![]() ![]() ![]() The researcher leads the child into a room with a one-way mirror in which there are no toys or colorful distractors there is only a chair and desk with the tasty treat and a bell atop it. The Marshmallow test (formally known as “The preschool self-imposed delay of immediate gratification for the sake of delayed but more valued rewards paradigm”) exists in many iterations, but the basic set-up begins by having a researcher ask a preschool child (age 3 or 4) to select a tasty treat. His admission of his personal self-control short-comings (e.g., at one point he smoked more than 3 packs of cigarettes a day while aware of the adverse health effects) and the strategies he used to exercise self-control illuminate his presentation of the field of self-control research. These skills are detectable at an early age, responsive to training, and able to help us shape who we are. ![]() Mischel, the creator of the “marshmallow test”, argues that self-control and the ability to delay gratification are critical for long-term health and for social and professional success. ![]() “I think, therefore I can change what I am.” Walter Mischel, a Columbia University psychology professor renowned for his research about self-control, concludes his 2014 book, The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control, with this modification to Descartes’ famous proposition. ![]()
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