Patience! How to Assess and Strengthen Self-Control

Abstract

Children often show signs of dysregulation, impulsivity, and risk-taking-behaviors that interfere with learning and growth. Commonly implicated in such interfering behaviors are problems of self-control. Several decades of research in the mind and brain sciences inform understanding of self-control, both as a trait and state. This research has significant implications for educators, providing strategies for assessing and strengthening self-control. This paper reviews the relevant theoretical concepts and practical applications. Part one discusses current thinking about the nature of self-control, focusing on the paired distinctions between (i) trait and state, as well as (ii) volitional and impulsive processes. Part two reviews a family of methods designed to assess different aspects of self-control. Part three focuses on ways to strength self-control, including simple strategies that help create habits and reduce conflict with competing temptations.

The Future of Evidence-Based Temperance Interventions

“…Interventions seeking to promote patience have more often been aimed at children or adolescents than at adults. One problem inhibiting both basic and intervention research on patience (Hauser, 2019) is that sensation-seeking peaks earlier in adolescence (17-18) than does self-control (23-26). Their curves, on the average, tend to cross-over about age 22.…”

Conflict Mediation, Emotional Regulation and Coping Strategies in the Educational Field

“…Finally, with the strengthening of these three elements: conflict mediation, emotional regulation and coping strategies, teachers enable the reduction of behavioral problems in the classroom, with fewer interruptions between classmates, and with more involved and participatory students in educational issues (Hauser, 2019).…”

“…For the elaboration of ICMC, conceptual proposals have been analyzed (e.g., Hauser, 2019), empirical studies of psychopedagogical intervention in emotional education and experience sampling, applied in the field of education (e.g., P.E.C.E.R.A., by de Morales Ibáñez and Alzina, 2006; The Evaluation of the Program for the Prevention of Structural Violence in the Family and School Centers, of Moral and Pérez, 2010;Happy Emotional Education Program, of Filella et al, 2018), as well as models and theories that deal with the central elements separately (e.g., Murray, 2005;Caballero, 2010;Cabanach et al, 2010;Pérez-Escoda et al, 2013;Romera et al, 2015;Balzarotti et al, 2016;Filella et al, 2016, among others); this analysis has indicated three possible areas of conflict development that should be considered; in the first place, the conflict that the person has with himself (from the theory of the psychic apparatus, Salcedo, 2010); second, the conflict that the person has with another person (from Darwin's theory of evolution, Aznavurian, 2012) and, finally, the conflict that is generated between groups (from Marx's class conflict theory, Izaguirre, 2014). We consider that analyzing this oscillation between the "I" and the "we, " between the being as an individual entity and the being as a social entity, with the mediation of exercises that encourage creativity, imagination, reflection and the development of consciousness, it enables the execution of cognitive reevaluation and, therefore, the development of the ability to alter one's responses, one of the characteristics associated with the human condition (Baumeister and Heatherton, 1996).…”

Female Managers' Own Factors Impacting on Organizational Effectiveness

“…These behaviors reflect people's patience and self-control. Hauser states that patience and self-control can influence a person's learning efficiency and behavior from childhood [13], and Gränsmark found that men were less self-controlled and patient than women based on extensive observations of chess matches [14]. This suggests that women are more patient and self-controlled when carrying out tasks or work and that they can act and learn more efficiently.…”