Marshmallow Test

A Marshmallow Test is a delayed gratification decision-making test that involves marshmallows.

• Example(s):
  • a Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, where each child was told that they would be given a second treat if they did not eat the treat until the experimenter returned (~15 minutes later).
  • …
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Balloon Analogue Risk Task.
  • Iowa Gambling Test.
• See: Delayed Gratification, Self-Control, SAT Scores, Impulsivity.

---

---

References

2015

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impulsivity#Marshmallow_test
  • One widely recognizable test for impulsivity is the delay of gratification paradigm commonly known as the 'marshmallow test'. Developed in the 1960s to assess 'willpower' and self-control in preschoolers, the marshmallow test consists of placing a single marshmallow in front of a child and informing them that they will be left alone in the room for some duration. The child is told that if the marshmallow remains uneaten when the experimenter returns, they will be awarded a second marshmallow, both of which can then be eaten.^{[citation needed]}

    Despite its simplicity and ease of administration, evidence from longitudinal studies suggests that the number of seconds preschoolers wait to obtain the second marshmallow is predictive of higher SAT scores, better social and emotional coping in adolescence, higher educational achievement, and less cocaine/crack use.

2014

• (Wikipedia, 2014) ⇒ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment Retrieved:2014-9-15.
  • The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a series of studies on delayed gratification in the late 1960s and early 1970s led by psychologist Walter Mischel, then a professor at Stanford University. In these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward (sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel, etc.) provided immediately or two small rewards if he or she waited until the tester returned (after an absence of approximately 15 minutes). 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, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures.

1989

• (Mischel et al., 1989) ⇒ Walter Mischel, Yuichi Shoda, and Monica I. Rodriguez. (1989). “Delay of Gratification in Children.” In: Science, 244(4907). doi:10.1126/science.2658056
  • ABSTRACT: To function effectively, individuals must voluntarily postpone immediate gratification and persist in goal-directed behavior for the sake of later outcomes. The present research program analyzed the nature of this type of future-oriented self-control and the psychological processes that underlie it. Enduring individual differences in self-control were found as early as the preschool years. Those 4-year-old children who delayed gratification longer in certain laboratory situations developed into more cognitively and socially competent adolescents, achieving higher scholastic performance and coping better with frustration and stress. Experiments in the same research program also identified specific cognitive and attentional processes that allow effective self-regulation early in the course of development. The experimental results, in turn, specified the particular types of preschool delay situations diagnostic for predicting aspects of cognitive and social competence later in life.

1972

• (Mischel et al., 1972) ⇒ Walter Mischel, Ebbe B. Ebbesen, and Antonette Raskoff Zeiss. (1972). “Cognitive and Attentional Mechanisms in Delay of Gratification.” In: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 21(2).
  • QUOTE: … relationship between an individual's cognitive activity and his overt self-control behavior continues to … nated screen behind the cover] is a pretzel and marshmallow [or pennies … substantially enhanced, rather than decreased, the length of time that subjects delayed gratification. …

---