Mahilet Sayed Essays - Endocrine System, Motivation, Meals

Mahilet Sayed Chapter 13 writing assignment One aspect of chapter 1 3 that I found quite interesting was the discussion on factors that affect self-control in children. A study looking at immediate and delayed rewards was done to further understand self-control in children. Each child had the choice of choosing a mediocre snack but getting it immediately or waiting for a duration of time and then receiving a better snack. The researchers also told some students to think about and imagine the snack but didn't prompt others. They found that the kids that were told to imagine the snack, wanted the mediocre snack a lot faster than those that weren't told anything. Kids that visually saw the snack were also found to want the mediocre snack a lot faster. These results could be due to the increased prompts the researchers gave some of the kids. When the kids were prompted to think about the snack or saw it in front of them, they are more likely to fixate on it and want it. This could be due to multiple factors. Future experiments could examine the brain activity of those that were prompted and those that weren't. Are there any increases in "happy" chemicals, such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, or endorphins that cause the children that thought about the snack or saw it to want an immediate gratification?