What leads to kids future success?

During typical conversations, I'm that guy who likes to bring up the psychology studies I read about in school. One of these studies came up the other week when discussing predictors of "success" with someone. Now, what success is...that's a whole other topic...but, for now let's use some general generic concepts of what success is (such as higher intelligence, better relationships, happiness, etc.). "The Marshmallow Experiment" by Walter Mishel at Stanford was a study testing to see if there were any correlations between kids who could wait for a greater reward and tests of success when they became older.

This compelling experiment had four year old kids sit in a room with one marshmallow and they were told that if they waited for the teacher/administrator to return then they would get TWO marshmallows. Pretty sweet deal, huh? Well, despite the prospect of having two marshmallows, it was found that only approx. one out of three would not eat the marshmallow, while two out of three wouldn't wait and gobble it right up.

The most interesting stuff became apparent when these kids were re-examined 14 years later. The kids who didn't eat the marshmallow were found as being happier, had higher grades and SAT test scores, had better co-operative relationships, and were more confident on the whole. On the other hand, the children who didn't wait to eat the marshmallow were found to be more moody, indecisive, and envious.

Some psychologists believe that it was the ability to delay gratification that was the most important factor. Dr. Philip Zimbardo went on to describe the difference between 'present' and 'future' oriented people and has repeated this study with similar findings. With people who are more in the 'present' being people who are more interested in the present moment while 'future' oriented people tend to be more "successful." He's even written books on how you can learn the principles of becoming more future oriented; irregardless of being a child or adult.

Other psychologists think that it's the ability to have self-control and self-discipline that's the main factor in the results. Psychologist Joachim de Posada also replicated this experiment in Columbia and the following video is his explanation of the findings. **Warning** If you have a soft spot for cute and funny things then you will enjoy the reactions of the kids in the following two videos.



Here is another video showing some more kids taking the test.



If you want to have fun with your 4 year old, try this one out, put a marshmallow in front of them, tell them the scenario, and then leave for 15 minutes. Make sure to have a video camera getting the reaction. (If they eat the marshmallow, don't fret, they aren't doomed to failure, they may just need to be taught a few key things about self-control and discipline.)

So this post is some food for thought about what can lead to certain indicators of success for your children later on in life.

What are your thoughts on this study and it's findings?? Please leave comments below.