Delayed gratification - the marshmallow experiment

Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow! | TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript | TED.com

Note that some kids are raised in environments where people cannot be trusted, and unfortunately these kids have learned that eating the marshmallow immediately is the right thing to do in their situation. However I believe the whole premise of being more successful in life (say 15 years down the track) by not eating the marshmallow is very telling.

I read something recently on Quora where a young girl had this tested on her by her grandad (using chocolates instead of marshmallows)... When she was given the second chocolate she offered it it her grandad.... So not only does she understand delayed gratification, but she is also heart meltingly thoughtful....

 

I wonder what the results would be if 'sliced and diced' by existing social conditions in a child's life?

Or by number of siblings?

Did kids from poorer backgrounds - or with [x] number of siblings - wait more or less?

 

I believe really successful people see the opportunity to manufacture marshmallows and sell them to others .

 

Light bulb moment! Thanks @kierank!

 

I'm not sure that info exists unfortunately. But having grown up with 3 sisters myself, whenever it was an issue to do with food division, its every person for themselves!
Partner reckons that's why I eat quickly, so I can get seconds.

 

I grew up with my only elder sister and I always ended up sharing her with my quota because I was too slow.. It still applies today unfortunately

 

The original Stanford research was done in 1960, with the aim of determining the age when children develop the ability to delay gratification.

The apparent link between delayed gratification and later success was an unexpected observation at a later follow up a decade or so later.

However, a more recent study shows that some of the conclusions may be incorrect:

'A 2012 study at the University of Rochester (with a smaller N= 28) altered the experiment by dividing children into two groups: one group was given a broken promise before the marshmallow test was conducted (the unreliable tester group), and the second group had a fulfilled promise before their marshmallow test (the reliable tester group).

The reliable tester group waited up to four times longer (12 min) than the unreliable tester group for the second marshmallow to appear.[11][12]The authors argue that this calls into question the original interpretation of self-control as the critical factor in children's performance, since self-control should predict ability to wait, not strategic waiting when it makes sense.

Prior to the Marshmallow Studies at Stanford, Walter Mischel had shown that the child's belief that the promised delayed rewards would actually be delivered is an important determinant of the choice to delay, but his later experiments did not take this factor into account or control for individual variation in beliefs about reliability when reporting correlations with life successes.[13][14][15][16].'
Stanford marshmallow experiment - Wikipedia

 

LOL, very funny

 

I don't think you could possibly come back with an accurate conclusion, there would be too many other possibilities/variations along the way that could change outcome 10 years after the experiment?

 

... you raise good points, and why I think the outcome could not easily be determined.

 

One grandson is a very picky eater.
Give him a marshmallow, or any other sweet, and he will never eat it!
Marg

 

Me too!

I grew up with an older sister and two younger brothers. Hubby, an only child, always reckons I eat too quickly!
Marg

 

I am one of six kids, 3 girls and 3 boys. I am the oldest son.

I went to boarding school and I attended woodwork classes. The only thing I learnt from those classes is to cut on the waste side of the line. Maybe, that explains why the portions I cut for myself were always the biggest.

At boarding school, they used to serve 4 litres of ice-cream as dessert for a table of 8 boys. There was a huge difference between the first slice (biggest kid) and the eighth slice (smallest kid). Being a strapping big lad and a front row rugby forward, I never got the smallest slice.

I still apply the same rules today, some 45 years later.

 

thats a terrible idea.

Everyone is sitting around waiting for the next marshmellow to show up. You wont sell any.

 

It is called MMS, manufactured market starvation.

You won't sell any initially as you have nothing to sell.

Then you manufacture anticipation/desire/greed as you manufacture stock.

Just prior to your customers rioting (because they have lost all sense of reasoning by being forced to wait), you open for business, sell everything, raise prices as stock is consumed and make a motza.

Similar concept is behind the "Stop Until You Drop" strategy at Boxing Day sales.