유아의 시간조망의 발달과 반사실적 사고 및 만족지연의 관계

Development of temporal perspective and its relations to counterfactual thinking and delay of gratification in preschool children

This study investigated the development of McCormack(2014)’s 2nd stage of temporal perspective and its relations to counterfactual thinking and delay of gratification. One core feature of the 2nd stage is the distinction between past and future. Seventy two 4- to 6-year-old children were interviewed for their temporal perspective and counterfactual thinking. Mothers rated children’s delay of gratification on the Delay of Gratification Scale. 5- and 6-year-old children understood that events in the past are unalterable but the events in the future are potentially alterable. Counterfactual thinking was not related to children’s temporal perspective. However, delay of gratification was related to 5-year-old children’s temporal perspective. 5-year old children who answered the future questions in the knowledge task better were better at delaying gratification even after controlling for receptive vocabulary.