Questions about the "Marshmallow Test"

4b) One of Stanford’s top researchers, Walter Mischell, designed an experiment call the “Marshmallow Test.” It was a test of delayed gratification which by definition means the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. To test this, Mischell gathered a random sample of kids and tested them with the temptation of a treat, a marshmallow. He simply told them that they had the option to either eat the one marshmallow now, or to wait until he returns, and therefore be rewarded with another one. Most children struggled with resisting themselves from wanting to just eat the first marshmallow. Majority held out for an average of less than three minutes and it was common for the kids to try to delay the gratification by covering their eye or by touching the treat, and not actually consuming it. Only thirty percent of the kids were able to wait out the full duration of the fifteen minutes.

One question that arises was why was it so hard for the children to wait out the full fifteen minutes? To me, I find it silly that majority could not resist the wait. Then again, I am looking at this from a teenager’s perspective. Many argue that the children have a lack of self-control and willpower which leads to why they just take the first marshmallow. Also, some claim that those who came from a poorer house hold had the hardest time to wait. I can see this side also because those kids maybe never had a treat or and reward before, and would rather just take what they have it before the lose it. One of the kids says he took the treat before because, “at a certain point, it must of occurred to me that I was all by myself and so I just started taking all the candy.” As you can see, many of the kids had different opinions on what was justice to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment

Another question that came to mind throughout the article was what about the blind variable of the procedure? For instance, those kids who had signs of ADHD or who fully had the disease. No matter how much willpower they put out, it would be nearly impossible for them to wait out the full fifteen minutes.