MFSA065: The Marshmallow Test

As an experiment in delayed gratification, the marshmallow test pitted the willpower of young children against the tasty appeal of one or more marshmallows, with a stopwatch in between. Sometimes the children won, and sometimes the marshmallows won. Follow up studies suggested that the kids who were better able to control their desires were more likely to succeed in life. Sounds reasonable enough, if a bit disappointing for the impulsive types among us. More recent analysis casts a bit of shadow on the marshmallow model, however. As is the case with a lot of famous social science studies, it turns out the key findings are hard to replicate, and that the predictive relationship between self control and success may not actually be measurable in marshmallow minutes. Do the savers really have the edge over the eaters? Does struggling against desire really build character? Or are we just as well going with the flow, picking up the marshmallows as they come, and letting the chips fall where they may? Hard to say. Depends how much you like marshmallows I guess.