Delay of Gratification

Definition

Delay of gratification requires resisting the impulse to take an immediately available reward, in the hopes of obtaining a more valued reward in the future. For example, a person who wakes up feeling tired can make the impulsive choice of going back to sleep or can delay gratification by getting up, making coffee, going to work, and hence feeling productive and alert. The ability to delay gratification is an essential to regulating or controlling oneself.

Background

The dilemma of whether to give in to temptation or to resist in favor of a long-term benefit has plagued humans from the beginning of time. It has been discussed in every major philosophical and religious tradition. Best known to those of Judeo-Christian background is the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit. By giving in to this very first temptation, Adam and Eve forfeited the rewards of living under God's care in the Garden of Eden. At the same time, people gained a greater awareness of the consequences of their choices. Indeed, this awareness may be what makes human life unique.

In addition to the fundamental desires that support humans' basic needs, Henry Frankfurt, a philosopher, points out that humans form second-order desires, which are desires to change those fundamental desires. For example, a teenager falling in love for the first time experiences sexual desire but at the same time may feel a second-order desire to remain abstinent to adhere to a moral code or to avoid the risks that come with sexual activity. Second-order desires emerge from our ability to anticipate the future and recognize a longterm benefit to suppressing our immediate impulse. Indeed, the capacity to delay gratification is essential to human accomplishment and thus has become an important topic for psychological inquiry.

A Classic Experimental Situation

To study the conditions that promote delay of gratification, Walter Mischel and his colleagues designed an experimental situation in which an experimenter sets up a challenge for a child. The child is asked to choose between a larger treat, such as two cookies, and a smaller treat, such as one cookie. After stating a preference for the larger treat, the child learns that to obtain that treat, he or she must wait for the experimenter to return. The child is also told that if he or she signals the experimenter, the experimenter will return, and the child will receive the smaller treat. Thus, the smaller treat is available now, but the larger treat requires waiting. To get the larger treat, the child must resist the temptation to get an immediate treat.

This experimental situation has proven very useful both in demonstrating the importance of the ability to delay gratification and in identifying strategies that make it possible for children to delay. Children who are best able to wait in this situation at 4 years old are more socially and academically successful as high school students and they earn higher Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. The procedure adapted for adolescents by Edelgard Wulfert and his colleagues has revealed that middle and high school students who [Page 236]waited a week for a monetary reward earn higher grades, show less problem behavior in school, and are less likely to use cigarettes, alcohol, and other drugs than their peers who chose not to wait.

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