Learning to Delay Gratification
Many of you may look around at
friends, family, or perfect strangers and wonder how the dickens they can stop
themselves from overeating or noshing when they’re not hungry. One answer is
that they’ve learned to delay gratification. Although this behavior involves
genetic tendencies, childhood learning is also major behavior-shaper.
Parental modeling and instruction
are strong influences in developing the ability to delay gratification. Did your
parents model waiting for rewards or have difficulty controlling their
impulses? What did they teach you about the benefits of restraint? Moreover,
how did they teach this lesson—compassionately or punitively? If you were
unfairly punished for surrendering to impulse, might you be rebelling against restraint
today?
Trust
affects kids’ patience (SCIENCE NEWS 11/17/12) describes the findings of a
new study: “Kids’ beliefs about the reliability of the people around them can
dramatically shape willingness to wait for a sweeter payoff…” This means that
if you trust you will receive something better by holding off, you're more likely to do so. The question then, is how predictable, reliable, and
consistent your parents were in following through. Did they say you’d receive a
reward for not acting impulsively, then fail to give you one? It’s easy to see
how that response would undermine your ability to resist temptation because there
was no reinforcement of healthy behavior. Many disregulated eater...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: eatnormalnow Source Type: blogs
More News: Biology | Blogging | Genetics | Girls | Learning | National Institute for Health and Clinical Excelle | Science | Study | Teaching | Universities & Medical Training