The effects of the modes of task-oriented verbalization and the attractiveness of the tempting-objects on the kindergarteners' waiting behavior

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of overt and covert task-oriented verbalizations on kindergarteners' waiting behavior in the situation where the attractiveness of games was varied. One hundred and twenty kindergarteners, 4-6 year olds, were prohibited to touch the games while they were waiting for the experimenter who was out of the room to come back. High and low attractive situations were set by manipulating the attractiveness of games. In each situation, three treatment conditions were used: overt task-oriented verbalization, covert task-oriented verbalization, and no verbalization conditions. Subjects under the verbalization conditions were asked to respond to the buzzer signals during the waiting period by saying “don't touch the games” either aloud (overt condition) or silently moving lips (covert condition). Transgression latency was used to measure the effect of verbalization on waiting behavior. The results were as follows: (1) The overt task-oriented verbalization was effective in the low attractive situation, but not in the high attractive situation. (2) The covert task-oriented verbalization was not effective in both the high and low attractive situations.