Friday, April 24, 2009

2 Could YOU pass the marshmallow test?

In the 1960's Stanford University conducted a study to see if the patience & self discipline that a four-year old possesses would help them to become more productive in society as adults. How did they do this?
The Marshmallow Test.
A marshmallow is placed in front of a four-year old & they are told that if they do not eat the marshmallow for 15 minutes, they will get another after the time is up. Some children poke at it, and lick it, while others shove it into their mouth immediately. For the next 18 years the children were studied to see if those that "passed" the marshmallow test encompassed that same discipline as adults.
(This video is a repeated study done recently)


Growing up, my mom always talked about the marshmallow test & we knew what it meant. If we started to whine in the grocery store, she'd say "Oop! You're not gonna pass the marshmallow test!" If we picked at the turkey on thanksgiving, she'd swat our hand & say, "Somebody's not passing the marshmallow test!" When we had to wait for my mom to get ready before we could go out to the pool & we would cry & complain... we were definately not passing the marshmallow test.

The problem with my mom's version is you're never actually rewarded for ever passing the marshmallow test, so we just eat it.

So as a warning to all you parents who wish to perform the marshmallow test on your own children, please follow through with the second marshmallow in order to teach your children the lesson meant to be learned. Otherwise, they'll end up like Dani, Rachel, Spencer & Chase Stolworthy.

*sidenote: My mom is also the lady who thought it would be funny to have a child and raise it wrong as a joke. Maybe we should just ban her from all experiments in the future.

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