So How Are Those Delayed Gratification Test Subjects Doing 40 Years Later?
- Posted on September 1, 2011 at 4:12pm by
Liz Klimas
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Put a marshmallow in front of a preschooler. Tell them if they wait 5 minutes to eat it they’ll get a second marshmallow. Walk away.
A test just like this was conducted 40 years ago with marshmallow and cookies to study delayed gratification in children. Now, researchers have followed up with the same then preschool-age test subjects and found that a higher propensity for delayed gratification was carried on to adulthood.
Watch a more recent video of children enduring the struggle during the marshmallow experiment. It’s harder than it looks when that marshmallow is staring you in the face:
The follow up, published by the National Academy of Sciences, found that the same children who could resist the marshmallow before, had similar willpower today. According to the release (via Science Daily):
Those better at delaying gratification as children remained so as adults; likewise, those who wanted their cookie right away as children were more likely to seek instant gratification as adults. Furthermore, brain imaging showed key differences between the two groups in two areas: the prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum.
. . .
“This is the first time we have located the specific brain areas related to delayed gratification. This could have major implications in the treatment of obesity and addictions,” says lead author Dr. B.J. Casey, director of the Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Sackler Professor of Developmental Psychobiology.
The second time around the 59 participants from 40 years before didn’t get a marshmallow — apparently cookies and marshmallows are “less rewarding for adults.” Instead the participants, looked at a screen with a series of faces. They signaled only when a face of a certain gender was shown; this test was a control. It showed no significant differences between the two groups. The second test — the “hot” test — showed emotional faces on a screen. Results were varied and revealed that delayed gratification was consistent from childhood to adulthood:
“In this test, a happy face took the place of the marshmallow. The positive social cue interfered with the low delayer’s ability to suppress his or her actions,” explains Dr. Casey.
The original marshmallow and cookies test was conducted by Walter Mischel, a co-author of the current study and the Niven Professor of Humane Letters at Columbia University.
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EqualJustice
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 2:38pmKids today MUCH prefer INSTANT GRATIFICATION. They would just form a FLASH MOB and TAKE the rest of the marshmallows, right?
Report Post »ObserverOnTheHill
Posted on September 4, 2011 at 4:19pmI personally observed a MAJOR difference between generations when at Seaworld. The adults were looking at the LIVE action in the pool while the kids watched the Jumbotron TV even though the real experience was happening right in front of them. This is why the tv announcer says “we will be right back with your normally scheduled PROGRAMMING” – Scary
Report Post »RA0725
Posted on September 4, 2011 at 2:16pmWe needed a study for this? When I was a kid my Mom just said “you have to wait until after dinner”. End of conversation.
Report Post »Kathleen
Posted on September 4, 2011 at 4:51pmYou could also say that people who abstinate from sex till marriage learn self control. Those who don‘t want restrictions before marriage don’t seem to do too well with restrictions after marriage if there is illness, pregnancy etc. I‘d bet that infidelities come from people who didn’t learn self control.
Report Post »swimmer1940
Posted on September 4, 2011 at 11:12amI think one can quickly separate the pre-WWII babies from the Boomers, simply by observing the need for instant gratification. This is obvious even in families where some kids were born before and during the war, and the pampered Boomers who never knew a Great Depression, ration books, victory gardens, etc. Boomers knew nothing of self sacrifice, and adopted Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem as their new heroines. Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dorn were idolized.
Report Post »Blacks once had two parent families until Lyndon Johnson and company made it profitable not marry and RAISE a family. Instant gratification came in the form of more money for more out-of -wedlock births. Lots of white females also grabbed onto this brass ring of the government provided good life.
aquablue
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 9:59pmthey are so cute! it put a smile on my face.
Report Post »Sy Kosys
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 5:52pmWhy am I the only one here that thought this study, based upon headline alone, had something to do with sex?!? LMAO i need to get lei’d ;)
Report Post »Steev
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 10:29amCute but a typical liberal waste of time and money, remember the wise old owl in the tootsie roll commercial – how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie roll tootsie pop : “ ONE ” – “ TWO ” – “ THREE ” – “ CRACK ” : “ THREE ” !
Report Post »dr_funk
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:34pmI don’t see it as a waste of money.
Quit being so obnoxious.
Report Post »billwhit1357
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 2:35amAnother way to waste taxpayer money! How Stupid! Only a Progressive ****** could agree to something so stupid!
Report Post »sodacrackers2
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 9:55pmThis was done 40 years ago, and it was adorable to watch the kids. I would love to see the exact same experiment done with today’s children.
Report Post »Quiata
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 10:32pmPsssst….Sodacrackers2…This WAS tested with “today’s children”. The article mentions that it repeats a similar experiment conducted 40 years ago.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 10:28pmWhat an idiotic study and an idiotic conclusion. Willpower isn’t a learned skill, it’s part of how a person is wired. You either have it or you don’t. Of course the people that had willpower then still have it now and vice versa. Did you really need a study and forty years to figure that out?
Report Post »ruben
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:14pmI sure wish you’d had the will-power to refrain from posting that drivel. Right buddy, it’s ALL ABOUT biology. I am a slave to my wiring! My wiring is making me write this message right now in fact!!!!!!!!
Report Post »Bonnieblue2A
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:36pmYou need taxpayer dollars to fund it.
Report Post »Komponist-ZAH
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 1:53amEventually there’ll be a study that reveals that most studies reveal stuff most people already knew anyway.
Report Post »dr_funk
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:36pmBS. It IS a learned skill.
Kids who are raised to favor instant gratification are more likely to be impulsive and seek instant gratification. Kids who are raised with discipline are more likely to be disciplined and delay gratification for better results.
Report Post »3monkeysmomma
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:42pmThis test is stupid!
How many of the subjects grew up to be obese? How many had addiction issues? How many got PhD’s?
Leave it to a researcher to miss the forest…
Report Post »dr_funk
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:38pmThe test determined that the propensity for pursuing instant gratification versus delayed gratification does not change with age.
THAT was the test.
Quit being so obnoxious.
Report Post »Airb0rne4325
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:38pmThats what I want to know. Did the kids that couldn‘t resist end up being stung out on crack and meth and the one’s that could end up as leaders of global empires.
No, kids were shown marshmellows and 40 yrs later were shown “faces”? How is that equivilant? Sounds like someone got lazy at the end. “Got my grant money and I am outa here”
Report Post »dr_funk
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:47pmAirborne, you moron…the reason why they didn’t use marshmallows again is because, surprise, adults favor different foods than kids. Preschoolers are content to eat handfuls of sugar, and it still tastes good to them after 4-5 handfuls. Adults get grossed out from that much sugar. There is no such equivalent food that creates such universal desire in adults as marshmallows do in children. Children (for good biological reasons) crave high-energy foods. Adults aren’t wired to crave sugar the way kids are. So, they had to find a substitute that took advantage of some universal appeal among adults. In this case, they used attractive faces.
In fact, the researchers would have been lazy if they just stuck some marshmallows in front of the adults. That would have resulted in very skewed and inaccurate results, because it would not be measuring the focus of the study, instant vs delayed gratification. It would have measured the extent to which adults no longer crave sugar. The study would have been useless if they had used marshmallows, or even some food, on the adult subjects. Even if they put BBQ ribs in front of the adults, the results would be skewed by people who dislike ribs. So no, the researchers were NOT lazy, they actually did the right thing and found a testing method with universal appeal among adults.
Report Post »lorgrom
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 1:12pmWonder how progressives brains would match to the kids who needed instant gratification? I’m willing to bet a 100% match, if not a new benchmark for the category.
Report Post »teamarcheson
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 2:06pmWhere are the black kids? Why not black kids?
Report Post »Ghandi was a Republican
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 11:20amHilarious – worth every penny ! Too bad the researchers are set to be charges with child abuse and as potential terrorists by obama‘s ’I‘ll gladly pay you tuesday for a hamburger today’ commission .
Report Post »dr_funk
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 4:40pmYou must be a troll.
Report Post »starznbarz
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 7:45amA short quiz- question: WE paid how many millions for this study? answer: don`t question our authority – racist!!! Oh, and don`t forget to pay your taxes, thank you – you can go back to sleep now. http://www.starznbarz.com
Report Post »CulperGang
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 7:39amHows the indictments for fast and furious going? anyone know?
Report Post »Lonescrapper
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 7:31amHow are happy faces showing ‘delayed gratification?” Isn’t being slower to react to a happy face showing that you 1)don’t react to people appropriately 2) aren’t made happy when other people are happy or 3) don’t want to be happy?
Report Post »Luci Hurley
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 1:22amNope, I don’t get how showing adults happy faces equates to instant gratification or delayed gratification – doesn’t make sense to compare the two (marshmallows/children and happy faces/adults) and say that they KNOW anything about those people.
Report Post »FlashRiver
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 2:55ami don’t know about anyone else but waiting on a marshmallow promise would not keep me from instant gratification… i am not greedy, i would just eat the one right then and there… rofl
Report Post »AlansTigg
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 10:43amI could resist marshmellows for years…but then I don’t like them so there is no gratification, delayed ortherwise
Report Post »Shiroi Raion
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 11:10pmGratificiton is one of the Decepticons maybe? ;-)
Report Post »brickmoon
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 11:40pmNo second marshmallow for the headline writer. And Those who are tardy do not get fruit cup!
Report Post »for-what-its-worth
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 12:52am@ BRICKMOON
No second marshmallow for the headline writer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“NO MARSHMALLOW FOR YOU!!!”
Report Post »MilkmanDan
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 2:39amIs it just me, or has The Blaze really gone downhill in the proofreading department over the last few months? I used to think I was being petty, but it’s getting ridiculous.
Report Post »Mizurax
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 10:29pmMaybe I’m just slow, but I fail to see how the 2 “faces” tests have anything to do with… anything. What was the delayed gratification? If they wait, they get to see 2 smiling faces? Who gives a crap? What am I missing here…
Report Post »AlansTigg
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 10:44amyeah I don’t get how the faces are gratifying either
Report Post »samnjoeysgrama
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 10:21pmI wonder if kids today are more or less able to delay eating the marshmallow. They don’t seem able to save money to buy a big ticket item, even if it costs twice as much to put it on a payment plan.
Report Post »ANOTHER ISOLATED INCIDENT
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 10:02pmWhat is “Gratificition”?
Report Post »ANOTHER ISOLATED INCIDENT
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 10:09pmI mean “Gratificiton”
Report Post »starznbarz
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 7:47amit`s the sense of accomplishment you get when you spell something correctly :) http://www.starznbarz.com
Report Post »drybackinpi
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 7:43pmHumans are screwed up…who knew?
Report Post »hlopeor
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 7:41pmFor me this is child abuse.
Report Post »Lucy Larue
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 6:50pmTotally asinine!
Report Post »As a toddler I wasn’t crazy about marshmallows. As an adult …,same. I could have sat there with a marshmallow in front of me for as long as they asked. If they “rewarded” me with a second marshmallow I would have stuck both of them in my pocket and given both to my brother.
loriann12
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 8:05pmOnly if they let me roast them over the burner of a gas range. I only like roasted marshmellows.
Report Post »Luci Hurley
Posted on September 3, 2011 at 1:32amI can’t remember how I felt about marshmallows when I was 5, but I could leave one on the table for months now. I do remember that my big sister seemed to enjoy hoarding her candy and eating it only after all of the rest had eaten all of our candy. She seemed to get far more pleasure out of watching us watch her than she did from the candy. She may be thinner than me, but she’s not a very nice person even today!
Report Post »momsense
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 6:33pmI wonder what difference there would be in different ethnic groups.
Report Post »AB5r
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 8:43pmdat be a gud question, yo, but we all know who has little self control and acts on impulse most of the time.
Report Post »3monkeysmomma
Posted on September 2, 2011 at 4:45pmyou would need an extremely large sample size to determine that with any validity…..but it’s an interesting question….albeit, not a very “PC” one.
Report Post »Chuck Stein
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 6:25pmI wonder how much genetics and how much very early nurturing has to do with that brain development. Specifically, if toddlers learn to trust those around them, then how does that affect thier brains?
Report Post »shirelover
Posted on September 1, 2011 at 7:26pminteresting comment, my grandson had terrible problems with trust issues because of his father, (who is in fed prison because of his addictions) we have been working very hard on his ability to delay gratification, he’s 10 now and with almost daily therapy from me, and with proper medication for his other problems…
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