, and got on Nubblies. But did you study? No, you didn't. You tell yourself you're going to in a few minutes. Once those minutes tick by, you still don't. Truthfully, you knew you weren't even going to when you said you were several minutes before. Why? Why do you think you can fool yourself? Why do you procrastinate?
The above scnario is one that I have been living for the duration of this morning/afternoon. Fortunately for you all, I am not going to complain about not studying for a test. Instead, I would examine the phenomenon of procrastination. Why do we humans (at least many of us) always seem to put important tasks off until the very last minute. Perhaps we think we can get by doing things at the last minute? I mean, of course I'm not going to do as well on the test as I would of had I been studying hard, but I will do decently enough to be satisfied. This notion of procrastination can be explained using simple economics.
The way I see it is, studying for an exam earlier is much too costly for the student. The oppertunity cost, if you will, is unreasonable, thus the student watches a movie or gets on Nubblies to write an asinine post. Let me illustrate my point here.
As the cost of studying rises (such as a nice sunny day, rented a new video game, or it's going to be an easy test) the hours spent studying decline. As the cost falls (rainy day, very important test) hours spent studying increase.
My point in all of this is that procrastination is simply a result of oppertunity cost. I also have one more point to make before I get myself in gear, "procrastination is just like masturbation, in the end you just screw yourself."