A famous study on children measured the level of emotional maturity when it came to delayed gratification, and then followed those children throughout their lives. They found that those children who were able to delay gratification wound up being more successful than their peers. The researchers attributed this delayed gratification to a heightened emotional maturity that served them well later in life. The way the test worked was thus: children met a researcher in a room, one at a time. A single marshmallow was placed in front of a child. The child was told that the researcher needed to go … Continue reading →