In the early 1970s, Walter Mischel invited four-year-olds to his Stanford psychology laboratory.
The first question he asked each child was an easy one: did he like to eat marshmallows?
The answer, not surprisingly, was always yes.
Then Mischel made the child an offer.
He could eat one marshmallow right away or, if the child was willing to wait for a few minutes while Mischel ran an errand, he could eat two marshmallows when the experimenter returned.
Practically every child decided to wait.
They all wanted more sweets.
Mischel then left the room but told the child that if he rang a bell, Mischel would come back and the child could eat the marshmallow.
However, this meant that he’d be forfeiting the chance to get the second marshmallow.
Most of the four-year-olds couldn’t resist the sugary temptation for more than a few minutes.
Several kids covered their eyes with their hands so that they couldn’t see the marshmallow.
One child started kicking the desk.
Another one started pulling on his hair.
While a few of the four-year-olds were able to wait for up to fifteen minutes, many lasted less than one minutes.
Others just ate the marshmallow as soon as Mischel left the room, not even bothering to ring the bell.
The marshmallow was a test of self-control.
The emotional brain is always tempted by rewarding stimuli, such as a lump of sugar.
However, if the child wanted to achieve the goal — getting a second marshmallow — then he needed to temporarily ignore his feelings, delay gratification for a few more minutes.
What Mischel discovered was that even at the age of four, some kids were much better at managing their emotions than others.