In other words, what Freud conjectured in his Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, has now been affirmed by rigorous empirical research. Separate research using different measures of self-control by Moffitt and colleagues (2011) also supports the importance of self-control for adaptive maturation over the life course. It is now known that he number of seconds children were able to wait for a larger, preferred treat predicts an astounding array of life outcomes. The Palo Alto preschoolers Walter studied in the 1960s have now passed through adolescence and young adulthood. It is, in fact, this burgeoning research literature on self-control that explains, at least in part, why non-psychologists are familiar with the marshmallow task. Empirical research on self-control, which has expanded exponentially in recent years, supports the latter view.

Aristotle and Frankfurt, on the other hand, wholly acknowledged the possibility of akrasia, weakness of will in the face of alluring but fleeting pleasures. For instance, both Plato and Mill contended that battles of will were always adjudicated in favor of long-run interests when sufficient reflection and reason were brought to bear on the conflict.

Virtually every philosophical and religious thinker has opined on self-control and its importance to both virtue and worldly success. The challenge of managing impulses when what’s good for us in the long run conflicts with what feels good right now is hardly new. From the Vanguard newsletter to Sesame Street to the Colbert Report, direct references to the “marshmallow test” suggest this simple task, invented by Walter Mischel and his colleagues a half-century ago to assess delay of gratification in preschoolers, has captured popular interest (Mischel, Ebbesen, & Zeiss, 1972 Mischel & Metzner, 1962). By Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania)

The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel