My lovely wife is a psychologist so I get to hear about terms like this from time to time. Here is a great study about delayed gratification done using kids as subjects and marshmallows as a reward. Let’s be honest – could you resist a juicy, succulent marshmallow? It’s cute to see the kids react like this, but what does it say about us as adults?
I picked this up from The Daily Dish, directed there by my pal Steve Garfield’s tweet. Thanks, Steve!
Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.
1:31 pm on September 18th, 2009
omg…I just saw this through The Huffington Post and laughed myself silly! I was going to post it here, but looks like Carl beat me to it. Who can resist marshmallows??
2:50 pm on September 19th, 2009
Great video!
This experiment was invented by Walter Mischel in the 1960s; there is an excellent article about the original research and recent developments in _The New Yorker_. Turns out there is a strong correlation between a child’s ability to resist the marshmallow and future academic achievement.
On the other hand, this candy-lover would insist on a strong correlation between marshmallow gobbling and all kinds of achievement…
Article: “Don’t! The Secret of Self-Control,” by Johah Lehrer. _The New Yorker_ May 18, 2009, pages 26-32.