PSYCHOLOGY PROJECT :

SUBMITTED BY :

Vishal Chandra
Pavan Kumar Meena

(2013CE10415)
(2013CE10373)

Vikash Agarwal

(2013CE10408)

Vikram

(2013CE10409)

Saurabh Chaudhary

(2013CE10389)

SELF CONTROL
WILL POWER
MOTIVATIO
N

Delayed
FOCUS
Gratification
PATIENCE
HARD WORK

GOALS

DISCIPLINE

What is delayed gratification?

It is the ability to wait in order to obtain a

reward or something that you want.

It involves self control, will power, and

discipline.

In my own words

Delayed gratification is being able to

have patience and will power to work hard

towards a much larger goal. This can be
directed towards anything in your life,
such as:

Getting an A on a final exam

Building a relationship with someone new
Losing weight

EXAMPLE
What do you do at a party when you encounter platters
of delicious and tempting foods when you are trying to
lose weight? If you give in and fill up your plate with
fattening goodies, it might derail your diet, but you will
get to enjoy a bit ofinstant gratification.

If you manage to resist and spend the evening eating

salad and munching on carrot sticks, then you will

presumably receive an even greater reward down the
line shedding those unwanted pounds and being able
to fit into your favourite pair of skinny jeans.

Researchers have found that this ability to delay

gratificationhas a major impact on long term life

success.

So, psychologists conducted several experiments to

study when this ability develops in children. One of the

famous experiments was The Stanford Marshmallow
Experiment.

STANFORD MARSHMALLOW
EXPERIMENT :
Conducted by Walter Mischel and his colleagues at Stanford
University in 1960-1970.

Participants children of age group 4-6.

The children were led into a room, empty of distractions,

where a treat of their choice was placed on a table. The

children were offered with a choice, they could eat the
marshmallow, or they could wait for a brief period of time in
order to get another marshmallow.

It was observed that only 1/3

get the other marshmallow.

rd

of them waited long enough to

Follow-up Studies and

Results
In next 30 years, studies showed that children from the
original test sample who delayed gratification longer
were significantly more competent and successful.

It was found that the ability to delay gratification is also

co-related with higher academic success and physical
health.

As a matter of fact, each minute that a pre-schooler was

able to delay gratification translated to a 0.2% reduction
in BMI 30 years later.

Higher SAT scores.

A 2011 brain imaging study of participants when they

reached mid-life showed key differences between those

with high delay times and those with low delay times in
two areas: the prefrontal cortex (more active in high

Factors Affecting
Neurological Factors
Age (children under 5 years of age fail to
resist more)

Environment & previous experience with

unreliable promises of rewards.

Value of the promised reward to the

participants.

Duration of time delay.

In conclusion
Delayed gratification can sometimes be difficult to
learn and fully accept especially if we are not sure
if the sought after rewards we seek will ever
happen.

Lack of patience and instantaneous technology in

our lives make it so we dont want to wait for
things.

Despite that, it seems to be agreed upon that

delayed gratification is an important thing to
master and a critical part of success.

THE
END