Introduction
Self-control has been identified has the single, most basic differentiating characteristic that separates human beings from the animal species. In psychological circles as well as in past research on the subject, the term has been used interchangeably with self-regulation and behavioral regulation . Before examining the details of how and why this aspect of human behavior is crucial in ensuring that people are able to lead normal lives, it is important to understand the boundaries of the concept in itself.
In the simplest of terms, self-regulated behavior is an individual’s ability to suppress their immediate impulses instead of acting upon them. While there is one school of thought that that proposes that knowing the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior is an innate ability, present in children’s prefrontal cortex from the time of their birth. If this is taken in its entirety to be true, it would entail that ‘behaving normally’ is a biological action, almost the same as walking or sleeping or eating . It would also imply that until the biological deficiency is corrected, or chemicals are used to correct the imbalance, there are few effective remedial strategies that can be employed.
However, an emerging view on the subject is that while the basic trigger of behavior may be biologically driven, yet a large part of it is evolves over time, based on a person’s individual social experiences and interactions . This entails that since a part of ‘normal behavior’ is learned, children born with a learning deficiency, can be ‘taught’ correct and socially acceptable behaviors.
At its core then, this research returns to the age-old nature versus nurture debate in determining which aspect of our beings has a more predominant effect on our behaviors later on in life.
Purpose of the Research
The paper will focus on identifying the most commonly occurring self-control and behavioral issues in children that parents and teachers have to deal with. This includes understanding the different components of Self-control as defined by psychologists and understanding how this deficiency manifests in the child’s behavior at home, in school as well as in other social setting with peers and adults .
The paper will also explore the various strategies that can be used to correct this behavioral disorder from an early age, what are some of the most common and explicit symptoms that should raise immediate red flags for observing adults and the inherent learning difficulties that may be preventing the child from learning important coping skills .
The research will include a comprehensive review of recent psychological research resources. This is the primary research methodology that will be utilized in order to understand how learning deficiencies trigger behavioral irregularities, as well as the areas where in which more Observational Studies of real-life cases is required in the future to augment knowledge, understanding, but most importantly, the everyday changes in lifestyle and routine that can help children adjust better.
Hypothesis
In order to accomplish the research objectives outlined in the previous section, the following research hypothesis will be investigated. The first is:
Self-regulated behavior is a biological phenomenon, either present or absent in children from the time of their birth.
The second hypothesis is:
The learning and social environment of children does not significantly impact their behavioral reactions.
A close examination of these hypotheses will reveal the crucial role that caregivers can play in helping children born with learning difficulties to integrate in their social environment . The underlying objective of the three research hypotheses stated above is to devise corrective strategies that can be implemented to help these children, instead of assuming that only chemical therapy can rectify the situation.
Methodology
Given the complex nature of the subject matter, the research methodologies most commonly employed by psychologists to study this area, involve observational studies of children as well as Self-control improvement programs designed for children up to the ages of ten, with known learning deficiencies, in a variety of situations.
These self-improvement programs, with the goal of establishing and improving “Self-Regulated behavior” utilize various forms of social skills training modules, with a special emphasis on improving communication abilities and skills with practice .
The objective here was two-pronged; first, to help children understand their own feelings, as well as to determine a constructive way of expressing them; second, to help develop the ability (that is naturally absent in certain children) to observe, understand and react to how other people in a given situation may be feeling and behaving .
The two primary methods that are to be utilized for this purpose, are careful and extensive observation of the children’s actions in different situations, ideally without their noticing it, and secondly, by creating an environment that allows the children to express themselves in different ways . This is important because it has been recorded that children with learning disabilities, also often have language developmental issues. Therefore, verbal language to convey what they may be feeling at a particular point in time may not be very reliable. In this scenario, devising creative and imaginative activities, particularly group activities, have been reported to have had positive results in helping children self-regulate their actions and emotions.
Results
A comprehensive review of available literature on the subject of ‘Self-control and communication issues’ clearly reveals that it is indeed a biological deficiency, quite often genetic, which causes certain children to act ‘abnormally’. To put it into context, a physical disability, such as a limp in walking or impaired vision, is traced back to problems in the spinal cord, the nervous system, or within the structure of the eye itself.
Having said that, there is an increasing number of psychologists who are of the opinion that the term ‘self-regulated’ behavior has been defined very narrowly and this is what often causes the misconception that actions are inherent, and point towards a physiological problem in every case . This school of thought has divided the scope of the term ‘self-control’, particularly when it pertains to children with learning disabilities, into two components: impulse control, emotional control and movement control.
The first, impulse control, relates to a child’s ability to pause, consider his/her actions and their consequences and then deciding whether or not to act in that manner. Prior research has revealed that children who manifest trouble in monitoring and regulating their behavior in early age, are also more likely to face other developmental challenges later on in their adult lives.
The reason why impulse control has been deemed important is because it is only when children understand that actions have consequences will they lean the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behaviors .
I also believe that there is an even more important role that impulse control has to play in not just a child’s, but any of our lives: thinking about the possible repercussion of a certain behavior also develop an understanding of personal safety and welfare. But this additional benefit, explored on a very basic level in the researches stated, will only come into play when all caregivers in a child’s life, parents, teachers, elder siblings, baby sitters or even a behavioral therapist, take the time to either demonstrate to the child, with their own actions or explain in elaborate words how the sharp and hot objects can cause harm .
Expecting that a child, who already has trouble in picking up on non-verbal cues about how to regulate their behavior, will automatically understand the reasons why a certain action is being discouraged, is fallacious in itself. Therefore, what is needed is for the adults who are interacting with the child to explain to them that certain actions will result in personal injury and harm to them. Once this understanding is transferred successfully, the child is more likely to have gained an understanding of ‘the why’ they are asked to not perform certain actions .
The reason why outlining the personal nature of behaviors such as playing with sharp or hot objects, or displaying aggression by throwing things is important because, research has shown that even children with impaired cognitive functions related to learning, have an extremely strong ‘sense of survival’, or more aptly put a sense of self-preservation . Therefore, once they are made aware of the negative personal consequences of certain behaviors, they are less likely to repeat them. Continuing with the example highlighted above, if children see ‘how’ a sharp object is harmful to their own selves, they will be more willing to not toy with them. The opinion of psychologists is also that, once this trust between caregiver and child is established through visual demonstrations, over time, the child learns to implicitly believe and follow the instructions being given, recognizing that rules and regulations are for their welfare and safety .
This was also demonstrated in what has become a well-documented experiment involving four-year old children. These children were each given a marshmallow, as well as the option that they can either eat it immediately, or, if they were able to restrain the urge to consume them immediately until the adult returned to the room some time later, almost 30% of these young kids were able to control their impulses. What is of greater importance is the fact that it was this 30% group that fared better throughout school, college and university than the remaining 70%, while also being more socially popular and less likely to indulge in destructive habits such as drug use as teenagers .
Emotional control, the second component, builds on impulse control that has already been established. The importance of regulating our feelings has to be understood and explained, with how expressing them can impact an important objective. Imparting this control is important because in the absence of it, children will be unable to handle unexpected situations with calmness, or be able to accept constructive feedback designed to help them . The second aspect of self-control, therefore, relates to managing emotions in a constructive way. The sense of personal safety has already been established up to this point, so the next step as advised by psychologists is to create a sense of self-profit.
This implies that in the children’s mind, a correlation has to be established between how restraining the expression of their emotions is going to help accomplish a goal that they consider important . For instance, below average results or performance in an activity at school (not necessarily a theoretical subject) often creates a situation in which the instructor/teacher will point out mistakes or suggest improvements. Children who have an under-developed sense of emotional control are more likely to react aggressively to what they perceive as harsh criticism than children who are aware that disrespecting an adult in that situation is not a socially acceptable or ‘good’ thing to do.
Therefore, it has to be clarified that the instructor, teacher, parent or even an elder sibling in this case, is pointing out mistakes with the goal of helping the child be better at the activity and controlling anger is also important to ensure that they do not behave in ways that harm their own chances of improving . A limitation here will be that this strategy will only work in two cases. First, if the person against whom the emotional reaction is directed is someone the child feels an emotional connection to. Or, if the activity for which the suggestions for improvements were given was one the child particularly enjoys. Otherwise, it will be very difficult to explain to a child who has an emotional control disability why keeping their emotions in check is important even when it is related to a person or activity they find no personal link with.
However, a positive concurrence with the first hypothesis does not at all imply that a child’s external environment does not play a role in determining the severity of unregulated behaviors . There is no dispute that the basis of learning, language and behavioral discrepancies is indeed physiological. But as explained above, Behavior Regulation involves a lot more than simply emphasizing the need of compliance with rules and regulations and taming harmful or negative temptations.
The second hypothesis therefore, does not hold true and the reasons why are best demonstrated by citing the popular example of twins separated at birth . To elaborate this point, I will modify the example a little and state that both children suffered from a prefrontal cortex related disability that greatly limited their ability to regulate their behavior and emotions. One was raised in an environment where his/her ‘different’ behavior was construed as ‘not normal’ because of the way the child’s biology is, and therefore, no remedial actions were taken to help in coping. On the other hand, the other twin, afflicted with the same biological disability, was raised in a family that was quick to flag the difference in behavior, and then spent considerable years in helping that child get a better grip on his/her emotions. The latter, having been exposed to a more tolerant and constructive environment, was able to develop better interpersonal connections with friends and family, and over a period of time, was also more well-rounded personally, having learnt to at least manage, if not overcome, his/her differences .
Implications for Future Research
The research findings and results indicate that considerable progress has been achieved in understanding the multiple reasons, in addition to biological process problems that result in unregulated behavior in children. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence in determining which kinds of behavioral therapies are the most effective in improving behavior and the coping strategies that yield the best possible results in helping children during their developmental stage . To this effect, it is important that future research in the field is focused more towards examining the relative effectiveness of self-regulation initiatives, primarily through studying children afflicted with this problem in real-life scenarios.
Like all observational experiments, the challenge will be in creating a controlled environment, where certain variables, such as parents’ or teachers’ intervention can be regulated, as well as the ethical concerns that will arise from creating ‘trigger’ situations to analyze a child’s behavior . Having said that, a more realistic research approach might be external observation of children with known learning disabilities in a variety of situational contexts to acquire more information about how best to help them.
References
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Connor, C. (2007). Links between behavioural regulation and preschoolers' literacy, vocabulary, and math skills. Developmental Psychology, 947–959.
Piquero, A. R. (2010). Self-control interventions for children under age 10 for improving self-control and delinqunecy and problem behaviors. Oslo: Campbell Systematic Reviews.
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