Mellows and Mallows

The Stanford marshmallow experiment is a physiological test of kids’ patience and reward wiring, the experiment goes as follows: A kid is sat down in a room with a marshmallow and told that they could eat the marshmallow now or they could show patience and get two marshmallows. My friend and her little sister had their patience tested by their parents in their developmental years. This is how it went for them.

Mary and her younger sister sue (fake names) were sat down by their parents to try the marshmallow experiment. As per the experiment each child was given a treat and told they could eat it now or wait and get two. Both kids agreed to wait and so the timer started. Mary learned that the reward would be twofold, so long as she could stick it out, despite the temptations to give in. After quite some time of sitting in a dull room with nothing but a marshmallow to resist her parents decide that time is up, because the marshmallow was untouched Mary was rewarded with a second. She had patience and her reward was twice as much.

Sue, on the other hand, had a different experience. She wanted the sweets now but she liked the idea of two treats so she picked and nibbled at the marshmallow so she could try and get the best of both worlds. Unfortunately for Sue, her parents were watching, and seeing her pick at the marshmallow and trying to hide it showed she couldn’t handle the experiment, In the end she didn’t get a second treat.

Two children that contrast each other, one who had patience and was rewarded and another whose lack of patience ended in a lack of marshmallows. This experiment instills a lesson early on in a child’s development, Patience, although tricky, will reward eventually.

“Marshmallow Nightmares!!” by katerha is licensed under CC BY 2.0.