The Importance of Self-Control

Scientists have been studying self-control, or the ability to delay gratification for over 50 years. That’s because early measures of self-control are predictive of future success in academic achievement, healthy living, and even wealth.

In developmental science, self-control studies typically use the “Marshmallow Task”. Originating from a study at Stanford University in 1972, this task tests how long a child can delay eating their favorite sweet. Conducted with preschool-age children, a researcher places two of the child’s favorite candy on the table. They tell the child that if they can wait, they can have both sweets. If not, they can have one sweet now. The experimenter then leaves the room and watches to see if the child eats the candy or waits. As adults, we understand that waiting for two marshmallows is better than having a single marshmallow now, but generally, children are not very patient, particularly when looking at sweets!

A recent study from UC-Santa Barabara suggests that kids in 2020 are better than previous generations at self-control, contrary to expert predictions. In the era of instant gratification due to technological advances, 84% of experts in the field of child psychology initially believed that children's self-control would be less than in previous generations.

This meta-analysis of 30 studies conducted in the last 50 years, however, revealed that children are in fact getting better at delaying gratification. The authors posit that this could be a result of better and earlier childhood education programs, rising standards of living, or more cognitively-demanding environments during early childhood.

Try the marshmallow task with your child!