What the Marshmallow Test Can Teach Us About Society

The marshmallow test was a test studying delayed gratification in the 60s and 70s. The way the test it worked was that children were given the opportunity of either eating one marshmallow now, or waiting for a period of time after which they would have been allowed to eat two marshmallows.

The interesting thing about the study is the fact that the children who opted to instantly eat the one marshmallow generally did worse in life; bad school grades, drugs, crime, unemployment, you name. Basically, all of the factors that make for a "bad life".

I spent some time thinking about this yesterday since it touched a nerve with me as I'm generally terrible with delayed gratifications. I probably would have been the kid who chose to just eat the one marshmallow.

This is just me speculating and being an armchair social scientist, but it seems to me that the ability or inability to function with delayed gratifications is at the very center of people's "life success". It's not at all hard for me to believe that the people who can handle the idea of a long term gratification do better in life, than those looking for quick thrills. Good things in life generally take work, and sometimes you get the reward with a long delay.

Businesses and advertisers are also constantly pushing the idea of a quick reward at us: why save money when you can just take a loan right now; why prepare a meal when you can just get one made for you right now; why exercise when we have this magical gadget that you just insert around your waist and it will do the exercising for you right now. It's pretty common for us to think that it's stupid people who fall for them.

Furthermore, this got me thinking about the school system.

The school system is something that rewards a very specific type of learning. And whether we like it or not, the way society is shaped up, school determines a sizable amount of an individual's success. I think it's a shame, but right now it seems to be the way it is.

I think there's a big argument to be made that school abandons those individuals - kids and otherwise - who are not as good at dealing with long term rewards and gratification. If you're wired towards short term gratification, it can be difficult for you to see the big picture with a school that takes multiple years to finish. During the first year, the graduation is still multiple years away, and during the final year, it doesn't matter what you do anymore.

It should be extremely important to recognize the differences in how people react to short term and long term goals and rewards, and realize that education needs be flexible enough to take everybody into account.

Of course, as with any public service, education is not very good at being flexible since there's little incentive to change.

The way I see most criminals is that I don't think they were all "born evil", and I feel that the vast majority of people want to be able to do something productive that works towards creating a good life for them. But if the systems in place actively work against you, the animal side and the survival instincts kick in, and they turn to crime since there's nothing else available.

Also, it'd be nice to understand the factors that determine how well an individual reacts to the concept of long term goal. I have read that violent upbringing can lead to bad impulse control, for one. It's also something that I have unfortunate experiences of, and can co-sign the claim.

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