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The Marshmallow Test: self denial is good for you.
(Nov 2 2008)

I was reading today about "The Marshmallow Test", which was a 1960s study at Stanford University into the progress of children through life, and relating that to their ability to defer gratification.

The four-year old children were presented with a marshmallow and told they could have another one only if they could resist eating the first one for twenty minutes. The children who waited were shown to be significantly more reliable, form better relationships and even score better at school. There have also been associations with drug dependency.

This is related to "Emotional Intelligence", a term popularised by Daniel Goleman (link 1).

Link 2 is further studies into the idea.

Link 3 is an interesting article relating this to people who read Harry Potter spoilers!

Related links:

http://www.danielgoleman.info/blog/2007/08/24/free-wont-the-marshmallow-test-revisited/
http://www.kentucky.com/216/story/565099.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2170883