In 1960, Stanford University psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a simple experiment in which he evaluated children’s self-control skills, focusing on delayed gratification and impulse control.
The evidence presented was simple. He gathered a group of four-year-olds and told them they had to wait in a room in front of a marshmallow for a few minutes until the investigator returned. If, on his return, the boy had not eaten the candy, he would be rewarded with another candy.
- Many children have completed the difficult task of exposing themselves to something as tempting as a marshmallow and resisting eating for a second; others.
- On the other hand.
- Did not hesitate to devour the candy; finally.
- Another group of children decided to wait.
- But eventually succumbed to immediacy.
The experiment didn’t end there. A few years later, the research team led by Cornell University psychologist BJ Cassey re-examined and evaluated several “adult” children who had participated in the study.
The participants who, as children, had overcome temptation, resisting the immediate reward for another sweet, were those who currently had the best jobs, best education and best social relationships; on the other hand, those who could not resist temptation came down. In addition, they had less qualified jobs.
So what conclusion can we draw from this simple experience?Walter Mischel understood the importance of educating in deferred gratification, a postponement that is now associated with the ability to control and self-management, tasks that in themselves are complicated for children because their prefrontal cortex is not yet fully developed.
Self-control makes us powerful and driven by our impulses, when we work with a clear goal and know that we can achieve it, persevere, hope and appreciate the results in a positive way.
Delayed gratification may form. So, from a young time, it’s good to do it to know that reality isn’t getting everything here and now; you have to work and be consistent, plant little by little and water every day to reap the results in the future. Willpower is not something you were born with, but like many other skills, it requires personal work.
Being able to wait and not give up immediately, in many cases, gives us the opportunity to get better results, to make a tailor-made plan, to see what has failed and how we can solve it, to acquire skills and tools that allow us to deal with situations with a multitude of resources.
Self-control is a skill with a strong genetic component, however, this does not mean that we cannot improve it using different tools, such as attention management or anxiety control.
“The secret to success is the coherence of the goal. ” Benjamin Disraeli-
In Walter Mischel’s experience with children, it was possible to observe some of the simplest and simplest techniques that many of us use without knowledge of psychology to overcome temptation and postpone reward; others, however, need more knowledge and training to achieve the goal. :
We can all overcome temptation, we all manage to delay the reward and train our self-control, it only takes a good dose of motivation, a spoonful of willpower, a touch of skills and tools, a glass full of self-confidence and, above all, you win, you want to get what we are looking for.