David Baxter PhD
Late Founder
What is your Marshmallow IQ?
Psychology and You
December 14, 2008
Typically, when we assume that a persons intelligence can be measured by their IQ. Although IQ is a good general predictor of intelligence, marshmallows may be even better!
In a psychological study conducted at Stanford University, researchers tested a 4 year old child?s ability to delay gratification and how this affected their lives as teenagers and adults.
The study goes something like this: A room with a man in a lab coat, a child, and a marshmallow in front of the child. The researchers told the child that they had to run some errands for a few minutes and that they could eat the marshmallow directly in front of them right away, but if they waited for the researcher to return, they could have two marshmallows instead.
The findings of this study are very surprising. Two thirds of the children were able to delay gratification and one third snatched up the marshmallow within seconds of the researcher leaving the room. The children who delayed gratification had higher social competence, resilience to high stress situations, high trustworthiness, and were better able to cope with the frustrations of life. They embraced challenges and pursued them even in the face of difficulties. The third of the children who could not resit the temptation displayed a more troubled psychological profile as teenagers and adults. This group were socially aloof, stubborn, easily upset by trivial situations (especially not getting what they want!), had stronger feelings of worthlessness and jealousy, and were immobilized by stressful situations. Not exactly an ideal member of society!
As it turns out, ones ability to delay gratification is twice as good at predicting SAT performance than IQ! In an academic setting, those who were able to delay gratification scored between 16-23% higher on SAT exams than those who were not able to deffer gratification.
The take home lesson: keep your kids away from the sweets.
Psychology and You
December 14, 2008
Typically, when we assume that a persons intelligence can be measured by their IQ. Although IQ is a good general predictor of intelligence, marshmallows may be even better!
In a psychological study conducted at Stanford University, researchers tested a 4 year old child?s ability to delay gratification and how this affected their lives as teenagers and adults.
The study goes something like this: A room with a man in a lab coat, a child, and a marshmallow in front of the child. The researchers told the child that they had to run some errands for a few minutes and that they could eat the marshmallow directly in front of them right away, but if they waited for the researcher to return, they could have two marshmallows instead.
The findings of this study are very surprising. Two thirds of the children were able to delay gratification and one third snatched up the marshmallow within seconds of the researcher leaving the room. The children who delayed gratification had higher social competence, resilience to high stress situations, high trustworthiness, and were better able to cope with the frustrations of life. They embraced challenges and pursued them even in the face of difficulties. The third of the children who could not resit the temptation displayed a more troubled psychological profile as teenagers and adults. This group were socially aloof, stubborn, easily upset by trivial situations (especially not getting what they want!), had stronger feelings of worthlessness and jealousy, and were immobilized by stressful situations. Not exactly an ideal member of society!
As it turns out, ones ability to delay gratification is twice as good at predicting SAT performance than IQ! In an academic setting, those who were able to delay gratification scored between 16-23% higher on SAT exams than those who were not able to deffer gratification.
The take home lesson: keep your kids away from the sweets.
Delay of gratification? I'll show you delay of gratification! How about... oh, 10 years? :smack:
