Developing Delay of Gratification in Thai Preschool Children: A Contemporary Review Toward Evidence-Based Practice
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This article aims to review scholarly evidence and propose developmental approaches for delay of gratification in Thai preschool children aged 3-6 years, challenging the belief that this capacity emerges only upon entering primary school. The study employs dual methodology: systematic literature analysis in developmental psychology and early childhood education, combined with in-depth interviews with three Thai experts possessing direct teaching and research experience. Findings indicate that Thai preschool children can demonstrate delay of gratification behaviors, particularly from age 5 onward, developing earlier than documented 36 years ago. This reflects enhanced cognitive stimulation, increased parental knowledge, and improved teacher training. Effective approaches include structured play-based learning, concrete delayed-outcome activities, and helping children understand the relationship between waiting and superior benefits. A significant barrier is parents' reluctance to allow children to wait due to protective concerns. Success requires teacher-parent collaboration, preschool-to-primary continuity, and daily routine integration
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ลิขสิทธิ์ของบทความ
ผลงานที่ได้รับการตีพิมพ์ถือเป็นลิขสิทธิ์ของมหาวิทยาลัยหอการค้าไทย ห้ามมิให้นำเนื้อหา ทัศนะ หรือข้อคิดเห็นใด ๆ ของผลงานไปทำซ้ำ ดัดแปลง หรือเผยแพร่ ไม่ว่าทั้งหมดหรือบางส่วนโดยไม่ได้รับอนุญาตเป็นลายลักษณ์อักษรจากมหาวิทยาลัยหอการค้าไทยก่อน
References
Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 248–287. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90022-L
Blair, C., & Raver, C. C. (2014). Closing the achievement gap through modification of neurocognitive and neuroendocrine function: Results from a cluster randomized controlled trial of an innovative approach to the education of children in kindergarten. PLOS ONE, 9(11), e112393. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0112393
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Casey, B. J., Somerville, L. H., Gotlib, I. H., Ayduk, O., Franklin, N. T., Askren, M. K., Jonides, J., Berman, M. G., Wilson, N. L., Teslovich, T., Glover, G., Zayas, V., Mischel, W., & Shoda, Y. (2011). Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(36), 14998–15003. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108561108
Chaiyajak, N., & Rattanakiat, P. (2025). Implementation of paper-quilling art activities to promote self-regulation ability of early childhood. Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, Sakon Nakhon Rajabhat University, 17(49), 181–194. https://so16.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jci/article/view/2069 [in Thai].
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135–168. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143750
Ding, N., Frohnwieser, A., Miller, R., & Clayton, N. S. (2021). Waiting for the better reward: Comparison of delay of gratification in young children across two cultures. PLOS ONE, 16(9), e0256966. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0256966
Elias, C. L., & Berk, L. E. (2002). Self-regulation in young children: Is there a role for sociodramatic play? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 17(2), 216–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-2006(02)00146-1
Feagans, L. (1980). Children's understanding of some temporal terms denoting order, duration, and simultaneity. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 9(1), 41-57. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067301
Friedman, W. J. (1992). The development of children’s representations of temporal structure. In F. Macar, V. Pouthas, & W. J. Friedman (Eds.), Time, action and cognition: Towards bridging the gap (pp. 67–75). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3536-0_7
Freud, S. (1958). Formulations on the two principles of mental functioning. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 213–226). Hogarth Press.
Hull, C. L. (1943). Principles of behavior: An introduction to behavior theory. Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Klineberg, S. L. (1968). Future time perspective and the preference for delayed reward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 8(3), 253–257. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0025581
Kopp, C. B. (1982). Antecedents of self-regulation: A developmental perspective. Developmental Psychology, 18(2), 199–214. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.18.2.199
Lillard, A. S., Lerner, M. D., Hopkins, E. J., Dore, R. A., Smith, E. D., & Palmquist, C. M. (2013). The impact of pretend play on children's development: A review of the evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 139(1), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029321
Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (1992). Anomalies in intertemporal choice: Evidence and an interpretation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(2), 573–597. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118482
Metcalfe, J., & Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.106.1.3
Michaelson, L. E., & Munakata, Y. (2016). Trust matters: Seeing how an adult treats another person influences preschoolers' willingness to delay gratification. Developmental Science, 19, 1011–1019. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12388
Mischel, W., & Ayduk, O. (2004). Willpower in a cognitive-affective processing system: The dynamics of delay of gratification. In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 99–129). Guilford Press.
Murray, K. T., & Kochanska, G. (2002). Effortful control: Factor structure and relation to externalizing and internalizing behaviors. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 30, 503–514. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019821031523
Naraongard, S. (1989). Effects of contradicting information and contradicting reasons on delay of gratification of students in prathom suksa one. Master's thesis, Department of Psychology, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University. [in Thai]
Nimmapirat, P., Suttiwan, P., & Fiedler, N. (2022). Intrinsic and extrinsic influences of self-regulation in the early years of life. Thai Interdisciplinary and Sustainability Review, 11(1), 38–48. https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/JIRGS/article/view/259365
Piaget, J. (1969). The child's conception of time. Routledge & K. Paul.
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., & Pianta, R. C. (2000). An ecological perspective on the transition to kindergarten: A theoretical framework to guide empirical research. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 21(5), 491–511. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0193-3973(00)00051-4
Schlam, T. R., Wilson, N. L., Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Ayduk, O. (2013). Preschoolers' delay of gratification predicts their body mass 30 years later. The Journal of Pediatrics, 162(1), 90–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.06.049
Shoda, Y., Mischel, W., & Peake, P. K. (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental Psychology, 26(6), 978–986. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.26.6.978
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (2017). Early moments matter for every child. https://www.unicef.org/reports/early-moments-matter-every-child
