{
  "id": 5462046,
  "title": "Procrastination study by Duke’s Dan Ariely retracted after sleuths find signs of data tampering",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/03/procrastination-study-by-dukes-dan-ariely-retracted-after-sleuths",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-03T23:46:12.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Retraction Watch",
    "slug": "retraction-watch",
    "url": "https://retractionwatch.com/2026/09/03/procrastination-study-duke-dan-ariely-psychological-science-data-colada-tampering-retraction/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The psychology journal Psychological Science has retracted a 2002 paper on procrastination and deadlines coauthored by Duke University behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, just days after researchers found evidence of data manipulation in the study. The retraction follows a replication attempt published in the same journal in July 2023, which raised questions about the original data used in Ariely's work. The retraction notice cites the replication study and a blog post by the Data Colada team, which analyzed the data behind the two main experiments in the 2002 paper and found signs of tampering. The 2002 article, which has been cited nearly 1,000 times, explored how preset deadlines versus self-imposed deadlines or free choice affect task performance. Ariely and his coauthor Klaus Wertenbroch's findings have been called into question, with the retraction marking the second instance of retractions for the renowned behavioral scientist.",
  "summary": "A psychology journal has retracted a seminal 2002 paper on deadlines and procrastination coauthored by behavioral scientist Dan Ariely of Duke University just days after a team of sleuths published analyses of the original study data, finding it had been tampered with. The posts, which appeared Aug. 31 and Sept. 2 on the Data Colada … Continue reading Procrastination study by Duke’s Dan Ariely…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}