Marshmallows Image by John-Morgan at Flickr.com
Radio Lab
RadioLab.org – Your Future in a Marshmallow
- Marshmallow Study by Walter Mischel
- Girl was able to wait, suddenly deny temptations at 4
- Hypothesis that something happened to kids at 4
- Put kids in a room-they could eat the marshmallow now, or wait and get two marshmallows
- Tested 500 kids
- Found out 4 year olds dramatically better at resisting temptation then younger ages
- He found out through his daughter that the kids able to resist temptation longer did better at school
- He searched for all the original kids
- Found that SAT scores significantly improved the longer they waited when they were 4
- Dug deeper and found waiting longer equals better behaved, better grades, etc
- Kids that couldn’t wait were bullies, suspended from school, lower grades, “problem” kids
- Waiting kids healthier, better jobs, etc.
This American Life
- What should be taught in school?
- Up until now, school smarts (IQ, reading achievement, etc.)
- New view, non-cognitive skills just as if not moreimportant
- 32 hour prep time for GED
- 1,000 hours per year studying for GED
- It it really true that passing GED same as graduating high school?
- Found that people that actually graduated did better
- People with GED did better then just dropouts, but still a lot worse then high school graduates
- Couldn’t be reliable, keep a job, etc.
- People with GED had same scores but did worse in life
- Proved that test scores only showed small success
- Standardized testing dominated American education
- Wanted to find non-cognitive skills that helped you stay out of prison, get paid more, etc.
- Lots of self control skills that help
- Delaying gratification
- Marshmallow study
- Lots of self control skills that help
- Documented that poor children do worse in school
- Money is not holding them back
- Stress in home prevents you from developing important non-cognitive skills
- Doctor wanted to help poor
- Got kids sent to her for ADHD
- Kids really had trauma-related stress
- Domestic violence occurred daily
- All these poor kids
- Study that said that people in adverse/difficult situations as a child had worse health that followed into adulthood
- Fight or flight response activated again and again when in stressful home situations
- If you are in constant state of emergency, the thinking part of your brain doesn’t develop correctly
- Hard time focusing
- Got kids sent to her for ADHD
- Kewauna, a homeless Chicago teenager
- Angry all the time
- Got angry and blanked out
- Punched a cop when she was 15
- Was put in a “retarded” slow class because of discipline issues
- Didn’t do anything in this class
- Didn’t learn any more
- Learned non-cognitive skills, raised grades, raised scores, got into college
- Rat Study
- When rats groomed by parents after stressful situations, did better as adults
- More confident, did better at mazes, etc.
- Girls in Math
- Did just as good as boys when they realized they could do just as good
