The Power Of Delaying Gratification
Alex Lickerman, MD, writes at Creativity Post, about Walter Mischel's marshmallow studies and impulse control. An excerpt:
Mischel placed two marshmallows side by side in front of a different group of children to whom he explained, as in the previous study, that eating the first before he returned to the room would mean they couldn't eat the second.He then instructed one group of them to imagine when he stepped out of the room how much marshmallows are like clouds: round, white, and puffy. (He instructed a control group, in contrast, to imagine how sweet and chewy and soft they were.)
A third group he instructed to visualize the crunchiness and saltiness of pretzels. Perhaps not surprisingly, the children who visualized the qualities of the marshmallows that were unrelated to eating them (that is, the way in which they were similar to clouds) waited almost three times longer than children who were instructed to visualize how delicious the marshmallows would taste.
Most intriguing, however, was that picturing the pleasure of eating pretzels produced the longest delay in gratification of all. Apparently, imagining the pleasure they'd feel from indulging in an unavailable temptation distracted the children even more than cognitively restructuring the way they thought about the temptation before them.
In other words, one of the most effective ways to distract ourselves from a tempting pleasure we don't want to indulge is by focusing on another pleasure. So the next time you find yourself confronted with a temptation--whether a piece of cake, a drink of alcohol, or a psychoactive drug--don't employ willpower to resist it.
Send your attention somewhere else by imagining a different pleasure not immediately available to you. For if you can successfully turn your attention elsewhere until the temptation is removed from your environment or you remove yourself, the odds that you'll give in to your impulse will decrease more than with almost any other intervention you can try.
I dunno, this verges on TMI and too much vodka, but I think many of us, or me, delayed gratification in our lives for way too long. There probably needs to be balance there....
jerry at October 26, 2012 4:30 AM
>Send your attention somewhere else by
> imagining a different pleasure not immediately
> available to you.
Crid [Cridcomment at Gmail] at October 26, 2012 6:19 AM
Mischel placed two marshmallows side by side in front of a different group of children to whom he explained, as in the previous study, that eating the first before he returned to the room would mean they couldn't eat the second.
So, eat both. Problem solved. Then wave your hand and say these are not the marshmallows you're looking for.
I R A Darth Aggie at October 26, 2012 6:21 AM
Also, what Jerry said.
See Zimbardo.
Crid [Cridcomment at Gmail] at October 26, 2012 6:21 AM
Well, it's working for me, diet-wise anyway. Probably because it's something I've never really done.
For the last couple of months I've been losing 2-3 pounds a week, and delayed gratification is one of the things I've been practicing. I'm not denying myself anything, just putting it off. Very psychological, I suppose, but it soothes the voracious dragon that lives inside me to know that she can have what she wants, just not quite yet.
Today marks 16.2 pounds gone. I'm pretty pleased about it.
Pricklypear at October 26, 2012 8:48 AM
All this reminds me of one of the best pieces of diet advice I ever heard: "Stop worrying about all the junk food you're eating and worry about all the leafy vegetables you're NOT eating."
It's a start, at least, for those who eat a gallon of ice cream every day.
lenona at October 26, 2012 10:21 AM
Mischel placed two marshmallows side by side in front of a different group of children to whom he explained, as in the previous study, that eating the first before he returned to the room would mean they couldn't eat the second.
CARBS!!!!1!!
Steve Daniels at October 26, 2012 10:31 AM
What size were these marshmallows? The last package I looked at said you were supposed to cut them into pieces and Sit Down while you ate them (no lie!). So I certainly hope this Mischel person did it right.
Wait a minute. He left the room? Left these children unsupervised?
Wait a minute again. He's a MAN! Eek. Sorry, I declare this whole experiment bogus and wrong. Where are the authorities?
Pricklypear at October 26, 2012 12:07 PM
Delaying gratification can serve as a useful and worthwhile approach, but it is only one of many.
Charlie at October 27, 2012 5:47 AM
Delayed Gratification is the most important concept not taught in our nation.
Marshmallows, drugs, alcohol and dieting aside, think credit cards, student loans, second/third house loans, sex, national and state debt and a host of other instant gratifications we engage in that destroy our own futures because we must have whatever we want now contrasted with the scarcity of savings accounts.
The number "16 trillion" is proof we have no concept of what delayed gratification is.
Koblog at October 27, 2012 6:18 AM
visualize poon tang.
Paul A'Barge at October 27, 2012 7:38 AM
Setting aside one day of the week for those things that do not fit my diet has worked well for me. When that day comes, I have some forbidden stuff, but not a lot. Before that, I do without, without stress.
Douglas Winslow Cooper at October 27, 2012 8:13 AM
Leave a comment