Marshmallow temptations, brain scans could yield vital lessons in self-control - The Boston Globe

Description

It is a simple test, but has surprising power to predict a child's future. A 4-year-old is left sitting at a table with a marshmallow or other treat on it and given a challenge: Wait to eat it until a grown-up comes back into the room, and you'll get two. If you can't wait that long, you'll get just one.Some children can wait less than a minute, others last the full 20 minutes. The longer the child can hold back, the better the outlook in later life for everything from SAT scores to social skills to academic achievement, according to classic work by Columbia University psychologist Walter Mischel, who has followed his test subjects from preschool in the late 1960s into their 40s now.From church sermons to parenting manuals, "the marshmallow test" has entered popular culture as a potent lesson on the rewards of self-control. It has also raised deep psychological research questions: What is involved in delaying gratifica tion? Why does it correlate with success in life? Why do people fail at it?

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http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/10/22/marshmallow_temptations_brain_scans_could_yield_vital_lessons_in_self_control/?page=1

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/10/22/marshmallow_temptations_brain_scans_could_yield_vital_lessons_in_self_control/?page=1