Question

Rererencing W Mischel's "Marshmallow experiment. what is the significance of delayed gratification. particulary in the long run

Answer 1

The ‘marshmallow experiment’ a study on delayed gratification – was conducted by Walter Mischel in the 1960s and 1970s at Stanford University. Mischel and his colleagues were interested in finding out how the preschool children resist temptation. The four-year-olds were chosen for this study. The children were given a marshmallow each and they had two options: the first choice was to ring a bell at any point and eat the marshmallow and the second choice was to wait until the experimenter returned after about 15 minutes later, and earn two marshmallows. Some children ate the marshmallow right away, whereas few kids were able to resist the temptation and delay gratification. As a reward, these kids got two marshmallows. A few years later follow-up was conducted on the kids who were now teenagers. It was observed that the children who were able to delay gratification demonstrated better skills over their peers. As teenagers, they had higher SAT scores, better coping skills with stress, organized, more likely to use logic, plan ahead, better social skills and self-confidence. Even these kids grew up to be adults they were less likely to be prone towards addictive behaviors, get divorced, or be overweight. This seminal study demonstrates that the ability to resist temptation early in life predicts certain advantages later in life.