The Stanford Marshmallow Test
I heard about this test a few months ago and the New Yorker had an article about it again today:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/18/090518fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all
The format of the test is simple. Put a marshmallow in front of a kid and tell them that they can eat it. BUT if they can wait 15 minutes and NOT eat it the researcher will come back with 2 marshmallows for the kid. If the kid eats the mashmallow while the researcher is out of the room, they dont get the other 2 bonus marshmallows.
After reading about this a second time I decided to start digging and see if the web had any video about this. I found 3 videos that have lots of hilarious clips of kids going nuts trying not to eat the marshmallow (even some just ate it right away). I think there is still a kid in all of us who just wants the marshmallow NOW!
Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.
The second video has some news commentary and explains the premise of the test and what it might tell us about our children
This third video has a lot more of the kids but it has terrible audio and ends with some religious blah blah. Feel free to tune out if you aren't interested.
image credit: ukaaa
