Marshmallow Test
 

A friend of mine who is into Cognative Science mentioned this neat little experiment to me.

It goes like this:

The researcher leads a pre-school (age 4 or 5) child into a room. In the room there is a pedistal and a large, tasty marshmallow.

The researcher tells the child "you can eat the marshmallow whenever you want. But, if you wait until after I get back, you will be allowed to eat two marshmallows!"

The researcher now leaves the room.

This being a science experiment, they recorded what the children did.

Some of the children ate the marshmallow before the door closed on the researcher.

Some of the children walked up to the marshmallow, handled it, sniffed it, and agonized over not being able to eat it.

Coping strategies varied -- one child even went to sleep.

Others didn't have much of a problem ignoring the marshmallow.

Apparently, about 1/3 ate the marshmallow, 1/3 had serious issues resisting, but managed, and 1/3 had no problem resisting.

...

They came back and looked at the study participants years and years later. The children who had the least problem delaying their gratification had where showing signs of becoming much more successful than the children who had problems, or who couldn't resist eating the marshmallow.

So, here is the question. Do you think you could have resisted the marshmallow? Do you have any relatives you want to try the marshmallow test on?

When I asked my folks, they didn't know about me (snarf snarf yum!), but they figured my brother would have had absolutely no problem with waiting the 15 minutes before the researcher came back.

My difficulty with this study is the fact that it's a marshmallow.

If it were a hundred dollars, and I could wait and get two hundred, I'd wait.

If it were a cow, I probably wouldn't care whether I had one cow or two cows.

If it were coleslaw, I'd probably eat the first just because I love coleslaw.

If it was a marshmallow, I'd eat it - because they're so tasteless that I wouldn't give a shit if I got one or two. Marshmallows kinda suck...

Its becuase of this that I don't really see it being particularly useful.

On the other hand, I'm horrible at delaying gratification.

I hate marshmallows, so not a problem:D

I do have a problem with instant gratification tho: Case in point-last night, being Halloween, the store had bowls of candy on the counter and in the break room. I stood at the counter eating candy. As if that wasn't enough, then I went to the bag and took more in my pocket...i also brought home a Tootsie Pop.
Ironically, when it comes to personal responsibilities, I am a hardline procrastinator....go figure...

Marshmallows--the poor researchers must be strapped for cash. I don't remember liking marshmallows very much when I was a kid. It might have been better to have 3-4 kinds of candy/snacks available and ask the kid what kind they liked best. Otherwise, I would read the results to mean that kids who like marshmallows do poorly in life.

I don't know what's the matter with you people. Marshmallows are AWESOME. Especially when roasted over an open fire... mmmmm..... marshmallows....

I would have waited for the 2nd marshmallow, and then lit him on fire so I could roast them properly.
:D

The experiment has been done with chocolate, chocolate chip cookies and Oreos. I might have trouble waiting for those but a marshmellow? They'd deliver a package and I still wouldn't eat them.

What's their basis on success? Is it monetary value of the people, happiness with their lives, or their health??

I myself could have waited patiently for the second marshmellow. Hours if they really wanted (I probably would've been the kid who just falls asleep), or if there was anything in the room to pretend was an airplane (pen or something) I would've started playing with that.

Now, if it were a piece of German Chocolate cake... I would have devoured that.

I would like to thing that I could wait but I would have to think about it a bit... really weigh out the situation.

Then I'd probably go to sleep to make the time go faster.

(there are so many parallels to my real life in this... yikes)

I hate marshmallows, so I would have waited. And I wouldn't have touched the second one either. But if we were talking about m&m's or something then I totally wouldn't have waited. I've always been about instant gratification and I probably always will be.

I don't know if I would have waited or not. Marshmallows are a strange choice, but then again they're basically pure sugar, fun to play with, and smell super-sweet which would entice kids to want to eat it.

Yesterday we had marshmallow races with the first graders for Halloween. They put the marshmallow on a spoon and had to race another student to walk to the wall and back without dropping the marshmallow. I will tell you that the kids loved the marshmallows. In fact one girl just walked around the room rubbing her belly saying "MMMM, marshmallows. Can I race again?"

I would like to see if any of those kids could wait...it would be interesting.

I'm so-so on marshmallows now, but when I was little, man, there was nothing better. Except possibly the other two smore components.

I think I probably could have waited, though. I have no self-control when candy's just sitting around (witness the much-depleted Halloween leftovers), but when a reward is on the line, I can be downright stubborn.

This would have been much better if it focused more on the way parents raise their children. I don't think the impulses are purely personal, but are highly motivated by the type of parental upbringing they've had. I think this speaks more to the fact that parents who instill a sense of self-restraint and patience are giving their kids a better chance for later in life, than those who do not take the time to instill that type of impulse control.

I think that would have made this a more compelling experiment, rather than the seemingly random choices of children. It's behavioral, yes- but children learn their behavior either through direct teaching or lack thereof.

EDIT: Also, regarding the results that people who show self-control and patience generally do better in life and are more successful than those who are driven by immediate gratification......

Duh.

I was a very compliant child. I'd have had no problem waiting.

There have been similar experiments done with adults. In one, a group of people are seated around a table and some money in the form of one dollar bills is placed in a dish in the center. Anybody is allowed to take any of the money at any time and keep it, but so long as any remains in the dish, one more dollar is added once every minute.

They found that most of the time the money would be gone quickly. As soon as one impulsive person started taking anything, there'd be a mad grab, even though it's apparent that everyone benefits by waiting until the end of the experiment to empty the plate.

It mixes delayed gratification with group dynamics and shows how groups often don't do what is the best for the people in the group.

I would have no problems waiting.

If we are talking about parents... I think it should be mentioned that if kids have nothing to do, and have to figure out what to do on their own, they will be able to understand that there are sometimes where there is nothing to do. They will have the patience to wait. If parents are pulling their kids in 10 directions in a hurried pace, then they will probably feel rushed and have to eat it.

I also had roommates with older brothers and they always ate their food twice as fast as me (no brothers). They were afraid that their brothers would steal their food. They would probably eat the one marshmallow.

Now, to make it even more interesting for the adults... What happens if there is one girl (or guy if you are into them), but if you wait 2 hours, there will be two girls (or guys)... Would you wait?

(This test is more in line with the TFP) :)

Adults have a much longer delayed gratification period.

While for a child, asking them to wait 15 minutes for a 100% return is an iffy thing -- for an adult, investing at 4% real return is an 18 year wait for a 100% return.

1$ now, or 2$ in 20 years? (3.5% return on delayed gratification)
1$ now, or 2$ in 15 years? (4.7% return on delayed gratification)
1$ now, or 2$ in 10 years? (7% return on delayed gratification)
1$ now, or 2$ in 5 years? (15% return on delayed gratification)
1$ now, or 2$ in 2 years? (41% return on delayed gratification)
1$ now, or 2$ in 1 year? (100% return on delayed gratification)

Going into debt is the above gamble, backwards. At 20% interest (credit card rates)
1$ now or 6$ in 10 years
1$ now or 2$ in 4 years

(yes, less inflation)

I was the impatient one- and I looooooved sweets. So, as a child, I would probably not have made it, but who knows. 2 marshmallows sounds more tempting......... :p

I was not born with good impulse control. I had to and still am developing the ability to think before acting. It's probably going to be one of those things that takes me the rest of my life to figure out. As a child, I would have eaten the mallow, then regretted it. As an adult, I'd burn the mallow as a sign of complex carbohydrate civil disobedience. I want my calories from healthy foods.

Oddly I can't recall being 4 or 5 really, at least not enough to decide what I'd do with a marshmellow.

Based on my personality now, and working backwards I wouldn't have had a problem waiting, but there is a lot of fuzz in that data.

Every so often we give our 3 year old daughter some change (sometimes she steals it from my dresser, but that's another story) and she puts it in her piggy-bank. The other day I decided to see how much she had accumulated and saw that she had enough for a little toy. So I asked her if she wanted to buy a little toy now, or keep saving and buy a bigger toy later. She had no hesitation in replying she'd keep saving for the bigger toy later.

I'd love to see the results of the child/cow experiment.

Although i'm not sure what it means to resist a cow.

Locking a four-year-old and a cow in the same room? I pity the cow.

When I was a kid, I'd hoard candy just for the joy of having a big stash. The candy would go stale long before I ate it. Funny thing is, several of my friends in college admitted to doing the same thing as children. It's freaky how similar people seek each other out sometimes.

So, anyone try it with a young relative?

I suspect waiting the full 15 minutes isn't key.

I wonder how much of it comes from "trusting" or "not trusting" adults?

If you didn't trust adults, you'd eat the marshmallow now, because you'd figure you wouldn't get the two marshmallow's later...

i second having only warm memories about marshmallows being roasted on a open pit fire