Delay of Gratification

The last couple days, I've been reading quite a bit in the self-regulation literature.

In a series of experiments, Walter Mischel (famous for his 1968 book questioning the existence of personality conceptualized as consistent trait-relevant behavior across situations and for the cognitive-affective processing system) investigated delay of gratification in children. In his basic paradigm, kids would be faced with two choices: eat a single yummy treat before the experimenter comes back to the room (by ringing a bell to summon the experimenter) or get to eat two treats when the experimenter returns on his own, at an unspecified time. (The kids chose treats that they liked and preferred two treats to one.) The kids were timed to see how long they were willing and able to delay eating the treat (up to 20 minutes).

Several findings emerged from these studies:

* Delay was longer when the reward was not present than when it was present

* Distraction led to longer delays

* Delay was longer when a photo of the reward was present rather than the actual reward was present

* Delay was longer when the kids pretended that the real reward was a photograph

* Delay was longer when kids imagined the treat to be something else - e.g. thinking of a pretzel as "a little brown log" rather than as "salty and crunchy"

Mischel linked these findings to the idea of two thinking systems: a "cool" system that is cognitively-oriented, complex, slow, and contemplative (the know system) and a "hot" system that emotionally-oriented and quick (the go system). (Psychology is full of these two system / dual process theories.) Photographs and little brown logs are cool representations that enable self-regulation while real treats and delicious-sounding descriptions are hot representations that trigger an approach reaction.

In Mischel's view, willpower (in this situation) requires both regulatory motivation and regulatory ability, thus both hot and cool systems are needed to work together. The hot system provides the motivation (recognizes that the treats are desirable) and the cool system provides the regulatory competency (allows the child to delay gratification).