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Delay of gratification: decisional self-control and experience with delay intervals
American Journal of Mental Deficiency
|September 1, 1977
Summary
Prior exposure to delay intervals increased delayed gratification choices in adolescents with intellectual disabilities. Verbal reports accurately reflected actual self-control decisions, suggesting a reliable assessment method.
Area of Science:
- Behavioral Psychology
- Developmental Psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Decisional self-control involves choosing between immediate and delayed rewards.
- Adolescents with intellectual disabilities often face challenges in self-control.
- Understanding factors that facilitate self-control is crucial for this population.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if prior experience with delay intervals influences self-control choices in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.
- To determine the reliability and validity of verbally reported choices as an indicator of actual self-control behavior.
Main Methods:
- Forty adolescents with intellectual disabilities participated in a sheltered workshop.
- Participants made eight actual and verbally reported decisional self-control choices.
- One group experienced delay intervals before choices; the other did not.
Main Results:
- The group with prior experience of delay intervals made significantly more delay choices.
- Verbal reports of choices were found to be reliable and valid indicators of actual choices.
- Prior exposure to delay intervals positively impacted decisional self-control.
Conclusions:
- Experiencing delay intervals can enhance decisional self-control in adolescents with intellectual disabilities.
- Verbal reports serve as a dependable measure for assessing self-control decisions in this group.
- Intervention strategies could incorporate exposure to delay intervals to improve self-control.