The marshmallow test
Dec. 14th, 2006 09:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dickens You put a group of children in a room and give them a marshmallow. Tell them, "You can eat the marshmallow now, OR wait X minutes and we'll give you a second marshmallow and you can eat both." Whether the child waited or not ended up being highly predictive of how the child did later in life. Children who were able to wait tended to have higher SAT scores and better skills at handling frustration/overcoming obstacles to achieve goals.
I have my own experience with something like the marshmallow test.
When I was 7 or 8, a friend of the family visited from Europe and gave me a tiny Toblerone chocolate bar. It was probably 3 or 4 oz of chocolate. At the time I didn't know of anyplace you could get them in the U.S., I assumed that until I grew up and could go to Europe myself, I was unlikely to get more of this candy, which I liked quite a bit.
The bar is made in pieces, each is a triangle and I think there were maybe 10 pieces total. Every few months I would eat a half or a third of one piece. I had that candybar in my jewelry box until I was 12 or 13 year old. I kept it carefully wrapped so it didn't get stale. I also remember that I consciously decided that I would eat the entire last piece, rather than eating it in bits. I thought that would be more satisfying.
I've never been quite sure just what that episode says about me....
I have my own experience with something like the marshmallow test.
When I was 7 or 8, a friend of the family visited from Europe and gave me a tiny Toblerone chocolate bar. It was probably 3 or 4 oz of chocolate. At the time I didn't know of anyplace you could get them in the U.S., I assumed that until I grew up and could go to Europe myself, I was unlikely to get more of this candy, which I liked quite a bit.
The bar is made in pieces, each is a triangle and I think there were maybe 10 pieces total. Every few months I would eat a half or a third of one piece. I had that candybar in my jewelry box until I was 12 or 13 year old. I kept it carefully wrapped so it didn't get stale. I also remember that I consciously decided that I would eat the entire last piece, rather than eating it in bits. I thought that would be more satisfying.
I've never been quite sure just what that episode says about me....
no subject
Date: 2006-12-14 09:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-15 05:22 am (UTC)Now of course, there's this nut allergy that keeps me from enjoying them anymore.