In the late 1960s, Walter Mischel and his colleagues at Stanford offered preschoolers a choice between one treat immediately or a larger reward if they waited — and early follow-ups found that the children who waited longer tended to earn higher SAT scores and cope better as teenagers, although later, larger studies showed the test was far less predictive of adult success than the famous story suggests.

In the late 1960s, Walter Mischel and his colleagues at Stanford offered preschoolers a choice between one treat immediately or a larger reward if they waited — and early follow-ups found that the children who waited longer tended to earn higher SAT scores and cope better as teenagers, although later, larger studies showed the test was far less predictive of adult success than the famous story suggests.

body.single-post h1.entry-title,body.single-post .entry-title{text-transform:none!important;} The marshmallow test became famous because it seemed to offer a clean story about childhood self-control. A preschooler waits for a larger reward, and years later that child appears to do better in school, stress and social life. It is an irresistible story, which is part of the problem. The actual evidence is more interesting and less tidy. Walter Misc…