A few years ago, my dad told me about an article he read in the new yorker about a test on self control. The kids who practiced more self control succeeded later in life. I thought this was fascinating and when we had to write about a non fiction article I remembered this one.
In the article, Don’t! The Secrets of Self Control, it explains a complex experiment that shows the outcomes of kids with high or low temptation and self control. The 4 year olds were given a marshmallow. They were told they could either eat it when they please or wait 15 minutes tell the researcher came back into the room and get 2 marshmallows instead of one. Or they could ring a bell and the researcher would come running back into the room, they could eat the first marshmallow but would forfeit the second.Some kids ate the marshmallow right away, others took small pieces, some turned around so the temptation of looking at it wouldn't influence them to eat it and loose their opportunity of getting two instead of one. If the experiment succeeded, the researchers would have outlined the neural circuitry of self control.
Years later, when those kids were in high school, the researchers revisited them and asked for information on their concentration in school, SAT scores, their capacity to plan and think ahead, and their ability to cope well with their problems. The scientist in charge of the experiment analyzed his information and found that the children to ring the bell or eat the marshmallow quickly were considered “low delayers”. The low delayers did poorly in stressful situations, found it hard to maintain friendships, got lower SAT scores, and usually had trouble paying attention. The children that could wait 15 minutes had on average 200 points higher than the kids who could only wait 30 seconds. One specific example was a girl Carolyn who waited the 15 mites to get the 2 marshmallows. She was very successful in life. She went to Stanford as an undergraduate, got her ph.D. at Princeton in social phycology and now is a professor at the University of Puget Sound. Meanwhile, her brother Craig, who ate the first marshmallow and would be a “slow delayer", moved to LA and spent his career doing “all kinds of things” in the entertainment business.
This article is so interesting to me. Not only was it a discovery in the self control as a child lasts and effects you as an adult, but the idea that who you are as a child will continue on with you as an adult. The idea is also in a way sad that if you don’t originally have self control and resist to temptation that you are almost stuck with it for your life. This makes me things of another article my parents read and t old me about that intelligence isn't something that is fixed you can acquire it and improve it. Also the same with talent. So is it possible to improve your self control? Self control seems to be something that many would want to have. Craig who participated in the experiment and was considered a low delayer said about self control, “looking back, there were definitely moments where it could have helped me make better career choice and stuff.” Self control is a very interesting topic with many levels of study and new information.
In the real world, self control is a good thing to have. It can help you stay calm, makes you more mature, helps you think things over instead of making impulsive decisions and can even help you maintain good friendships. This study showed us all that self control from when you are younger to when you are older can help you and give you a better, brighter future. This study could even lead to improvements on your self control, if you know you have bad self control as child, there could possibly be measures you could take to improve it. Overall, this was a really thought provoking article that captured my attention. I would be excited to read more articles similar to this one.
