The Marshmallow Test: Willpower at age 4=Lifetime of Success?

Back in the sixties Walter Mischel, a Stanford professor of psychology, designed a simple experiment. He took a group of young (about age 4) children (hundreds were involved in the study) and put them in a room.

The children were seated at a table with a marshmallow (or sometimes an oreo cookie) in front of them and told they could have one right now or, if they could wait until the adult came back into the room, they could have two.

The adult then left and the experiment began. It was a measure of will power. How long could the various children defer immediate gratification for the promise of an increased reward later?

Some children ate the marshmallow immediately, most lasted three minutes or less. About thirty percent were able to wait until the researcher came back in the room (about 15 minutes).

Here's where it gets interesting. As the years went by, Dr. Mischel began to notice that the children who'd shown the least restraint in his test (at age 4, mind you) were more likely to have problems in school, whereas the ones with the most will power seemed to excell!

So he began collecting follow up data on them, and has continued to do so for over forty years.

The findings are startling.

Once Mischel began analyzing the results, he noticed that low delayers, the children who rang the bell quickly, seemed more likely to have behavioral problems, both in school and at home. They got lower S.A.T. scores. They struggled in stressful situations, often had trouble paying attention, and found it difficult to maintain friendships. The child who could wait fifteen minutes had an S.A.T. score that was, on average, two hundred and ten points higher than that of the kid who could wait only thirty seconds.​

So a difference in how long a child at age four can wait for a second marshmallow equates to a 210 point difference on how a teenager does on the SAT? Damn. But if that's not enough for you:

low-delaying adults have a significantly higher body-mass index and are more likely to have had problems with drugs​

What does this say about human nature? Is our personality set at age 4?
Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer#ixzz0tg4hnjP5

 

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I'm not sure, really. I'd be wary of assuming our future behaviour is determined at age 4. I would certainly have been a low delayer. I had no impulse control as a kid - none. I'm doing just fine now. (and have a very low body mass index, lol

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Seems to me that the children who were able to wait in order to get the second marshmallow were just the smarter ones.

 

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Another thought: what if the low delay wasn't due to low self control, but that the kid simply didn't see the point of waiting fifteen minutes for only one extra cookie?

 

While that theory would explain the difference in SAT scores, it doesn't explain things like low delay children having more emotional and behavior problems. Furthermore, does it really take that much intelligence to understand the difference between one marshmallow (or cookie) and two?

In the absence of the follow up data, that might be a reasonable suggestion. But given the striking correlations between performance on this test and future behavior all the way into adulthood; it sounds more like a rationalization.

 

I think you're overrating humans

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But seriously, I think the other problems may be symptoms of a lower intelligence.

 

Why do you reject the straightforward analysis that this is a measure of will power?

 

Good point.

So is it the case that if you have certain characteristics at age 4, you're stuck in a certain life path?

 

That's the question. This study would seem to suggest that, even at age 4, certain characteristics of your personality have already been formed.

I'd wager that a person could overcome their natural tendencies but..............that would take will power.

Still, if one is aware of one's deficiencies, one could compensate for them. Like Ulysses tying himself to the mast of his ship because he knew he couldn't resist the sirens.

 

But you can learn will power. I am certainly not the near-ADHD fireball I was at age 4.

 

Isn't that what growing up is all about, though?

We all have some weakness whether it's low impulse control, or social skills or whatever..

 

I agree. But most people take the path of least resistance, thus the predictive power of this study.

Sure. But by that standard, many people never really grow up.

 

Do they know for sure it was delay of gratification they were studying and not something else like compliance?

If it was one cookie vs. ten cookies, that might have been a better test. But one cookie vs. two cookies seems kinda arbitrary. Could it have been that the same types of people who look at such a test and think 'Why would I wait for just one cookie?' are the same types who don't do well because they question things rather than sit down and do what they're told?

Edit: Actually, the fact that they had trouble paying attention does suggest that the main problem was lack of impulse control..

Lol I have often thought that. I laugh sometimes when I hear someone talk about 'life experience.' The world is full of people with life experience who are still morons.

 

Seems to me they were the greedy ones. I wouldn't trust a kid who wouldn't eat something sweet put in front of them.

 

At age 4 I'm pretty sure a kid responds entirely dependently on how their parents teachs them. If they are left to their own devices with other children, then I would suggest there would be a greater chance that their attention span will be low because of distractions.

As for whether these studies identify a persons capacity in the future. I would suggest they aren't that effective. Take for instance that initial experiment mentioned in the OP, If a kid that waits 15 minutes is introduced to a classroom of children that can't wait 1 minute, do you think they will be successful in life, or find that while they are trying to study the distracted children will be a constant source of distraction?

 

Because, as you pointed out, there is a strong connection to intelligence later in life. I am merely making the point that the connection may have been there from the beginning.

 

So, by your reasoning, there is a connection between greediness and intelligence. Hmm..

 

Actually there probably is...

(This means, If you think you know everything, then obviously you don't ask anymore questions. If you claim you could know more, then you'll always ask more questions.)

You could therefore imply a Greed for knowledge would eventually give way to intelligence.

 

I think it's impossible to retrospectively say what we'd have done at age 4.

I feel like I'd have waited for at least 15 minutes or even longer. I mean, I think that's my personality - at least now. But, when I think back when I was 4 and imagine what I'd have done, I think I'd probably be eating the cookie before the researcher finished the sentence. Not because I need instant gratification, but because even when it appeared I was listening, usually I was day dreaming about something and would often do exactly whatever I wanted even if I was being told not to at the exact same time.

As an example, I was staying with my buddy for a week and asked if he had bought some yogurt (or I'd buy some). He said he had a 1Kg of Greek Yogurt and eat as much as I like - BUT, don't stir the water that rises to the top, pour it off. I said OK, reached into the fridge, opened the yogurt and started stirring the water at the top back into the yogurt... he started laughing and said you haven't changed a bit! So, would I have eaten the cookie? I think so. I would have probably stared at that cookie oblivious to anything else that was going on around me

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That aside, I'd wish I had been involved in some tests like this. It's be interesting to know how well we match up.

 

Not necessarily. If this test was taken in Japan, it would probably be a sign of intelligence (or at least social awareness) not to wait for more than your share.