Brief Book Brief
The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control – By: Walter Mischel
I remember the marshmallow test (it wasn’t always a marshmallow but you know what happens when the news picks up research) but I didn’t realize how much research followed the original runs in the papers and how Mischel informed what we think of CBT and other concepts today. More amusing than expected and foundational for a pile of how I think of people as a counselor boy.
Some quotes from the book:
“This is encouraging evidence of the power of the environment to influence characteristics like intelligence. Even if traits like intelligence have large genetic determinants, they are still substantially malleable.”
“What we do, and how well we control our attention in the service of our goals, becomes part of the environment that we help create and that in turn influences us. This mutual influence shapes who and what we become, from our physical and mental health to the quality and length of our life.”
“The ability to delay immediate gratification for the sake of future consequences is an acquirable cognitive skill.”
Recommended. Learn to delay gratification when it leads to better.
