Goal-Subgoal Conflict as the Core Feature of Delay of Gratification

Abstract

While delay of gratification is a well-established individual difference, its assessment is limited by the original delay paradigm, which is only valid in the age range of four to 11 years. If delay of gratification were to be construed as a competence of resolving goal-subgoal conflicts, a specific type of puzzle games, with a feature called ambiguous subgoal ordering, can be used as an alternative assessment tool. While the child version of this type of puzzle, the Dog-Cat-Mouse task (DCM), is available; an adult version, the Dog-Cat-Mouse-Rabbit task (DCMR), had to be developed. Two studies were conducted to establish the validity of DCM(R) by linking the performance in these tasks to delay time. To this end, 42 longitudinal participants from the original study of delay of gratification and 50 community children, completed their age-appropriate versions of this planning task. The underlying mechanisms in these relationships were explored by tapping into a) components of IQ such as forward and backward digit span and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT), and b) executive control as reflected by participants’ success of negotiating goal-subgoal conflicts in the DCM(R) task. Results showed that delay time was prospectively and concurrently associated with DCM(R) performance. Moreover, the mediator in the relationship was executive control rather than intellectual ability in both the adult and child sample. These results supported DCM and DCMR as assessment tools for delay of gratification in children and adults, respectively, when food is impractical or inappropriate. The DCMR’s state space and its development are provided in the appendix.