Is self control more important in life than intelligence?

Terra firma

So put that condom away, kiddies, and content yourself with just holding hands!

JHill

I agree with you last para but you can't teach pupils about self control abstractly in a few lessons. It needs to be
a continuous process which has tangible rewards for application and self control. One of the ways this is done successfully in private schools is via the competitive house system with points for good work, attitude etc. What meaningful rewards would you provide in the state 'all must have prizes' sector?

Anoneumouse

Sort of puts things into perspective. Do you get voted into power and fleece the electorate immediately and risk being caught and expeled or do you not fleece the electorate and get voted in for a second or even third term!!!

wonderfulforhisage

What nonsense. Self control is a by product of thinking in the abstract which in turn is a major, if not the major, factor in intelligence.

Bill Markley

The ancient Greeks and the Victorians were right about something, when it came to valuing self-restraint! With the way the 60's generation jettisoned self-control and created a culture which constantly promotes selfishness, we've got a long way to go to recover.

unseen

Post hoc ergo propter hoc.

The study claims the ability to maximise future payoffs is a better predictor of intelligence than IQ. It is not claiming that self-restraint is more important than intelligence.

I think you just haven't understood it.

Dave B

There's also been some very interesting stuff on perseverance/grit, which may perhaps be studying the same phenomena.

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

RayD

Although it's not mentioned in the article, this is about the psychology of "discounting the future". When offered a choice between a reward now against a greater reward in the future, the subject has to assess the likelihood of the future reward actually materialising.

In a civilised society such as ours, the future discount is small, e.g. it's OK to work today for a cheque at the end of the month because that cheque will almost certainly appear.

In criminal society, the opposite is true. A reward not taken now is lost. For example, imagine selling cocaine on credit.

This is a large, complex subject, but you might like to consider the frequency with which benefits are paid versus monthly salary.

Conditioning children not to heavily discount the future is part of the civilising process.

Verity

Bill Markley - Agree. Lack of restraint leads to degradation. No tethers, no society.

Britain, essentially, is no longer a coherent society, gnawed away from within. Which is what Tony Blair, Jack Straw, Claire Short, Alastair Campbell and all those other hissing destructive Marxy/Gramsci thought fascists worked for with such beer-laden energy when they were young. And looked young, rather than like the grotesques they are today.

Too bad the press didn't listen to the right, because we're not going to let them get away with it and individualism is always stronger than collectivism.

It is in China, a country of 1.2bn. The right has won the war.

Who cares about a tiny, tiny bunch of little islands offshore Europe, whose national character is being diluted by the minute, courtesy of a malevolent government, and which can't be arsed to defend itself?

China and India are very certain they don't want collectivism/socialist/communism.

I wish I could write: "Tory front bench, please note". But they are no good.

There are no heroes.

occasional ranter

Terra firma - but chastity until marriage is like being offered one sweet later instead of two sweets now !

Rosa

Correlation is not causality

Fergus Pickering

As wonderfulforhisage points out, this is not a moral thing, but another aspect of intelligence, which has nothing to do with morals, though it seems you would dearly like it to be. However, 'you can't put off being young till you retire', says our greatest poet of the modern age. And 'tust in God and take short views' said Sidney Smith, a wise man and a Christian. There is something rather unChristian about all this calculation and refusal to consider the lilies of the field After al, I might not WANT the chocolate tomorrow, but I sure as hell want it now. Oh, and additionally, who is right - Juliet or her father?

kinglear

Get children to say please and thank you EVERY TIME and all else follows

Joe

Read The Bell Curve by Charles Murray. Self-control is a manifestation of advanced thought processes (therefore, intelligence). It involves the ability to foresee consequences, strategize, plan and weigh options. It is not simply the capacity to "wait."

Alf Tupper

Young British people know that they are consigned to a future in which however hard they try, there is always going to be someone in some foreign country who will be allowed to fill their position for less money.

They have had it drilled in to them that their history is one of shame, even though the vast majority of them, come from a long line of people who grafted for little reward, to build the fabric of the country.

They are assailed by a media entirely staffed, either by those whose leftist insistence on internationalism at all costs, denies them any right to the sense of national togetherness which is regarded as natural in all other nations; or by a cynical right who wave splendid flags but can see no further than the short term utility of cheap labour.

Put a government in charge, which starts by giving them back their self pride and the prospect that the country can be something to which they belong and to which they can contribute. Then you'll see them start to turn things round.

Give British youth a tomorrow and they will not disappoint.

Oscar

You would imagine that self control is something that distinguishes man from animals. But my (now sadly departed) standard poodle used to lift his chicken out of his bowl and eat the starchy filler we gave him first. He saved the chicken as a treat to be savoured last. It was a clear case of deferred gratification. Has anyone else come across this in the animal kingdom?

Verity

What Alf Tupper said. Has there ever been a more abnormal moment in British history ... a period dominated by native people set on destroying their country and its heritage - and powerful enough to do so - and no one, certainly not the Opposition, to say them nay.

Rhoda Klapp

If you put it off forever, and somebody comes along and steals your pension fund and assets and uses them to finance those who never put off any gratification and are now penniless, who's the clever one?