I'm Brooke Gladstone with part two in our series Busted America's Poverty Myths.

This time the theme is personal responsibility. So, to get you situated, how about a thought

experiment? Think about a really bad decision you made. Now imagine having to pay dearly for every mistake you ever made.

Now imagine living on a margin of error so slim that a dead car battery throws your life into chaos and ruin.

How much would you plan for the future?

And finally, consider the famous 1972 Stanford Marshmallow experiment in which a series of kids were faced with a choice, one treat now or two treats later.

The kids who opted to wait ended up doing better in life.

They had willpower.

You've done okay, so you must have it too.

Poor people.

Maybe they just don't have it, right?

Do you know what?

It is snack time now.

Well, 40 years later, the University of Rochester

redid the experiment with fewer kids, but with an intriguing twist. Before posing

the marshmallow question, a researcher told each kid that he or she could play with a jar of

blunt and broken crayons now are holed out for a big fresh set later. After a pretty lengthy

weight, half of the kids got the big fresh set.

Their expectations proved reliable, so they were dubbed the Reliables. The other half, the unreliables,

got, oops, don't have it, just use the crappy crayons. Then the researcher sprung the marshmallow test.

Look what I've got.

Mushel-mal.

...