A Study On Children's Delay Of Gratification In Nonengaging Working Situations

A Study on Children's Delay of Gratification in Nonengaging Working SituationsDelay of gratification is a hot topic in children's emotion intelligence field recently,which has regained academic interest especially at preschool stage, from which school performance,social competence and personality in one's adulthood could be predicted. There are much conclusions from researches on delay of gratification in waiting paradigm. However, researches and conclusive results have been lacking in working situations.There are two hypotheses: motivation hypothesis and distraction hypothesis about delay of gratification in working situations. In this study, two experiments were designed to examine preschool delay of gratification in nonengaging working situations. Major results from this study are summarized below:1.In the nonengaging working situations, the work task cannot provide distraction function. The motivation that children want to gain reward plays a crucial act in delay of gratification.2.Children will distract themselves to the working apparatus that was left in the room in waiting paradigm. However the distraction occurs not from the attraction of the working apparatus but from the children's instincts. It is a distraction strategy from the children unconsciously.