We are currently running a Kochanska-style delay task with 2-year-olds. Not sure whether this is of interest, but I thought I would share a few observations with you based on test sessions I have run over the last 4-5 months.
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Fascinating! I wonder how much of it is driven by state-like things like how tired they are or how depleted their self-control is from earlier in the day, rather trait-like things like temperament or parenting style.
I certainly think that tiredness plays a role and that it's not all about traits. We actually run a similar task (gift delay) in their second session ~1 week after, so we can look at the correlation across two sessions (but of course there may also be an impact of having done a similar task before).
This is super fascinating qualitative data! How does this compare to work you have done over time? I am curious if this is indicative of changes in parenting in the past few years.
Thanks! :-) So, we tend to see quite limited stability in 'hot' inhibitory control in infancy (under 2 years), but most recent work suggest reasonable stability from 2 years. I guess I find the variety of behaviours we see really interesting -
e.g., that some toddlers self-regulate by appealing to the parent or having a 'melt-down' instead of waiting. We are collecting data on more than 200 children longitudinally between 10 and 30 months, so it will be a while before we know the results, but will make sure to share asap when we know :-)
We are collecting more data on parenting than we used to, so hopefully I can answer your question one day. It is certainly interesting that 2-year-olds may try to override the experimenter's instruction by appealing to the parent - but maybe I'm interpreting too much into it!
In the task, the child is sat at a small table with the parent close by but turned away and completing a questionnaire. The child is shown a small bag of chocolate buttons, which the experimenter opens and puts on the table while instructing the child not to touch until they come back.
The responses seem to be pretty bimodal, with approx. 50% of toddlers waiting patiently until the experimenter comes back (3 mins) or touching the treat straight away (also ~50%). Some toddlers even get through the whole back of chocolate buttons in 3 mins!
A reaction that we didn't expect was the a small proportion of toddlers (maybe ~10%) who react very strongly when told to wait (we ask the child to wait in a friendly way, not as a harsh command). These toddlers get upset or throw a tantrum, usually shortly after the experimenter has left the room.
In these instances, the toddler will often appeal to the parent to 'persuade them' that they can have the treat. Often I have seen this when the child is very verbal or cognitively advanced for their age.
We actually had to change the protocol to accommodate for this response - we don't want our toddlers to be upset! So we tell parents that they can comfort and cuddle their child if they get upset, but ask them not to talk about or direct the child's attention to or away from the treat.
This has worked well, but does mean that it is a bit difficult to interpret whether the child really delayed gratification - in a way they did, but also they were away from the treat a lot of the time. I wonder whether others have seen this in this age group? - not much in the literature about it..
We speculated how our grandkids would respond. That it was chocolate instead of a marshmallow would override self-control for the one. That it was orders from a stranger would give the false positive of self-control for the other. You are lucky your life choices let you work with this age.
Yes, so many different aspects. Chocolate for sure is very irresistible for many toddlers 🙂 And some are quite sensitive to a stranger telling them not to do something. I am lucky - I get to work with these little people every week 😊
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