Instant Gratification: Definition, Examples, and How To Help

Immediate gratification influences decision-making in favor of short-term gains.

• Checking social media accounts rather than spending time with family
• Snoozing the alarm to sleep in 5 more minutes and not arriving at the workplace on time
• Eating unhealthy fast food instead of sticking to a healthy diet
• Making impulse purchases and incurring debt

Humans are innately prone to seeking immediate pressure and avoiding pain evolutionarily. Neurobiologically, temptation causes a rapid surge in the neurotransmitter dopamine, making immediate pleasure more salient and discounts distant rewards.

• Label Your Child “Patient”
• Do Not Lie To Your Child
• Teach Situation Selection Strategies
• Teach Situation Modification Strategies
• Teach Attention-Focused Strategies
• Teach Response-Focused Strategies
• Teach Mindfulness

Being labeled “patient” helped children build a positive self-image. Their positive self-concept turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Being lied to causes uncertainty. When children are uncertain about the future, they become risk-averse and apply temporal discounting to reduce perceived values of future rewards.

Situation selection involves choosing environments or social contexts that minimize exposure to temptations and promote goal-directed behavior. This strategy is about proactively avoiding situations that trigger unwanted impulses.

Situation modification involves altering the existing environment to reduce the impact of tempting stimuli. This strategy is about actively reshaping the immediate context to support self-control.

Attention-focused strategies involve directing attention towards goal-relevant stimuli and away from tempting stimuli. These strategies help regulate the focus of conscious awareness.

Response-focused strategies involve modulating one’s behavioral responses to tempting impulses. These strategies are employed when a tempting impulse is already underway.

Mindfulness allows children to reflect on and regulate their thinking and behavior.