WHAT HAPPENS DURING THE WAITING PERIOD? CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE STUDY OF SELF-CONTROL

Abstract

This study examined the effects of social control on children`s self-control. The participants were assigned to three waiting conditions: 'alone', 'hand puppet' serving as a possible audience, and 'peers'. Children should choose between waiting 15 minutes for the experimenter in order to get two chocolates or ringing a bell during that interval to call the experimenter and get only one. The participants exposed to the 'alone' condition waited less time than the children exposed to the other conditions. The categorization of responses in the waiting period indicated that fewer responses per minute occurred for those who did not wait. On the 'peers' condition, it was observed a greater number of responses in the different categories, greater variability in responding, and that the peers provided additional consequences to those manipulated by the individual, improving self-control. Keywords: self-control, immediate reinforcer, delayed reinforcer, social control, behavior analysis, children