I <3 adorable kids and these guys melt my heart. Plus, there's science involved, which is even better!!!
In the below viral video a woman reproduces Walter Mischel's famous experiment looking at a preschooler's ability to delay gratification in order to receive a larger reward. In Mischel's experiment, he found that children who could delay gratification and wait for the second marshmallow were considered "more dependable" later as adolescents and generally scored higher on the SATs. Mischel and colleagues also found a relationship between seconds of delay of gratification and scores of ability to deal with stress and frustration.
Brain & Behavior
Education
Comments
i CAN'T TELL YOU how long i've wanted to see that kind of experiment for myself. just for the kids' faces!
Posted by: leigh | September 14, 2009 8:52 PM
Radio Lab has a wonderful little program on this Marshmallow test (and another video too). http://chawedrosin.wordpress.com/2009/03/11/radio-lab-the-marshmallow-test/
Lots of interesting comments.
What was interesting about the experiement was that those kids who avoided eating the marshmallow didn't do so because they wanted it any less (as that video attests) but because they found useful coping strategies -- kicking the table, playing with the marshmallow. Seems like sniffing it would be just making the temptation worse!
Guess that little girl who didn't even wait for the experimenter to leave the room to start munching is doomed...
Posted by: Stephanie Chasteen | September 14, 2009 10:17 PM
I'm taking class from Dr. Mischel right now, so it's so neat to see that you happen to put this up! He is certainly opinionated about personality psychology. There was a great New York article this past May (I think from the 9th) that talks about him and this experiment, I suggest checking it out! :)
Posted by: Lindsey | September 14, 2009 10:24 PM
I would have eaten the marshmallow in about 1 sec.
Posted by: rb | September 15, 2009 7:26 AM
That video is much cuter than the one I was going to show my research methods students in a couple weeks... thanks!
Posted by: scatterplot | September 15, 2009 9:24 AM
My husband LOVES this experiment. He's always going on about it. I believe that they have followed up on the original group of kids and found a pretty much perfect correlation between kids who can wait for the marshmallow and those who go on to "be successful" as adults.
They did not, however, find the reverse correlation: kids who couldn't wait to eat the marshmallow aren't doomed to be slackers. Some of them went on to be successful, too.
And according to my husband (sorry, I couldn't be bothered to check his references), the South Korean government is so impressed by this experiment that they are now trying to teach all kids how to avoid eating the marshmallow.
Posted by: Cloud | September 15, 2009 11:48 AM
Thanks for my little kid fix for the day. Since I was totally the kid at 2:37 (who flipped his off the plate) I'm not ready for my own offspring - yet.
Posted by: Dr.FabulousShoes | September 15, 2009 12:21 PM
Very cool. Personally I would have eaten it right away because I never want more than one marshmallow at a time.
To take a tangent: What is the point the of putting the twins in the room together? As a parent of twins the constant portrayal of twins as some kind of inseparable unit is frustrating.
Posted by: Paul Turnbull | September 15, 2009 2:51 PM
All the kids are adorable, but I especially love the one who keeps sniffing the marshmallow and makes the "tick-tock" noises.
To be fair, the two little girls who bite into the marshmallow almost immediately appear to be significantly younger than the other kids.
Posted by: Barn Owl | September 15, 2009 6:57 PM
IT'S A LIE!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Comrade PhysioProf | September 15, 2009 9:08 PM
I fear PP would have eaten the marshmallow before it was out of the woman's hand.
Posted by: Funky Fresh | September 15, 2009 9:51 PM
It's not really an experiment in terms of the outcome being discussed. It's a cohort study- a rarity in psychological research to be sure.
Posted by: antipodean | September 16, 2009 8:50 PM