Delayed gratification
Delayed gratification is the ability to resist an immediate reward in favor of a more significant reward later on. This behavioral trait involves enduring short-term discomfort or temptation to achieve long-term goals, such as improved health through exercise or financial stability through savings. Psychologists highlight its importance in various aspects of life, including better time management, healthier relationships, and overall mental and physical well-being. However, developing this skill can be challenging, as it requires overcoming instinctual urges linked to the pleasure principle, as identified by Sigmund Freud. Research, including famous experiments like the "marshmallow test," has shown that children who can delay gratification tend to perform better academically and exhibit fewer behavioral issues. Socioeconomic factors also play a role, influencing a child's ability to trust in future rewards. Despite inherent challenges, strategies like distraction and visualization can help individuals strengthen their capacity for delayed gratification, making it a valuable trait to cultivate for achieving life's goals.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Delayed gratification
Delayed gratification is a behavioral trait in which a person puts off an immediate reward in favor of a greater reward in the future. Delayed gratification can also refer to situations in which people experience temporary discomfort in the present in order to have something better in the future. For example, a person who works out to lose weight and have better health in the future is displaying delayed gratification.
Delayed gratification is an important trait. Experts believe it is a key to such effective behaviors as managing time, long-term financial health, better physical and mental health, and having satisfying relationships. Other research indicates a correlation between the ability to delay gratification and better sleep habits, effective stress management, and lower instances of substance use disorders. However, it can also be a difficult trait to develop. Research also indicates that some skills needed to consistently delay gratification may have a biological basis. Despite this, the ability to delay gratification can be improved with practice.
Background
Delaying gratification is related to several other key psychological concepts. The first is the pleasure principle. Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) developed the principle as the main motivation for the id, or the most basic part of the human consciousness. The id instinctively seeks pleasure and attempts to avoid pain unless it is overridden by higher mental processes. It also has little regard for the future. As a result, the id will seek to eat when the person is hungry or prefer to avoid the pain associated with a physical workout, regardless of any consequences this might produce. The id and the pleasure principle must be overridden if a person is going to delay gratification.
This override comes through the exercise of another psychological concept, self-control. It is also sometimes known as willpower. Self-control is the ability to restrict one’s desires and impulses, often in the face of temptation. It is a function of higher mental processes such as reason. It is usually connected to some higher purpose, such as developing good behaviors, avoiding bad or unproductive behaviors, and reaching goals. A person who is able to say “no” to eating dessert when it is sitting on a plate in front of them is exhibiting self-control.
Some of the most significant research into delayed gratification occurred in the 1970s. Austrian-American psychologist Walter Mischel (1930–2018) conducted a series of experiments in which children ages three to five were individually shown a plate full of treats such as marshmallows or cookies. Each child was then left alone in a room where they could be observed. Before the researcher left, children were told they could have one treat immediately, but if they waited a short time until the researcher returned, they would be given two treats.
The researchers then tracked how many preschoolers ate the treat and how many waited, as well as other patterns in how quickly they ate them. Later, researchers looked into test scores, behavioral issues, and other facets of the children’s growth. They determined that those who waited for the second treat had higher standardized test scores and fewer behavioral problems than the children who did not wait. Further studies on the children as adults indicated that there was a correlation to success in later life as well.
For decades, this “marshmallow test” was used as a classic example of delayed gratification research. However, further studies indicated that the test failed to consider all the possible aspects of the concept. The children in the original study were all from one preschool. When the experiment was repeated using more children from a more diverse background, fewer correlations existed between the ability to delay gratification and later academic and behavioral results. Instead, the results indicated a greater correlation between the child’s socioeconomic situation and their ability to wait to eat the treat. Children who came from low-income homes tended to be less able to wait than children from more wealthy homes. They theorize that this is because more affluent children were better able to trust that treats would come in the future than children who sometimes had little or no food at all. Further research concerning self-control strategies that aid children in delaying gratification supported this finding. Sociodemographic differences were observed in the variation between children’s ability to exhibit self-control during a delay task.
Overview
Even though delayed gratification is important in achieving goals such as good grades, keeping a job, and having enough money for the future, psychologists note that it is a difficult trait to develop. According to Freud’s research, one of the most basic human instincts is to seek pleasure. This strong urge needs to be overridden in order for a person to have the self-control necessary to delay gratification.
In addition, psychologists point out that life is not as simple as the experiment that Mischel and his colleagues conducted. Many goals in life do not come with guarantees, making it more difficult to set aside an immediate pleasure in favor of something better later. For example, a student may be faced with a decision to either study for a test or go to a concert. Studying improves the likelihood of getting a good grade but does not guarantee it. Similarly, a person might bring lunch to work every day to save money for retirement, but something might happen to their savings, or they may not live long enough to retire. This uncertainty makes it more difficult to delay gratification.
An aspect of Mischel’s experiment demonstrated this. He retested the children who had successfully waited to have two treats. In the retest, the children waited, but instead of getting the second treat, the researcher apologized and said that there were no more. When these children were tested a third time, they ate the first treat and did not wait. The uncertainty and inability to trust the researcher made it more difficult to delay gratification.
In the early 2000s, Mischel and others located some of the adults who had participated in the marshmallow studies as children. Through the use of MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging), they detected differences in the prefrontal cortexes of the brains among those who delayed gratification as children and those who did not. It was unclear whether this indicated an inborn tendency toward greater self-control or was the result of having exerted greater control over many years.
Despite this unknown, psychologists believe it is possible to develop the ability to delay gratification. They suggest several strategies to accomplish this. One is to use distraction. Substituting another more immediate reward that will not interfere with a long-term goal can help reduce the temptation to give in. For example, the student giving up the concert in favor of studying might decide to take a break after two hours to have a favorite treat.
Daydreaming about the long-term reward can also help. Research has shown that the brain cannot distinguish between what people think is happening and what is actually happening. Daydreaming about how good it will feel to get a good grade can help satisfy the immediate need for gratification and make it easier to forgo things that interfere with that goal.
Bibliography
Carli, Julie. “Remembrance for Walter Mischel, Psychologist Who Devised the Marshmallow Test.” National Public Radio, 21 Sept. 2018, www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/21/650015068/remembrance-for-walter-mischel-psychologist-who-devised-the-marshmallow-test. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Carlson, Stephanie M., and Cassandra Francisco. “Can the Kids Wait? Today’s Youngsters May Be Able to Delay Gratification Longer than Those of the 1960s.” American Psychological Association, 25 June 2018, www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2018/06/delay-gratification. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Cherry, Kendra. “Delayed Gratification and Impulse Control.” VeryWell Mind, 5 Nov. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/delayed-gratification-why-wait-for-what-you-want-2795429. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Cherry, Kendra. “How to Improve Your Self-Control.” VeryWell Mind, 9 Nov. 2023, www.verywellmind.com/psychology-of-self-control-4177125. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Cohen, Ilene Strauss. “The Benefits of Delaying Gratification.” Psychology Today, 26 Dec. 2017, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/your-emotional-meter/201712/the-benefits-delaying-gratification. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Davis, Josh. “How (and Why) to Master the Habit of Delayed Gratification.” Fast Company, 1 Jan. 2017, www.fastcompany.com/3067188/how-and-why-to-master-the-habit-of-delaying-gratification. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
“Delaying Gratification.” American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/topics/willpower-gratification.pdf. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Gschwandtner, Adelina, et al. “Lifestyle and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Delayed Gratification.” Journal of Happiness Studies: An Interdisciplinary Forum on Subjective Well-Being, vol. 23, no. 3, 2021, pp. 1043–72, doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00440-y. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Raghunathan, Radhika S., et al. “What Children Do While They Wait: The Role of Self-Control Strategies in Delaying Gratification.” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 226, 2023, doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105576. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
Solly, Meilan. “Why Delayed Gratification in the Marshmallow Test Doesn’t Equal Success.” Smithsonian Magazine, 5 June 2018, www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-research-marshmallow-test-suggests-delayed-gratification-doesnt-equal-success-180969234. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.