The Bing Nursery marshmallow experiments, conducted in the 1960s and now back in the news, were supposed to show that 4 year old children who are capable of deferring gratification grow up to be more successful adults. The scientist took a 4 year old into a room empty of everything except a table, a chair, a bell, and a plate with a treat on it – a treat the child had previously expressed liking for. He told the kid that she could eat the treat any time, and if she did so and wanted to leave the room she could ring the bell and he would open the door. But if she waited for 15 minutes, he would come back and give her two of the treat. The children were tracked in later life and those who were able to resist and wait tended to do better.
If you watch the videos and think for minute, you’ll see it’s full of loopholes. The main loophole for me is something I haven’t seen raised by the critics. It has to do with the fact that no matter how hard the scientists try to speak to the child neutrally, any kid can tell – like any adult can tell – that the point of the thing is to wait; the adult, without meaning to, is suggesting that waiting is a good idea. The way the children behave thus has as much to do with how well they respect authorities and structures of authority as it does with an ability to defer gratification. My conclusion: children who wish to please adults are more successful later in life.
Hopeless but not serious 
You misspelled “Children who wish to please adults become groveling worms later in life, and eventually authority figures themselves.”
Same diffy.
I never put off pleasure. And one of the greatest pleasures is bucking authority.
Well it is too bad those scientists messed up back then. Otherwise all this time later we could’ve had some useful results. But this was the problem–scientists didn’t realize that they themselves could be having an effect on the outcomes of their experiments with children. They just didn’t get it.
I am not going to invoke quantum mechanics and measurement theory.
But, you have hit the nail right on the head. Correlation does not imply causality.
Yes but maybe the kids who wait are just selfish jerks who think they are owned 2 marshmellows. And since they ask to get more, they get more in life. I know that, I am one of these kids, I would have waited and I hate authority, but I love more marshmellows. It is the cat mentality, patiently waiting in front of the hole, until the mouse comes out. Very efficient, spend less energy, get more treat.
Or maybe kids who have already been abused and therefore don’t trust adults don’t do well in their adult lives.