I recently read a book called The Marshmallow Test by Walter Mischel. It describes research which stemmed from an experiment in the 1960s where children were offered the choice of 1 treat, sometimes a marshmallow, or 2 treats if they can wait a while. One of the unexpected findings was that children who perform well in the test (delay gratification) generally have a better chance of having a happy successful life, even earning more than their peers who wanted the treat right away.
One section explained the link between a child's ability to delay gratification and their previous experience of whether good things really had come to them when they had waited in the past. This made me think about the JW life which is basically one big long delayed gratification for the "real life to come". Is it any wonder that so many JWs seem to have poor control when it comes to things like food and alcohol!? Their previous experience tells them that good things don't come so may as well eat, drink and be... Well, there aren't that many merry JWs now I think about it.