“That conflict was crucial, because without it, you don’t have a situation for testing self-control.” The children were left alone in the room for 15 minutes – an eternity to wrestle with the choice between instant marshmallow gratification and delayed marshmallow reward. “We were interested in creating an intense conflict for the child,” said Mischel. The children were given the choice of eating one marshmallow whenever they wanted or, if they could hold out until the adult instructing them returned to the room, they were rewarded with the two marshmallows. They were brought into a barren room, empty of any distractions except a table upon which sat a very tempting treat: the marshmallows. Mischel first administered this experiment, dubbed the “marshmallow test,” to preschoolers in the early 1960s.
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