School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK.
School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2019 Mar;179:162-175. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2018.11.005. Epub 2018 Dec 8.
Children (6- and 7-year-olds) decided whether to wait for a short delay to win a prize or for a longer period to win a different prize. Those who chose to take their prize after a short delay won two candies but were shown that they would have won four candies if they had waited longer. We measured whether children regretted their choice not to wait. The next day, children were faced with the same choice again. Children who regretted choosing the short delay on Day 1 were more likely to delay gratification on Day 2 than children who had not regretted their previous choice. In a second study, we replicated this finding while controlling for intellectual ability and children's preference for four candies over two candies. This suggests that experiencing regret about a choice not to wait assists children in delaying gratification when faced with the same choice again.
儿童（6 至 7 岁）决定是等待短时间延迟以赢得奖品，还是等待更长时间以赢得不同的奖品。那些选择在短时间延迟后领奖的人赢得了两颗糖果，但他们被展示如果等待更长时间，他们将赢得四颗糖果。我们测量了孩子们是否后悔自己没有等待的选择。第二天，孩子们再次面临同样的选择。第一天选择短时间延迟而后悔的孩子，在第二天更有可能延迟满足感，而不是那些没有后悔自己之前选择的孩子。在第二项研究中，我们在控制智力能力和孩子们对四颗糖果的偏好超过两颗糖果的情况下复制了这一发现。这表明，对不等待的选择感到后悔有助于孩子们在再次面临同样的选择时延迟满足感。
