In the tardy 1960s , research worker at Stanford devised what ’s now known as the " marshmallow test " to quiz participants ' ability to defer satisfaction . The test croak like this : put a marshmallow on the tabular array in front of a four - year - old ; tell the child that he or she can either rust the marshmallow now , or leave it uneaten for a while ( 15 - 20 minute of arc ) and encounter a second marshmallow at the end of the trial ; have the researcherleave the roomfor the prescribed flow of time ; if the small fry sits alone with the marshmallow for the test period of time and does not exhaust the treat , the researcher returns and throw the child two marshmallows to eat . This a test ofdelayed gratification– the ability for a soul to put off the crying chill of one marshmallow for the promise of two marshmallows down the route . What ’s interesting is that the mental testing is apparently prognostic of future life winner . If a four - year - old delays gratification ( which is pretty rare ) , that kid will very in all probability grow up to be a very successful adult . Read on for more details .
A recentNew Yorkerarticle on the Stanford researchis very compelling . ( The research also involved treats other than marshmallow – including humble toys and other treats – presumably to see to it for kid who just do n’t like marshmallows . ) Here ’s a snipping ( accent contribute ):
Wow . Read the restto learn more about this inquiry , how it came about , and what it might mean about you . ( Also , I dare you to try this with your own kids ! ) After the jump , a related to TED Talk and some more links on how to conduct your own marshmallow test .
Here ’s a brief TED Talk about the marshmallow experimentation by Joachim de Posada – including some cockamamy TV of actual kids taking the test :
See also : how to dispense the marshmallow experiment , and Wikipedia ondeferred gratification.(Marshmallow range fromWikipedia , used under Creative Commons license . )
