Clayton McClure, Jack Helgi 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6858-3116, Sayan, Stephanie and Anderson, Rachel
(2025)
High trait procrastination predicts increased goal anxiety despite invariance in simulation of goal achievement.
Psychological Reports.
(In Press)
Abstract
Procrastination is a self-regulatory failure in which important tasks are delayed despite the knowledge that
this is unhelpful; episodic future thinking is the process of constructing detailed mental simulations of
possible future events. High trait procrastination has been linked to reduced sensory-perceptual detail when
simulating future events based on experimenter prompts, yet it remains unclear if this extends to events
reflecting achievement of one’s personal goals. The present investigation aimed to establish the relations
between trait procrastination and attributes of short-term (<1 month) and long-term (>6 months) personal
goals and goal achievement simulations. High procrastination was expected to predict high self-reported
likelihood of goal avoidance, especially for long-term goals (due to associated delay sensitivity); reduced
sensory-perceptual detail in achievement simulations; and heightened anticipatory anxiety when
contemplating goal failure. Multilevel models controlling for other goal attributes showed a positive
predictive effect of procrastination on avoidance likelihood for long- and short-term goals; no effects on
sensory-perceptual detail of achievement simulations; and a positive predictive effect on anticipatory anxiety
which was most pronounced for short-term goals. Exploratory analyses further showed that neither goal
importance nor achievement simulation characteristics (autonoetic consciousness, anticipated emotions)
were sensitive to procrastination levels. These findings suggest that a tendency to procrastinate, though
disruptive, does not imply deficits in goal setting; and further, that its effects on future simulation may not
extend to personally important goal-related events. Finally, results on anticipatory anxiety highlight a
potential mechanism by which high procrastinators are drawn into focussing on short-term goals at the
expense of more important long-term priorities.
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