Hi everyone! It is Rachel back with another video here on live study hacks. Today, we will be talking about self control in regards to the marshmallow test. Just a reminder, To help support children of incarcerated parents, please make sure to subscribe and like this video, we will be donating to this charity more information is on my website linked down below! So onto this video, the 1960s marshmallow test was considered as one the most important studies paving the way to understand how personality leads to success. Being done for almost 50 years it has gained popularity, and even has been succeeded by Susan Wojcicki, Youtube’s very own CEO. Her mother Ester Wojcicki wrote the book “How to raise successful people”, and found out from researchers that Susan was the one who waited the longest. So what is this waiting and self control all about, in essence what exactly is the marshmallow test. The Stanford marshmallow test conducted by Walter Mischel, the greatest psychologist of our time and his colleagues from Stanford, walked down to a preschool on campus. They gave instructions to these 3-5 year old children, you have the option of eating one marshmallow now, or two in 20 minutes.
Developing self control as a child has led to many successes over the years. In 1968-1974 the 500 students who were studied, Walter and his team found out that those who waited for the second marshmallow when they were teenagers exhibited more self control, were less distractible, more intelligent, better able to cope up with stress, planned ahead more, and were able to accomplish more. They also got higher SAT Score, lower levels of sustbance abuse, less likely to be obese, and worked better with those around them. They found through their experiment that ultimately success equals self control.
The results of this experiment were surprising, and allowed Walter Mischel to discover new ways on which self- control thinking can be taught and developed. The Stanford psychologist found 2 ways of thinking Hot and Cool. Kids who automatically ate the first marshmallow, exhibited more of Hot Thinking which is impulsive and part of the limbic system. They used a part of their brain called the ventral striatum.Hot thinking is more about fear, anger, and hunger. This system helped our ancestors survive many dangers, so even though we wouldn’t be eaten by lions, this limbic system is still within us. Kids who ate the second marshmallow on the other hand had cool thinking. Cool thinking is complex, reflexive, and slower. They were more rational and used their prefrontal cortex. The Kids often distracted themselves and reminded themselves of the second marshmallow. They would distract themselves by singing a song, saying something random, thinking that the marshmallow looks like a fluffy cloud, and pushing the marshmallow away from them. The Kids knew how to cool their hot systems through executive function, which was the cognitive skill that help them to pursue their goals, and delay gratification, Walter Mischel found these things to work on the kids who couldn’t even last a minute without eating the first marshmallow, and were able to last the 20 minutes to eat the second one.
If you would like to master the art of self control, the second tip I have is you,future self, and Stranger within you. There is the self pattern and the stranger pattern, those who were able to closely align their future self to themselves right now and were identified themselves as not as a stranger were able to master the art of self control. For example, if you are a middle schooler your intention is probably to get a good GPA, and set yourself up for success in high school. Some of you probably want to go to a highly selective high school. So what you do you dream and think about it is most likely your future self. You dream of becoming in essence someone who you are, but achieving something bigger, that somewhat feels tangible to you. You are making sure that the Current future self is the same or is deeply connected. In contrast some people seeing themselves in this highly selective high school is unimaginable,and it is like looking at a stranger, someone who is identifiable. Mitchell views Stranger Pattern as an Impulsive/ limbic system stranger a.ka hot thinking, you often can not control yourself you see no purpose and are very carefree in your life. However livestudyhackers, you must believe in the future yourself as yourself, it will lead to Delayed gratification.This brings us to our next point willpower.
Willpower is very finite and it is all about motivation. Carol Dwek, someone from Stanford talks about Willpower, that things that are strenuous should energize them. You have to reverse your thinking and not deplete them. You must tell yourself that you have an endless amount of energy, and have the willpower to get rid of temptation. This may include the environment around you. Another fact that Mischel mentions is the if-then, Like waking up early to go to the gym instead of hitting the snooze button, if you go to the gym you will feel more awake and healthier. Having cookies not in front of you, but replacing them with healthier options. Mischell if- then thinking is pretty much Identifying hot spots ( what is that hot spot in your life?) What is cool?If I want to eat chocolate then I will go eat a fruit and If my alarm rings then I will go to the gym. Lastly is Choice, when you are making a decision, think about a Bee or an outside force observing you, while you are making these decisions. Self- Control is so important, if you learn to self-control it will help you so much from the long run, we can learn from this simple marshmallow test to revisit the bad habits and temptations that we all have to revert them to fit the following tips of Hot vs Cool thinking, the future mindset, and willpower to see real change of self control in our lives at school or anywhere.
Thanks for watching this video, and I really hoped you found this video helpful. Please make sure to like this video and subscribe. See you next time! Bye!:)