The latest research shows delayed gratification is not always a guarantee of wellbeing – carefully planned moments of pleasure can be hugely beneficial
We should have the grit of our elders, apparently – who weren’t scared to suffer some hardship with the promise of a better life ahead. Except they too are coming under criticism for enjoying the life that they struggled to earn.
But does delayed gratification always lead to better wellbeing? Signs that this might not be the case were already apparent in the 1990s. Analysing the state of the evidence, Prof David Funder at the University of California, Riverside found that children who scored well on self-control also grew up to be overly reserved and lacked curiosity. He also pointed to research showing that women with very high levels of self-control tend to be at greater risk of depression, for instance.
Interestingly, the researchers found exactly the opposite views among current undergraduates: these students were much more likely to endorse the standard view that self-control was preferable to indulgence. It was only with the perspective of a lifetime that the alumni could recognise how much richer their life might have been if they had practised a little less self-denial.
This idea also has religious origins. “This abstinence idea has its roots in Christianity,” says Prof Lile Jia at the National University of Singapore. Yet recent research shows that intermittently giving in to our desires can often be better for our wellbeing, without putting us on a slippery slope to failure. The trick, it seems, is to plan the indulgences in advance.
To find out if this was the case, Jia and a colleague at Indiana University Bloomington asked 409 students to take an online questionnaire a week before a home basketball game against a long-standing rival team. They reported their general attitudes to basketball, and then gave an hour-by-hour plan for their studies on the day before the game, the day itself and the day afterwards.
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