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

Back to School

• 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
• 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
• 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