The Marshmallow Experiment (Deferred gratification)

Discussion Open Forum
1

Have any of you heard of the marshmallow experiment?

Someone gives a 4 year old a mashmallow. Tells them they can eat it at any time but if they wait until the researcher comes back they get two. They the kid is observed.

A guy tracks them down 20 year later and he says the ones that can wait are more succesful in life than the ones that can’t.

Interesting eh? Assuming that a trait that is developed so young does have a long term effect like this, do you think something could be done to change this if the parent is aware? Or maybe it’s the parents lack of awareness that makes their child a one marshmallow kid.

[quote=“Ronald Gross”]Imagine that you’re 4 years old, and participating in a little experiment. A friendly adult welcomes you into a room and sits you in front of a marshmallow. “This is for you,” she says. “Before we start , I have to do something down the hall. You can eat the marshmallow any time you like. But if you wait until I get back, I’ll give you two marshmallows.”

The researcher leaves the room. It’s just you, and that marshmallow.

Children react differently to this situation. Some grab and gobble the marshmallow by the time the door closes behind the researcher. Others seem fixated on it – looking, smelling, touching – but hold back from eating it. Others take steps to distract themselves – singing, walking around, listening by the door.

Black-out. Lights up – fourteen years later. You and hundreds of other kids who took the marshmallow test are tracked down by psychologist Walter Mischel, who conducted the original experiment at Stanford and is now a colleague of mine at Columbia.

The findings are dramatic. The youngsters who, at four, had waited to win the second marshmallow, tended to be rate high on the skills that make for success – in school, at work, in life. They had many of the “habits of successful people” – confidence, persistence, capacity to cope with frustration.

On the other hand, the one-third who had wolfed the marshmallow, had a different overall profile. They had trouble subordinating immediate impulses to achieve long-range goals. When it was time to study for the big test, they tended to get distracted into listening to a favorite TV programs.

From here: ronaldgross.com/Marshmallow.html[/quote]

This is the guy that did the orignal experiment:
Walter Mischel
Niven Professor of Humane Letters in Psychology
(Ph.D. Ohio State, 1956)

columbia.edu/cu/psychology/i … schel.html

2

I have read of similar experiments on children of different ages, used to gauge their understanding of time with chocolate. It all sounds very cruel.

To be fair, those that are motivated by “greed” will always be so, and thus the research is not that surprising. Look at the lifestyles of Forumosans. Some here are more interested in leisure time whilst others are very money motivated.

My brother is very artistic and is happy to scratch a living, whilst I am a money whore. My father says that as children it was easy to motivate me and very difficult to motivate or punich my brother as he just didn’t care about material things.

As to the photo of the researcher…I think you could have left it off. I just finished breakfast.

3

[quote=“Bruno Bettelheim”][/quote]

And my father told me since I was a child . . .

4

Sadly, I’d still eat that first marshmallow, and then throw a tanty for a second and third.

HG

5

Heh, I’ll have to fix.

6

We could do he same experiment with the kids we teach. It isn’t easy to get marshmallows, though. What would be a good alternative?

7

Sticks of dried fish.

HG

8

Maybe some kids only wanted one marshmallow. Maybe when they grew up, one car was sufficient, also.

I am always wary when people talk about “success”.

9

[quote=“Tigerman”]Maybe some kids only wanted one marshmallow. Maybe when they grew up, one car was sufficient, also.

I am always wary when people talk about “success”.[/quote]

LOOOOOSER. :laughing:

:wink:

10

I don’t they meant Cash Money Millionaire success. I think they mean able to see goals through to completion, which would make every persons definition different.

11

some live in the “now”, some live in the “future”.

for those that live in the now, immediate gratification is key-go for it, who cares, live it up, what’s the worst that could happen.

for those that live in the future, delayed gratification is key-wait and see, something better might come along, or it might not, get your quadrants straight first, keep your ducks in a row.

wow, i bet the study found that people are different. how amazing. what a concept. kids are kids, and it probably depended more on their parents way of raising them than it did on the kids’ outlook on life.

why not study the kids that ate the marshmallow quickly-who are now patient and think in the long term?

or study the kids who held out-but are now spontanious and quick to relish in life now?

people will do research on anything if they can get a grant and further their career.

i tend to believe that people tend to change from the age of 4 to adulthood. that’s just me.

what was the point of this research again??

more wasted university/taxpayer dollars to keep someone on staff?

jm

12

I think it was another solid example of the vast disconnect between the dizzying heights of academia and the world of us mere mortals.

From that article:

I prefer to watch and listen to my telly when I’m meant to be studying.

HG

13

TM, I was just kidding about that LOOSER comment, of course. I think you make an excellent point and it hadn’t occurred to me.

Miltown’s correct of course that. . .

Therefore, those who can wait to eat the marshmallow may have superior patience, ability to perceive long term goals and make sacrifices to achieve them, rather than caving in for the instant gratification. In a way that does seem to equate to “maturity” and ability to achieve success in various areas.

But, you do raise a good point, TM. What if one is perfectly content here and now, accepting what one has now and enjoying the present moment? After all, that’s what many seek to achieve through buddhism and other spiritual practices. Who says one needs to set distant goals and sacrifice to achieve them, especially regarding material possessions such as marshmallows, in order to be “successful.” If a person is perfectly content here and now, with what is meted out, not enduring constant sacrifice, yearning and desire for more, couldn’t one say that person is successful? Isn’t that what buddhist monks strive their whole lives to achieve?

So, I see your point, TM. It’s a good one. But. . . I still feel those who have the ability and desire to see in the future, wait and make temporary sacrifice, are more likely to “succeed” in academia, sports, music, art, business, even relationships and family life, and most other areas that comprise most of life’s experiences for most people.

14

I would have made the researcher explain whether or not I would get two extra marshmallows when he got back, or just one. I also would have known if there were marshmallows in my cupboard back home, and probably not worried too much about gifts from a strange man with a clipboard.

My father would have been arguing with someone about what this all meant and how much he was getting paid for it. If I ate the first damn marshmallow. he would have had some sort of a lecture for me, and he would have bought a case of the damn things for me, just to make me feel bad.

Leave the kids alone!

15

What if some kids stole their neighbors’ marshmallow and kept their own ones on their plates. That is what successful people do, don’t they?

16

interesting point HGC,

what would be the differences between a kid from a family who was not sure where their next meal was coming from, and one who came from a very affluent family?

how big was this guys sample size? (his “n”?)

and what would be the difference between a kid with a sweet tooth, and a kid with a salty tooth, or a diabetic kid?

or kids who think marshmallows are gross,

or a kid who ate so many damn s’mores last time camping that he/she hurled their guts out, and now can’t stand to be in the same room with a marshmallow, or a graham cracker or a stick of chocolate?

or what about the kid that eats anything in sight, regardless,

or what about the kid so obsessed with their weight that, oh, never mind. it was study. it was just a guy giving kids marshmallows then going off to a secret room to “watch” the children.

oh, i like how she puts that thing in her mouth, oh, thats nice.

great study.

did he win a pulitzer??

17

I must admit my first though was that at that age I would probably have nibbled a bit off the bottom and maybe tried to take the middle out. Or even break it into pieces and try to kid the man that none of the pieces was missing but then I was always a devious little bastard.

18

yes, EA,

and gosh darn if the study had anything to do with ingenuity.

another good point.

studys like the one mentioned are so narrowly focused.

what about the creative kids? the ones that tried what EA suggests?

if the “n” was large enough, it would have included more than 2 types to study. there are more points along the continuum than this study suggests.

jm

19

[quote=“JOHN MOSS”]yes, EA,

and gosh darn if the study had anything to do with ingenuity.

another good point.

studys like the one mentioned are so narrowly focused.

what about the creative kids? the ones that tried what EA suggests?

if the “n” was large enough, it would have included more than 2 types to study. there are more points along the continuum than this study suggests.

jm[/quote]

And what about the revolutionaries? I don’t think Che would have listened to his teacher.

20

AAF,

if by Che you mean HGChen, then perhaps he would have been asked to please step aside, you might skew our intended results, you artist, you.

we only want the robots, whom we can really observe.

jm