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. Thos...

Two brief laboratory tasks measuring delay of gratification in different ways were administered to 116 four-year-old children. Personality data were available on these children separately at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 years in the form of California Child Q-Set ratings by independent sets of teachers and examiners. The two delayof-gratification measures were standard scored and composited to generate...

Delaying gratification is hard, yet predictive of important life outcomes, such as academic achievement and physical health. Prominent theories focus on the role of self-control, hypersensitivity to immediate rewards, and the cost of time spent waiting. However, delaying gratification may also require trust in people delivering future rewards as promised. To test the role of social trust, parti...

Delaying gratification is the ability to resist immediate rewards for larger or more desirable delayed rewards, and is important to individual and societal success. Many factors involved in delaying gratification have been well established, but the role of time perception is not well understood. Given that individuals experience time differently, these differences may influence choices regardin...

This study explored the relationships among a behavioral and verbal measure of delay of gratification, Porteus Maze Test measures of planning ability and foresight (TQ) and impulse control (Q), and ratings of adjustment in a school for delinquent adolescent males. Both measures of delay of gratification were significantly related to the Porteus measures and the adjustment ratings. Delay of grat...