Self-distraction and avoidance behaviours occur in nearly all successful toddlers but in a minority of unsuccessful ones¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2019 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? On the snack delay task, visual attention distraction occurred in 100% of children who passed, versus under 22% for each behaviour among children who failed. → Mulder 2019

Evidence¶

Mulder 2019¶

Mulder, H., van Ravenswaaij, H., Verhagen, J., Moerbeek, M., & Leseman, P. P. M. (2019). The process of early self-control: an observational study in two- and three-year-olds. Metacognition and Learning, 14, 239–264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11409-019-09199-3

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive statistics of second-by-second coded behaviours during snack delay (42 passers, 18 failers). A similar pattern emerged for gift delay: behaviours occurred at least once in >54% of successful children versus ≤40% of unsuccessful children. In total, 70% (42/60) passed snack delay and 73% (40/55) passed gift delay.

"Distracting visual attention from the reward occurred in all children who passed the snack delay task at least once during the delay time (100%), followed by body distracting (91%), hands withholding (85%), and hands distracting (54%). Occurrence of each of these behaviours was generally lower in children who failed the task, that is, <22% for each of the behaviours."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Older two- and three-year-olds have lower odds of failing delay-of-gratification tasks
• Teacher-rated, but not parent-rated, self-control relates to the occurrence and timing of delay behaviours in toddlers
• Percentage of time distracting visual attention away from the reward predicts success on delay-of-gratification tasks in two- and three-year-olds
• Probability of visual attention distraction, alone or combined with hands withholding, prevails after about 10–30 seconds of delay — related
• Successful two- and three-year-olds initiate distraction and withholding behaviours very early, within the first 10 seconds of delay on average — related
• Actively withholding the hands from the reward predicts success on delay-of-gratification tasks in two- and three-year-olds — related