A recent study adds an important twist to this story. There are the kids with problems with impulse control-"I'm absolutely going to hold out for two marshmallow"-who then instantly eat that first one. That profile is a statistical predictor of adult violent crime. In contrast, there are kids with steep time-discounting curves-"Wait fifteen minutes for two marshmallows when I can have one right now? What kind of fool waits fifteen minutes?" That is a predictor of adult property crime.
( Robert M. Sapolsky )
[ Behave: The Biology of Humans ]
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