Self-control is a key factor for the development of individuals and our societies Games and teaching methods may foster these competencies

1. 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 Leadership
Slides are available at http://richard-pircher.net 1

2. I would like to offer
you a piece of this
traditional Austrian
Mozartkugel
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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 3

4. 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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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
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6. Self-Regulation
• Self-regulation means to be able to
be goal-oriented, context-specific
and to inhibit affective impulses
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7. 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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8. PNAS | February 15, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 7 | 2693–2698
www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1010076108
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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
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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
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11. 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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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
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13. 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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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
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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
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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
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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, Austria
Top: Head of a Buddha, Northern Qi Dynasty, ca. 570, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Bottom: Pablo Picasso: Gertrud Stein, 1905-6, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York
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18. Conclusion
If we would support the development of self-
regulation at all ages
this would help to reduce several important social
problems
like poverty, crime, drug addiction and poor health
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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
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20. Analog Learning for Fostering
Self-Regulation
http://www.znl-fex.de/ http://www.wehrfritz.de (in German)
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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) 21

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24. 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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25. 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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26. 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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27. 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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28. Project NeuroKids
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29. Project NeuroKids
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30. Project NeuroKids
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31. Project NeuroKids
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32. Project NeuroKids
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33. Summary
• Self-control is a key factor for the
development of individuals and our
societies
• Games and teaching methods may
foster these competencies
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34. 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?

35. Richard Pircher
University 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!
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