Oh, The Temptation!

1. Fran
   September 15th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

   That was so cute!

2. Mitch
   September 15th, 2009 at 3:01 pm

   I want to have more fun with it. Tell the kids they're going to get another marshmallow if they wait. Then, if they don't eat it, take it away and say "I lied."

3. Video Game Dork
   September 15th, 2009 at 3:12 pm

   i was thinking they might give two and say "you can eat them now, or i'll bring you back two more, for a total of four!" and keep doing that (doubling) until they gave in.

4. xaver
   September 15th, 2009 at 3:31 pm

   torture porn

5. Matt
   September 15th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

   Now that was a bit disappointing! What happened to all the other kids? Did they all wait? How happy were they to get the reward? Why stop the video in the middle of it? I feel cheated ...

6. Lana
   September 15th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

   There's a TED lecture about this (ted.com) that was done , they show and speak about the original marshmallow experiment, apparently, they followed up with the kids 14 years later and the kids who had controlled themselves and waited patiently for the second marshmallow were the kids who were doing great in college because they were future focused instead of present focused,and were delaying gratification by working hard presently for rewards later on. Fascinating stuff.

7. FishBottleT
   September 15th, 2009 at 5:58 pm

   Yea those TED lectures are amazing!! oh and marshmallows.

8. LisaL
   September 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm

   That was very cute.

9. Cordydan
   September 15th, 2009 at 7:05 pm

   Radio Lab did a short (15 min.) piece about this experiment.
   They included what happened when they looked at the kids years later.
   Cute and FASCINATING!

10. Cordydan
    September 15th, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2009/03/09/mischel%E2%80%99s-marshmallo ws/

    Here's the link.

11. Miss Cellania
    September 15th, 2009 at 8:12 pm

    Hey y'all, what happened to the kids years later is in the linked article in this item.

12. Christophe
    September 15th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    I vote for it being the best 2009 post
    It made my day !

13. poneyup
    September 15th, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    This probably explains why I'm not doing so great right now. Had it been toddler-me I would have eaten that marshmallow before it hit the plate and run out screaming "foooootball!" before she left the room. Screw future rewards, Death doesn't follow a schedule.

14. Skipweasel
    September 16th, 2009 at 10:06 am

    No trouble for me - always hated marshmallows.
    Just about anything else and I'd have wolfed it, I'm sure.

15. Kalel
    September 16th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    "You may have this marshmallow now, but if you'll press this button and shock the child in the next room, I'll give you two."

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