Delay of gratification: decisional self-control and experience with delay intervals.

Actual and verbally reported decisional self-control choices (e.g., 1 penny now or 2 pennies in 1 minute) were obtained from 40 retarded adolescents who participated in a sheltered workshop. Prior to each of their eight choices, one-half of the students experienced the same time interval that was included in the choice for that day (e.g., 1 minute). Analysis of the number of actual and reported delay choices yielded a significant effect for experience, with the treatment group making more delay choices. In addition to suggesting that decisional self-control can be facilitated by prior exposure to delay intervals, the results indicated that verbally reported choices can be used as a reliable and valid indication of actual choices.