Delayed gratification and ego development: implications for clinical and experimental research.

Singer, Jerome L.

doi:10.1037/h0044541

Cited by 96 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(28 reference statements)

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“…By the time Singer and Antrobus published their first joint paper (Singer and Antrobus, 1963), Singer had already published eight papers directly discussing imagination, fantasy, and daydreaming (Singer, 1955, 1961; McCraven et al, 1956; Singer and Opler, 1956; Singer and McCraven, 1961, 1962; Singer and Schonbar, 1961; Singer and Rowe, 1962) and several more that touched on the same topics indirectly. Singer reported much of this early research, presenting a powerful argument for the adaptive role of daydreaming, in his seminal book “Daydreaming: An Introduction to the Experimental Study of Inner Experience” (Singer, 1966).…”

Section: Brief Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…His early research included studies looking at delayed gratification (Singer, 1955) and the interaction of imagination and waiting ability in young children (Singer, 1961). In another early study, Singer and Schonbar (1961) presented evidence of correlation between daydreaming frequency, measures of creativity, and storytelling activity.…”

Section: Positive Constructive Daydreamingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nearly 60 years ago, Jerome L. Singer launched a groundbreaking research program into daydreaming (Singer, 1955, 1975, 2009) that presaged and laid the foundation for virtually every major strand of mind wandering research active today (Antrobus, 1999; Klinger, 1999, 2009). Here we review Singer’s enormous contribution to the field, which includes insights, methodologies, and tools still in use today, and trace his enduring legacy as revealed in the recent proliferation of mind wandering studies.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Ode to positive constructive daydreaming

McMillan¹,

Kaufman²,

Singer³

2013

Front. Psychol.

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184

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Nearly 60 years ago, Jerome L. Singer launched a groundbreaking research program into daydreaming (Singer, 1955, 1975, 2009) that presaged and laid the foundation for virtually every major strand of mind wandering research active today (Antrobus, 1999; Klinger, 1999, 2009). Here we review Singer’s enormous contribution to the field, which includes insights, methodologies, and tools still in use today, and trace his enduring legacy as revealed in the recent proliferation of mind wandering studies. We then turn to the central theme in Singer’s work, the adaptive nature of positive constructive daydreaming, which was a revolutionary idea when Singer began his work in the 1950s and remains underreported today. Last, we propose a new approach to answering the enduring question: Why does mind wandering persist and occupy so much of our time, as much as 50% of our waking time according to some estimates, if it is as costly as most studies suggest?

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Section: Brief Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Positive Constructive Daydreamingmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ode to positive constructive daydreaming

McMillan¹,

Kaufman²,

Singer³

2013

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

184

140

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“…During such externally imposed delay, according to Freud, the child constructs a "hallucinatory image" of the physically absent need-satisfying object. Gradually, as a result of repeated association of tension reduction with goal objects, and the development of greater ego organization, the imposed delay of satisfying objects results in the substitution of hallucinatory satisfactions and other thought processes that convert "free cathexes" into "bound cathexes" (e.g., Freud, 1959;Singer, 1955). In spite of much psychoanalytic theorizing and speculation about the role of the mental representation of blocked gratifications in the development of delaying capacity, the process remains far from clear.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One line of research has tried to apply psychoanalytic concepts concerning ego functions to motoric inhibition and impulse control (e.g., Singer, 1955). Most of the resulting empirical work has relied on highly indirect * This study was supported by Research Grant M6830 from the National Institutes of Health, United States Public Health Service.…”

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confidence: 99%

Attention in delay of gratification.

Mischel

Ebbesen²

1970

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

838

532

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The role of altcntional processes in voluntary delay of reward was explored by manipulating children's attention to the rewards for which they were waiting in a delay-of-gratification paradigm. Preschool children waited for a preferred but delayed reward while facing either the delayed reward, a less preferred but immediately available reward, both rewards, or no rewards. The dependent measure was the amount of time they waited for the preferred outcome before forfeiting it for the sake of the less desired but immediately available one. Results contradicted predictions from psychodynamic theory and from speculations concerning self-instructions during "time binding." Unexpectedly, but in accord with frustrative nonreward theory, voluntary waiting time was substantially increased when subjects could not attend to rewards during the waiting period. Implications are discussed for a theory of the development of delay of gratification.

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Delay of Gratification

Tobin

Graziano

2010

Handbook of Personality and Self‐Regulation

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In 1958, the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology published a report of experimental research by Walter Mischel. Several aspects of this paper provide clues about what was to come in the next 50 years. It reported focused empirical work using an experimental method to probe seemingly intractable theoretical questions. The research was published in a journal dedicated to abnormal psychology, but the clear message was that delay processes underlying abnormal behavior were on a continuum with typical behavior. The research looked toward cognitive and social psychology for explanation, rather than stimulus-response learning or psychodynamic theory. Major graduate-level textbooks covering social psychology theory quickly recognized the research as important for understanding human socialization (e.g., Jones & Gerard, 1967, pp. 95-99). In the next 50 years Mischel, his students, and his collaborators would contribute more than 200 papers, many of which addressed issues in delay of gratification and resistance to temptation.Within this time frame, researchers examined delay of gratification across the lifespan, yielding some important longitudinal results. For example, Funder, Block, and Block (1983) found significant positive relations between delay of gratification at age 4 and measurements of both ego control and ego resiliency at ages 3, 4, 7, and 11 years. Examining even more distal behaviors, Mischel and colleagues found that delay of gratification measured early in childhood was linked to long-term achievement, better coping abilities and stress management, and greater social competency in adolescence (Mischel, Shoda, & Peake, 1988;Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Consistent with these findings, Rodriguez, Mischel, and Shoda (1989) found that low ability to delay gratification was related to poor regulatory capacities and increased risk for disruptive behavior disorders.This chapter reviews the empirical literature and theoretical underpinnings of delay of gratification research. Definitions used in the literature are diverse, often Handbook of Personality and Self-RegulationEdited by Rick H. Hoyle

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Delayed gratification and ego development: implications for clinical and experimental research.

Cited by 96 publications

References 39 publications

Ode to positive constructive daydreaming

Ode to positive constructive daydreaming

Attention in delay of gratification.

Delay of Gratification

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