“Why we do some tasks
before their time and why pigeons do too”
By: David Rosenbaum
and Edward A. Wasserman
Published: The
Scientific American, June 30, 2015; http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pre-crastination-the-opposite-of-procrastination/
Level of difficulty:
** This is an easy level two
BEFORE YOU READ
·
Watch the following video titled “
pre-crastination: just as bad as procrastination” and make some notes
QUESTIONS
1. Delaying
a job that needs to be done until the last minute and then having to work fast
is a bad idea because ………………………………. (use your own words)
2. What
is motivates pre-crastinators?
3. Why
are the actions of the supermarket shopper illogical?
4. What
hypothesis was disproved by the bucket experiment?
5. How
did the students try to justify their choice of bucket?
6. The
students’ bizarre selection of a bucket may be due to the fact that ……………………..
7. The
fact that………………………………………….proves that pigeons pre-crastinate as well.
8. Why
is the fact that both humans and pigeons pre-crastinate of significance?
9. What
two explanations for the innate tendency to pre-crastinate seem illogical?
10. What
is the possible scientific explanation for the tendency to procrastinate?
11. The
major advantage of trial and error learning is that ………………………………………
12. How
can procrastination help procrastinators?
WRITING TASK
Use
the text and the video to write a definition paragraph on procrastination.
PRE-CRASTINATION: THE
OPPOSITE OF PROCRASTINATION KEY AND TEACHER’S NOTES
As teachers we have
all had those seemingly clever students who rush through a task like the road
runner and seem to make a host of mistakes they then seem to be able to correct
themselves. Slowing down the pace seems impossible. The resulting failure is
frustrating for the student and the teacher. I have had students like this in
the past as well and now there is a name for them pre-crastinators. Hopefully, the two little texts and the video
will make students more aware of this problem.
1.
Possible answer: It causes unnecessary
mistakes / oversights / slip ups
2.
The desire to get things done sooner rather
than later
3.
Because he tots the items further than
necessary.
4.
That students would choose the bucket closer
to the end because it would have to be carried a shorter distance
5.
They claimed they wanted to get the task
done as soon as possible
6.
Getting something done, or coming closer to
getting it done, is inherently rewarding.
7.
The pigeons directed their second peck to
the side square, hence moving to the goal position as soon as they could (even
though there was no obvious or extra reward for doing so)
8.
This behavioral tendency may have emerged
even earlier in phylogeny
9.
The desire to grab low hanging fruit;
completing tasks immediately may relieve working memory
10.
Neural circuits for tasks that get completed
may endure longer than neural tasks for circuits that don’t
11.
It can prompt practical behavioral
innovations
12.
By breaking larger tasks into smaller ones
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