Answer:
Imagine that you are seven years old. You are participating in an experiment. A
researcher greets you and shows you into a small room. In the room there is a
marshmallow. The marshmallow is for you, but here is the interesting part: The
researcher tells you that he is going to leave you alone in the room for a while. You can
eat the marshmallow right away, or you can wait until he gets back. If you wait until he
gets back, you will get a second marshmallow.
What do you do? Do you eat the marshmallow right away?
An experiment like this, known informally as the marshmallow experiment, was
conducted decades ago at Stanford University. It turned out that some children ate the
marshmallow right away, while others were able to wait. In other words, some sought
instant self-gratification, and some delayed it.
Years later, the researchers followed up on the participants. They found that the
children who delayed self-gratification were in general more successful than those who
ate the marshmallow right away. By a variety of measures, including SAT scores, they
appeared to be more competent.
Common sense tells us that the ability to delay self-gratification is a mark of maturity.
The marshmallow experiment provides evidence that it may also correlate with success
in life.
Explanation:
