Age and overt verbalization in delay-maintenance behavior in children

The influence of overt self-verbalization on the maintenance of self-imposed delay of gratification was investigated in a task in which the child's possession of accumulating candy rewards was made contingent upon the child stopping further accumulation. Preschool girls who verbalized about the goodness of waiting and preschool girls who uttered an irrelevant verbalization waited longer before terminating their delay than did preschool girls who verbalized about the delayed reward or were silent. Second- and third-grade girls who verbalized about the goodness of waiting or who were silent waited longer than girls of the same age who verbalized about the delayed reward.     

Delay of gratification in children: A function of magnitude of reward and the delay cue

In research on delay of gratification in children, the delay cue and magnitude of reward cue have traditionally been confounded. The delay and magnitude of reward cues were independently varied in the present study to investigate whether children's delay of gratification preferences were attributable to (a) the magnitude of reward cue, and/or (b) discriminative stimulus properties of the delay cue. To assess delay of gratification preferences, 39 preschool subjects chose between various amounts of pennies on a two-choice task. The data indicated that children's choice to delay gratification was a function of both the magnitude of reward and the delay of reward cues.     

Trust matters: Seeing how an adult treats another person influences preschoolers' willingness to delay gratification

Holding out for a delayed reward in the face of temptation is notoriously difficult, and the ability to do so in childhood predicts diverse indices of life success. Prominent explanations focus on the importance of cognitive control. However, delaying gratification may also require trust in people delivering future rewards as promised. Only limited experimental work has tested this idea, and such studies with children were focused on general reward expectations, so evidence was ambiguous as to whether social trust played a role. The present study provides the first targeted test of a role for social trust in children's willingness to delay gratification. Children observed an adult behave in either a trustworthy or untrustworthy manner toward another adult, then were tested in the classic delay of gratification task by that adult. Children were less likely to wait the full delay period, and waited less time overall, for a reward promised by an untrustworthy adult, relative to children tested by a trustworthy adult. These findings demonstrate that manipulations of social trust influence delaying gratification, and highlight intriguing alternative reasons to test for individual differences in delaying gratification and associated life outcomes.     

Delay of gratification in children: The effects of training under fixed,decreasing and increasing delay of reward

The effect of fixed, gradually decreasing, or increasing delay of reward in discimination learning on later delay of gratification was investigated. In discrimination training, employing a correction procedure, a candy reward was delivered either after 0, 10, 20, 40 or 60 sec fixed delay; or after 60 sec in the first block of trials and decreased in successive block; or reward was immediate in the first block of trials and delay was gradually increased to 60 sec. In the delay of gratification tests, subjects could press a button immediately to receive a small reward (one candy or a cheap toy) or delay pressing and receive an increasingly larger reward (more candy or a better toy).Learning was not significantly affected by either fixed or decreasing delays. Increasing delays resulted in faster learning than decreasing delays. The increasing delay group demonstrated superior delay of gratification on both tests. Fixed delay groups did not differ significantly among themselves, nor from the decreasing delay group. The effectiveness of exposure to increasing delays in facilitating delay of gratification was interpreted as due to either the acquisition of coping responses or the extinction of frustration.     

延迟满足：基于未来时间洞察力的自我调节

延迟满足是个体为获得更有价值的奖励结果,坚持目标行为而推迟即时性满足的倾向与行为。其产生机制在很大程度上基于未来取向的自我调节。未来时间洞察力对延迟满足的作用可由期望-价值理论、解释水平理论和自我调节周期模型等多种理论进行解释。除行为层面的机制,未来时间洞察力与延迟满足涉及腹侧额叶-纹状体环路等相似的脑机制。未来研究需深化和丰富延迟满足的理论机制,明确与时间洞察力各维度的复杂关系,探究与时间洞察力相同的生理神经机制,促进其应用于社会实践。     

Increasing and decreasing intrinsic interest with contingent rewards: A test of cognitive evaluation theory

The study examined Deci's (Deci, E. L. Intrinsic motivation. New York: Plenum Press, 1975) hypotheses regarding the effects of contingent rewards on intrinsic task interest. Seventy-two male university students worked on a series of puzzles and were given either a high value reward ($1.50) or a low value reward ($.45). The money was given either contingent upon the simple execution of the task (task-contingent), contingent upon the ostensible attainment of a performance criterion level (criterion-contingent), or noncontingent and unexpected (control). Compared to the high payment control subjects, subjects who received the task-contingent high reward rated the task as less interesting, while subjects who received the criterion-contingent high reward rated it as more interesting. Also, subjects expressed less interest in the task after receiving the high task-contingent reward than the low task-contingent reward, but indicated greater interest after receiving the high criterion-contingent reward than the low criterion-contingent reward. It was concluded that substantial support was obtained for Deci's (1975) cognitive evaluation theory.     

Do open space environments encourage children to seek immediate gratification?

This study evaluated the effects of 14 months' exposure to open space environments on preference for delayed reward. Three hundred eighty-nine pupils in open space and conventional classes in grades 4 and 5 were individually administered one of four tests for delay of gratification. These tests consisted of a choice between an immediate, smaller reward and a delayed, larger reward. Each of the four independent studies found that approximately the same percent of pupils from each educational environment selected the delayed alternative.     

Delay of Gratification,Psychopathology, and Personality: Is Low Self-Control Specific to Externaiizing Problems?

We assessed the delay of gratification behavior of 428 twelve and thirteen-year-old boys, half of whom were known to manifest symptoms of behavioral disturbance. Consistent with the hypothesis that low self-control is a risk factor specific to externalizing (aggressive and delinquent) disorders, boys who showed signs of externalizing disorders tended to seek immediate gratification in a laboratory task more often than both nondisordered boys and boys who showed signs of internalizing (anxious and depressed) disorders. In addition, children who were able to delay immediate gratification were described by their mothers as ego controlled, ego resilient, conscientious, open to experience, and agreeable. These results suggest that poor delay of gratification may be one of a select number of specific risk factors for externalizing     

Intensity and orientation of reasoning: Motivational determinants of children's compliance to verbal rationales

The effects of varying the motivational content of verbal rationales on children's compliance to a prohibition were investigated. Sixty-four 7- to 10-year-old children received an explanation that focused either on the consequences of their behavior for themselves or on the consequences of their behavior for the experimenter. The intensity of these explanations was manipulated verbally by varying the severity of the self- or other-oriented consequences. Preratings of the rationales by an independent sample of 42 children indicated that children's perceptions of the aversiveness of the rationales increased as a function of intensity. Intensity was a determinant of children's compliance but females were more likely to increase in resistance to deviation as a function of intensity than males. Children who received other-oriented rationales performed a greater amount of work and were less likely to show decrements in working over time than subjects who received self-oriented rationales. The results were explained in terms of a model of reasoning effects in which the kind and amount of motivation aroused are two separable determinants of children's compliance.     

Examining children's ability to delay reward: Is the delay discounting task a suitable measure?

Discounting the value of delayed rewards has primarily been measured in children with the delay of gratification task and in adolescents and adults with the delay discounting task. In the present study, we assessed the suitability of the delay discounting task as a measure of temporal discounting in children. A sample of 7- to 9-year-olds (N = 98) completed a delay discounting task, a delay of gratification task, a sensation seeking measure, and IQ measures. In addition, teacher-based assessments of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder traits were measured. The results indicated that the majority of children produced meaningful data on the discounting task and discounted rewards hyperbolically. Children with an elevated risk of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder showed a trend towards discounting future rewards on the delay discounting task more steeply than did those at low risk. However, delay discounting was unrelated to either delay of gratification or sensation seeking. We interpret these results as providing some support for the use of delay discounting as a measure of intertemporal choice in children, although the results also suggest that delay discounting and delay of gratification tasks may tap different processes in this population.     

Self-control and tool use in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

Self-control is defined as forgoing immediate gratification to obtain a greater reward. Tool use may relate to self-control because both behaviors may require foresight and deliberate control over one's actions. The authors assessed 20 capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) for the ability to delay gratification in a tool task. Subjects were given rod-shaped food items that could either be consumed immediately or be carried to an apparatus and used to extract a more preferred food. The authors found that some monkeys were able to exhibit self-control. Monkeys with relatively more tool use experience demonstrated the greatest levels of self-control. These results indicate that capuchins are capable of delaying gratification when a higher quality reinforcer is present and that tool experience can influence levels of self-control in this task.     

Postdecision evaluation of choice alternatives as a function of valence of alternatives,choice, and expected delay of choice consequences

The effects of valence of alternatives, choice, and expected delay of choice consequences on postdecision evaluations of choice alternatives were studied by either giving subjects a choice between two experimental tasks (both either pleasant or unpleasant) or assigning subjects their initially preferred task. Crosscutting valence and choice, subjects expected either no delay, 10-min delay, or 30-min delay before engaging in the task. All subjects evaluated both tasks immediately after the delay instructions but before experiencing the actual delay. Results confirmed the expected dissonance effect; that is, an upward evaluation of the chosen alternative and a downward evaluation of the rejected alternative, relative to no-choice conditions. Moreover, the relative upward evaluation of the chosen alternative increased as the expected delay decreased. Valence was not found to interact with other variables. The results are discussed in terms of differential salience of choice alternatives.     

儿童4岁时自我延迟满足能力对其9岁时学校社会交往能力预期的追踪

采用追踪研究,用实验室实验和情境观察相结合的方法考察了54名儿童4岁时的自我延迟满足能力,5年后结合教师访谈与评定、同伴提名、儿童自评等方法综合评定这些儿童9岁时的学校社会交往能力,探讨儿童4岁时自我延迟满足能力对其9岁时学校社会交往能力的预期作用。结果表明：儿童4岁时的自我延迟满足能力水平可以预期其9岁时的学校社会交往能力水平。4岁时自我延迟满足能力高的儿童在9岁时的学校社会交往能力总体发展也好,其遵守规则与执行任务能力、与教师交往能力、与同伴交往能力、社交情绪发展水平都显著高于那些在4岁时自我延迟满足能力低的儿童;反之则差     

Age at onset of blindness and the development of the semantics of color names

The relationship between multiple measures of response inhibition and variations in young (age 5–7 years) children's short-term learning history was examined in a laboratory setting. Exposure to experimenter-directed delay periods (of either increasing, decreasing, or fixed durations) and to various rules for behavior management during the delay intervals was manipulated. Subsequent measures of resistance to temptation, an index of conceptual tempo (the Matching Familiar Figures Test), children's preference for delay vs immediate reward, and a test of motor control was obtained. Results indicated: (a) that the effects of rule provision extended to all resistance measures and to MFFT latency, while delay experiences significantly influenced only the latency to first transgression in the resistance task; (b) that a general and positive rationale for response inhibition was superior to an arbitrary rule or no rule structure; (c) that experience with gradually increasing delay of reward assisted children in inhibiting their first transgression significantly longer than the other delay patterns or no treatment; and (d) that experimental effects showed temporal stability over one week.     

四种注意情境下幼儿自我延迟满足的实验研究

将120名中等自控能力的3～5岁幼儿随机分配到四种注意情境下:两种奖励物同时呈现、只呈现即时奖励物、只呈现延迟奖励物、两种奖励物都不呈现,以探索幼儿自我延迟满足的注意机制及发展特点。结果发现:(1)幼儿自我延迟满足在两种奖励物都不呈现情境下平均延迟时间最长,在呈现奖励物的三种情境下平均延迟时间较短,表现出跨年龄稳定性;(2)3～5岁幼儿自我延迟满足发展存在显著年龄差异,表现出随年龄增长而提高的趋势。     

Preschoolers find ways to resist temptation after learning that willpower can be energizing

Children's tendency to delay gratification predicts important life outcomes, yet little is known about how to enhance delay of gratification other than by teaching task‐specific strategies. The present research investigated the effect of exposing children to a model who experiences the exertion of willpower as energizing. In two experiments, 86 4‐ to 5‐year olds were read a story that represented the exertion of willpower as energizing or a control story before taking part in a delay of gratification task. Children exposed to a storybook character who struggled with waiting, but eventually found it energizing, spontaneously generated more delay strategies, which enhanced delay. By promoting the search for effective strategies, this approach provides a promising direction for efforts to foster self‐regulation early in development.     

Outcome expectancy,locus of attribution for expectancy,and self-directed attention as determinants of evaluations and performance

Are internal versus external attributions of responsibility for prior outcomes important determinants of subsequent performances? or is their effect limited to influencing the affective and evaluative experiences that are associated with the task outcomes? Recent theoretical statements appear to differ on this issue. The present study examined the question, while at the same time testing the influence of self-directed attention on the process under investigation. Subjects attempted a series of mazes in collaboration with an ostensible cosubject (actually a confederate). The pair experienced either three consecutive sucesses or three consecutive failures. Subjects were led to perceive the responsibility for these outcomes as residing primarily with themselves or primarily with their partner. Self-focus was manipulated (by a mirror) prior to attempting a fourth maze and completing a set of rating scales. Success-condition subjects performed better on the fourth maze in the mirror's presence than in its absence, whereas failure-condition subjects tended to perform more poorly in the mirror's presence than in its absence. The manipulation of internal versus external attributions did not influence behavior, but did influence subjects' affective and evaluative reactions to themselves and their partner. Discussion centers on the relationship between these findings and other recent findings in the areas of attribution and achievement-related behavior.     

Making decisions about now and later: Development of future-oriented self-control

This study explored factors underlying preschoolers’ ability to make future-oriented choices. In a delay-of-gratification choice task, quantity and visibility of the reward was systematically varied. Participants included 90 typically developing children aged 2–4 years. Children made more choices to delay gratification as the quantity of the reward increased from 1 to 4 stickers, but covering the reward did not have an effect. The study extends previous findings on delay of gratification choice tasks in suggesting a developmental pattern beginning with an early appearing “hot” motivational system. Having children think about the present self versus the future self presumably activates a second “cool” representational system. Age differences in the development of this system and its integration with the motivational system may be at the heart of the “U” shaped function observed in the present work, one in which simpler abilities underlying self-control develop in parallel and integrate to produce more complex behaviour. The study thus contributes to our understanding of the development of future-oriented self-control, a milestone central to socialization and the definition of the self.     

Escaping the impulse to immediate gratification: the prospect concept promotes a future-oriented mindset, prompting an inclination towards delayed gratification

People's willingness to postpone receiving an immediate reward in order to gain additional benefits in the future, that is, a tendency to shallow delay discounting, is closely related to one's health, wealth, and happiness. We conducted two experiments investigating how the prospect concept can induce a future-oriented mindset and induce people to behave accordingly. We found that engaging in prospective imagery led the participants to focus on delayed utility over immediate utility in financial decisions (Experiment 1). Participants who received the prospect prime via a scrambled-sentence task decreased their desire to pursue hedonic activities for instant gratification (Experiment 2). Moreover, a state of future orientation mediated the effect of the prospect prime on measures of delayed gratification (Experiments 1 and 2). Thus, reminders of prospect may activate a mindset for future orientation by which delayed gratification is strengthened.     

观点采择因素对3～4岁儿童延迟满足决策的影响

通过采用延迟满足决策任务,要求儿童分别为自己和他人做出决策,本研究考察了观点采择因素对儿童情感决策发展的影响。实验一选取3岁和4岁儿童各40名,结果发现3岁儿童和4岁儿童在为自己选和为他人选两种条件下的表现均无显著差异,都倾向于做出延迟选择。实验二选取3岁和4岁儿童各60名,在为他人的选择中进一步区分了不同的观点提示条件,并增加了观点采择测验任务。结果发现,4岁儿童的观点采择能力得到了初步的发展,在不同的观点提示条件下为他人选择时分别表现出了与为自己选择不同的决策趋势;3岁儿童尚未获得观点采择能力,在各种不同观点提示条件下为自己和为他人做选择时差异均不显著。本研究结果表明,观点采择能力对儿童情感决策的影响是发展性的。随着观点采择能力的发展,儿童逐渐能够确立正确的延迟动机,为他人做出有效的决策。