Psychologist Promotes Emotional Education in Schools

Why this is here: The “marshmallow experiment” followed children for 14 years, finding those who delayed gratification at age four had better grades and were more likely to participate in sports at age eighteen.

Argentine psychologist Lucas Malaisi advocates for emotional education in schools across his country and beyond. Malaisi, president of the Fundación Educación Emocional, has championed a law mandating emotional learning—recognizing and regulating feelings—from kindergarten to high school. The law has been approved in several provinces including Jujuy and Tucumán, with recent progress in Salta, but Malaisi notes full implementation requires more teacher training and political will.

He draws on his own difficult childhood, marked by the loss of his mother, to inform his work, authoring books focused on emotional coherence and healing. Malaisi describes emotional education as creating spaces for children to express feelings, build empathy, and improve overall well-being—though he cautions against overburdening teachers by treating it as therapy.

While research, including a follow-up to the famous “marshmallow experiment,” suggests emotional skills correlate with long-term success, applying these lessons equitably remains a challenge, particularly in vulnerable communities. The work to integrate emotional learning into curricula continues.