The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Delay of gratification in children.
Abstract
To function effectively, individuals must voluntarily postpone immediate gratification and persist in goal-directed behavior for the sake of later outcomes. The present research program analyzed the nature of this type of future-oriented self-control and the psychological processes that underlie it. Enduring individual differences in self-control were found as early as the preschool years. Those 4-year-old children who delayed gratification longer in certain laboratory situations developed into more cognitively and socially competent adolescents, achieving higher scholastic performance and coping better with frustration and stress. Experiments in the same research program also identified specific cognitive and attentional processes that allow effective self-regulation early in the course of development. The experimental results, in turn, specified the particular types of preschool delay situations diagnostic for predicting aspects of cognitive and social competence later in life.
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In the citing paper
“Mischel (1989) showed that children typically behave in one of two ways: 1) either they ring the bell almost immediately in order to have the cookie, which means they only get one; or 2) they wait and optimize their gains to receive both cookies.”
From The Adolescent Brain (2008) · cites this paper as Mischel et al. 1989
In the citing paper
“This observation suggests that some individuals are better than others in their ability to control impulses in the presence of highly salient incentives, and this bias can be detected in early childhood (Mischel et al. 1989).”
From The Adolescent Brain (2008) · cites this paper as Mischel et al. 1989
In the citing paper
“Indeed, children who successfully waited often employed strategies such as turning away from the marshmallow, thinking of the visible marshmallow as merely a photograph, or distracting themselves by imagining instead the taste of salty pretzels to redirect ‘wanting’ toward that different food.”
From Evolving Concepts of Emotion and Motivation (2018) · cites this paper as Mischel et al., 1989
In the citing paper
“Children found it much harder to wait if any marshmallows were actually present to be seen and perhaps smelled (Mischel et al., 1989).”
From Evolving Concepts of Emotion and Motivation (2018) · cites this paper as Mischel et al., 1989
In the citing paper
“In humans, self-control has been linked to health, economic, social, and academic achievement, and is known to be heritable (170-172).”
From The evolution of self-control. (2014) · cites this paper as [171]
In the citing paper
“Inhibitory control—the ability to resist a prepotent behavioral response—is central to solving many problems (Diamond 1990; Hauser 1999) and has been linked to social competence, criminal behavior, health, and economic status in humans (Mischel et al. 1989; Moffitt et al. 2011).”
From How does cognition evolve? Phylogenetic comparative psychology (2012) · cites this paper as Mischel et al. 1989
Citations
Cites
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Madison, P., & Mischel, W. (1968) · The American Journal of Psychology · doi:10.2307/1421067 · Cited by 4,395
Self-citationSpecious reward: A behavioral theory of impulsiveness and impulse control.
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Shefrin, H., & Thaler, R. H. (1988) · Economic Inquiry · doi:10.1111/j.1465-7295.1988.tb01520.x · Cited by 1,813
Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification.
Mischel, W., Ebbesen, E. Β., & Zeiss, A. R. (1972) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0032198 · Cited by 1,364
Self-citationTraining impulsive children to talk to themselves: A means of developing self-control.
Meichenbaum, D. H., & Goodman, J. (1971) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0030773 · Cited by 1,346
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 5
- Brown, A. L., Handbook of Child Psychology 3: 77 (1983).
- Freud, S., Collected Papers 4: 13 (1959).
- HARTER, S, HDB CHILD PSYCHOL 4: 275 (1983).
- Mischel, W., Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology 11: 199 (1978).
- Rodriguez, M. L., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 57: 358 (1989). · DOI
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Diamond, A. (2013) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750 · Cited by 13,268
Barkley, R. A. (1997) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037//0033-2909.121.1.65 · Cited by 580
Construal-level theory of psychological distance.
Trope, Y., & Liberman, N. (2010) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0018963 · Cited by 6,618
A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety
Moffitt, T. E., Arseneault, L., Belsky, D., Dickson, N., Hancox, R. J., Harrington, H., Houts, R., Poulton, R., Roberts, B. W., Ross, S., et al. (2011) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1010076108 · Cited by 4,885
The cognitive control of emotion
OCHSNER, K., & GROSS, J. (2005) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2005.03.010 · Cited by 4,495
Metadata
- Authors
- Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L.
- Affiliations
- Columbia University (US)
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
- ORCID
- Shoda, Yuichi
- Venue
- Science
- Published
- 1989-05-26
- Volume
- 244
- Issue
- 4907
- Pages
- 933-938
- ISSN
- 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
- 1095-9203
- OpenAlex
- W2004704125
- Cited by
- 3,397
- References
- 49
- Citations by year
- 2026: 77 · 2025: 105 · 2024: 108 · 2023: 116 · 2022: 163 · 2021: 166 · 2020: 258 · 2019: 240 · 2018: 194 · 2017: 177 · 2016: 169 · 2015: 193 · 2014: 174 · 2013: 171 · 2012: 143
- FWCI
- 4.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Child and Animal Learning Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation
- Keywords
- delay of gratification, self-control, preschool children, individual differences, cognitive skills, social competence, scholastic performance, stress coping, self-regulation, attentional processes
- MeSH terms
- Adaptation, Psychological, Attention, Child, Child Development, Child, Preschool, Cognition, Female, Frustration, Humans, Individuality, Male, Reward, Social Adjustment
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