The effects of locus of control and task difficulty on procrastination

The authors investigated the effects of locus of control expectancies and t ask difficulty on procrastination. Forty-two college students were administ ered an academic locus of control scale and a task that was similar to a ty pical college homework assignment. The students were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 task difficulty levels. Although none of the results involving task d ifficulty was significant, several results involving locus of control were significant. Specifically, analyses revealed that students with internal lo cus of control expectancies tended to begin working on the assignment soone r than students with external locus of control expectancies. In addition, s tudents with internal locus of control completed and returned the assignmen t sooner than students with external locus of control. The results are disc ussed within the context of J. B. Rotter's (1966, 1975, 1982) social learni ng theory.