Isn't executive function somewhat absent by default in 4 year olds?
It is lower on average than in older children and adults, but differences in self-control in 4-year-olds on the Marshmallow Test predicted later outcomes. Walter Mischel has a recent book
The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control (2014).
http://www.apa.org/monitor/2014/12/marshmallow-test.aspxIn a series of studies that began in the late 1960s and continue today, psychologist Walter Mischel, PhD, found that children who, as 4-year-olds, could resist a tempting marshmallow placed in front of them, and instead hold out for a larger reward in the future (two marshmallows), became adults who were more likely to finish college and earn higher incomes, and were less likely to become overweight.
So what's the lesson to take from this? It's not that the marshmallow test is destiny and that preschoolers who fail it are doomed, Mischel says. Instead, the good news is that the strategies the successful preschoolers used can be taught to people of all ages. By harnessing the power of executive function and self-control strategies, we can all improve our ability to achieve our goals.
I wonder how to reconcile these assertions with the paper I cited finding that differences in executive function are genetic.
I thought the book
Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength (2012) by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney was good.
