1

The Game of Life Self-Regulation

Via Analog Learning and E-Learning

ICELW, June 12 2013, Columbia University, NY

Richard Pircher, Prof. (FH) Dr.University of Applied Sciences bfi Vienna, Austria

[email protected] Slides are available at http://richard-pircher.net

2

I would like to offer you a piece of this traditional Viennese wafer

Please don´t eat it!

3

The Marshmallow Test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3S0xS2hdi4

The Mature Marshmallow Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQvBrEEYS20

4

The difficulty to resist inner temptation

… this video and the Viennese wafer may serve as a reminder of how difficult it may be to resist inner temptation

… and there will also be some more wafers available at the end of the presentation if you resisted

5

Self-regulation

“The need to • delay gratification, • control impulses, and • modulate emotional expression is the earliest and most ubiquitous demand that societies place on their children”

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

6

Self-regulation

• Self-regulation means to be able to be goal-oriented, context-specific and to inhibit affective impulses

7

Self-regulation• Self-regulation (respectively executive functions)

consists of:– Inhibition of behaviour and attention – the

ability to pursue a goal despite distracting stimuli

–Working memory – the ability to memorize content for further processing

–Cognitive flexibility – the ability to adapt to new requirements and to change one‘s point of view regarding people, situations and abilities

Note: the terms „self-regulation“, „self-control“ and „executive functions“ will not be distinguished here.

8

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

9

Initial question

Is self-regulation important for the health, wealth, and public safety of the population?

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

10

Empirical study

• The study followed a cohort of 1,000 children from birth to the age of 32 years.

• The effects of children’s self-control could be disentangled from their intelligence and social class as well as from mistakes they made as adolescents.

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

11

Empirical results

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

12

high childhood self-control

Empirical results

high childhood self-control

much lower probability of poor physical health and drug addiction

much higher probability of good socioeconomic status and income

13

Empirical results

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

14

Empirical results

high childhood self-control

much lower probability of single-parent child-rearing

high childhood self-control

much lower probability of adult criminal conviction

15

Empirical results• It is shown that childhood self-control

predicts:physical health, drug addiction, personal finances, and criminal offence outcomes, follow a gradient of self-control

• Self-control is more important than intelligence and social class

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

16

It´s never too late

• What would happen if we were able to intervene and improve children’s self-control. Would an increase in self-control predict better outcomes?

• Those children who became more self-controlled from childhood to young adulthood had better outcomes by the age of 32 years

PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698 www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108

17

Creativity?

My comment on creativity:An artist or an innovator needs to have self-regulative competencies in order to be able to finish a painting, do rehearsals, excercises, develop an idea and turn it into a new product, etc.Left: Venus of Galgenberg („Fanny“), appr. 30,000 years ago, Museum of Natural History in Vienna, AustriaTop: Head of a Buddha, Northern Qi Dynasty, ca. 570, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkBottom: Pablo Picasso: Gertrud Stein, 1905-6, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York

18

Conclusion

If we would support the development of self-regulation at all ages this would help to reduce several important social problemslike poverty, crime, drug addiction and poor health

19

How to develop self-regulation?

Challenges which require …• inhibition of impulses• adjustment to changing rules• to combine cognitive, physical and social

activities support the development of self-regulation

20

Analog learning for fostering self-regulation

http://www.znl-fex.de/ http://www.wehrfritz.de (in German)

21

Analog learning – let´s fex

• One side of the card is shown to the player• At the same time, the player is given a command:

either to do the same or the opposite

http://www.znl-fex.de/ http://www.wehrfritz.de (in German)

22

Analog learning – let´s fex

• Level 1: The player should do what is shown on the card.

• Level 2: The player should do the opposite of what is shown on the card.

23

Analog learning – let´s fex

• Level 3: The player should do what is shown on the card only if a wooden mascot is raised. Otherwise she is expected to say “let´s fex”!

• Level 4: The player should do the opposite of what is shown on the card only if a wooden mascot is raised. Otherwise she is expected to say “let´s fex”!

24

Alien Game: Being a Space Ranger • Aliens are hungry or thirsty• The player has to feed aliens according to

their needs • Some times, the rules defining who needs

what, change

http://psychologie.univie.ac.at/games4resilience http://youtu.be/XkOdke-Llus http://youtu.be/-Spp6VcwVQQ (in German)

25

Games fostering the development of self-regulation

These games support the development of self-regulation because they require …• inhibition of impulses• adjustment to changing rules• the combing of cognitive, physical and

social activities

26

Summary

• Self-control is a key factor for the development of individuals and our societies

• Games and teaching methods may foster these competencies

27

Significance for you?

The next time, when you are doing your work, I would like you to ask yourself the following question:

Could what I am doing help the learners to improve their self-control as well?

28

Richard PircherUniversity of Applied Sciences bfi Vienna, Austria

[email protected]

Slides are available at http://richard-pircher.net

Please feel free to take some more wafers!

I would be happy to answer your questions!