Psychologists from the University of San Diego and Wilfrid Laurier University came to the conclusion that the habit of being late is not just acquired – it is the feature of a human personality, so any fight against it is ineffective. According to experts, some people just are not physically able to come on time.
According to the authors, the people who are chronically late underestimate how long it takes to do something. It is very difficult to change this because people do not come late on purpose – this habit is the feature of their personality.
As explained by psychologists, there is the same difference between those who are always late and those who are punctual as between people with different characters. The experiments involving 181 employees of New York subway have confirmed the fact that the reason lies in the personality differences.
These experiments showed that the people who tend to deal with many tasks simultaneously tend to be late more often than others. Those who are not late usually chose one thing for themselves and try to achieve this goal without paying attention to the tasks they find less important.
According to the researchers, there are type A people who work fast and are focused on the goal. As a rule, they do everything in time. Type B people are more relaxed and are usually late.
According to the results of observation, type A and type B people perceive time differently. For example, during the experiments, the volunteers belonging to type A felt as if a minute lasted 58 seconds. But to the representatives of type B a minute seemed more extended and lasted 77 seconds.
The scientists believe that such a difference in the “internal clock” explains being late. It should be noted that some studies support the hypothesis that the habit of being late is formed in humans due to certain changes in the structure of the brain. According to doctors, coming late all the time is sometimes caused by alarming mental disorders.
