Delayed reward

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Delayed reward (also delayed gratification ) is a term from psychology . It means that a reward for behavior is delayed and not immediate. An immediate and effortless, smaller reward is dispensed with in order to receive a larger reward in the future instead. However, this can be achieved either by waiting or by making an effort.

Marshmallow test

A well-known experiment on impulse control and delayed reward was performed by Walter Mischel in the 1960s . It came to be known as the marshmallow test , primarily through Daniel Goleman's book EQ. Emotional intelligence . Four-year-old children were given a piece of candy (a marshmallow ) and given the choice of either eating it straight away or getting a second one if they could wait a few minutes without eating the first marshmallow.

In a longitudinal study , Mischel found that the ability to control impulses and delay reward is a reliable predictor of later academic success and a number of positive personality traits .

The correlation between delayed reward and later life success was subsequently confirmed in several other longitudinal studies.

Neurobiological basics

The ability to delay reward was examined in humans by comparing failures after brain injuries (e.g. stroke ) and by imaging tests in healthy individuals. A network of different brain regions is involved, but the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) plays a central role. Damage in this area increases the likelihood that an instant, small reward will be chosen. It is believed that this area of ​​the brain is involved in impact assessment or forward thinking.

Related terms

Delayed reward is sometimes used synonymously with related terms such as impulse control , self-discipline and self-control . All of these terms describe, among other things, the ability to forego a smaller, immediate reward in favor of a larger reward in the future.

See also

literature

  • Walter Mischel : The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control , Little Brown, New York 2014, ISBN 0-316-23085-5 .
  • Walter Mischel: The Marshmallow Test: Willpower, Delayed Rewards and the Development of Personality , Siedler Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-11927-0 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Walter Mischel : The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control , Little Brown, New York 2014, ISBN 0-316-23085-5 . German: The Marshmallow Test: Willpower, Delayed Rewards and the Development of Personality , Siedler Verlag, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-641-11927-0 .
  2. Tomasz Kurianowicz: Marshmallow test: take me! Review in FAZ, November 5, 2014 .
  3. Jonah Lehrer : DON'T! The secret of self-control . In: The New Yorker . May 18, 2009 ( online [accessed December 20, 2010]).
  4. W. Mischel, O. Ayduk, MG Berman, BJ Casey, IH Gotlib, J. Jonides, E. Kross, T. Teslovich, NL Wilson, V. Zayas, Y. Shoda: 'Will Power' over the lifespan: decomposing self-regulation. In: Social cognitive and affective neuroscience. Volume 6, number 2, April 2011, pp. 252-256, doi: 10.1093 / scan / nsq081 , PMID 20855294 , PMC 3073393 (free full text) (review).
  5. Manuela Sellitto, Elisa Ciaramelli, Giuseppe di Pellegrino: The neurobiology of intertemporal choice: insight from imaging and lesion studies . In: Reviews in the Neurosciences . tape 22 , no. 5 , 2011, ISSN  0334-1763 , p. 565-574 , doi : 10.1515 / RNS.2011.046 , PMID 21967518 .