Walter Mischel
Walter Mischel | |
---|---|
Born | Grawemeyer Award in Psychology (2011) | February 22, 1930
Scientific career | |
Fields | Delayed gratification, personality psychology, social psychology |
Institutions | Columbia University Stanford University Harvard University |
Thesis | Variables Influencing the Generalization of Expectancy Statements (1956) |
Doctoral advisor | Julian Rotter |
Walter Mischel (German:
Early life
Mischel was born on February 22, 1930
Professional career
Mischel taught at the
Mischel was elected to the
Mischel was the recipient of the 2011
Contributions to personality theory
In 1968, Mischel published the controversial book, Personality and Assessment,[10] which created a paradigm crisis in personality psychology. The book touched upon the problem in trait assessment that was first identified by Gordon Allport in 1937. Mischel found that empirical studies often failed to support the fundamental traditional assumption of personality theory, that an individual's behavior with regard to an inferred trait construct (e.g. conscientiousness; sociability) remained highly consistent across diverse situations. Instead, Mischel cautioned that an individual's behavior was highly dependent upon situational cues, rather than expressed consistently across diverse situations that differed in meaning. Mischel maintained that behavior is shaped largely by the exigencies of a given situation and that the notion that individuals act in consistent ways across different situations, reflecting the influence of underlying personality traits, is a myth.[11]
Situation and behavior
Mischel made the case that the field of personality psychology was searching for consistency in the wrong places. Instead of treating situations as the noise or "error of measurement", Mischel's work proposed that by including the situation as it is perceived by the individual and by analyzing behavior in its situational context, the consistencies that characterize the individual would be found. He argued that these individual differences would not be expressed in consistent cross-situational behavior, but instead, he suggested that consistency would be found in distinctive but stable patterns of if-then, situation-behavior relations that form contextualized, psychologically meaningful "personality signatures" (e.g., "s/he does A when X, but does B when Y").
These signatures of personality have been in fact revealed in a large observational study of social behavior across multiple repeated situations over time.[12] Contradicting the classic assumptions, the data showed that individuals who were similar in average levels of behavior, for example in their aggression, nevertheless differed predictably and dramatically in the types of situations in which they exhibited aggression. As predicted by Mischel, they were characterized by highly psychologically informative if-then behavioral signatures. Collectively, this work has allowed a new way to conceptualize and assess both the stability and variability of behavior that is produced by the underlying personality system and has opened a window into the dynamic processes within the system itself.[13][14]
Self-control
In a second direction, beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mischel pioneered work illuminating the ability to delay gratification and to exert self-control in the face of strong situational pressures and emotionally "hot" temptations. His studies with preschoolers in the late 1960s often referred to as "the
Continuing research with these original participants has examined how preschool delay of gratification ability links to development over the life course and may predict a variety of important outcomes (e.g., SAT scores, social and cognitive competence, educational attainment, and drug use), and can have significant protective effects against a variety of potential vulnerabilities.[7] This work also opened a route to research on temporal discounting in decision-making, and most importantly into the mental mechanisms that enable cognitive and emotional self-control, thereby helping to demystify the concept of willpower.[17][18] While the data is clear about the outcomes of a child failing or passing the Marshmallow Test, what is not clear is understanding why the subjects quickly consume the treat or wait for more. Walter Mischel conducted additional research and predicted that the Marshmallow Test can also be a test of trust.[16] Children who were raised by absent parents were less likely to pass possibly because they did not trust the stranger when he or she said they would be given double the reward if they waited. They trusted their instincts and acted upon a certain thing.[16] In addition, Mischel believed that the children who wait have the inherent ability to reach their goals and hold positive expectations. This understanding is a hypothesis for why the outcomes later in life are so starkly different.[16]
Media appearances
Mischel appeared on
Personal life
Mischel lived on
Selected bibliography
Scientific publications
- Mischel, W. (1968). Personality and assessment. New York: Wiley.
- Mischel, W. (1973). Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of personality. Psychological Review, 80, 252–283.
- Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938.
- Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102, 246–268.
- Metcalfe, J., & Mischel, W. (1999). A hot/cool system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review, 106, 3–19.
- Mischel, W., & Ayduk, O. (2004). "Willpower in a cognitive-affective processing system: The dynamics of delay of gratification". In R. F. Baumeister & K. D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of self-regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications (pp. 99–129). New York: Guilford.
- Mischel, W. (2004). "Toward an integrative science of the person". Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 1–22.
Autobiography
- Mischel, W. (2007). "Walter Mischel". In G. Lindzey & W. M. Runyan (Eds.), A History of Psychology in Autobiography (Vol. IX, pp. 229–267). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Popular press
- Mischel, W. (2014). The Marshmallow Test. New York: Little, Brown.
See also
References
- S2CID 145668721.
- ^ Carducci, Bernardo J. (2009). The Psychology of Personality: Viewpoints, Research, and Applications. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 440.
- ^ "Economag.co".
- ^ "To have and have not". Haaretz.
- ISBN 978-1-59147-796-9.
- ^ Druckerman, Pamela (12 September 2014). "learning-self-control". The New York Times.
- ^ a b Lehrer, Jonah (May 18, 2009). "Don't!: The secret of self-control". The New Yorker.
- ^ Nolen, Jeannette L. "Walter Mischel | American psychologist". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
- ^ "Scientist who helps explain self-control wins Grawemeyer Award". 30 November 2010.
- ^ Mischel, Walter. Personality and Assessment, New York: Wiley, 1968.
- ISBN 978-0-470-12913-5.
- ^ Mischel, W. & Shoda, Y. (1995). A cognitive-affective system theory of personality: Reconceptualizing situations, dispositions, dynamics, and invariance in personality structure. Psychological Review, 102(2), 246–268.
- PMID 14744208.
- ^ Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Smith, R. E. (2004). Introduction to Personality: Toward an Integration (7th edn.). New York: Wiley.
- ^ ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-04-05.
- ^ a b c d e "Desire delayed". The Economist. Retrieved 2018-04-26.
- ^ Mischel, W., Shoda, Y., & Rodriguez, M. L. (1989). Delay of gratification in children. Science, 244, 933–938.
- ^ Mischel, W., & Ayduk, O. (2004). Willpower in a cognitive-affective processing system: The dynamics of delay of gratification. In R.F. Baumeister & K.D. Vohs (Eds.), Handbook of Self-Regulation: Research, Theory, and Applications(pp. 99–129). New York: Guilford.
- ^ Walter Mischel—The Marshmallow Test "Comedy Central" September 25, 2014
- ^ "How to teach self-control and reduce economic inequality". pbs.org. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
- ^ "Want to keep your New Year's resolutions? Stop living in the present and focus on the future". pbs.org. January 2015. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
- ^ "Can teaching kids to resist the marshmallow help pave the way to success?". pbs.org. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
- National Public Radio" June 24, 2016
- ^ Carey, Benedict (September 14, 2018), "Walter Mischel, 88, Psychologist Famed for Marshmallow Test, Dies", The New York Times
- ^ "Walter Mischel Ph.D. Obituary - New York, New York". Legacy.com. 13 September 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-14.
External links
- Columbia University Department of Psychology: Walter Mischel
- Don't! The secret of self-control, by Jonah Lehrer The New Yorker May 18, 2009
- Walter Mischel—The Marshmallow Test "Comedy Central" September 25, 2014
- The Personality Myth, by Lulu Miller and Alix Spiegel "National Public Radio" June 24, 2016