Comparing three methods of time out, cognitive restructuring, cognitive diffusion in elementary students' self-control

The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of time out, cognitive regeneration, and cognitive diffusion techniques in children's self-control. This research was a quasi-experimental study with a multi-group post-test design with a control group. The population consisted of all elementary students of Hamadan city in the academic year 2017-2018. The sample consisted of 60 children who were selected by multistage cluster random sampling and were randomly assigned to four experimental and control groups. The data collection instrument was the amount of time spent not eating sweets up to 10 minutes. The results of analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference between groups (p < 0.01). Post hoc test results showed that time out and cognitive restructuring techniques had a significant effect on increasing self-control scores of the participants (ρ < 0.01). But the impact of cognitive diffusion on self-control was not significant (ρ = 0.08). Also, time out could increase self-control more than cognitive restructuring in the participants. According to the results, cognitive deprivation and time out techniques can be used to increase the level of self-control in children.