What is discipline, self-control made of and can we get more of it through training?

There exists a huge and growing body of research on the development of discipline (or self-control mixed with delay of gratification, planning in contrast to impulsivity). The findings are available in scientific journals and also appear in translation in magazines and newspapers. For example Jonah Lehrer has written an excellent article in a recent issue of The New Yorker (May 18, 2009), entitled “The Secret of Self-Control.” That article captures many of the features of discipline research. Lehrer focuses on the work of Walter Mischel, a psychologist at Columbia who has studied individual differences in self-control and impulsivity in very young children, what happens to them when they grow up, brain imaging studies of some of his subjects as adults, and the impact of individual differences of impulsivity on attention and vigilance (functions that are vitally important in all situations in life). Mischel has found that there are enormous individual differences in self-control in young children. Rather than wait a few minutes and thereby get far more booty, most young children can’t wait or resist a candy right there for the taking. The few who can muster waiting and self-control, who defy “a bird in the hand is worth four in the bush,” turn out to be highly successful adults who continue to be self-disciplined. In fact, the overall summary results on the relationship between measures of self-control in young children and outcomes 15 years later are impressive. The very young kids who showed poor self-control grew up to be more troubled, less adaptive in stress situations, had fewer friendships, and had lower SAT scores, a staggering 210 points lower than less impulsive children. Mischel, along with a collaborator, also found that measures of self-control are a much better predictor of grade point average in middle school students than their IQ scores. Self-control skills have a huge life consequence.

Since being disciplined and self-controlled is good and growing up to be impulsive is hazardous, it is not surprising that some researchers have studied how to train or improve self-discipline in children as well as adults. In an earlier post I review the work of Adele Diamond (Science, November 2007) on the highly successful training of executive functioning (discipline and self-control are a major components) in preschoolers. Adele Diamond’s work has been noted by many educators that have begun to explore how executive functions like self-control can be taught to young children, particularly those who are economically disadvantaged. Likewise Mischel has been approached by David Levin, a co-founder of the KIPP school project which is a project involving 66 charter schools around the country that emphasize self-control as a key character strength that must be developed in kids. Can his research on self-control be helpful in training this vital cognitive function? Time and data will tell.

Perhaps we might take a second look at self-control in children and in adults. Is it not the case that there are many highly effective, disciplined adults who can plan, inhibit impulses, wait patiently for rewards but who have huge gaps in their executive functions? For example, many obese effective adults can’t resist the goodies in front of them. In the presence of a drug, for example alcohol, for those dependent on the drug it becomes easily as irresistible as a chocolate bar to a three year old. However these same people are capable of all kinds of self-control in other contexts.  What does that tell us about self-control? Is it perhaps not quite a global function but rather a skill accessible under some conditions and not others? Likewise there are many adolescents who muster enormous self-control and discipline as a member of a high school sports team, but few of those skills generalize to the classroom, to study and school work habits. If self-control is not a ubiquitous function, then what are the implications for training and understanding individual differences in the use of these skills?  Once again, lots more knowledge is needed but we are getting there.