幼兒延後享樂能力與標籤效應及誤導提示之關係

An Experiment on Delay of Gratification and Misleading Suggestions in Taiwanese Young Children

幼兒延後享樂能力被認為是自律行為重要之一環，且關係他們未來發展至鉅，本研究以兩個實驗瞭解影響幼兒延後享樂能力的兩個因素。實驗一，63位南部幼稚園平均年齡為6歲1個月大的幼兒被隨機分成兩組，實驗組幼兒得到研究人員「很會忍耐」的標籤，如一對一的對這些幼兒說「聽說你很會忍耐」。控制組則未接受任何處遇。兩組幼兒隨後均接受無趣味性之重複性的移球活動之延後享樂能力測試，這些幼兒事先被告知測試時能專心移動桌上的球，並且持續忍耐，進行此活動達15分鐘者可得到兩份禮物，而未達15分鐘者僅可得一份禮物，研究者並將幼兒延後享樂的時間記錄下來。研究顯示那些被貼會忍耐標籤的幼兒在移球活動任務之表現上，的確比控制組有較佳之延後享樂行為（M＝13.32 vs. M＝11.26， p＜ .05），兩組延後享樂的時間在統計上達顯著差異。實驗結束1週後進行實驗二，參與幼兒與實驗一相同，研究人員嘗試以誤導話語來引導幼兒使其做出錯誤回應，並以其回應分成被誤導提示及未被誤導提示組，結果發現幼兒1週前之延後享樂能力表現與其是被誤導成功兩者間並無顯著關係。影響延後享樂之多種因素及研究之應用在本研究中亦被討論。

The ability of delay gratification in early childhood is a key component of self-regulation and has influence on children’s future development. The present study consists 2 experiments. In experiment 1， 63 kindergarteners， aged 73 months averagely， were randomly assigned to 2 groups. Children in the experimental group were orally labeled by the researcher as “I heard that you can restrain yourself very well” in a one-on-one interaction， whereas the controls received no labeling. Participants were asked to perform a ball-moving task which was repetitive and was designed to bore the children. The researcher told the participants that how many gifts they will be rewarded depending on the time (in minute) they carried on the task. Two gifts would be given if they could concentrate on the task for more than 15 minutes， otherwise only 1 gift would be given. Dependent measure， namely the time spent on the task of each child， was collected. The results showed that the ‘labeled children’ were found to invest significantly longer time than that of their counterparts during the ball-moving task (M＝13.32 vs. M＝11.26， p＜ .05). In experiments 2， which was conducted one-week after the experiment 1， the same children participated in. The researcher asked the children a misleading question， which was designed to induce children’s false recall. Children were then categorized as 2 groups， namely mislead and non-mislead groups， depending on their responses. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups on the time they spent on the task collected a week ago. We discussed the factors that may affect young children’s delay gratification as well as the implication of the study.