The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment [1] is a series of studies of delayed pleasure conducted in the late 1960s and early 1970s under the supervision of psychologist Walter Michel, who later became a professor at Stanford University . In these studies, children were offered the choice between one small reward given immediately and double the reward if they could patiently wait for it for a short period (about 15 minutes) during which the experimenter left the room to return after waiting. As a reward, marshmallows , cookies or crackers were used . In subsequent studies, scientists found that in children who were able to wait for an increased reward, as a rule, life went better. Such conclusions were made by their SAT am [2] , educational level [3] , body mass index (BMI) [4] and other indicators of quality of life [5] .
In 2018, Tyler Watts and others denied the experiment [6] . The initial experiment was conducted on several dozen children of university employees, while Watts conducted it on 900 children with separation by race and income. By the age of 20, the influence of “willpower” turned out to be close to statistical error, and a common cause was found in - wealth in the family, which influenced both “willpower” and success. The fact is that for the poor, "later" could never have come, for the rich, this marshmallow is an insignificant reward, because, for example, ice cream is waiting for them at home. In addition, the poor are used to pampering themselves with some little things like a new hairstyle so that life is not so unbearable.
Content
- 1 initial experiment
- 2 Stanford experiment
- 2.1 Method
- 2.1.1 Subjects
- 2.1.2 Conditions
- 2.1 Method
- 3 Follow-up studies
- 4 notes
- 5 Links
Initial Experiment
The experiment comes from an earlier one performed in Trinidad , where Michelle noted that representatives of various ethnic groups living on the island had contrasting stereotypes about their island neighbors. Representatives of different groups believed that they were very different from each other on such grounds as recklessness, self-control and the ability to have fun [7] . This small (n = 53) study focused on children of both sexes aged 7 to 9 years (35 West Indian blacks and 18 Indo-Caribbeans) in a rural school on the island of Trinidad. Children were asked to inform about their choice: to receive a candy costing 1 1 immediately or a candy for 10 ¢, but in a week. Michelle reported a significant difference between ethnic groups [8] , as Indian children show much more opportunities to postpone satisfaction compared to African students, as well as large age differences and that the “comparison of“ high “and“ low “socio-economic groups for experimental choice does not show a significant difference. " The absence of a father was common in the group of Africans (in the East Indian group such a child was the only one), and this symptom showed the strongest influence: children from complete families showed excellent ability to restrain desire.
Stanford Experiment
The first “Marshmallow test” was a study conducted by Walter Michel and Ebbe B. Ebbesen at Stanford University in 1970 [9] .
The purpose of the initial study was to understand when children develop the ability to defer satisfaction, that is, the ability to wait to get what they want. The original experiment took place at the Bing Nursery School, located at Stanford University , on children aged four to six years. Children were escorted into a room without distractions, in which a treat of their choice ( Oreo cookies, marshmallows or pretzels) was put on the table [1] . Researchers allowed the children to eat the delicacy immediately, but they were promised to double the reward, provided that they can wait fifteen minutes without succumbing to the temptation [1] . Michelle observed that some children covered their eyes with their hands or turned so as not to see a treat, others pounded on the table or pulled their hair, or played with marshmallows as if it were a tiny stuffed animal, while others simply ate marshmallows as soon as the researchers left [ 1] .
Of the more than 600 children who participated in the experiment, a minority ate sweets right away. Those who were able to wait enough to receive a double treat turned out to be about a third [1] . The defining pleasure factor was age.
Method
Subjects
The subjects were 16 boys and 16 girls attending Stanford University's Bing Nursery School. The results of the three participants were eliminated due to their inability to understand the instructions. The age of children is from 3 years and 6 months to 5 years and 8 months (with an average age of 4 years and 6 months). Eight researchers (four men and four women) were randomly assigned to each of the four experimental conditions. For each condition, each experimenter tested two boys and two girls to avoid the effect of a systematic bias depending on the sex of the experimenters [9] .
Terms
- Immediate (less preferred) and delayed (more preferred) rewards were in front of the child and were available for observation [9] ;
- Both awards were hidden from the child [9] ;
- The child could see only double (deferred) reward [9] ;
- The child could see only the usual (immediate) reward [9] .
Subsequent Research
In subsequent studies, Michelle found unexpected correlations between the results of the marshmallow test and the successes of children many years later. [5] The first control study in 1988 found that “preschool children who were able to stretch their fun longer were described more than 10 years later by their parents as teenagers who were significantly more competent.”
The second control study, in 1990, showed that the ability to postpone pleasure also correlates with an increased number of SAT points [5] .
In 2011, a tomographic study of the brain of participants in the experiment was carried out when they reached mid-life. The main differences between individuals with a longer delay time and those with a shorter delay time in two areas: in the prefrontal cortex (more active in participants with a longer delay time) and ventral striatum (the area “responsible” for addictions) when they tried to control their reaction to tempting temptations [10] [11] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Mischel W. , Ebbesen EB , Zeiss AR Cognitive and attentional mechanisms in delay of gratification. (English) // Journal of personality and social psychology. - 1972. - Vol. 21, no. 2 . - P. 204-218. - ISSN 0022-3514 . - DOI : 10.1037 / h0032198 . - PMID 5010404 .
- ↑ Mischel, Walter ; Shoda, Yuichi ; Rodriguzez, Monica L. Delay of gratification in children. (English) // Science : journal. - 1989. - Vol. 244 . - P. 933-938 . - DOI : 10.1126 / science.2658056 .
- ↑ Ayduk O. , Mendoza-Denton R. , Mischel W. , Downey G. , Peake PK , Rodriguez M. Regulating the interpersonal self: strategic self-regulation for coping with rejection sensitivity. (English) // Journal of personality and social psychology. - 2000. - Vol. 79, no. 5 . - P. 776-792. - DOI : 10.1037 / 0022-3514.79.5.776 . - PMID 11079241 .
- ↑ Schlam TR , Wilson NL , Shoda Y. , Mischel W. , Ayduk O. Preschoolers' delay of gratification predicts their body mass 30 years later. (Eng.) // The Journal of pediatrics. - 2013 .-- Vol. 162, no. 1 . - P. 90-93. - DOI : 10.1016 / j.jpeds.2012.06.06.049 . - PMID 22906511 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Shoda, Yuichi; Mischel, Walter ; Peake, Philip K. Predicting Adolescent Cognitive and Self-Regulatory Competencies from Preschool Delay of Gratification: Identifying Diagnostic Conditions (Eng.) // Developmental Psychology : journal. - 1990. - Vol. 26 , no. 6 . - P. 978-986 . - DOI : 10.1037 / 0012-1649.26.6.978 . Archived on October 4, 2011. Archived on October 4, 2011.
- ↑ The Marshmallow Test: What Does It Really Measure? - the Atlantic
- ↑ W. Mischel. (1958).
- ↑ WALTER MISCHEL. PREFERENCE FOR DELAYED REINFORCEMENT: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A CULTURAL OBSERVATION unspecified (link not available) . University of Colorado (1958). Date of treatment October 31, 2016. Archived November 14, 2016.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mischel, Walter; Ebbesen, Ebbe B. (October 1970).
- ↑ Marshmallow Test Points to Biological Basis for Delayed Gratification , Science Daily (September 1, 2011). Archived on October 4, 2011. Date of treatment October 4, 2011.
- ↑ Casey BJ , Somerville LH , Gotlib IH , Ayduk O. , Franklin NT , Askren MK , Jonides J. , Berman MG , Wilson NL , Teslovich T. , Glover G. , Zayas V. , Mischel W. , Shoda Y. Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later. (Eng.) // Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - 2011. - Vol. 108, no. 36 . - P. 14998-15003. - ISSN 0027-8424 . - DOI : 10.1073 / pnas . 1108561108 . - PMID 21876169 .
Links
- Joachim de Posada. Don't eat the marshmallow! (English) (video). TED (February 2009). Date of treatment February 8, 2016.
- British scientists conducted a long “marshmallow experiment” . Rosbalt (August 31, 2011). Date of treatment February 28, 2016.