Executive Summary
Most parents consider self-control an important component of their children’s development. However, when confronted by children’s demand for indulgence—chips before dinner, toys advertised on television, candies on the supermarket shelf—parents allow indulgence more often than not. What makes adult’s give in to such demands? In this research, the authors show that parents’ beliefs about the basic amount and extendability of people’s self-control are key predictive factors in their decisions for children. Although these beliefs pertain to people in general rather than young children in particular, they are inappropriately projected onto children leading to decisions that are inconsistent with the nurturing of children’s self-control.
The authors propose that parents (or any concerned adults) who believe that people in general have small amounts of self-control that can be built up over time (what the authors term “limited-malleable theorists”), tend to carry out actions that help develop children’s self-control. In other words, when limited-malleable theorists find themselves in situations in which they can develop a child’s self-control, they are inclined to act in ways that facilitate it. This includes restricting access to fast food, preferring educational television programs, and choosing gifts that help educate the child rather than give instant gratification. In contrast, “unlimited-malleable theorists,” who believe that people in general have large stores of self-control, and “fixed theorists,” who do not believe that the ability to self-control can be improved, do not take such actions to help build a child’s self-control.
Both laboratory experiments and real-world experiments were conducted in three countries (China [Hong Kong], the United States, and Singapore), across the domains of gift-giving, babysitting, television program preferences, and eating allowances. The findings support the authors’ claims. Limited-malleable theorists execute tighter control over the consumption of fast food, are less likely to appease their children with unhealthful snacks, prefer educational television programs to entertainment programs, and choose gifts that deliver a greater long-term value rather than short-term value. These results hold even after the authors account for demographic characteristics, such as family income, number of working hours for each parent, number of siblings, and domestic help, and relevant psychological characteristics of the parents.
Biography
Anirban Mukhopadhyay is Associate Professor of Marketing at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests focus on aspects of consumer self-control and goal-directed behavior, as well as agents and interpersonal influence. Anirban’s research has been published in Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Marketing Letters. He has a PhD in Marketing from Columbia University, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and has previously worked in product and brand management.
Catherine W.M. Yeung is Associate Professor of Marketing in the NUS Business School at the National University of Singapore. Professor Yeung holds a PhD from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Her research interests are related to the role of affect and emotion in consumer judgment and the psychology of decision making. Her articles have appeared in leading academic journals, such as Journal of Marketing Research and Journal of Consumer Research. She reviews for numerous academic journals and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Consumer Research and Journal of Consumer Psychology.
Journal of Marketing Research, Volume 47, Number 2, April 2010
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