The Marshmallow test

На  ave you ever done an IQ test? Some people think they are a good way of measuring  intelligence. But intelligence, or IQ, does not always lead to financial success or to happiness with friends, family or partners either. People who score highly on IQ tests may miss life's opportunities and be destroyed by life's setbacks. Perhaps we should pay more attention to what scientists call emotional quotient or EQ.  It all started with the marshmallow test. In a famous experiment in the 1960s, a group of four-year-old children were offered a simple choice: take one marshmallow from the table now, or get two in 15 minutes' time. The scientists recorded the names of the children who concentrated on short term benefits (taking the single marshmallow) and the ones who took long term benefits into account (waiting for the two marshmallows). They followed the children through life. By the time they were teenagers there was a clear pattern. The children who didn't take the single marshmallow were more confident and able to cope with life's disappointments. The children who grabbed the marshmallow were less confident and more easily upset by disappointments. In other words, they had a lower EQ.  The marshmallow test is a good way of finding out a child's EQ. But it is even more important than that. There is evidence that we can teach emotional intelligence, or the ability to cope with life. If a person has a low EQ, education can improve it, and make it easier for the person to cope with the problems of life.