Tentações

Each child was offered a marshmallow
The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on deferred gratification. The experiment was conducted in 1972 by psychologist Walter Mischel of Stanford University.[1] The experiment has been repeated many times since, and the original study at Stanford has been "regarded as one of the most successful behavioural experiments".[2] In the study, a marshmallow was offered to each child. If the child could resist eating the marshmallow, he was promised two instead of one. The scientists analyzed how long each child resisted the temptation of eating the marshmallow, and whether or not doing so had an effect on their future success.[3] The results provided researchers with great insight on the psychology of self control.



Origins

The experiment has its roots in an earlier one performed on Trinidad, where Mischel noticed that the different ethnic groups living on the island had contrasting stereotypes of one another, specifically, on the other's perceived recklessness, self control, and ability to have fun.[3] He performed an experiment similar to the marshmallow experiment, albeit with a chocolate bar, and discovered that ethnicity did not affect deferred gratification at all, while social and economic backgrounds did.[3]

Stanford experiment

The purpose of the original study was to understand when the control of deferred gratification, the ability to wait in order to obtain something that one wants, develops in children.[4] The original experiment took place at the Bing Nursery School located at Stanford University, using children around the age of four to six as subjects. The children were led into a room, empty of distractions, where a treat of their choice (Oreo cookie, marshmallow, or pretzel stick) was placed on a table, by a chair.[3] The children could eat the marshmallow, the researchers said, but if they waited for fifteen minutes without giving in to the temptation, they would be rewarded with a second marshmallow.[5] Mischel observed as some would "cover their eyes with their hands or turn around so that they can't see the tray, others start kicking the desk, or tug on their pigtails, or stroke the marshmallow as if it were a tiny stuffed animal", while a few would simply eat the marshmallow as soon as the researchers left.[3]

Results

While a few children would eat the marshmallow immediately, of the over 600 who took part in the experiment, one third could defer gratification long enough to get the second marshmallow.[5] The experiment confirmed the hypothesis that age does determine the development of deferred gratification.

Follow-up studies

It was the results of the follow-up study, that would take place many years later, which surprised Mischel. Since Mischel's daughters knew and grew up with many of the original test subjects, through casual conversation, Mischel discovered there existed an unexpected correlation between the results of the marshmallow test, and the success of the children many years later.[4] The first follow-up study, in 1988, showed that "preschool children who delayed gratification longer in the self-imposed delay paradigm, were described more than 10 years later by their parents as adolescents who were significantly more competent". A second follow-up study, in 1990, showed that the ability to delay gratification also correlated with higher SAT scores.[1]