Can you pass the marshmallow test? You’re a little kid. A marshmallow is placed on the table in front of you. You’re told you can eat it any time, but if you wait a little while, you’ll be given two marshmallows to eat.
The kids who have the self-control to pass this most famous of psychological tests turn out to have more rewarding and productive lives. Walter Mischel, who first ran the test in the 1960s, spent the rest of his career exploring how self-control works, summarized in his 2014 book The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control. “The ability to delay gratification and resist temptation has been a fundamental challenge since the dawn of civilization,” he writes. “It is the ‘master aptitude’ underlying emotional intelligence, essential for constructing a fulfilling life.” This talk spells out the remarkable things have has been learned about willpower and self-control in the individual. It also considers wider implications. Does it make a difference when an organization or society has more people able to fully engage self-control? Does it make a difference when that kind of behavior is publicly expected and trained for explicitly? Is there a social or political or cultural level of surmounting marshmallow-test temptations? That might be the essence of responsible long-term behavior. "The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control," Walter Mischel, SFJAZZ Center, Hayes Valley, San Francisco, 7pm, Monday May 2. The show starts promptly at 7:30pm. To be sure of a seat: • Long Now Members <https://longnow.org/membership/> can use the discount code on the Mischel Seminar page to reserve 2 free seats <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/may/02/marshmallow-test-mastering-self-control/>. • You can purchase tickets for $15 each <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/may/02/marshmallow-test-mastering-self-control/>. • Seminar at SFJAZZ Center <http://www.sfjazz.org/visit/directions> 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 • Tune into the live audio stream <http://longnow.org/live/> for Long Now Members at 7:30 PT - become a member <https://longnow.org/membership/> for just $8 a month. Share this talk: Walter Mischel, "The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control" Long Now talk on 5/2 http://goo.gl/0UxrD9 <http://goo.gl/0UxrD9> Talks coming up: June 20 (Mon.) - Brian Christian, Algorithms to Live By <http://longnow.org/seminars/02016/jun/20/algorithms-live/> Oct. 17 (Mon.) - Doug Coupland,The Extreme Present High-quality videos of the talks and other benefits (such as priority tickets) are available to Long Now members. Membership, which starts at $8/month ($96/year), helps support the series and other Long Now projects. Joinable here <https://longnow.org/membership/>. This is one of a monthly series of Seminars About Long-term Thinking (SALT) organized by The Long Now Foundation. Free audio and my summaries of all previous talks are available for download here <http://longnow.org/seminars/> (or stay up to date with the podcast here <http://longnow.org/seminars/podcast/>). You'll find a range of long-term thinking items on our Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> (RSS <http://feeds.feedburner.com/longnow>). If you would like to be notified by email (like this one) of forthcoming talks, go here <http://list.longnow.org/mailman/listinfo/salt> to sign up online. Any questions, contact Danielle Engelman at Long Now -- 415-561-6582 x1 <tel:415-561-6582%20x1> or danie...@longnow.org <mailto:danie...@longnow.org>. You are welcome to forward this notice to anyone you think might be interested. --Stewart Brand s...@longnow.org <mailto:s...@longnow.org> -- The Long Now Foundation -- http://longnow.org/ <http://longnow.org/> Seminars & downloads -- http://longnow.org/seminars/ <http://longnow.org/seminars/> Interval Events -- http://theinterval.org/events/ <http://theinterval.org/events/> •Twitter <https://twitter.com/longnow> - up to the minute info on tickets and events •Long Now Blog <http://blog.longnow.org/> - daily updates on events and ideas •Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/longnow> - stay in touch through our fan page
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