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Children are more likely to control their immediate impulses when they and a peer rely on each other to get a reward than when they’re left to their own willpower, new research indicates. More
“Marshmallow Test” Redux: New Research Reveals Children Show Better Self-Control When They Depend on Each Other
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APS Past President Walter Mischel reflects on the classic marshmallow test and other highlights of his storied career. More
Inside the Psychologist’s Studio with Walter Mischel
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Watching people’s hands as they choose between long-term and short-term options offers a new approach to studying self-control. More
Your Hands May Reveal the Struggle to Maintain Self-Control
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When choosing between indulgent and healthy foods, your pick may depend on what other foods sit nearby on the grocery shelf. More
Context Shapes Choice of Healthy Foods
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Those participants who were told their group members were patient ended up waiting almost twice as long for a second marshmallow as the others More
Group norms influence individual self-control in children
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Succeeding at “studenting” may require as much self-control as intelligence. More
Self-Control May Lie at the Heart of Student Success
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A new research replication project, involving 24 labs and over 2100 participants, failed to reproduce findings from a previous study that suggested that self-control is a depletable resource. More
Replication Project Investigates Self-Control as Limited Resource
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Linking tasks that we intend to complete to distinctive cues that we’ll encounter at the right place and the right time may help us remember to follow through. More
Hacking Memory to Follow Through with Intentions
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Longitudinal data from thousands of participants show that childhood measures of self-discipline predict everything from personal income to the pace of physiological aging in adulthood. More
The Lasting Power of Patience
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The idea that natural urges “die down” with time seems intuitive, but research shows that it’s being reminded about what not to do, not the passage of time, that actually helps young children control their impulsive behavior. More
Don’t Delay: Having to Wait Doesn’t Help Young Kids Exercise Self-Control
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Research findings suggest that memory encoding and self-control share and vie for common cognitive resources: inhibiting our response to a stimulus temporarily tips resources away from encoding new memories. More
Self-Control Competes with Memory
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Children with high self-control -- who are typically better able to pay attention, persist with difficult tasks, and suppress inappropriate or impulsive behaviors -- are much more likely to find and retain employment as adults. More
Childhood Self-Control Linked to Enhanced Job Prospects Throughout Life
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A panel of regulation experts explains how the capacity develops from infancy through adolescence. More
Portrait of Self-Control as a Young Process