Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T05:16:46.224Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Persistence: What does research on self-regulation and delay of gratification have to say?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2013

Vivian Zayas
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601. vz29@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/gg294@cornell.eduhttp://cornellpsych.org/people/gunaydin/gp289@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/
Gül Günaydin
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601. vz29@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/gg294@cornell.eduhttp://cornellpsych.org/people/gunaydin/gp289@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/
Gayathri Pandey
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-7601. vz29@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/gg294@cornell.eduhttp://cornellpsych.org/people/gunaydin/gp289@cornell.eduhttp://people.psych.cornell.edu/~pac_lab/

Abstract

Despite the simplicity of Kurzban et al.'s framework, we argue that important information is lost in their simplification. We discuss research on delay of gratification and self-regulation that identifies key situational and psychological factors affecting how people represent rewards and costs. These factors affect the expected utilities of behavioral options and thus dramatically influence whether individuals persist on a difficult task.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ainslie, G. (1975) Specious reward: A behavioral theory of impulsiveness and impulse control. Psychological Bulletin 82:463–96.Google Scholar
Berman, M., Yourganov, G., Askren, M. K., Ayduk, O. N., Casey, B. J., Gotlib, I. H., Kross, E., McIntosh, A. R., Strother, S., Wilson, N. L., Zayas, V., Mischel, W., Shoda, Y. & Jonides, J. (2013) Dimensionality of brain networks linked to life-long individual differences in self-control. Nature Communications 4:1373. Available at: http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2374.html Google Scholar
Casey, B. J., Somerville, L. H., Gotlib, I., Ayduk, O., Franklin, N., Askren, M. K., Jonides, J., Berman, M. G., Wilson, N. L., Teslovich, T., Glover, G., Zayas, V., Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (2011) Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 108(36):1499815003.Google Scholar
Eigsti, I., Zayas, V., Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., Ayduk, O., Dadlani, M. B., Davidson, M. C., Lawrence Aber, J. & Casey, B. J. (2006) Attentional control in preschool predicts cognitive control at age eighteen. Psychological Science 17:478–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, M. J. (2008) On becoming ready to pursue a goal you don't know you have: Effects of nonconscious goals on evaluative readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 95:1268–94.Google Scholar
Fujita, K. (2011) On conceptualizing self-control as more than the effortful inhibition of impulses. Personality and Social Psychology Review 15:352–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hofmann, W., Friese, M. & Strack, F. (2009) Impulse and self-control from a dual-systems perspective. Perspectives on Psychological Science 4:162–76. doi:10.1111/j.1745-6924.2009.01116.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hofmann, W., Schmeichel, B. J. & Baddeley, A. D. (2012) Executive functions and self-regulation. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 3:174–80.Google Scholar
Metcalfe, J. & Mischel, W. (1999) A hot/cool system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review 106:319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mischel, W., Ayduk, O. N., Berman, M., Casey, B. J., Jonides, J., Kross, E., Wilson, N., Zayas, V. & Shoda, Y. (2011) “Willpower” over the life span: Decomposing impulse control. Social Cognitive Affective Neuroscience 6:252–56.Google Scholar
Zayas, V., Mischel, W. & Pandey, G. (in press) Mind, brain, and delay of gratification. In: The neuroscience of risky decision, ed. Reyna, V. & Zayas, V.. American Psychological Association.Google Scholar