Sesame Street's Cookie Monster Teaches Preschoolers Self-Control

In a new study, researchers discovered that video starring the Sesame Street character Cookie Monster could teach preschoolers self-control.

UI professor Deborah Linebarger at the University of Iowa, studied a group of preschoolers who watched videos of Cookie Monster practicing ways to control his desire to eat a bowl of chocolate chip cookies, and found that the children who viewed the video were able to wait four minutes longer than their peers who watched an unrelated Sesame Street video.

Buying Lottery Tickets can Trigger Loss of Self-Control
American researchers reveal that buying a lottery ticket can trigger loss of self-control among consumers as it leads to materialistic thoughts.

They were also better able to control the impulse to shout out character names and to remember and repeat back longer number sequences.

The video shows the Cookie Monster holding a cookie and singing the words "Me want it, but me wait."

Linebarger said that a formal school situation requires that children control impulses, follow directions, transit smoothly between activities, and focus on relevant task information. These skills also predict other academic skills including reading, math, and science.

Emotional Self-control and the System Behind It
Different brain areas are activated when we choose to suppress an emotion, compared to when we are instructed to inhibit an emotion, according a new study

The study involved 59 preschool children who were recruited from six child-care centers in and around a small city in the Midwest. It involved a new curriculum developed by Sesame Street that features Cookie Monster and was designed to teach preschoolers executive function skills such as self-control, working memory and switching gears between activities.

Cookie Monster spoofs Icona Pop's hit song 'I Love It' in the video demonstrating the need to master self-regulation skills by using different strategies on waiting to eat a cookie. Video used with the permission of Sesame Street.

Sugary Drink can Boost Self-control
According to a recent study, rinsing your mouth with a glucose-laden drink can improve your self-control.

The children in Linebarger's study were first shown one of two five-minute video: Cookie Monster being taught to listen, remember and control his desire to eat cookies, or Murray being led through a series of clues to figure out where he and Little Lamb were going to visit. After that, the children were given DVDs to view at home for three weeks which followed the same storyline as the first video they watched.

The research was presented during the London International Conference on Education.

Inflated Self-esteem And Reduced Self-control Caused By Social Networking
According to an academic paper, users of Facebook and other social networks should beware of allowing their self-esteem—boosted by likes or positive comments from close friends.

Source-ANI