Many educators are familiar with the famous marshmallow experiment designed to test self-control among children. I’ve written extensively about here in this blog and in my book, particularly about how I use it in the classroom. You can see a major post on the topic titled “I Like This Lesson Because It Make Me Have a Longer Temper” (Part One) or just search “marshmallow” to find other related pieces in this blog.

This week, a group of researchers, including Professor Walter Mischel, the originator of the research, released a forty-year follow-up report.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure that I understand what it says. It seems to me that the primary message is that how children behaved in the original experiment seemed to be an accurate indication of the level of self-control they would have forty years later. However, it could easily be missing something.

Let me know in the comments section if you think my understanding is correct, or if it says something more or different….

Here’s an article from The Toronto Star about this same study.