Marshmallow Test - How Resisting a Sweet Can Lead to a Better Life
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Marshmallow test - how resisting a sweet can lead to a better life
By Rebecca Camber Last updated at 8:37 PM on 02nd November 2008
He linked a child's academic success to whether they can resist eating a sweet at the age of four.
Now Professor Walter Mischel wants to use the original subjects of his 1960s 'marshmallow test' to determine why the ability to delay gratification turns children into successful adults.
He believes that by studying the men and women involved he can identify the part of the brain where temptation originates.
Test of character: Those who delay eating the marshmallow are likely to be more successful
It is also hoped that developing a better understanding of the need for gratification could be used to help those with addiction problems.
Professor Mischel's original research at California's Stanford University during the 1960s is regarded as one of the most successful behavioural experiments.
He put a marshmallow in front of the children and said they could eat it when he left the room. But if they could wait for 20 minutes to have it, he said he would give them a second marshmallow.
He found that around a third of his subjects would grab the sweet immediately, a third would wait for his return to claim two marshmallows and the rest would try to wait but give up at varying times.
It was not until 14 years later, when his earliest subjects were leaving school, that the psychologist began to confirm a correlation between the test results and success in life.
The children who took the sweet straight away turned into teenagers who lacked self- esteem and experienced difficult relations with their peers, it was found.
Those who waited for a second marshmallow turned out to be more socially competent, self-assertive and academically successful.
The boys and girls who waited even scored an average of 210 points more in their school exams than those who didn't.
Now the original 40 subjects, who are in their forties, are to undergo brain scans.
Professor Mischel hopes to develop strategies for improving self-control by comparing the brain activity of those who waited to eat the sweets and those who didn't.
The professor, who now works at New York's Columbia University, said: 'Brain imaging provides a very exciting and important new tool.'
In the study, children were given only marshmallows, which led sceptics to suggest that the results would have been different if a more popular sweet had been on offer. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1082430/Marshmallow-test--resisting-sweet-lead-better-life.html#ixzz0XnLhvVL6
Directions: Write answer choices for the question below. There should be no throw away answers.
Which sentence best summarizes the relationship between the test results and success in life? o A.
o B.
o C. o D. Which sentence best summarizes the relationship between the test results and success in life? o A. Those children who were able to wait the 20 minutes, got higher test scores on achievement tests.
o B. One third of the kids ate the marshmallow right away, another third were only able to wait some of the 20 minutes, and the last third were able to wait the entire 20 minutes.
o C. The students who were unable to wait scored lower average scores on the school exams and had tougher relationships with their peers than those who were able to maintain self control and wait to eat the sweets.
o D. In the Marshmallow Test, the children that waited for the marshmallow turned out to have a more successful life than those who didn’t wait and didn’t have a successful life.
Which sentence best summarizes the relationship between the test results and success in life? o A. Kids who ate the marshmallow before 20 minutes experienced difficult relationships with their peers and others. Those who waited were found to be more socially competent, self-assertive and academically successful.
o B. The four year olds who were unable to wait the 20 minutes to eat their marshmallow didn’t do as well in school as those who were able to wait.
o C. The kids who didn’t eat the marshmallows before 20 minutes was up experienced more success in life than those who did.
o D. The kids who resisted the temptation to eat their marshmallow for 20 minutes were more likely to be socially competent, self assertive and academically successful than those who gave in, who later lacked self-esteem and had more difficult relationships with others.
Which sentence best summarizes the relationship between the test results and success in life? o A. The subjects that waited the 20 minutes did better academically and socially than those who ate the marshmallow before 20 minutes was up. They ended up having lower self-esteem and more social troubles.
o B. The boys and girls who were able to delay their eating of the marshmallow were more likely to be successful later in life. o C. Kids who did not take the marshmallow right away had better self-esteem and were more socially competent with their peers. o D. Professor Mischel conducted an experiment that showed a correlation between self-control at age four and later academic success.