title: Rituals Improve Children's Ability to Delay Gratification.
abstract: To be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalize and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioral sequences places heavy demands on executive function. Given previous research showing that challenging executive functioning improves it, it was hypothesized that engagement in ritualistic behaviors improves children's executive functioning, in turn improving their ability to delay gratification. A 3-month circle time games intervention with 210 schoolchildren (Mage= 7.78 years, SD = 1.47) in two contrasting cultural environments (Slovakia and Vanuatu) was conducted. The intervention improved children's executive function and in turn their ability to delay gratification. Moreover, these effects were amplified when the intervention task was imbued with ritual, rather than instrumental, cues.
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Rybanska
authors.affiliation: Royal Holloway, University of London.
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McKay
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.|Coventry University.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jong
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford.
authors.forename: Harvey
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Whitehouse
mesh_terms: D002562:Ceremonial Behavior; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D065786:Delay Discounting / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018154:Slovakia / Q000208:ethnology; D009514:Vanuatu / Q000208:ethnology