Stanford marshmallow experiment

Colorful marshmallows
Colored marshmallows

The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1970 led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University.[1] In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. During this time, the researcher left the child in a room with a single marshmallow for about 15 minutes and then returned. If they did not eat the marshmallow, the reward was either another marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child's preference. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores,[2] educational attainment,[3] body mass index (BMI),[4] and other life measures.[5] A replication attempt with a sample from a more diverse population, over 10 times larger than the original study, showed only half the effect of the original study. The replication suggested that economic background, rather than willpower, explained the other half.[6][7] The predictive power of the marshmallow test was challenged in a 2020 study.[8][9] Work done in 2018 and 2024 found that the Marshmallow Test "does not reliably predict adult functioning".[10]

  1. ^ Mischel, Walter; Ebbesen, Ebbe B. (1970). "Attention in delay of gratification". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 16 (2): 329–337. doi:10.1037/h0029815. S2CID 53464175.
  2. ^ Mischel, W; Shoda, Y; Rodriguez, M. (26 May 1989). "Delay of gratification in children". Science. 244 (4907): 933–938. Bibcode:1989Sci...244..933M. doi:10.1126/science.2658056. PMID 2658056. S2CID 37847196.
  3. ^ Ayduk, Ozlem N.; Mendoza-Denton, Rodolfo; Mischel, Walter; Downey, Geraldine; Peake, Philip K.; Rodriguez, Monica L. (2000). "Regulating the interpersonal self: Strategic self-regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 79 (5): 776–792. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.334.5423. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.79.5.776. PMID 11079241. S2CID 6345213.
  4. ^ Schlam, Tanya R.; Wilson, Nicole L.; Shoda, Yuichi; Mischel, Walter; Ayduk, Ozlem (2013). "Preschoolers' delay of gratification predicts their body mass 30 years later". The Journal of Pediatrics. 162 (1): 90–93. doi:10.1016/j.jpeds.2012.06.049. PMC 3504645. PMID 22906511.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Shoda1990 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Calarco, Jessica McCrory (2018-06-01). "Why Rich Kids Are So Good at the Marshmallow Test". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2018-10-02. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  7. ^ Jason, Collins (31 May 2018). "The marshmallow test held up OK – Jason Collins blog". The marshmallow test held up OK. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  8. ^ Benjamin, Daniel J.; Laibson, David; Mischel, Walter; Peake, Philip K.; Shoda, Yuichi; Wellsjo, Alexandra Steiny; Wilson, Nicole L. (November 2020). "Predicting mid-life capital formation with pre-school delay of gratification and life-course measures of self-regulation". Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 179: 743–756. doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2019.08.016. PMC 7792663. PMID 33424063.
  9. ^ "New Study Disavows Marshmallow Test's Predictive Powers". 24 February 2021.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sperber was invoked but never defined (see the help page).