How a little candy explained so much…

If someone offers you a marshmallow, what do you do? Say thank you, make a brachah, and pop it in your mouth? Save it until you can eat it in peace and quiet?

How a person eats a marshmallow may not seem very significant, but one researcher thought differently. His famous experiment proved that eating a candy might not be such a simple thing!

Predicting the Future

Nobody believed Walter Mischel when he came up with his theory.

“I can tell you if a four-year-old will be successful or not,” he declared.

All his researcher friends thought there was no way he could prove it. That is, until they saw the results of the experiment that made headlines.

And it was all because of a candy.

Owen, age 4: 

Mischel led little Owen by the hand into a room.

He sat him down at a table and put a marshmallow in front of him.

“Do you see this marshmallow?”

Owen nodded, eyes longingly fixed on the treat.

“You can eat it right now or…” the researcher paused. “You can wait in this room for 15 minutes, and if you don’t eat it by the time I come back, then I’ll give you two marshmallows.”

Owen waited for the door to close. As soon as it did, he glanced around, snatched up the marshmallow, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Katya, age 5: 

“Hi Katya, do you see this marshmallow?”

“Yes!” Katya chirped eagerly, reaching out for it.

Ebbesen, Mischel’s assistant,  held it out of her reach. “Do you think you can wait?”

Katya looked uncertain.

“Maybe.”

“Well, if you wait 15 minutes, you’ll get two marshmallows.”

Katya’s face lit up.

Once the researcher left, she put her head down on the table and waited. After a minute she looked up, glanced longingly at the  marshmallow, and put her head back down again. She swung her legs, sang songs, picked up the marshmallow and played with it, but when the researcher came back in the room, the marshmallow sat there, uneaten.

So what does that prove?

Two kids. Two different results.

But what was the point?