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Self-Regulative Competencies for Overcoming

Socio-Economic Barriers

ICE15 Chicago

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

richard.pircher@fh-vie.ac.at Christiane Seuhs-Schoeller

Centre for Integral LeadershipSlides are available at http://richard-pircher.net

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I would like to offer you a piece of this traditional Austrian Mozartkugel

Please don´t eat it!

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The Marshmallow Test

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

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

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The difficulty to resist inner temptation

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

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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

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Self-Regulation

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

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Self-Regulation• Self-regulation (or 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.

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

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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

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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

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Empirical Results

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

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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

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Empirical Results

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Analog Learning for Fostering Self-Regulation

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

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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)

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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.

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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”!

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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)

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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

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Project NeuroKids

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Project NeuroKids

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Project NeuroKids

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Project NeuroKids

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Project NeuroKids

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Summary

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

• Games and teaching methods may foster these competencies

Significance for You?Next time, when you are doing your work, I would like you to ask yourself the following question:

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

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Richard PircherUniversity of Applied Sciences bfi Vienna, Austria

richard.pircher@fh-vie.ac.at

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

I would be happy to answer your questions!