Experiment Study In Delay Gratification Of Children At Age 3 To 5

Two experiments investigated attention in delay of gratification of children at age 3 to 5 under the background of one-child policy in China. In each study, children could choose between a less preferred reward which could be obtained immediately by ringing the bell and informing the experimenter to come back and a more preferred reward which need wait until the experimenter came back by herself. . Experiment â… compared the effects of external and cognitive distraction from the reward objects on the length of time which preschool children waited for the preferred delayed reward. Experimentâ…¡compared the influence of different cognitive instructions on children's delay of gratification. The results indicate:1.Children waited much longer for a preferred reward when they were distracted from the rewards by an external activity or positive cognitive distraction than when they attended to them directly.2.If children's attention was manipulated to a negative cognitive activity, it would make the children feel additional frustration and shorten the length of voluntary delay.3.Children's ability of gratification develops gradually. No gender difference was found in this study.