Podcast 49: The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control by Walter Mischel Book 1
Wendy and Dr. Meaghan discuss the first 7 chapters of the book. Walter Mischel headed research over 40 years to show the correlation between instant gratification vs. long-term self-control. We are driven by two different parts of the brain; the emotional limbic system and the self-control prefrontal cortex. Mischel calls the limbic system the “Go! System” and the prefrontal cortex the “No! System.” This is because the hot system of the limbic system drives us to make impulsive behaviors and the cold system of the prefrontal cortex drives more thought out decisions.
This is a great book that discusses what drives us to do what we do and how we can teach ourselves to be more prefrontal cortex based. That children that put off eating one treat for a long period of time for two treats had stronger prefrontal cortex based decisions. This kind of behavior lead to many different benefits later in life.
