I was driving into work a little later than I normally do a few days ago and the CBC radio show “The Current” was discussing reader feedback to a piece they had aired. In the piece, a “famous marshmallow test” was discussed.
I had never heard of this test, but it is really interesting and directly related to my post on giving my kids the gift of anticipation. It was an experiment conducted by Stanford University in the 1960s with children on deferred gratification. Basically, they sat a child in a room with a single marshmallow and gave the child a choice between eating it right away or waiting for 15 minutes and then receiving two marshmellows instead.
I found this TED video that provides an overview of this experiment and what the results are supposed to predict. It also includes priceless footage of children trying to resist the marshmallow!
The original experiment concluded that the children who could resist the marshmallow and wait for the fifteen minutes (which was about 1/3 of the 600 children) used a crucial skill: “strategic allocation of attention.” These kids were able to distract themselves, and their mind, away from the marshmallow by walking about the room, playing peek-a-boo, etc. The study continues to track these children and concludes that being able to resist the marshmallow is actually an accurate predictor of success in life — academic and otherwise.
Now, back to Christmas … those presents sitting under the tree are an enormous temptation aren’t they? Last Christmas, my daughter carefully pulled back the tape on virtually all her presents and ruined any kind of surprise we might have had on Christmas. So this year, we didn’t put any of her presents under the tree in advance.
Except one, that is.
Hubby wrapped up a box of cake mix and left it under the tree. She spent a great deal of time shaking, smelling and looking at it but she didn’t actually peek. Apparently, there’s hope for her yet. 😉
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