Q.What is meant by delay of gratification? Why is it considered important for adult development?
Delay of gratification is postponing the immediate satisfaction of a need for the sake of a later, larger goal; it is a key aspect of self-control and matters for adult development because reaching long-term goals depends on the ability to resist momentary temptations.
What delay of gratification means
Many situations in life require us to resist situational pressures and exercise control over ourselves. This becomes possible through what is commonly called 'will power'. As human beings we can control our behaviour the way we want, and we often decide to delay or defer the satisfaction of certain needs. Learning to delay or defer the gratification of needs is called self-control, and delay of gratification is the heart of it. Instead of grabbing a reward the moment it is available, the person chooses to wait so that a bigger or more worthwhile outcome can be secured later.
Why it is important for adult development
Self-control, and therefore the capacity to delay gratification, plays a key role in the fulfilment of long-term goals. Adult life is built around goals that cannot be reached instantly — completing an education, building a career, maintaining health or nurturing relationships. All of these demand that a person give up smaller immediate pleasures in favour of distant but greater rewards. An adult who has learned to postpone gratification can therefore stay directed towards these long-term goals, whereas one who always seeks immediate satisfaction is easily pulled off course.
The chapter notes that Indian cultural tradition provides us with certain effective mechanisms for developing self-control, for example:
- Fasting, as in vrata or roza, where one deliberately abstains and thereby practises deferring the satisfaction of bodily needs; and
- Non-attachment with worldly things, which trains a person not to be governed by immediate desires.
A number of psychological techniques of self-control also help build this capacity — observation of one's own behaviour (which gives information used to change or strengthen aspects of the self), self-instruction (instructing ourselves to do something and behave the way we want to), and self-reinforcement (rewarding behaviours that have pleasant outcomes, such as seeing a movie after doing well in an examination).
Delay of gratification is the learned ability to defer the satisfaction of a need — the core of self-control. It is important for adult development because fulfilling long-term goals depends on resisting immediate temptations; Indian traditions such as fasting (vrata/roza) and non-attachment, and techniques like self-observation, self-instruction and self-reinforcement, help develop it.
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