full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Philip Zimbardo: The psychology of time

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting, yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective, present focus and ftuure fuocs. Promised virtues fall prey to the pnaosiss of the moment.

Of teanege girls who pledged sexual abstinence and virginity until marriage -- thank you George Bush -- the majority, 60 percent, yielded to seauxl temptations within one year. And most of them did so without using birth control. So much for promises.

Now lets tmpet four-year-olds, giving them a treat. They can have one mlmoarhsalw now. But if they wait until the experimenter comes back, they can have two. Of course it pays, if you like marshmallows, to wait. What happens is two-thirds of the kids give in to temptation. They cannot wait. The others, of course, wait. They resist the temptation. They dlaey the now for later.

Open Cloze


Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting, yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective, present focus and ______ _____. Promised virtues fall prey to the ________ of the moment.

Of _______ girls who pledged sexual abstinence and virginity until marriage -- thank you George Bush -- the majority, 60 percent, yielded to ______ temptations within one year. And most of them did so without using birth control. So much for promises.

Now lets _____ four-year-olds, giving them a treat. They can have one ___________ now. But if they wait until the experimenter comes back, they can have two. Of course it pays, if you like marshmallows, to wait. What happens is two-thirds of the kids give in to temptation. They cannot wait. The others, of course, wait. They resist the temptation. They _____ the now for later.

Solution


  1. tempt
  2. passions
  3. future
  4. delay
  5. focus
  6. sexual
  7. marshmallow
  8. teenage

Original Text


Life is temptation. It's all about yielding, resisting, yes, no, now, later, impulsive, reflective, present focus and future focus. Promised virtues fall prey to the passions of the moment.

Of teenage girls who pledged sexual abstinence and virginity until marriage -- thank you George Bush -- the majority, 60 percent, yielded to sexual temptations within one year. And most of them did so without using birth control. So much for promises.

Now lets tempt four-year-olds, giving them a treat. They can have one marshmallow now. But if they wait until the experimenter comes back, they can have two. Of course it pays, if you like marshmallows, to wait. What happens is two-thirds of the kids give in to temptation. They cannot wait. The others, of course, wait. They resist the temptation. They delay the now for later.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
time perspective 3
seconds studio 2
time perspectives 2


Important Words


  1. abstinence
  2. birth
  3. bush
  4. control
  5. delay
  6. experimenter
  7. fall
  8. focus
  9. future
  10. george
  11. girls
  12. give
  13. giving
  14. impulsive
  15. kids
  16. lets
  17. life
  18. majority
  19. marriage
  20. marshmallow
  21. marshmallows
  22. moment
  23. passions
  24. pays
  25. percent
  26. pledged
  27. present
  28. prey
  29. promised
  30. promises
  31. reflective
  32. resist
  33. resisting
  34. sexual
  35. teenage
  36. tempt
  37. temptation
  38. temptations
  39. treat
  40. virginity
  41. virtues
  42. wait
  43. year
  44. yielded
  45. yielding