The Scientist Who Taught Cookie Monster Self-Control Has A Warning For Congress

The new disposition appeared to be a nod by Sesame Street executives towards addressing childhood obesity — First Lady Michelle Obama’s gastronomical dogmatism finding its way to our innocent childhood characters. In reality, these executives were taking cues from a scientific research project that predates the Obama administration by four decades. The man who helped them mold Cookie Monster’s new persona is behind one of the of the best-known psychological tests of the past century.

The so-called marshmallow test, first started in the ’60s, is a seminal psychological study in which young children are given the choice of eating one treat immediately or waiting patiently for two. ?The research showed that self-control isn’t a matter of willpower — as was and still is popularly believed — but rather a cognitive skill. This simple finding has had profound impacts, influencing everything from teaching curriculums to parenting philosophies to behavioral economics and, ultimately, public broadcasting. 

On Thursday night, the marshmallow test’s creator, the famed researcher Walter Mischel — who consulted PBS on its gluttonous blue monster — and his primary collaborators, Yuichi Shoda, and Philip Peake, were feted by fellow scientists and research advocates in Washington, D.C.  Theirs was one of three projects to receive the Golden Goose award, which recognizes odd-sounding scientific studies that paid huge social dividends. ?

Inside the Library of Congress, where roughly 200 or so had gathered, a series of lawmakers cheered the scientists and encouraged the audience with pledges of devotion to scientific research. 

“Why are we not looking to double NIH funding today?” asked Rep. Bob Dold (R-Ill.), whose party includes fiscal conservatives not predisposed to more discretionary spending.

But the underlying sense of the evening was one of worry. Under the Capitol Dome across the street, lawmakers were scheming to avoid a government shutdown with just days to go. Even if they succeed, funding for science is almost certain to remain at what people in the room believe is a crisis level. The National Institutes of Health has lost 22 percent of its purchasing power since 2003, thanks to stagnant budgets that haven’t kept up with inflation. A brief spending bump that came into effect over the past two years is about to expire. And young scientists now face the worst funding climate in the past 50 years.

Among those projects facing an uncertain fate is the marshmallow test itself.

“Right now it is not federally funded, as a matter of fact,” said Peake, who is researching whether the self-control mechanisms will erode without routine application. “It makes it a little challenging. It slows us down a little bit. But we need to get these particular findings out and we then will be pursuing more federal funding.”