What is Response Inhibition?
Richie is in 8th grade. He is assigned to general education classes. Academic testing indicates that Richie decodes and comprehends text in the average range. In math, computation and concepts and applications fall in the below average range. In math class, Richie has difficulty controlling his impulses. When the bell rings, his classmates sit in their seats, take out their notebooks and pencils, take notes, and practice the skills that the teacher has introduced through direct instruction. Richie, in the meantime, disrupts other students by kicking, poking, or hitting. When asked by an adult to stop, Richie doesn’t appear to hear or runs out of class and hides. When asked after the incidents why he does this, Richie has difficulty explaining his concerns.
- What is Response Inhibition? This means to think before you act. The word inhibition means to hold back. In Response Inhibition, individuals hold themselves back from acting on impulse.
- When do people develop response inhibition? This skill should start to appear in babies of 7 months. It develops slowly over time. Adolescence is a challenging time because, in the heat of a moment, teens are more likely to have difficulty suppressing responses. As healthy individuals mature, the brain and develop, and adults have the ability to function at work and at home.
- What does it look like when response inhibition is weak?
- Anyone looks bad when the demands of the environment exceed the skills they have, to respond adaptively.
Reflection Questions
- Think of an example of a time when you felt the urge to act, but you were able to stop yourself. What do you think made it possible for you to do that?
- What kind of environmental stressors might be a tipping point for you to lose the ability to suppress your actions?
- Compare and contrast impulse control in a preschool child, vs. a teen, vs. a mature adult.
- What kind of interventions are commonly implemented in society to prevent individuals from acting impulsively?
- What disorders might explain why some individuals have difficulty inhibiting responses?
- What would you recommend as possible interventions for Ritchie?
- Have you ever experienced interventions that helped you or hindered your ability to inhibit your responses to environmental triggers? Give an example.