AUDIO
Think Are you good at saving money? What about eating healthy food? Do you think you’re a
WILLPOWER
about
it!
Willpower
ANSWERS
ON
PAGE
39
1 Pre-reading
How strong is your willpower
(check glossary for definition)?
What would you rather have/do?
Go to the gym or
watch a film.
Eat a hamburger or an
apple.
Drink some water or a
fizzy drink.
Have a beer / a glass
of wine or have some
orange juice.
Eat some cake or a
banana.
Go out with your
friends or stay at
home and study.
Have a pizza or a salad.
2 Reading I
What do you think the pros and
cons of having good willpower
are? Think. Then, read the article
once to compare your ideas.
3 Reading II
Read the article again. Then,
answer the questions in your
own words.
1. What was the
Marshmallow Test?
2. What was discovered
20 years later?
3. What is the other
experiment that is
mentioned by the
author?
4. What was discovered
in relation to this test?
5. What can you do if
you aren’t very good
at controlling your
impulses?
6. What do the authors
suggest you do if
you've had to use a
lot of willpower?
34 / www.learnhotenglish.com / For great private language classes, e-mail: classes@learnhotenglish.com
disciplined person? Do you have strong willpower? When was the last time you gave in to
temptation? Is having willpower important in life? Why? Why not?
The secrets of self-control.
I
magine this. behaved and were
There’s an apple Shall I? more popular. Watch
author
and a piece of cake
John
on a table. Which But the authors
one would you like? cite an even more Tierney
The delicious cake or incredible experiment. discuss his new
the healthy apple? A Thirty years ago, book:
new bestseller by Roy Baumeister and psychologists tested the willpower of http://youtu.be/
John Tierney, Willpower: Rediscovering 1,000 three-year-olds. Then, they followed rgwrWTu4ST0 Or
Our Greatest Strength, claims that having the progress of the participants up until search YouTube: “John
strong willpower is essential to a the present day. And they discovered Tierney willpower”
successful life. that those who had strong willpower as
children became healthier and wealthier
Willpower is the ability to resist temptation – adults. And those who showed low
the ability to make decisions that are better willpower as children were four times
for us in the long term, rather than in the more likely to get in trouble with the law.
short term… choosing to eat the apple
rather than the piece of cake, or going to the But don’t worry if you aren’t good at
gym rather than lazing about on the sofa. controlling your impulses – you can work
on it. The authors say that willpower is like
The book starts by describing a famous a muscle, and the more you exercise it, the
experiment: The Marshmallow Test. In 1972, stronger it gets. So, if you do regular “self-
psychology professor Walter Mischel tested control exercises”, such as making your
the willpower of 600 four- to six-year-olds. bed every morning or flossing your teeth
In the experiment, each child was left every night, you’ll improve your overall
alone in a room for fifteen minutes with willpower. And the book’s daily willpower
a marshmallow on a table exercises will help you with GLOSSARY
in front of them. They were those bigger goals, such
willpower n
Willpower if you have strong “willpower”, you
given two choices: they could exercises as studying for an exam or have a lot of determination and
either eat the marshmallow Baumeister and Tierney training for a marathon. self-discipline
to laze about phr vb
or, if they waited fifteen write that daily self-control to stay in one place relaxing and not
minutes, they’d be given a exercises increase overall Be careful though. Just like doing anything
a marshmallow n
second marshmallow (and willpower. How? Because any muscle, your “willpower a type of soft, sweet food. It is often
white or pink
then they could eat both). with each exercise you’re muscle” can get tired. to get in touch with exp
training yourself to The authors say that when if you “get in touch” with someone,
So, what did the kids do? override automatic habits we have to make a series of an impulse
you communicate with them
n
Well, as you can imagine, 70% and take control of your willpower-related decisions, an automatic and sudden desire to
ate the first marshmallow we exhaust our willpower. do something
actions. Try these.
within the fifteen minutes.
to floss vb
Watch a funny movie And we soon start giving to clean your teeth with dental
But the other 30% showed but try not to laugh. in to temptation. So, “floss” – a type of string that you pull
willpower – they resisted the Or a sad movie and try if you’ve had to do lots between your teeth
a goal n
temptation and waited for not to cry. of things that require an objective; something you want to
do/achieve
the second marshmallow. Try and maintain good willpower, take a break or to give in to temptation exp
But then Mischel discovered posture. give yourself a treat. That to do something you were trying not
something really interesting. way, you’ll build up your to do
Always try to speak a treat n
Twenty years later, he got in grammatically willpower reserves again. if you give yourself a “treat”, you give
in touch with the children, correct and complete yourself something nice, often as a
reward
who, by then, were in their sentences. And one last thing. The reserves n
early twenties. And he Occasionally, use the authors mention that a “reserve” of something is an
found that those who’d opposite hand to brush people who learn foreign
amount of that thing you can use
to override vb
shown strong willpower your teeth or use the languages usually have if A “overrides” B, A cancels B
were getting better marks computer mouse. a lot of willpower. So, posture n
the position of your body as you sit
at university, were better congratulations!   or stand