Abstract
The development of the resistance to temptation was examned in relation to some controlling strategies; verbal self-instructiqn (VSI) and distraction strategies. In experiment I, seventy-two children of 4, 6, ahd 8 years of age were observed in resistance to temptation situation, and the degree of the spontaneous employment of these strategies was measured and analyzed in relation to the resistance to temptation scores. Results:(1) VSI was not observed in any age groups, and it was assumed that VSI was not effective in 4 and 6-year-old in spontaneous level.(2) The 6 and 8-year-old children turned their eyes away from the toys more than the 4years old. But, only in the 6 years old, the attention termnation strategy (ATS) correlated significantly with the resistance to temptation scores. And it was assumed that the difference between 4 and 6-yearo1d children was attributable to the capacity in using ATS spontaneously.
In experiment II, one hundred ad twenty 4 and 6-year-old children were instructed to use either VSI or ATS. Results: (1) There was a significant interaction between age and treatment. That is, ATS was effective only in 4 years old and VSI in 6 years old.(2) 4-year-old children's resistance to temptation scores in the ATS condition did not differ significantly from the scores in both the ATS and Control conditions of the 6 years old.
From these results, it was concluded;(1) unlike Hartig & Kanfer's (1973) findings, the most effective controlling strategy, VSI, could not be acquired until the latter half of the 6th year;(2) ATS, the more primitive ad probably the first effective controlling strategy could not be acquired before the mddle of the 4th year, and (3) VSI was not effective in the 4 years old.
