The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control by Walter Mischel (PDF)

Description

Renowned psychologist Walter Mischel, designer of the famous Marshmallow Test, explains what self-control is and how to master it. A child is presented with a marshmallow and given a choice: Eat this one now, or wait and enjoy two later. What will she do? And what are the implications for her behavior later in life? The world’s leading expert on self-control, Walter Mischel has proven that the ability to delay gratification is critical for a successful life, predicting higher SAT scores, better social and cognitive functioning, a healthier lifestyle and a greater sense of self-worth. But is willpower prewired, or can it be taught? In The Marshmallow Test, Mischel explains how self-control can be mastered and applied to challenges in everyday life — from weight control to quitting smoking, overcoming heartbreak, making major decisions, and planning for retirement. With profound implications for the choices we make in parenting, education, public policy and self-care, The Marshmallow Test will change the way you think about who we are and what we can be.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐He goes into details about the marshmallow test and related tests. Then he gives advice on how to work on our own self control. If I were to come up with one complaint, it would be that the books could be about 15% shorter without losing much.

⭐Walter Mischel, the author of this fascinating book, is a 84 year old professor at Columbia University. Mischel became known at the end of the 1960s, mainly through his publications about two topics. The first topic was the degree to which situations influence human behavior. He did research which showed that the idea that people have stable personality traits which cause us to behave consistently over many situations is largely a myth. Instead, he demonstrated, we tend to behave quite differently in different contexts. Thus, characteristics of situations have a significant influence on how we behave.The second topic was self-control. Together with colleagues he did much research into the causes and consequences of self-control, in particular with regard to how children manage to delay gratification. The series of experiments which these researchers did have become know under the popular name of the Marshmallow test, hence the book title.The book begins with a details description of the marshmallow experiments. Mischel shows how the ability of children to delay gratification and resist temptation has great implications for how their lives proceed. Children who were more able to delay gratification, on average had more successful and happier lives than children who were worse a delay gratification.Mischel emphasizes that this willpower is not a predetermined and fixed characteristic of people but a learnable skill. He explains that through relatively easy and learnable techniques we can learn to not respond in an emotional and uncontrolled manner but in a wise and controlled manner.In case you should wonder, Mischel did not get stuck in the ’60s and ’70s at all. The book proves that he remained very involved and up-to-date in current research in psychology and neuroscience.

⭐The Marshmallow Test provides interesting anecdotes related to self control and the disastrous effects of lacking it. The main theme is how childrens’ self control, evaluated through taking the marshmallow test- forgoing eating one marshmallow for a later reward of two marshmallows- manifests throughout later life.The problem I have with this book is that the conclusions do not seem convincing, the author constantly qualifies his assessments by saying of course there are cases that do not follow the norm. It also does not get to the root of self-control, it instead assumes the outcome of one test as the baseline. It similarly does not explain the basis of the hot and cool systems, but just takes for granted their fundamentality.A positive aspect of the book is the conclusion that self control is not innate and can be effectively improved and cultivated throughout one’s life. It also shows the enormous and varied ways self control affects one’s life. Lastly, It is interesting because it covers a variety of psychological tests that anybody can relate to.Even if it is not groundbreaking, it is still worth the time to read.

⭐This book was published in September 2014 and probably is going to become the ‘read’ for 2015. Walter Mishel is the originator of the actual Marshmallow test and goes into some detail about the study he carried out at Stanford and also the corroborating work he and his colleagues have done in other locations. I am interested in the subject of emotional intelligence and the delayed self-gratification of the marshmallow test is expounded by Goleman in his book as the sine qua non of emotional intelligence.However that is not why you should read this book. Mischel covers a lot of the scientific research done since actual marshmallow test in a number of areas answering such questions as:Why does Cognitive Behaviour theory work and psychoanalysis does not?How strong is your Psychological Immune System?Why do Smart People (eg Bill Clinton, TIger Woods) Act Stupid?and many more other topics such as Executive Function and Willpower Fatigue.It was this further work that I found interesting and it has not really been covered in the popular science books. Reading this book will enable you leapfrog your understanding of how the mind works.

⭐A very interesting and insightful book written in a very accessible way but short on the implementation aspect just little abstract advices of developing action if – then plans.

⭐Although Dr. Mischel is certainly not the first to write a an accessible book based on his renowned “marshmallow studies” (many others have), as the originator of the ground-breaking research, he does a uniquely masterful job of illustrating the nuances of—exactly what is not at all obvious about—human self-control mechanisms that have been discovered in decades of his own and related work. Those reviewers who have dismissed this book as presenting scientific studies and their implications that we’ve all heard of before completely miss the mark. Dr. Mischel’s work is in fact so important and relevant in so many ways that his early delay of gratification studies have permeated popular culture. What is presented here is all that has come and what remains to be done to realize the full benefit of that work with respect to our own ability to master self-control.

⭐I loved this book, the stories it tells and the fascinating conclusions it draws from extensive research about why we behave the way we do and, where that behaviour isn’t in our best interests (eg. Over eating, over drinking, over reacting, over indulging, excessive anger – anything that demonstrates a lack of self control), what we can do to change it.What I loved most: the evidence that our brains are malleable, ie we are not fixed in stone when we are born, but rather can take conscious steps to change our thoughts and our behaviour. In other words, that we have some control over our destiny. My beliefs exactly!What I’ll do differently: this book opened my eyes to the different workings of the brain. How we have a hot system (impulsive, pleasure seeking) and a cool system (rational, future focused). Both are necessary and play different roles and impact on our lives in different ways. Now, when I (my cool system) tell myself I won’t have a glass of wine (immediate temptation) after work because I want to wake up feeling rested in the morning (future benefit), and it gets to after work and I (my hot system) says ‘have a glass of wine! It’s been a long day,’ I’ll try some of the tricks used by the Marshmallow Test kids in this book for resisting the temptation!

⭐An excellent book full of facts and insights told in an engaging way. I recommend for anyone interested in psychology, and also enormously helpful for me as a teacher; this book gave me hundreds of ideas to help the children in my class.

⭐As someone who struggles with self control, I thought this would give me some useful insight. Whilst interesting, the book talks heavily about the writers research over the years which was quite repetitive.I also found the writing style quite heavy going. Was more relevant to parents of children than adults wishing to improve self control i found.

⭐Really labours the core thesis, which if you know nothing about this may be ok, but if – like me – you understand the core concept, you read the first half of the book going “yeah, yeah we get it! Now get on with it ad tell me how I can use this wisdom!”

⭐I bought the audio version to go along with this book but it’s so detailed in places that I’d find myself re-reading paragraphs to make sure I’d understood properly.This is a truly fascinating book, gives insight into your own and other people’s behaviour. I see some of why I am in here. It gives me wiggle room to change some future behaviour. It shows how character is built, how effort pays off. It might be an essential tool for parenting.

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