Delayed gratifaction as a predictor of success

November 25th, 2009 | 5,390 views | 5 Comments » |


I betcha’ if I was one of the kids in this study, I wouldn’t have eaten the marshmallow.

After watching these two videos, I thanked my parents for teaching me the value of patience. But most of all, I thanked them for not giving me everything I wanted, right when I wanted it as a kid.

If you’re reading this, guys — thanks!

Update (1 hour later): I was just perusing Hacker News and I stumbled upon an article criticizing the Marshmallow Test, and for interesting reasons too. Check it out: The Marshmallow Test – They Got It Wrong.

You should share this with your friends:

5 Comments | Leave a comment » More posts about: Best of the Web, Science

5 Comments on “Delayed gratifaction as a predictor of success”

  1. 1 Jeremy Keeshin said at 2:09 am on November 26th, 2009:

    great post. very good find!

  2. 2 thekeesh.com » The Psychology of Success said at 2:14 am on November 26th, 2009:

    [...] Or read Feross’ post here: [...]

  3. 3 Feross Aboukhadijeh said at 2:16 am on November 26th, 2009:

    Thanks dude! Glad you liked it.

    Would you have eaten the marshmallow? Ask your parents if you’re not sure… hehe. They knew you best when you were little. Tell me once you’ve got the answer. :-)

  4. 4 Rohit said at 3:41 pm on December 9th, 2009:

    I have to agree with the link in the update post. If success could have been determined so easily everyone would be successful.
    (well, everyone can be successful. At the end it boils down to the definition of success ;-) )
    All that this test can determine is if the kids wanted 1 or 2 marshmallow LOL

  5. 5 cheapest dental in geelong said at 1:23 am on October 30th, 2010:

    Why would you want to go on a uncomfortable diet for?. Eat whenever you like, just remember to keep excercising

Leave a Reply

Fork me on GitHub