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Week 7: Choosing Topic and Finding Sources
Our group has decided to add to and revise the Wikipedia article about Walter Mischel. Having been born in Austria, we plan on talking about his past in coming to the United States and his education into his professional career. To help us with this, we have chosen the following article as a source: https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/struggles-psychologist-studying-self-control. This article is about a journalist interviewing Walter in his upbringing and early life. The second article that we have chosen is related to the Marshmallow Test which is an experiment that Walter Mischel devised to study delayed gratification. The link is https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21623573-walter-mischel-test-became-his-lifes-work-desire-delayed.
Drafting the Article: Walter Mischel
An important fact about Walter Mischel is his background outside of his profession as a psychologist. Walter was a heavy smoker through his life. In an interview, he admitted to being a "three-packs-a-day smoker, supplemented by a pipe."[1] Walter tried to stop smoking, realizing it was poor for his health; however, the addictive nature of nicotine won him over time and time again.[1] This part about Walter is important to his work as a psychologist, since he spent much of his career studying delayed gratification and life outcomes of those who were able to maintain self-control when studied. To study children's ability to reign-in self-control, Walter conducted the Marshmallow Test. The test was simple: give the child an option between an immediate treat or more of a delayed treat. For example, the proctor would give the child an option to eat one marshmallow immediately or to wait ten minutes and receive not one, but two marshmallows to eat.[2] The test didn't have to be conducted with marshmallows specifically; it could be done with Oreo cookies, M&Ms, or other desirable treats. As Walter followed up with the parents of the children who took the test years later, he found a staggering correlation between those kids who had difficulty delaying gratification and their outcomes in life as an adult.[2] Some of the outcomes were higher rates of obesity and below-average levels of academic achievement. Still a stark contrast appeared when studying children who were raised by parents below the poverty line compared with children whose parents were college-educated. A significantly larger portion of the low-income children ate the treat immediately conversely from the counterparts who waited.[2]
- ^ a b Konnikova, Maria (2014-10-09). "The Struggles of a Psychologist Studying Self-Control". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2018-03-09.
- ^ a b c Ferdman, Roberto A. (2016-06-08). "The big problem with one of the most popular assumptions about the poor". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-03-14.
Other Sources
editA third source relating directly to the Marshmallow Test and its results was found. The citation is Metcalfe, J., & Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106(1), 3-19. The link to the article is: http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-10188-001