EXCELLING
WITH PATIENCE

Topics: Addiction; Appetites; Contentment; Desires; Fruit of the Spirit; Greed; Limitations; Lust; Patience; Self-control; Self-indulgence; Temptation

References: Genesis 25:27–34; Psalm 37:7; 40:1; Proverbs 25:28; Acts 1:4; Galatians 5:22–23; 2 Timothy 3:2–4; James 5:7–11

Kids who can wait for something do better in school.

That’s what Walter Mischel proved in an experiment in 1970 with four-year-olds. He would leave one child in a room with a bell and a marshmallow. If the child rang the bell, Mischel would come back and the child could eat the marshmallow. If the child waited for Mischel to come back on his own, the child could have two marshmallows.

In videos of the experiment, you can see children squirming, kicking, hiding their eyes—desperately trying to exercise self-control so they could wait and get two marshmallows. Their performance varied widely. Some broke down and rang the bell within a minute. Others lasted fifteen minutes.

The children who waited longer went on to get higher SAT scores. They got into better colleges and, on average, achieved more as adults. The children who rang the bell quickest were more likely to become bullies. They received worse teacher and parental evaluations ten years later and were more likely to have drug problems at age thirty-two.

Mischel concluded that children may be taught “that it pays to work toward the future instead of living for instant gratification.”

—David Brooks, “Marshmallows and Public Policy,” The New York Times (May 7, 2006)