Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/338281 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 11072
Version Description: 
This Version: November 2025
Publisher: 
Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research - CESifo GmbH, Munich
Abstract: 
This study provides a rigorous empirical test for motivated memory as a cause for procrastination. In a longitudinal experiment over four weeks, individuals must complete a cumbersome task of unknown length and receive noisy signals about their assigned workload. Varying scope for motivated memory results in more optimistic beliefs among workers who receive negative signals, but not among those who receive positive ones. This suppression of negative news through motivated memory causes individuals to defer more work to the future.
Subjects: 
anticipatory utility
beliefs
memory
motivated cognition
procrastination
real effort
task allocation
JEL: 
C91
D83
D84
D90
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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