The Factors And Consequences Of The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment

It was the late 1960’s. The Marshmallow experiment was conducted to find out the mental processes, as Lehrer said, “The initial goal of the experiment was to identify the mental processes that allowed some people to delay gratification while others simply surrendered”(Lehrer, 2009).

The marshmallow challenge was an engaging and exciting way to learn and solve a problem in a form of teamwork. The challenge was to build a tower with the simple components of spaghetti, string, a long piece of tape and a marshmallow. The catch was, it was a competition for the highest tower and the marshmallow had to be placed on top of the tower. My group was able to get a nice height on the tower but unfortunately was not the highest. Our strategy for the tower was to more than anything have a strong base, so that the tower would have some type of balance when the marshmallow was placed on top. We built a triangular base and formed some type of pyramid and built off that, when the marshmallow was placed on top the tower it swung side to

If I was doing this study, my hypothesis would be that “people, who receive an aversive stimulus every time they give an incorrect answer, will try harder to get the correct answer than those who do not receive anything”. My independent variables, which are the variables that researcher manipulates, would be the electric shocks and the emotional motivation; and my dependent variable, which is the variable that is tested and measured, would be the members’ results.

In the 1960’s, Walter Mischel and colleagues researched delaying gratification in children. The development of the simply designed marshmallow test yielded a better understanding of delaying gratification in children. The success of the marshmallow test generated a greater interest in understanding human self-control and fellow researchers continued to examine delaying gratification and self-control. B.J Casey, PhD, of Weill Cornell Medical College, Mischel, Yuichi Shoda, PhD, of the University of Washington, and colleagues further examine Mischel’s earlier research. This continuation of the experiment and advances in medical research allowed for Casey et al. to examine the neurological basis of gratification in adults. This research allows for a better understand in how a child’s ability to delay gratification can effect them across their lifespan. However, social environment factors also contribute to difference in self-control and ability to delay gratification.

Many psychologists have studied and used Mischel’s experiment and examples in their own works. In a recent study, Celeste Kidd conducted one such experiment; in The Marshmallow Challenge Kidd had twenty-eight children take part in an exercise involving art. She gave the children two different choices throughout the project. The first choice she gave them was to use old worn down crayons now or wait for a new box of crayons. The second was one small sticker now or wait for a better set of stickers. She divided the children into different groups. One of the groups was the “reliable group” which was the children that waited patiently, and the other group was the “unreliable group” which was the children who couldn’t wait for the new supplies.

Whether research is experimental or developmental, there are no guarantees of perfect study processes or results, since both random and systematic errors are expected. Errors and uncertainties of a study’s outcomes surface almost every time. Faulty, aged or incorrectly calibrated instruments, during an experiment, can lead to important alterations of results. Distracting environments definitely influence the outcome. Finally, the human parameter in the sense of having ability to properly operate instruments and correctly interpret measurements definitely consist another factor of imperfect research (Bell 7-9).

Do you believe that willpower influences success? The marshmallow experiment test kids on their willpower by offering a marshmallow to a four-year old and telling them that they could eat right away or wait 15 minutes. After they have made their decision, the kids will be looked at later on twelve years later on how they are performing on their behavior and test scores. The willpower that influenced these four year old's decision, did impact their success later in life. The marshmallow experiment was first conducted by Walter Mischel in 1968.

Afew weeks ago The Marshmallow Activity was recreated. It was recreated for a purpose. It represented a battle. The Battle of Fort Vercheres reminds me of The Marshmallow Activity. There are many reasons I think this. Let me start off by telling you more about the battle.

In the experiment group, children were asked to postpone their desire to eat marshmallow for ten minutes, but they were notified how much time left to hold their

The nature of the issues being investigated meant that controlled experiments couldn't be carried out. It would not be possible to separate children from their mothers in an experiment! Because control of variables was difficult, clear conclusions were difficult to draw. Other evidence from psychoanalytic case studies or from animal studies must also be interpreted very carefully.

lex Lickerman, author of the article “The Power of Delaying Gratification”, discuss the experiment psychologist Walter Mischel did on the kids to understand their self-control. Basically, he gives a group of children a cookie and gives them to option either they could eat the cookie immediately or they can wait until he comes back, however, if they wait for him to back they will receive another cookie. Based on his experiment he concludes that the kid who resist to eat a cookie and wait for him to gain another cookie they will do better in the school than the kids who did not resist. For instances, they will get higher sat scores than who eat the cookie immediately. Likewise, I attempt to do the same experiment instead of using cookie I use candy because teenager loves candy, therefore it will be difficult for them to refuse candy. So, I did experiment on students who are in regular classes and they are in different grades. Based on the results, I realize that only freshman and sophomore find it difficult to candy but seniors are also found difficult to resist the candy. This interacts with Walter ideology because I did experiment students who are in regular class and Walton states that kids who resist eating candy straightway will do better in the school. Therefore, the students find difficult to resist the candy so they are in regular class instead of honors class.

The famous marshmallow test analyzes children at the age of four to see if they can resist the temptation of a marshmallow right in front of them for an entire fifteen minutes, and if they could, a second marshmallow would be a reward for their patience. If the child was unable to resist, eating the marshmallow was an option, but a second marshmallow would not be rewarded. This experiment was first conducted by a Stanford University Professor, Walter Mischel, in the late nineteen-sixties. Walter Mischel was from Vienna, Austria, and left for the United States during the time when Hitler was banishing anyone with Jewish heritage. In this experiment, Mischel was looking for mental processes that could help the children to delay gratification and for those

The experiment basically demonstrates how someone’s role or environment or can highly influence human behavior.

Classic studies in psychology are not worthy of the term — all such studies are vastly over-rated. Discuss.

Psychological research may be undertaken on a subset of society; however the importance of the results may have an effect way beyond the group tested. The value of psychological research varies and the same results can be used in different ways by different groups of society.