Handling emotions generally. The second dimension, knowing how to handle upsetting feelings, or impulses, is the root of emotional intelligence. The videotaped results are hilarious. Some kids go up to the marshmallow, smell it, then leap back like it's dangerous. Some go off in a corner and sing and dance to distract themselves.
Some kids just grab it.
These kids were followed up 14 years later, when they graduated from high school. Moving toward our goals is a third element of emotional intelligence. A psychologist, C.R. Snyder, devised such a measurement and tested freshmen as they entered college. He found that those who scored higher on hope had higher grades at the end of the year and that hope was a better predictor of good grades than were SAT scores. We can actually teach hope, and optimism, and motivation to learn.