Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Dev Sci. 2020 May;23(3):e12905. doi: 10.1111/desc.12905. Epub 2019 Oct 3.
Children's tendency to delay gratification predicts important life outcomes, yet little is known about how to enhance delay of gratification other than by teaching task-specific strategies. The present research investigated the effect of exposing children to a model who experiences the exertion of willpower as energizing. In two experiments, 86 4- to 5-year olds were read a story that represented the exertion of willpower as energizing or a control story before taking part in a delay of gratification task. Children exposed to a storybook character who struggled with waiting, but eventually found it energizing, spontaneously generated more delay strategies, which enhanced delay. By promoting the search for effective strategies, this approach provides a promising direction for efforts to foster self-regulation early in development.
儿童延迟满足的倾向预示着重要的生活结果，但除了教授特定任务的策略之外，人们对如何增强延迟满足知之甚少。本研究探讨了让儿童接触一个将意志力的发挥视为充满活力的榜样的效果。在两项实验中，86 名 4 至 5 岁的儿童在参与延迟满足任务之前，阅读了一个代表意志力发挥是充满活力的故事或一个对照故事。接触到一个在等待时挣扎但最终发现等待充满活力的故事书角色的儿童，会自发地产生更多的延迟策略，从而增强延迟。通过促进寻找有效策略，这种方法为在发展早期培养自我调节能力的努力提供了一个有希望的方向。
