by Yijia Dong and Xijing Wang

Imagine a student hunched over a desk, deadlines looming like storm clouds, yet paralyzed by an invisible force: not laziness, but a crushing belief that their effort won’t change their future. This scene, echoing in classrooms from Beijing to Boston, uncovers a provocative truth: Procrastination isn’t merely a time management flaw. It’s a silent rebellion against the perception that society’s ladder is rigged.

Increased Procrastination Caused by Low Social-Mobility Perceptions

In a stratified society, social mobility perception refers to people’s perceptions of the flexibility of the social system’s hierarchical structure. When people perceive low social mobility, they believe that it is difficult to move up or down the social ladder. More specifically, they might feel a struggle to ascend despite their effort because they believe it is difficult to move upward, and those of higher status might not intend to exert much effort as they believe it is unlikely to move downward (Sagioglou et al., 2019).

By holding this belief, people may lose confidence in their capabilities, as they would consider them to be useless. Therefore, when facing challenges, they may have difficulty regulating their behavior in a manner that demonstrates capability and effort. Procrastination, or the delay of important tasks despite potential negative consequences, might occur when the challenge takes the form of time pressure. Suppose a college student has a number of deadlines to meet in a short period of time, but has no belief in his/her ability to achieve them. The student might thus lie flat and be unable to face the challenge (i.e., complete the tasks on time). In our hypothesis, this might be the case when the student perceives a low level of social mobility.

What Are the Research Findings?

According to our research, students who perceive low social mobility are more likely to procrastinate. Rather than completing their school work in a timely manner, they may wait until the last minute due to an inability to regulate behaviors.

Our research consisted of five studies involving samples from different cultures (e.g., Chinese and American). Various approaches were employed, including a three-wave longitudinal survey (Study 1), a cross-sectional survey (Study 2), and three fully-controlled experiments (Studies 3A-4). In these studies, students’ perceived social mobility and procrastination tendencies were measured. Studies 1 and 2 both revealed that low social mobility beliefs were associated with a stronger level of procrastination tendency. In Studies 3A and 3B, we manipulated the social mobility belief of American and Chinese college students respectively, and both results suggested that students in the low-mobility condition reported a significantly higher level of passive procrastination potential as compared to students in the high-mobility condition. In Study 4, we found that lowering social mobility perceptions only increased the possibility of passive but not active procrastination; active procrastinators intentionally delay tasks, which is more adaptive. This finding further indicated that low social-mobility perception may impair students’ self-regulation abilities, rather than simply leading to a delay in task completion. In summary, our study showed that students who perceive low social mobility may be more likely to procrastinate.

What Can Be Done to Reduce Procrastination?

Education is often viewed as a primary means of elevating social status through hard work. However, studies suggest that more than 70% of college students are prone to procrastination that discourages hard work (Zhou et al., 2022).

The implications of this research ripple far beyond cluttered desks and missed deadlines. When students internalize the belief that societal ceilings are immovable, procrastination becomes a symptom of a deeper existential calculus: Why invest in a future that feels predetermined? Yet solutions lie within reach. Schools and policymakers must actively reinforce the belief that diligence yields results through merit-based scholarships and transparent hiring practices that reward effort over privilege. At the societal level, amplifying narratives of achievable mobility—through media, education, and public discourse—can recalibrate perceptions of opportunity. After all, when the ladder isn’t rigged, the climb becomes worth starting.

Yijia Dong is a Ph.D. student in social psychology at City University of Hong Kong.