Name: experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children
Uploaded: 2019-03-01T13:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children at JoVE.com

The research studies using the self-distancing paradigm described here were supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation (215464) to Angela L. Duckworth, Ethan Kross, and Stephanie M. Carlson. The authors would also like to thank the families and children who participated in these studies and the undergraduate research assistants who helped with data collection and coding.

All methods described here were approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Minnesota and complied with guidelines for research with human subjects. Written informed consent was obtained from a parent or guardian of the child participants, and verbal assent was obtained from children given they were too young to provide written consent.
1. Procedure
<ol>
	<li>Randomly assign 4-6-year-old children to one of three experimental conditions: self-immersed, third-person, or exe...

<ol>
	<li>Nigg, J. T. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Annual+research+review:+On+the+relations+among+self-regulation,+self-control,+executive+functioning,+effortful+control,+cognitive+control,+impulsivity,+risk-taking,+and+inhibition+for+developmental+psychopathology.">Annual research review: On the relations among self-regulation, self-control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk-taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology.</a> Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 58, 361-383 (2017).</li><li>Blair, C., Razza, P. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Relating+effortful+control,+executive+function,+and+false+belief+understanding+to+emerging+math+and+literacy+ability+in+kindergarten.">Relating effortful control, executive function, and false belief understanding to emerging math and literacy ability in kindergarten.</a> Child Development. 78 (2), 647-663 (2007).</li><li>Howse, R. B., Calkins, S. D., Anastopoulos, A. D., Keane, S. P., Shelton, T. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Regulatory+contributors+to+children's+kindergarten+achievement.">Regulatory contributors to children's kindergarten achievement.</a> Early Education and Development. 14 (1), 101-120 (2003).</li><li>Moffitt, T. E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+gradient+of+childhood+self-control+predicts+health,+wealth,+and+public+safety.">A gradient of childhood self-control predicts health, wealth, and public safety.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (7), 2693-2698 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Making+meaning+out+of+negative+experiences+by+self-distancing.">Making meaning out of negative experiences by self-distancing.</a> Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (3), 187-191 (2011).</li><li>Sigel, I. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+distancing+hypothesis:+A+causal+hypothesis+for+the+acquisition+of+representational+thought.">The distancing hypothesis: A causal hypothesis for the acquisition of representational thought.</a> Early schooling: The national debate. , 129-150 (1970).</li><li>Liberman, N., Trope, Y. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Traversing+psychological+distance.">Traversing psychological distance.</a> Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 18 (7), 364-369 (2014).</li><li>Mischel, W., Baker, N. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cognitive+appraisals+and+transformations+in+delay+behavior.">Cognitive appraisals and transformations in delay behavior.</a> Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 31 (2), 254-261 (1975).</li><li>Carlson, S. M., Davis, A. C., Leach, J. G. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Less+is+more+executive+function+and+symbolic+representation+in+preschool+children.">Less is more executive function and symbolic representation in preschool children.</a> Psychological Science. 16 (8), 609-616 (2005).</li><li>Apperly, I. A., Carroll, D. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=How+do+symbols+affect+3-to+4-year-olds'+executive+function?+Evidence+from+a+reverse-contingency+task.">How do symbols affect 3-to 4-year-olds' executive function? Evidence from a reverse-contingency task.</a> Developmental Science. 12 (6), 1070-1082 (2009).</li><li>Prencipe, A., Zelazo, P. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Development+of+affective+decision+making+for+self+and+Other:+Evidence+for+the+integration+of+first-and+third-person+perspectives.">Development of affective decision making for self and Other: Evidence for the integration of first-and third-person perspectives.</a> Psychological Science. 16 (7), 501-505 (2005).</li><li>Karniol, R., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Why+superman+can+wait:+Cognitive+self-transformation+in+the+delay+of+gratification+paradigm.">Why superman can wait: Cognitive self-transformation in the delay of gratification paradigm.</a> Journal of Clinical Child &amp; Adolescent Psychology. 40 (2), 307-317 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Self-distancing:+Theory,+research,+and+current+directions.">Self-distancing: Theory, research, and current directions.</a> Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 55, 81-136 (2017).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O., Mischel, W. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=When+asking+"why"+does+not+hurt"+Distinguishing+rumination+from+reflective+processing+of+negative+emotions.">When asking "why" does not hurt" Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions.</a> Psychological Science. 16, 709-715 (2005).</li><li>Kross, E., Ayduk, O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Making+meaning+out+of+negative+experiences+by+self-distancing.">Making meaning out of negative experiences by self-distancing.</a> Current Directions in Psychological Science. 20 (3), 187-191 (2011).</li><li>Kross, E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Self-talk+as+a+regulatory+mechanism:+How+you+do+it+matters.">Self-talk as a regulatory mechanism: How you do it matters.</a> Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 106 (2), 304-324 (2014).</li><li>Grossmann, I., Kross, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Exploring+Solomon's+paradox:+Self-distancing+eliminates+the+self-other+asymmetry+in+wise+reasoning+about+close+relationships+in+younger+and+older+adults.">Exploring Solomon's paradox: Self-distancing eliminates the self-other asymmetry in wise reasoning about close relationships in younger and older adults.</a> Psychological Science. 25 (8), 1571-1580 (2014).</li><li>Kross, E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Third-person+self-talk+reduces+Ebola+worry+and+risk+perception+by+enhancing+rational+thinking.">Third-person self-talk reduces Ebola worry and risk perception by enhancing rational thinking.</a> Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. 9 (3), 387-409 (2017).</li><li>Moser, J. S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Third-person+self-talk+facilitates+emotional+control+without+engaging+cognitive+control:+Converging+evidence+from+ERP+and+fMRI.">Third-person self-talk facilitates emotional control without engaging cognitive control: Converging evidence from ERP and fMRI.</a> Scientific Reports. 7 (4519), 1-9 (2017).</li><li>Nook, E. C., Schleider, J. L., Somerville, L. H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+linguistic+signature+of+psychological+distancing+in+emotion+regulation.">A linguistic signature of psychological distancing in emotion regulation.</a> Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 146 (3), 337-346 (2017).</li><li>Dolcos, S., Albarracin, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+inner+speech+of+behavioral+regulation:+Intentions+and+task+performance+strengthen+when+you+talk+to+yourself+as+a+You.">The inner speech of behavioral regulation: Intentions and task performance strengthen when you talk to yourself as a You.</a> Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 44, 636-642 (2014).</li><li>White, R. E., Carlson, S. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=What+would+Batman+do?+Self-distancing+improves+executive+function+in+young+children.">What would Batman do? Self-distancing improves executive function in young children.</a> Developmental Science. 19, 419-426 (2016).</li><li>Singer, D. G., Singer, J. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> The house of make-believe: Children's play and the developing imagination. , (1990).</li><li>White, R. E., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+"Batman+effect":+Improving+perseverance+in+young+children.">The "Batman effect": Improving perseverance in young children.</a> Child Development. 88 (5), 1563-1571 (2017).</li><li>Grenell, A., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Individual+differences+in+the+effectiveness+of+self-distancing+for+young+children's+emotion+regulation.">Individual differences in the effectiveness of self-distancing for young children's emotion regulation.</a> British Journal of Developmental Psychology. 37 (1), 84-100 (2019).</li><li>Grenell, A., Vaisarova, J., Carlson, S. 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The child self-distancing paradigm described herein is important because it is developmentally appropriate and capitalizes on young children&#39;s love for role-play23. Previous research shows that this method can be successfully implemented with children between 4 and 6 years of age and that children who create the most theoretical distance from the self by pretending to be a popular media character show better performance on self-regulation tasks than children who use the first-person perspectiv...

Self-regulation is the ability to deliberately control one&#39;s thoughts, actions, and emotions. Self-regulation involves the interaction between &#34;reactive&#34; and &#34;deliberate&#34; processes and is a general concept that includes several different types of skills such as emotion regulation, executive function, perseverance, and effortful control (i.e., parent-reported temperament measure of self-regulation)1. Several studies have found that self-regulation is associated with and predictive of many important cognitive and social outcomes2,3. Additionally, early self-regulation skills have been found to be predictive of long-term wealth and health outcomes4. This previous research highlights the importance of intervening early to improve young children&#39;s self-regulation skills for more positive life outcomes later.
One strategy for improving young children&#39;s self-regulation is self-distancing. Self-distancing refers to creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by having individuals think about their thoughts, feelings, or actions from an outsider&#39;s perspective5. Self-distancing is one form of psychological distancing. Psychological distancing refers to creating mental distance between a stimulus and response. This distance allows individuals to reflect and demonstrate greater control of their emotions, actions, and thoughts6,7. Most of the previous research on psychological distancing with children has focused on creating distance by transforming the task stimuli. For example, having children think about treats in an abstract way such as imagining that marshmallows are clouds during a delay of gratification task8 or replacing actual treats with symbols (e.g., a pile of rocks to represent a pile of jelly beans) during a reverse- contingency task9,10 promotes better performance. However, a few studies have created psychological distance in other ways such as by having children make decisions for another person instead of for themselves11 or thinking about an individual who would perform well on the task, like Superman12. These studies also showed benefits of psychological distancing for children&#39;s ability to delay gratification11,12.
While self-distancing seems like another promising way to improve different aspects of children&#39;s self-regulation, the majority of the research on self-distancing has been conducted with adults. Self-distancing has been studied with adults mainly in the domain of emotion regulation. In these studies, adults are asked to use visual imagery or language to create distance from the self13. For example, they are instructed to recall a past event that evokes negative emotions by visualizing it either through their own eyes (non-distanced) or from an outsider&#39;s perspective or as if they were &#34;a fly on the wall&#34; (self-distanced)13,14,15. In other studies, adults are asked to use first-person (non-distanced) or third-person speech (self-distanced) while thinking about past negative emotions16,17,18,19,20,21. These studies suggest that taking a distanced perspective helps adults focus on why they are feeling what they are feeling instead of focusing on the negative emotions themselves and results in better coping when recalling these past negative emotions13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21.
Recently, a self-distancing paradigm for children was created by modifying the self-distancing conditions used in the adult literature to be developmentally appropriate for young children22 and creating an additional self-distancing condition based on children&#39;s love for role-play23. The self-immersed condition was adopted from the adult literature and is meant to elicit an exaggerated egocentric or first-person perspective. Theoretically, the self-immersed condition should be more detrimental to children&#39;s performance than a control condition in which children are not given any distancing instructions. In the control condition, children may take on a first-person perspective by default, but they are not as immersed in this perspective as children in the self-immersed condition. In both the self-immersed and control conditions, participants should not be creating distance from the self. The third-person condition creates some distance from the self by asking children to think about themselves using their own name. This condition allows children to think about their own thoughts, feelings, and actions from a distanced perspective. Finally, an additional condition called the exemplar condition was created by looking at past research with children on role-play such as a study by Karniol and colleagues12 in which children were asked to pretend to be Superman during a delay of gratification task. In the exemplar condition, children are instructed to take the perspective of another person by pretending to be a media character. Having children pretend to be someone else creates even more distance from the self than the third-person condition since it asks children to think as if they were someone else with different thoughts, feelings, and skills. It also allows children to use their love for role-play, which peaks in early childhood23. During the target task, children are given either verbal or visual (e.g., stickers, costumes) reminders of their self-distancing condition. Allowing children to use the different self-distancing strategies while performing self-regulation tasks avoids children having to retrospectively remember situations in which they needed to exert self-regulation. While the adult literature allows researchers to study the difference between taking a non-distanced and distanced perspective, this child self-distancing paradigm allows children to take on a broader range of distances from the self (self-immersed, third-person, and exemplar) and allows researchers to test the effectiveness of these varying amounts of distance from the self on&#160;children&#39;s self-regulation.
In this article, we describe the self-distancing paradigm in detail, including the materials needed and the procedure for using this paradigm with young children. Additionally, we discuss results from studies that have used the self-distancing paradigm to examine its effects on young children&#39;s (3-6-year-olds) self-regulation. Finally, we discuss ways that the self-distancing paradigm can be used in future research, potential modifications to the paradigm, and implications for using it.
The target task that children complete while using the self-distancing instructions varies depending on the focus of the study. The following protocol demonstrates how the self-distancing paradigm can be used during a perseverance task24. However, the self-distancing paradigm can be applied to a number of behavioral tasks that involve effort on the part of the child. The task must be sufficiently challenging so that not all children will succeed even without the task manipulation, and yet not too far beyond their developmental level such that they cannot understand the instructions or perform the task under any circumstances. The following illustration of the self-distancing paradigm was used with typically developing 4- and 6-year-olds24.

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			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:216px;">Child-sized table</td>
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			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:216px;">2 Child-sized chairs (one for child and one for experimenter)&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;">Camera to record children working on the task for coding their behaviors later</td>
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			<td height="105" style="height:105px;width:216px;">A laminated sheet of paper with pictures of four media characters that are popular with children of the study&#8217;s age range in their specific culture</td>
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			<td>In past studies, Batman, Superman, Bob the Builder, Rapunzel, Elsa (Frozen), and Dora the Explorer have been used.</td>
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			<td height="84" style="height:84px;width:216px;">Props associated with each media character that children can wear while working on the target task</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">For example, a cape for Batman, a tool belt for Bob the Builder, a tiara for Rapunzel, and a backpack for Dora the Explorer.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="336" style="height:336px;width:216px;">Laptop/computer to play audio reminders if audio reminders are used</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">These recordings should say the following for each condition every 60 seconds: 
			 
			Self-immersed: &#34;Am I working hard?&#34; 
			 
			Third- person: &#34;Is [child&#8217;s name] working hard?&#34; 
			 
			Exemplar: &#34; Is [media character&#8217;s name] working hard?&#34; 
			 
			This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;</td>
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			<td height="231" style="height:231px;width:216px;">Plain stickers to write &#34;I&#34; or the child&#39;s name to be used as reminders for the self-immersed and third-person condition</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">Stickers can be placed on the apparatus being used or on children&#39;s hands to remind them of their self-distancing strategy. These stickers would have the letter &#34;I&#34; for the self-immersed condition or their name spelled out for the third-person condition. This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.</td>
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			<td height="210" style="height:210px;width:216px;">Stickers with pictures of 4 media characters chosen for exemplar condition</td>
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			<td>Stickers with pictures of the media characters used in the study can be purchased and placed on the apparatus being or on the children&#39;s hands to remind them of their self-distancing strategy. This is one option for reminding children of their distancing condition. The type of reminder used will depend on the target task and if the experimenter will be present in the room during the target task.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="147" style="height:147px;width:216px;">Ipad or tablet with developmentally approariate and entertaining game for children in the age range being studied downloaded onto it</td>
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			<td>&#34;Where&#39;s My Water&#34; is one example of an app that can be used for 4-6-yea-olds. The app should be developmentally appropariate for the age range being studied and a game that children of that age want to play. This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Laptop/computer with go/no-go task program described in the protocol&#160;</td>
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			<td>This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Cardboard keyboard overlay to cover keys that are not needed for the go/no-go task</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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			<td height="63" style="height:63px;width:216px;">Sticker illustrating iPad game to put on the &#34;break&#34; key on the computer keyboard</td>
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			<td style="width:317px;">This is only needed if the perseverance target task is used.&#160;</td>
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experimental paradigm for measuring the effects of self-distancing in young children

Self-distancing (i.e., creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by adopting a less egocentric perspective) has been studied as a way to improve adolescents' and adults' emotion regulation. These studies instruct adolescents and adults to use visual imagery or language to create distance from the self before engaging in self-regulation tasks and when thinking about past and future events. For example, adults are asked to recall past, negative emotional experiences from either a first-person perspective (no distance) or a third-person perspective (self-distanced). These studies show that a self-distanced perspective allows adults to cope more adaptively when recalling negative feelings. However, the self-distancing paradigm used with adults was not developmentally appropriate for young children. This modified self-distancing paradigm involves instructing children to think about their thoughts, feelings, and actions from different perspectives that vary in their distance from the self while completing a self-regulation task. The paradigm involves randomly assigning children to use one of three perspectives: self-immersed, third-person, or exemplar. In the self-immersed condition, children are asked to think about themselves using the first-person perspective (e.g., "How am I feeling?") and no distance is created from the self. In the third-person condition, children are asked to create distance from the self by using the third-person perspective (e.g., "How is [child's name] feeling?"). In the exemplar condition, the greatest distance from the self is created by asking children to pretend to be a media character and to think about that character's thoughts and feelings (e.g., "How is Batman feeling?"). Studies using the self-distancing paradigm with 4-6-year-olds have found that as the amount of distance from the self increases (self-immersed &lt; third-person &lt; exemplar), children perform better on self-regulation tasks. These findings suggest that the strategies implemented in the self-distancing protocol may be useful to include in self-regulation interventions for young children.

Overall effectiveness of self-distancing 
The self-distancing paradigm has been used in several studies focusing on young children&#39;s self-regulation including executive function skills, perseverance, and emotion regulation. To determine the effectiveness of self-distancing, children&#39;s performance on the target task is compared across the different self-distancing conditions (self-immersed, third-person, and exemplar). Studies with children between the ages of...

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Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children

An experimental paradigm was created to measure the effects of self-distancing in young children (4-6-year-olds). Self-distancing is a process through which individuals adopt a less egocentric perspective. This paradigm has been used to examine the effects of self-distancing on young children&#39;s self-regulation.

Self-distancing (i.e., creating mental distance between the self and a stimulus by adopting a less egocentric perspective) has been studied as a way to ...

The self distancing paradigm for children is significant because it allows researchers to answer questions about children's use of self distancing or creating mental distance from the self and how that influences their self regulation. The main advantage of this technique is it can be used to test the influence of the self distancing strategy. While children as young as four years of age work on self regulation tasks.Begin by escorting the child into the testing room. Show the tablet to the child and say, okay, I'm going to show you a game on this tablet before we start our work. Next, inform the child.This is the game. Have you ever played Where's My Water before? Wait for the child's response and then say in this game you want to get the water into the pipes so the alligator can take a shower.To get the water to him, you have to move the dirt out of the way. See how moving my finger on the screen digs through the dirt? On the tablet, drag finger through the dirt.Then tell the child after the dirt is out of the way the water can flow to the pipes. I want the water to go to this pipe. So I'm going to move my finger like this and drag the finger the rest of the way so that the water flows to the pipe.Ask the child if they understood how the water got into the pipes after the child responds and the tablet to the child and let them try. Finally, once the child completes the level say, great. That's the game you will get to play later.Begin by placing the device next to the computer so that it is easily accessible to the child while they are sitting at the computer. Introduced the work task to the child by saying now I'm going to show you the work that we're going to do today. It would be helpful if you worked hard on this.This is a very important activity. And it would be helpful if you worked hard on this for as long as you could. The reason I want you to do this activity is because you would be a good helper.Then confirm with the child that they understand why they are completing this activity. Start the computer program, select the child's condition using the arrow keys, and then press the space bar twice to continue. Place a cardboard overlay on the keyboard to cover all non relevant keys for the task.Tell the child The goal of this activity is for you to feed pieces of cheese to a mouse. Whenever you see a picture of cheese on the computer screen. You can feed the mouse by pressing the space bar and then point to the space bar.Next, inform the child but sometimes there won't be cheese and instead a cat may appear. Whenever you see a picture of a cat makes sure you do not, press the space bar. Perform a rule a check with the child to ensure they understand the instructions.Then have the child complete the practice trials while reading the feedback on the screen in between the trials. After the practice trials are complete, press the space bar twice to start the activity. After one minute say great, you did a good job.Remember, it would be helpful if you worked hard on this for as long as you could, but this activity can get pretty boring. So when you want if you want, you can take a break by pressing this button. It's your choice.Then place the brake button overlay sticker on the keyboard. Finally, tell the child that they can switch to the tablet game during the break and when they are done taking a break they can press the brake button on the keyboard to come back to the activity on the computer. Begin by introducing a self distancing strategy based on the child's experimental condition and emphasize to the child that they need to work hard on this next activity for as long as possible, even if it can feel boring.Show the child a laminated sheet of paper with pictures of four characters that are familiar and popular in the participating children's culture in age range. Then ask them which one of these characters would you like to pretend to be for this activity. After a child picks a character provide the child with a prop associated with their chosen character so they can wear it then tell the child so if you get bored at any point during this task, ask yourself is character's name working hard?Tell the child about reminders that computer will give to help them remember their self distancing condition. Place a sticker of the child's chosen character on the computer used for the work task. Then say when you see the sticker.Remember to ask his character's name working hard? Ask the child to repeat the prompt to ensure they understand the instructions and see if the child has any further questions. Finally sit in the corner of the room with back turn to the child and allow the child to work on the task for 10 minutes.This self distancing paradigm has been used with various self regulation tasks. Results from one study in our lab showed that children's performance on an executive function task increased as the distance from the self increased. In another study, children persisted longer on a boring work task like the one illustrated here as the distance from the self increased with children in the exemplary condition showing the most perseverance.And looking at individual differences and specific cognitive skills and whether they predict how children respond to the self distancing manipulation three to five year olds with better theory of mind or perspective taking skills benefited more from the self distancing strategy, regardless of age on an executive function task. In addition, it was found that four to six year olds with lower executive function and effort full control benefited more from the self distancing strategy by displaying less frustration during an emotion regulation task. Even after controlling for children's verbal ability.It's important to make sure that the self distancing strategies are explained clearly to children and that children can repeat the self distancing prompt before beginning of the task. After using the self distancing procedure, researchers can ask children questions about how they used their self distancing strategy to see if that might influence children's performance. This paradigm allows developmental psychologist to better understand how self distancing can be used as a strategy to improve young children self control.Which can then inform the creation of self regulation interventions.

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