Helping Young Children to Delay Gratification

Abstract

The ability to delay gratification (DG) in young children is vital to their later development. Such ability should be taught as early as possible. One hundred kindergartners (Mean age = 6.11), randomly assigned to three groups; a, labeling: received the treatment of being labeled as ''patient'' kids; b, story-telling: were read a story about the patient antagonist rewarded double gifts, while the impulsive character got only one same reward; c, control: received no treatment. Under the DG task of Ball-Moving Activity, the ANOVA results showed the children in labeling group delayed longer (M = 13.23 m) than the control one (M = 11.25 m), showed marginal significant difference at p = .06, medium effect size magnitude at g 2 = .06. No significant mean differences were found between the story-telling (M = 12.68 m) and the control group, though the story-telling group delayed more than 1 min longer than their counterparts. Sex differences on the task are also discussed.

Development and validation of the Delaying Gratification Inventory.

“…National Institutes of Health (NIH, 2009, p.2) guidelines identify gratification delay as having a non-trivial impact upon public health, with six decades of research linking poor gratification delay to societal problems, including obesity, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior, psychopathology, consumer debt, criminality, and low educational attainment (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007; Bembenutty & Karabenick, 2004; DeWall, Baumeister, Stillman, & Galliot, 2007; Gottdiener, Murawski, & Kucharski, 2008; Seeyave et al, 2009; Wulfert, Safren, Brown, & Wan, 1999). Despite its importance, research on gratification delay has not progressed as quickly as might be hoped largely due to measurement limitations and inconsistent findings (Baumeister et al, 2007; Lee et al, 2008; Mauro & Harris, 2000; McLeish & Oxoby, 2007; Richards, Zhang, Mitchell, & de Wit, 1999; Smith & Hantula, 2008). We put forth a framework for conceptualizing gratification delay, examine the relative merits of available measurement strategies, and use a novel, Internet-mediated approach to survey development.…”

Your wish is my command! Influence of symbolic modelling on preschool children’s delay of gratification

“…The children who were labelled as patient delayed significantly longer than children in the 115 control group, demonstrating the power of self-perception and priming. However, no statistically significant 116 differences were found between the story-telling group and the control group, although they did delay one 117 minute longer on average than controls (Lee 2008). The limited effect of story-telling in this study could be due…”

“…In one of the few studies, Lee et al (2008) investigated whether preschool children's ability to 111 delay gratification could be influenced by either explicitly labelling the children as being very patient 112 individuals, saying that they had heard they were able to concentrate well and do boring things for a long period 113 of time, or by reading a story to them, in which an impulsive child received only one gift whereas a patient child 114 received two gifts. The children who were labelled as patient delayed significantly longer than children in the 115 control group, demonstrating the power of self-perception and priming.…”

Pelatihan Keterampilan Mendongeng untuk Keluarga Nelayan

“…Selain itu, menurut Hollowel (via Latif, 2014), manfaat positif dongeng untuk anak adalah mengembangkan imajinasi dan memberi pengalaman emosional yang mendalam, memuaskan kebutuhan ekspresi, menanamkan pendidikan moral tanpa harus menggurui, menumbuhkan rasa humor yang sehat, dan memperluas cakrawala khayalan anak. Selanjutnya, hasil penelitian Lee et al (2008) menunjukkan bahwa kelompok anakanak yang mendapatkan dongeng dapat menunda gratifikasi lebih lama. Adapun menurut Newman (1997), berbagai bukti riset menunjukkan bahwa kemampuan menunda gratifikasi berpengaruh penting terhadap kesuksesan karier dan relasi interpersonal pada masa dewasa.…”