PsychologicalScience: Among the most famous self-control experiments of all-time, the
“marshmallow” test conducted several decades ago by APS Past President
Walter Mischel offered young children one marshmallow immediately or, if
they were capable of delaying gratification, two later. When revisited
as adults, the children who’d controlled themselves better that day also
showed more success on a number of measures, from SAT scores to healthy
body mass. In the time since Mischel’s test, psychological science has learned a
great deal about self-control — in particular, how it develops from a
very early age. The
panel outlined the emergence of self-control networks from the initial
months of infancy to the throes of adolescence.
