The Marshmallow Test

“The Marshmallow Test”

In the 1960s, cognitive-science researcher Walter Mischel began a series of studies – known as the Marshmallow Test – at Stanford University’s Bing Nursery School. Mischel’s research team gave preschoolers a choice between earning “one reward,” such as a marshmallow, immediately, or earning “two rewards,” like two marshmallows, if they could wait 20 minutes.

Mischel watched the little boys and girls struggle not to end their chance to earn a double reward. It turned out that the way they fought for self-control and whether they managed to delay gratification indicated a lot about how they’d do in school and in their future lives. The kids who left the treat alone and waited to earn two treats devised their own “distraction strategies” to resist temptation and to handle conflict and stress. Some distracted themselves by talking or singing. Some looked away. Some gave themselves orders. When researchers repeated the test with pictures of the desired treats, the children could wait much longer; they knew they couldn’t eat the pictures. Kids also held out longer when researchers suggested that they should imagine the treats sitting in front of them...