Week 3: Practicing Patience
Practicing Patience:
Do you hate waiting in line at the grocery store? Or when playing cards, is someone really slow? Or even when driving, do you just want to scream at that slow car in front of you? These are all examples of times when we need patience. Although we all know that patience is a virtue, it is also a difficult skill to master. In this lesson, we will discuss patience, learn what contributes to it, where it occurs in the brain, and some practical ways to improve your own patience.
What is Patience?
(Patience: Don't let frustration get the better of you,2020)
Patience is the ability to stay calm while waiting for an outcome you need or want. There are different types of patience, including:
Patience with other people: Dealing calmly with others' behaviors.
Patience during life hardships: Staying hopeful and calm during difficult times.
Patience for daily hassles: Managing everyday frustrations without getting upset.
A person with good patience skills is viewed positively by family and friends. They are often seen as more focused and productive. In contrast, impatient individuals may be perceived as arrogant, insensitive, and impulsive. Impatience manifests in various ways, including muscle tension, hand clenching, shallow and fast breathing, or excessive fidgeting. It can make you irritable, angry, or anxious, often leading to rash decisions and snap judgments.
Check out Oliver Burkeman's TEDx talk, "Why Patience is a Superpower," and discover how embracing patience can lead to a more peaceful and meaningful life. Dive into his insights on productivity and time management from his bestselling book, "Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals."
Activity: Brainstorm situations which require patience. Discuss strategies used when faced with these situations.
The Power of Patience:
(Orloff, 2012)
In her blog, psychiatrist Dr. Judith Orloff describes patience as a lifelong spiritual practice and a way to find emotional freedom. Patience is a form of compassion and a way to relieve frustration associated with life. We are wired for immediate results and become frustrated when our needs are not met. With methods like emails, text messages, and the Internet, our tolerance for frustration has decreased.
Frustration prevents emotional freedom. Expressing frustration can be helpful if done non-irritably and non-hostilely. Constant frustration leads to endless dissatisfaction, tension, loss of humor, and procrastination due to the annoyances involved. Patience allows us to delay gratification sensibly, guided by intuition about what is worth waiting for.
Patience is a gift, both given and received. It can be cultivated with practice, resulting in less stress, a more balanced view, and increased compassion for others.
Activity: One method to improve patience skills is the STOP practice. This involves four steps:
S: Stop what you are doing and take a deliberate pause
T: Take a mindful breath, narrowing the focus of attention on the breath as it moves in and out of the body
P: Proceed: Now, choose how to continue
Imagine that you are in an unmoving line. Now, consider the three steps and how it will look for you. How would you proceed?
To see a video explaining the STOP method, click here.
Benefits of Being a Patient Person:
(Newman, 2016)
Patience is essential and might be key to a happy life. Here are some science-backed benefits:
Better Mental Health
According to a 2007 study, patient people experience less depression and negative emotions. They also rate themselves as more mindful and feel a greater connection to others. A 2012 follow-up study sought to improve our understanding of patience, suggesting three types of patience: interpersonal, life hardship, and daily hassles. It found that patience assists in reaching goals and achieving life satisfaction. Participation in a training program to increase patience led to increased patience, decreased depression, and a more positive effect.
Discover how embracing the journey and understanding the value of waiting can lead to greater satisfaction and creativity in your life.
Better Friends and Neighbors
Patience is a form of kindness. Research suggests that patient people are more cooperative, empathetic, equitable, and forgiving. Patience is associated with higher "agreeableness," a personality trait characterized by warmth, kindness, and cooperation. Interpersonally, patient people tend to be less lonely. Researchers suggest that patience enables individuals to tolerate others' flaws. In the community, patient people are more likely to vote. Historically, patience may have helped our ancestors survive by allowing them to do good deeds and wait for others to reciprocate, rather than demanding immediate compensation. Patience is linked to trust in people and institutions around us.
Helps to Achieve Goals
Research on the role of interpersonal patience in achieving goals found that patient achievers made more progress towards their goals and were more satisfied when they achieved them compared to less patient people. Patient achievers were found to be more content with their lives.
Linked to Good Health
There is evidence suggesting that patient people are less likely to suffer from conditions such as headaches, acne flare-ups, ulcers, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Other research has found that impatient people tend to have more health complaints and worse sleep. It is possible that patience may also protect against stress.
The Marshmallow Test Experiment:
For a better look at this experiment, view this video on YouTube.
The Marshmallow Test, conducted by Stanford University in 1972, measured children's ability to delay gratification. Children were given the option to wait for a better reward, and their wait times were used to measure their patience.
Subsequent studies found correlations between the ability to delay gratification and higher SAT scores (Shoda, 1990), positive self-worth (Ayduk, 2000), and lower body mass index (BMI) in later life (Schalam,2013). Despite flaws in the original experiment, the ability to delay gratification appears to correlate with academic performance, positive self-feelings, and lower BMI.
Not wishing to burst any bubbles, but recent review of this study has suggested that this study did not measure willpower but instead demonstrated that they had a weaker impulse to control. You can view this discussion on this YouTube video.
Imagination vs Willpower:
(Jenkins, 2017)
With the marshmallow experiment, willpower was perceived to be the key factor in patience. However, research has suggested that imagination plays a more significant role than willpower in promoting patience. The key findings are:
Framing choices as sequences (e.g. choosing between $100 now or $120 in 30 days) leads people to imagine the consequences of their choices more, compared to framing choices independently (e.g. $100 now vs. $120 in 30 days).
When choices are framed as sequences, brain regions associated with imagination become more active, and patience is more strongly linked to imagination rather than willpower.
Conversely, when choices are framed independently, patience is more strongly associated with brain regions linked to willpower rather than imagination.
Participants who imagined the consequences of their choices more were able to exercise greater patience to receive larger delayed rewards.
These findings suggest that encouraging imagination through framing effects could be a practical strategy for promoting patient behavior.
Activity: This study suggested that imagining the consequences of the choice leads to better patience, and that framing these choices into sequences (if this, then that) will encourage more imagination. On the other hand, viewing the choices independently (this and then that) is linked more to willpower. Those able to frame into sequences and imagine the consequences was more helpful in developing patience. Discuss what type of activities requiring patience might be reframed as sequences instead of independent.
Patience: Born or Bred?
(Ratledge, 2014)
Patience involves both biological and environmental factors. The fight-or- flight reflex and brain development play roles in patience. Children and teenagers are more impulsive due to their developing prefrontal cortex. Upbringing also influences patience; children learn by observing their parents. Practicing patience can make you a better role model and may help others become more patient.
Serotonin and patience:
Serotonin in particular plays a crucial role in promoting patience and the ability to delay gratification. Several studies on mice have revealed the following key findings about serotonin's influence on patience:
Stimulating serotonin release in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) of the brain significantly increased the amount of time mice were willing to wait for a food reward, demonstrating serotonin's ability to enhance patience. (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University., 2018)
Serotonin stimulation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was almost as effective as stimulating the DRN in promoting prolonged waiting for rewards, suggesting the OFC is a key region where serotonin acts to influence patience. (Drake, Brain regions found where serotonin boosts patience, impulse control, 2020)
In the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), serotonin stimulation improved patience specifically when the timing of the reward was uncertain or unpredictable. This indicates the mPFC is involved in evaluating the time required to wait for a reward based on serotonin levels. (Drake, Brain regions found where serotonin boosts patience, impulse control, 2020)
The "patience effect" of serotonin was observed only when the probability of receiving a reward was high (e.g., 75% chance). If the chance of reward was low, serotonin did not increase waiting time, suggesting serotonin promotes patience by increasing the subjective belief or confidence in receiving the reward. (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University., 2018)
When the timing of the reward was randomized or less predictable, the patience-enhancing effects of serotonin stimulation were more pronounced, indicating serotonin helps mice wait longer when the reward timing is uncertain. (Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University., 2018)
Ultimately, serotonin appears to promote patience by acting on specific brain regions like the OFC and mPFC, increasing the subjective belief in receiving a reward, and enhancing the ability to wait longer, especially when the timing of the reward is uncertain.
The image depicts how the timing of expected food rewards (variable vs. fixed) affects the neural communication between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), and the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), which releases serotonin in mice.
The image highlights the serotonin pathways in the brain, showing how serotonin is produced in the raphe nuclei and distributed to areas such as the frontal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. These pathways influence functions related to mood, memory processing, sleep, and cognition.
Practicing Patience:
(Orloff, 2012) (Newman, 2016) (Ratledge, 2014)
Here are some practical ways to improve your patience:
Practice Patience in Long Lines: Tell yourself, "I’m going to wait peacefully and enjoy the pause." Empathize with others and use the time to daydream.
Reframe the Situation: Consciously regulate your emotions and use the waiting time productively.
Practice Mindfulness: Take deep breaths and notice your feelings of anger or frustration to respond with patience.
Practice Gratitude: Being thankful for what you have today can help you delay gratification.
Set Up Cues: Choose a frequent activity and think of the word "patience" each time you do it.
Imagine Success: Visualize challenging situations and see yourself responding calmly.
Slow Down: Turn on soothing music and move at a normal pace. Adjust your schedule to allow more time for tasks.
Learn to Distract Yourself: Use non-electronic methods like moving a pebble from one pocket to another to distract yourself.
Summary:
Patience is a valuable gift linked to better physical and emotional health. While willpower can help, imagination might be a more sustainable way to achieve patience. The brain plays a significant role in patience, particularly through serotonin production. Practicing patience benefits both you and those around you.
Works Cited:
Ayduk, e. a. (2000). Regulating the interpersonal self: strategic self- regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 776.
Bergland, C. (2018, June 1). The Neuroscience of Patience. Retrieved from psychologytoday.com: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes- way/201806/the-neuroscience-patience
Drake, K. (2020, December 5). Brain regions found where serotonin boosts patience, impulse control. Retrieved from medicalnewstoday.com: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/brain-regions-found- where-serotonin-boosts-patience-impulse-control
Drake, K. (2020, December 5). Brain regions found where serotonin boosts patience, impulse control. Retrieved from medicalnewstoday: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/brain-regions-found- where-serotonin-boosts-patience-impulse-control
Jenkins, A. a. (2017, July). Dissociable Contributions of Imagination and Willpower to the Malleability of Human Patience. Retrieved from ncbi.hlm.nih.gov: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5507764/
Miyazaki, K. e. (2018). Reward probability and timing uncertainty alter the effect of dorsal raphe serotonin neurons on patience. Nature Communications. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04496-y
Navidad, A. (2020, November 27). Marshmallow Test Experiment and Delayed Gratification. Retrieved from simplypsychology.org: https://www.simplypsychology.org/marshmallow-test.html
Neuroscientists Find Links Between Patience And Imagination In The Brain. (2017, April 4). Retrieved from scienceblog.com: https://scienceblog.com/493259/neuroscientists-find-links-patience- imagination-brain/
Newman, K. (2016, April 5). The Benefits of Being a Patient Person. Retrieved from mindful.org: https://www.mindful.org/the-benefits-of- being-a-patient-person/
Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University. (2018, June). Wait for it: Serotonin and confidence at the root of patience in new study. Retrieved from ScienceDaily: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180601134717.htm
Orloff, D. J. (2012, September 18). The Power of Patience. Retrieved from psychologytoday.com: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional- freedom/201209/the-power-patience
Patience: Don't let frustration get the better of you. (2020, January). Retrieved from mindtools.com: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_78.htm
Ratledge, I. (2014, April 4). How to Have Patience Every Day. Retrieved from realsimple.com: https://www.realsimple.com/work- life/family/how-have-patience
Schalam, e. a. (2013). Preschoolers' delay of gratification predicts their body mass 30 years later. Journal of Pediatrics, 90-93.
Shoda, Y. e. (1990). Predicting adolescent cognitive and self-regulatory competencies from preschool delay of gratification: Identifying diagnostic conditions. Developmental psychology, 978.