children were presented with a plate of marshmallows and invited to eat one. They were then told that the researcher would leave the room for a few minutes and if they waited until the researcher returned, they could eat two marshmallows. If the child couldn’t wait for the returning researcher, they could ring a bell and the researcher would return but with no second marshmallow on offer.
The children with good self-control gave up the immediate pleasure of one in order to eat two at some later stage. Dieters resist chocolate cake so they can become more streamlined. Shoppers resist splurging at the mall so they can save for a comfortable retirement. All examples of resistance.
Actions for Willpower
• Remind yourself of the advantages of resistance. Write them down somewhere noticeable.
• Imagine the positive outcome. More money in the bank, a thinner you, two marshmallows not one.
• Distraction works. Look away from temptation. Do something else, anything else, just not what you want to avoid.
Mischel then proposed what he calls a “hot/cool” system to explain why willpower succeeds or fails. The cool system is cognitive and rational. It’s a thinking system with knowledge about the impact of your choice with thoughts, feelings and actions all designed to remind you why you should leave the marshmallow where it belongs. While the cool system is relaxed, the hot system is impulsive and emotional. It is responsible for quick, knee-jerk responses to certain triggers, such as eating the marshmallow (and possibly the rest of the plate) immediately without thinking of the long-term implications.
When willpower fails, exposure to a “hot” stimulus essentially overrides the cool system, leading to impulsive actions. Some people, it seems, may be more or less susceptible to hot triggers. And that susceptibility to emotional responses may influence their behaviour throughout life, as Mischel discovered when he revisited his marshmallow-test subjects as adolescents. He found that teenagers who had waited longer for the marshmallows as young children were more likely to score higher on exams, and their parents were more likely to rate them as having a greater planning ability, handling stress well, showing self-control in frustrating situations and concentrating without becoming distracted.
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