Measurement of Delay of Gratification

To determine if psychoanalytic and social learning theorists are referring to the same phenomenon when they speak of "delay of gratification", 26 college undergraduates were divided into high and low groups on the basis of their scores on a "money-spending" questionnaire (a social learning measure). The difference between these two groups with respect to Rorschach M responses (the psychoanalytic measure) was nonsignificant. It was suggested that psychoanalytic and social learning theorists are probably referring to different phenomena when they speak of "delay of gratification."