The proposed program of research is intended to illuminate cognitive and social-learning processes governing certain self-control and self-regulatory patterns in children and adults. A major aim of the proposed reseach is to clarify the role of cognitive and attentional processes in voluntary delay in gratification (sustained waiting and working for delayed or interrupted goal attainment). Our approach to this problem will involve a program of laboratory experiments supplemented by direct observation of the delay behavior of preschool children in various frustrative waiting and working situations. Variables discovered to be associated with effective delay behavior and sustained-goal- directed activity in the observational studies will be tested more precisely as experimentally manipulated independent variables in later studies with diverse age groups. Initial independent variables will include instructions and cues designed to manipulate selective attention to various theoretically important aspects of the situation, perceived locus of control, the structure of the delay situation, and the plans available to the subject during the delay period. The effects of these variables on the children's ability to sustain self-imposed delay (interruption) of behavior will be assessed in various frustration paradigms. Other phases of the research will examine the role of perceived locus of control in self-regulation, and the effects of prior experience and expected outcomes on self-reactions.
NIH ExPorter
NIH ExPorter