Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 141 (2016) 275–282 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Experimental Child Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp Brief Report Too proud to regulate: The differential effect of pride versus joy on children’s ability to delay gratification ⇑ Einav Shimoni , Marwa Asbe, Tal Eyal, Andrea Berger Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 69978, Israel article info abstract Article history: We examined the effect of the distinct positive emotions pride and Available online 28 August 2015 joy on children’s self-regulation, focusing on their ability to delay gratification (i.e., resist a temptation in favor of a long-term goal). Keywords: We hypothesized that because pride corresponds to the attainment Self-regulation of long-term goals and joy corresponds to the attainment of imme- Delay of gratification diate desires, the experience of pride may signal sufficient progress Delay discounting Joy toward a long-term goal, resulting in less delay of gratification than Pride the experience of joy. To test this hypothesis, we induced an experi- Positive emotion ence of pride or joy in 8-year-old children. At this age, the ability to self-regulate—and to experience pride and joy distinctively—is rela- tively mature. We then measured performance in a delay discount- ing task. We found that, compared with the joy condition and a control condition, children who experienced pride performed worse on the delay discounting task (p = .045), indicating poorer self-regulation. This result suggests that emotions may function as cues for sufficient goal pursuit, thereby influencing self-regulation from a very young age. Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction Children are frequently required to self-regulate throughout their day. They need to wait for their turn in a game, to finish dinner before having dessert, and so forth. Self-regulation involves ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Shimoni). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2015.07.017 0022-0965/Ó 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 276 E. Shimoni et al. / Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 141 (2016) 275–282 modulating one’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings to pursue goals, often overcoming prepotent coun- terproductive responses (Berger, 2011; Bronson, 2000). The development of self-regulation during childhood is critical for children’s social and academic adjustment (Neuenschwander, Röthlisberger, Cimeli, & Roebers, 2012) and has long-term implications such as success in college, social competence, health, wealth, and low rates of criminal behavior (Mischel, Shoda, & Rodriguez, 1989). An important factor influencing the ability to self-regulate is emotion (Carver & Scheier, 1990; Higgins, 1987). We explored the influence of positive emotions on a specific form of self-regulation—delay of gratification. When delaying gratification, a child is required to resist immediate temptation in favor of a long-term goal (e.g., Mischel et al., 1989). Research with adults shows that the distinct emotions pride and joy correspond to different types of goals (long-term vs. temptations, respectively), leading to differential influences on self-regulation (Eyal & Fishbach, 2010; Katzir, Eyal, Meiran, & Kessler, 2010). The role of distinct positive emotions in self-regulation at younger ages has not received much empirical or theoretical attention. Development of self-regulation and ability to delay gratification The ability to self-regulate develops during early childhood, mostly between 3 and 5 years of age (Carlson, 2005). Further development of self-regulation occurs during the early school years and depends on the maturation of cognitive mechanisms dealing with conflict (Berger, 2011). Some stud- ies show only subtle differences between the ability to deal with conflict during middle childhood (7 years of age) and adulthood (Rueda et al., 2004), whereas other research shows profound differ- ences, mainly in brain activation during conflict (Rueda, Checa, & Rothbart, 2010). Thus, in some respects the self-regulatory ability of children is similar to that of adults, but in other respects it requires further development. A classic paradigm used to evaluate preschoolers’ self-regulation is the delay of gratification task (Mischel et al., 1989), whereby children choose between a single marshmallow now (small immediate reward) and two marshmallows later (larger delayed reward). The time children wait is an indication of their ability to delay gratification. A task extensively used to measure self-regulation of 6- and 7-year-olds and above is the delay discounting task (Scheres, Tontsch, Thoeny, & Sumiya, 2014). This task presents repeated choices between small immediate rewards and larger delayed rewards. The delay durations and reward magnitudes vary. Delay discounting refers to the tendency to discount the subjective value of a reward as a function of the delay in receiving it. The ability to delay gratifi- cation is expressed by a single parameter (area under the discounting curve, AUC) that captures the trade-off between reward magnitude and delay, indicating how steeply one discounts. Choosing to wait for the delayed reward reflects better self-regulation (Critchfield & Kollins, 2001). Positive emotions and delay of gratification Even after self-regulation matures, it may still be affected by a range of factors, including emotions (Fry, 1975). Past research has mainly compared positive and negative affect, typically induced by ask- ing a child to recall experiences he or she likes or dislikes. This research showed that recalling positive experiences enhanced delay times more than recalling negative experiences in 3- to 5-year-olds (Moore, Clyburn, & Underwood, 1976), presumably because positive affect enhanced a sense of com- petence and expectancy for success. Importantly, whereas Moore and colleagues examined the influ- ence of general positive emotion on delay of gratification, we tested the influence of discrete positive emotions (pride vs. joy) on self-regulation. A different view on the influence of positive emotion on self-regulation comes from literature on adults’ self-regulation, in particular the cybernetic model (Carver & Scheier, 1990) and self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), according to which positive emotions signal that an individ- ual has made sufficient progress toward a goal. The cybernetic model proposes that when people have multiple goals, positive feelings inform them that they are doing better than needed on one of their goals and can reduce further effort on that goal and attend to other salient goals (Carver & Scheier, 1990). Similarly, the self-discrepancy theory proposes that positive feelings indicate no discrepancy between one’s current behavior and progress toward desired goals (Higgins, 1987). Although this E. Shimoni et al. / Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 141 (2016) 275–282 277 framework was not directly tested on children, the self-discrepancy theory addresses the develop- mental stages through which self-regulation develops and suggests that 4- to 6-year-olds are capable of understanding discrepancies between a valued end state (i.e., a standard) and actual behavior. They also understand that positive feelings arise when their behavior matches a standard, indicating that further progress on that goal is not required (Moretti & Higgins, 1999). The current research Our research examined the role of joy and pride in children’s delay of gratification. Although both are positive and highly desirable emotions, they differ in important ways. Joy is a basic emotion expe- rienced following a tangible and immediate reward that serves hedonic, appetitive, and survival needs (Lazarus, 1991). Pride is a self-conscious emotion experienced when an individual evaluates himself or herself in light of social expectations and high-order goals (Tangney, Stuewig, & Mashek, 2007). Thus, people experience these distinct emotions when they attain different types of goals—joy when gaining an immediate reward and pride when attaining a long-term goal (Eyal & Fishbach, 2010). We suggest that because feelings of pride and joy signal the attainment of a corresponding goal, when facing a conflict between goals, feeling pride following progress on a long-term goal is likely to result in less subsequent effort on that goal and the shift of one’s effort to the salient short-term desire. Feeling joy, however, is likely to signal progress on a short-term desire and, therefore, is likely to shift one’s effort to the salient long-term goal. Indeed, research on consumer decisions has found that participants who experienced pride made more indulgent choices (e.g., an entertainment gift) over utilitarian choices (e.g., school supplies) than participants who experienced joy (Wilcox, Kramer, & Sen, 2011). We tested whether pride and joy differentially influence self-regulation at the early age of 8 years. Previous research shows that 4-year-olds are able to delay gratification (e.g., Mischel et al., 1989) and that between 4 and 7 years of age children improve their ability to distinguish between joy and pride (Tracy, Robins, & Lagattuta, 2005). By 8 years of age, self-regulation is relatively mature and children acquire mastery in reading and writing (Rueda et al., 2004). If, indeed, young children’s self-regulation efforts are differentially affected by pride and joy, this might imply that the information that emotions entail about progress on different types of goals is basic and does not necessarily depend on excessive learning. To test the influence of distinct emotions on children’s self-regulation, we had 8-year-olds recall a past event that made them joyful versus proud. Participants then performed a computerized delay dis- counting task that was developed and validated among 7- to 12-year-olds by Asbe (2011). This task presents a choice between an immediate small reward and a delayed larger reward. When delaying gratification, the child is required to refrain from an immediate reward to pursue a long-term goal. Pride may signal sufficient progress toward achieving a long-term goal and indicate that one can suc- cumb to the competing short-term desire.