So there’s this experiment where researchers take a bunch of preschoolers and give them a marshmallow and they say, “ok, you can eat this now, or you can wait thirty minutes and then we’ll give you two marshmallows.”
And they leave them alone with hidden cameras and watch the struggle of willpower and it’s supposed to say something about delayed gratification.
And this thing gets used to explain why some people are better with money than others, or make various other better life choices. The Aesop here is if you can delay your satisfaction, you’ll get ahead.
But here’s a proposed version of that experiment that’s more realistic.
Give the kid the marshmallow and explain it all as above. Then come back 30 minutes later and say, “Sorry, actually we ran out of marshmallows, so even though you didn’t eat yours, you’re not getting a second one. Other kids got two, but you don’t. Also, every kid with fewer than two marshmallows has to give back their original marshmallow. Sorry we didn’t tell you that earlier now hand it over.”
Then call them back for a repeat experiment where you give them the same offer. See how many kids scarf that marshmallow down in two seconds flat because like hell they’ll trust you again.
If it’s the experiment I’m thinking of they did run the experiment again, and this time did take into account something they didn’t before: the socio-economic level of the children involved and if there had been broken promises made before to them. Children from lower socio-economic circumstances who had been let down in the past were far more likely to eat the marshmallow the first time around. The experimenters then showed the kids they had the two marshmallows to give them and let them out.
Then comes the fun part: they ran the experiment again.
This time, those kids who ate the marshmallow before waited. Without any further prompting than keeping their word, the scientists destroyed the notion that children in poverty are more prone to poor impulse control or are more likely to scarf down sugar than rich kids.
Oh now that is interesting! I’d never heard that follow-up before.
When I first learned about this case study in college, something about it felt incomplete, but I could never really put my finger on it. It seemed overly simplistic, but I couldn’t see the missing piece because in was in one of my cognitive blind spots.
Knowing about this follow up is incredibly valuable and insightful!
And this is why it’s vital for human beings to check our assumptions and always be on the lookout for cognitive blind spots. Because even one missing variable can mean the difference between transformative insight and generations of deeply embedded misconceptions.
This is also why it’s important for the scientific community to actively seek out scientists with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. It’s not about arbitrary “diversity quotas,” it’s about pursuing a diversity of insight.
:^)
Source?
I have a source, and not only does it key on the idea of the kids being more able to wait if they know the adults will be likely to keep their promises, but it also compares the waiting times of kids from Germany to kids from Cameroon, and found that the Cameroonian kids (unlike the German kids) almost all had absolutely no problems with the test, because they were raised in a completely differently way–a way that was based on their parents anticipating the children’s needs, so the kids already knew they adults would keep their promises and so the kids had no need to be upset (the report states that “being upset” is strongly discouraged in their culture) https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/07/03/534743719/want-to-teach-your-kids-self-control-ask-a-cameroonian-farmer SO YES no matter how you look at it, it’s really a test of the children’s parents, not the children.
I just realized that the specific reason the 80s and 90s anti-racism preaching in the media failed is because it was entirely focused on emotions and bullying and self esteem, and now everyone thinks the only thing that racism affects is people’s feelings.
but in reality, personal emotions about one’s self are the FINAL, smallest, most individual, personal step in what racism does. it ALSO does so much astronomically more than that, and anyone who’s experienced it knows that on some level. it’s institutional; it’s woven inextricably into the fabric of not only our country, but our global system, too. and people are utterly blind to that.
popular culture still suggests that racism is wrong JUST because saying racist stuff hurts people’s feelings, and not because it’s a cultural attitude that informs every level of how our society operates; there is little awareness that racism is about ACTIONS, actions with no conscious intent behind them, not beliefs, which are intangible.
and now that the alt-right has popularized the idea that feelings are objectively stupid, there’s no longer ANY reason not to say racist things. because who cares about hurting other people’s FEELINGS? that’s the very last, smallest, most individual, personal thing you can possibly care about! 🙄
that’s why people are convinced nowadays that a public figure with wide-reaching influence can say racist things unapologetically without “being” racist. because to them, “being racist” isn’t the same as ACTING RACIST. It’s some internal belief—some character flaw—that only crazy people have, and if you’re ironic enough about it, there’s suddenly no harm in being openly racist for laughs.
when the truth is, ACTIONS MEAN MORE THAN BELIEFS. virulent racists are createdandenabledby an almost unfathomably massive system of laws and conventions and tradition and lies that people tell themselves and each other. on a global scale.
people think racism is a thing people believe but somehow NOT a thing people DO.
