The Marshmallow Test Revisited

Guest: Tyler Watts, PhD, Research Assistant Professor in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University Thanks to something called the Marshmallow Test, it’s a widely-known fact that kids who are able to exercise a bit of self-control as toddlers will have more success in life – they’ll get better standardized test scores, do better in college and even in their careers.  But a team of researchers recently attempted to replicate that original Marshmallow test published in 1990 and found the link between success in life and being able to resist the temptation of a fluffy marshmallow as a toddler is not nearly as strong as we thought.