• D_C@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Itt:
    People not seeing the marshmallow speak, or bite the kid. Or the horrified look on the kids face.

      • dryfter@lemm.ee
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        3 months ago

        Took me D_C’s comment to get it and even then it took me a minute to find the marshmallow and realize it wasn’t on the plate anymore 🤦🏻

        • Gestrid@lemmy.ca
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          3 months ago

          I knew it wasn’t on the plate anymore.

          I just didn’t know it was GNAWING THE KID’S ARM OFF.

  • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    A shower thought about the original experiment:

    It may have only measured how effective “waiting for future gains” was, as a strategy, for each child, in their circumstance.

    So the real discovery may be only that the children already had a pretty good idea how promising their own futures were. :(

    • taiyang@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Or hungrier kids (aka poorer kids) get the marshmallow first. Or those in greater need of serotonin (at least I think it’s serotonin) you get from sugar, etc. There’s a variety of issues here, but that’s true of most “experiments” that aren’t actually randomized controlled trial experiments.

    • kattfisk@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Or it measured how rare it was for them to get candy. The most interesting thing about the experiment is honestly the many ways in which it was flawed.

    • KingJalopy @lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Or they’re just natural born addicts like myself and need that instant reward and think to hell with my future self. That’s his problem. Present me just got a marshmallow.

  • Ideonek@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Turns out the test is only a good predictor of “how well you can trust the adults in your life to keep their words”. Which tells more about the envirement than about the kid.

  • waterbird@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    3 months ago

    sometimes i think about that kid in the experiment
    who was sat down and told to wait some time
    before eating the sweetness put in front of him

    that his patience would bring a reward

    and i think about how they laughed when he didn’t succeed in waiting and instead
    crammed the entire gummy bear into his mouth the second they left

    looking so guilty afterward

    the way they gloated and collected data and prognosticated about his future job prospects and potential success-
    certainly not as good as those who waited, they said

    it was something about self-control

    i know all too well that when he got home
    there were probably no sweets
    or if there were, they were there for a moment only
    before being snatched away by either cruel hands or circumstance
    no guarantee that promises meant anything, much less that they were kept.

    if it had been me in that chair
    i’d have eaten it too.

    • ZoopZeZoop@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I don’t know what study you are referencing, but in ALL the behavior analytic literature on “self-control” that I know of, the experimenters provide the reinforcement as part of the study. Not only that, but there are usually repeated trials with the same individual to establish a baseline and some sort of experimental treatment to see if self-control-related behaviors can be shaped. If the research is done with individuals who are children or have Developmental Disabilities, they usually ask that whatever the reinforcers are be restricted for some amount of time prior to experimental sessions to minimize outside influence on the study. So, families are usually asked not to give that specific candy, or whatever, to the individual during the trial, but there will be a handful of opportunities to receive some.

  • rumba@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    Store-bought marshmallows are one of those things where I only really want one.

    There’s an ice cream shop few towns over that makes fresh, exotic flavored marshmallows, depending on the day they’re better than sex. But even those are about the size your fist and honestly two would be a little bit too much.