Friday, September 18, 2009

Psych students

n the late 1960s, psychologist Walter Mischel performed a series of tests on preschoolers referred to as The Marshmallow Tests. Mischel would give a child a single marshmallow, then leave him or her alone in the room with it. Before he departed, he'd make each kid an offer: if they wanted to, they could eat it immediately -- but if they waited for him to return, they'd get two marshmallows. The tests were designed to examine willpower and the mental processes behind delayed gratification.


14 Comments:

Blogger John Sarvay said...

haha how long did they have to wait?

5:14 PM

 
Anonymous Cassie Pedersen said...

Wow! some of those kids are really patient!

5:41 PM

 
Blogger Unknown said...

Horrible of me to laugh at them...but it was quite amusing.
(That one girl didn't seem to want to wait though)
I guess it depends on how much you're willing to do to get more rather than accepting what you already have as good enough....if that makes sense.

6:04 PM

 
Blogger Bridget Brooks said...

I love that little red head girl! She even took the plate!

7:30 PM

 
Anonymous Kristi Darling said...

As if smelling it is going to make the temptation go away. Silly kids.

11:53 AM

 
Anonymous Mike Kleen said...

TO be honest, I couldn't wait at that age. I would eat it right away. Just having it on the plate would be a tease...

3:43 PM

 
Blogger Daniel said...

I wonder if they can subject A.I.s to something similar. This would be useful in gaging emotional vs. rational motivations and how they relate. Computer engineers have realized that a perfectly rational machine is impractical. For example, it would take perhaps days to choose a paint color.

3:49 PM

 
Blogger JenKnight said...

Haha these poor kids, I felt bad when I watched it but I'm very proud of the ones that waited...
-Jen Knight

4:38 PM

 
Anonymous Jeffrey said...

The kid that got 2 tried so hard not to eat it

10:39 PM

 
Blogger Alysia said...

oh man... those kids are really pacient, if it was like a candy bar than i would have waited maybe a million dollars, that would be great, but not just a marshmellow. i guess when you're younger your priorities are a little different

4:13 PM

 
Blogger morgan said...

awww those kids were super cute....

3:56 PM

 
Anonymous Jeffrey Beltran said...

Note that Infant is spelled wrong.Juat putting that out there if I am the Only one that noticed.Hope not.

11:34 PM

 
Anonymous Jeffrey Beltran said...

I spelled "Just" wrong.Just putting that out there.Hope im not the only one that noticed

11:37 PM

 
Anonymous Stephanie E. said...

It is pretty sad that I found watching little kids wait for another marshmallow amusing, but it was. I can't believe at their age they had the patients. I guess little kids have their priorities!

4:57 PM

 

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