PSYC121 - Developing Self Control (Part II)

Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health & Development Study

• Research Question: Does EF during childhood predict health/behaviour/well-being outcomes in adulthood?

• Longitudinal Study:

  • The same participants are measured at multiple points during their lives (1972 - 2005)

• Researchers followed ~1,000 children from birth to 32 years

• Needed to get all of these ~1,000 people to come back into the lab to complete battery of EF tasks and interviews at multiple specific times!

Example of Development of EF: Working Memory

• Measure/Task: Verbatim digit span

  • Tests what the longest sequence of random numbers a person can repeat in the exact order they heard them

• Findings: Performance increases with age:
  

  Age	Typical task performance
  2.5 years	2 numbers
  7 years	4 - 5 numbers
  early adulthood (20 years)	6 - 7 numbers

Delay of Gratification

• ~30% of 4-year-olds ate the marshmallow within seconds
• ~30% held out for 15 minutes
• The 4-year-olds who delayed were also better at concentrating
• & better at coping with frustration and stress
• & better cognitive and social competence ratings
• At age 18, delayers had earned higher grades
• & exhibited fewer behavioural problems

Distancing

Parental Influences

• Self-control more likely when parents model self-control in their own behaviour
• Children from strict households demonstrate less self control!
  • Why?
  • Children need opportunities to regulate their own behavior in order to develop self control!
  • Strict household = removing the choice from the child = fewer opportunities to make decision to use self control!

Cultural influences on EF development (Western & Māori)

• Kaupapa Māori (Māori lifestyle, or ‘ways of doing things’) is vastly different to western (European/American) ways of life.

  • Western cultures = Individualism (ambition, autonomy, achievement, success)

  • Māori = Collectivism (responsibility, connection, duty, protection, preservation, memory)

• Tikanga (Māori-specific behavioural guidelines for living and interacting with others) influences the development of certain cognitive skills in tamariki (children).

  • In western societies, memory is preserved through writing. Information is preserved materially

    • does not need to be preserved in actual human memory, so long as the transcription is not destroyed.

  • However, Māori preserve memory through intergenerational oral tranmission: passing down stories about one’s whakapapa (genealogy, family ‘tree’) or important events like a tangi (funeral) using spoken language.

  • To preserve memory in this way, all members of the whānau (Māori families/community) have a collective responsibility to pass along these memories to tamariki (children).

  • Memory preservation is also strengthened through the use of:

    • repetition: exposure to information multiple times

    • elaboration: connecting new details, or new perspectives, on each retelling.

  • Tamariki are exposed to stories multiple times in multiple formats:

    • waiata (song or poem), haka (dance, war chant), karakia (prayer or incantation), or kōrero (conversation, discourse).

    • Repetition (in different formats, from different people’s perspectives) serves to reinforce (strengthen)the memory, helping to ensure that it can be recalled and passed down to the next generation.