Delaying Gratification - American Psychological Association - Article

What is the basic human ability to delay gratification?

The basis for the modern study of self-control was developed by Walter Mischel, a psychologist now at Columbia University. More than 40 years ago he experimented using the marshmallow test. In this test, Mischel and his colleagues presented a plate of treats (marshmallows) to a preschooler. The child was told that the researcher had to leave the room for a few minutes. The child was given a choice: waiting until the researcher returned would be rewarded with two marshmallow. Yet, if the child couldn't wait, it was told to ring a bell so that the researcher would came back immediately. However, the child would then only receive one marshmallow. This test is used to assess children's self-control. Eventually, the marshmallow test became the groundwork for the development of a framework to explain the human ability to delay gratification.

Mischel proposed the hot-and-cool system to explain why willpower succeeds or fails. Briefly, the cool system is considered cognitive in nature. It is a thinking system, which incorporates knowledge about sensations, feelings, actions, and goals. For instance, one can remind himself why he should not eat the marshmallow. In contrast, the hot system refers to impulsive and emotional aspects. It is responsible for quick, reflexive responsive to certain triggers. The general idea here is that, when willpower fails, this is because exposure to a "hot" stimulus overrides the cool system, hence leading to impulsive actions. Taking everything together, we can thus conclude that willpower can be thought of as a basic ability to delay gratification.

Future research should focus on explaining why some people are more sensitive to emotional triggers and temptations then others, and whether these patterns can be corrected. Recent findings already offer an interesting neurobiological basis for the push and pull mechanism of temptation.