Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification

Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socioemotional competence, and health. These links with delaying gratification appear from early childhood and have been explained by cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediat...

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Published in:Psychological science Vol. 33; no. 7; pp. 1172 - 1181
Main Authors: Yanaoka, Kaichi, Michaelson, Laura E., Guild, Ryan Mori, Dostart, Grace, Yonehiro, Jade, Saito, Satoru, Munakata, Yuko
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2022
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Academic achievement
Child
Child, Preschool
Childhood
Children
Cultural differences
Cultural sensitivity
Delay Discounting
Delayed
Food
Food consumption
Gift giving
Gifts
Gratification
Habits
Healthy food
Humans
Motivation
Pleasure
Reward
Rewards
Social factors
Social life & customs
United States > US
Japan
preregistered
delay of gratification
habit
children
culture
self-control
open materials
open data
ISSN:0956-7976, 1467-9280, 1467-9280
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socioemotional competence, and health. These links with delaying gratification appear from early childhood and have been explained by cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually promote delaying gratification. We assessed children’s delaying gratification for different rewards across two cultures that differ in customs around waiting. Consistent with our preregistered prediction, results showed that children in Japan (n = 80) delayed gratification longer for food than for gifts, whereas children in the United States (n = 58) delayed longer for gifts than for food. This interaction may reflect cultural differences: Waiting to eat is emphasized more in Japan than in the United States, whereas waiting to open gifts is emphasized more in the United States than in Japan. These findings suggest that culturally specific habits support delaying gratification, providing a new way to understand why individuals delay gratification and why this behavior predicts life success.
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ISSN:0956-7976
1467-9280
1467-9280
DOI:10.1177/09567976221074650