Having to wait doesn't help young kids exercise self-control

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/afps-ddh110615.php

Public Release: 9-Nov-2015
Don't delay: Having to wait doesn't help young kids exercise self-control
Association for Psychological Science

Would your ability to resist a tantalizing cookie improve if you had to wait a few seconds before you could reach for it? The idea that natural urges 'die down' with time seems intuitive, but new research shows that it's being reminded about what not to do, not the passage of time, that actually helps young children control their impulsive behavior.

The findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"Parents can be frustrated to see children behaving impulsively, even when they seem to be aware of what they should be doing," says psychological scientist Jane Barker of the University of Colorado Boulder. "Our work may help to explain why asking children to delay -- telling them to 'stop and count to 10 before acting!' -- is not always an effective impulse control strategy."

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Importantly, the results indicated that the reminders served as the critical component in boosting self-control: Children who had received a reminder beforehand were better at refraining from opening the 'no-go' boxes than those who hadn't received a reminder. In contrast, children's ability to inhibit a response didn't seem to benefit from having to wait before responding.

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