کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
---|---|---|---|---|
926882 | 921910 | 2013 | 6 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
Children are notoriously bad at delaying gratification to achieve later, greater rewards (e.g., Piaget, 1970)—and some are worse at waiting than others. Individual differences in the ability-to-wait have been attributed to self-control, in part because of evidence that long-delayers are more successful in later life (e.g., Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Here we provide evidence that, in addition to self-control, children’s wait-times are modulated by an implicit, rational decision-making process that considers environmental reliability. We tested children (M = 4;6, N = 28) using a classic paradigm—the marshmallow task (Mischel, 1974)—in an environment demonstrated to be either unreliable or reliable. Children in the reliable condition waited significantly longer than those in the unreliable condition (p < 0.0005), suggesting that children’s wait-times reflected reasoned beliefs about whether waiting would ultimately pay off. Thus, wait-times on sustained delay-of-gratification tasks (e.g., the marshmallow task) may not only reflect differences in self-control abilities, but also beliefs about the stability of the world.
• Children wait longer in the marshmallow task when the experimenter is reliable.
• Children’s behavior on this task is likely influenced by rational factors.
• Self-control is not the sole determinant in delay-of-gratification success.
Journal: Cognition - Volume 126, Issue 1, January 2013, Pages 109–114