In the
1960s, a Stanford professor named Walter Mischel began conducting a series of
important psychological studies.
During
his experiments, Mischel and his team tested hundreds of children — most of
them around the ages of 4 and 5 years old — and revealed what is now believed
to be one of the most important characteristics for success in health, work,
and life.
The Marshmallow Experiment
The
experiment began by bringing each child into a private room, sitting them down
in a chair, and placing a marshmallow on the table in front of them.
At this
point, the researcher offered a deal to the child.
The
researcher told the child that he was going to leave the room and that if the
child did not eat the marshmallow while he was away, then they would be
rewarded with a second marshmallow. However, if the child decided to eat the
first one before the researcher came back, then they would not get a second
marshmallow.
So the
choice was simple: one treat right now or two treats later.
The
researcher left the room for 15 minutes.
As you
can imagine, the footage of the children waiting alone in the room was rather
entertaining. Some kids jumped up and ate the first marshmallow as soon as the
researcher closed the door. Others wiggled and bounced and scooted in their
chairs as they tried to restrain themselves, but eventually gave in to
temptation a few minutes later. And finally, a few of the children did manage
to wait the entire time.
Published in 1972, this
popular study became known as The Marshmallow Experiment, but it wasn't the
treat that made it famous. The interesting part came years later.
The Power of Delayed Gratification
As the
years rolled on and the children grew up, the researchers conducted follow up
studies and tracked each child's progress in a number of areas. What they found
was surprising.
The
children who were willing to delay gratification and waited to receive the
second marshmallow ended up having higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance
abuse, lower likelihood of obesity, better responses to stress, better social
skills as reported by their parents, and generally better scores in a range of
other life measures.
The
researchers followed each child for more than 40 years and over and over again,
the group who waited patiently for the second marshmallow succeed in whatever
capacity they were measuring. In other words, this series of experiments proved
that the ability to delay gratification was critical for success in life.
And if
you look around, you’ll see this playing out everywhere…
· If you
delay the gratification of watching television and get your homework done now,
then you’ll learn more and get better grades.
· If you
delay the gratification of buying desserts and chips at the store, then you’ll
eat healthier when you get home.
· If you
delay the gratification of finishing your workout early and put in a few more
reps, then you’ll be stronger.
… and
countless other examples.
Success
usually comes down to choosing the pain of discipline over the ease of
distraction. And that’s exactly what delayed gratification is all about.
The premise is that
if you have the willpower, discipline, or the mental aptitude to forestall your
immediate desire to have gratification, the marshmallow, you are more likely to
have more success later on in life. Having this ability demonstrates our
willpower to put off the immediate rewards while dealing successfully with the
unpleasant duties.
During our crisis
moment in the COVID-19 pandemic, we are challenged just as those children were
challenged. We are asked to put off immediate gratification of living our
regular lives, or making our livings as we normally would. We are asked to not
go shopping, go out to eat and drink, to put off everything we had considered normal
as our society goes through the lockdown.
We were all able to comply
because we understood the ramifications of letting the virus persist unchecked.
We learned and believed in lowering the curve and to forestall the possible
chaos that could come from a full-blown pandemic. We did it with some grumbling,
but we all took it in stride because this pandemic is such a massive unknown. After
months under a lockdown it is understandable that we all have a short fuse. We are pretty much at our wit’s end and are
itching to go out and lead our regular lives again, the return to normality
that is the carrot at the end of the stick.
The undesired and unintended
consequence that this lockdown has wrought is that it has essentially destroyed
the economy. 36 million people out of
work to date is catastrophic. Large and small businesses have been decimated;
many have declared bankruptcy never to return again.
It is no wonder that we
are all itching to get back to reclaim our society, our jobs, our economy, and our
normal way of life. So much so that some have taken to the streets to protest
what some consider to be draconian measures continuing the lockdown. In their
haste to return to normality, I would guess that the vast majority did not considered
or is ignoring the fact that the nationwide infection rate is still on the
climb, ignoring the expert opinions on
everything, infection rate, the necessity of further isolation, the need for
more significant testing, and the dangers of igniting the infections anew.
In essence, a number
of people who has failed the marshmallow experiment. They cannot delay their
gratification: their desire for returning
to a state of normality, so they chose to ignore the potential dangers
with reopening before all the states has reached the CDC edict on the when
reopening is safe and have taken it upon themselves to jump the gun.
Unfortunately, some
of the chief executive, leaders, have failed the marshmallow experiment as
well. As of the last weekend, 48 states have reopened their states to
businesses, some with strict social distancing restrictions, and some with
relatively lax rules. Only nine states meet the reopening criteria that the CDC
recommends.
There is nothing that
can be done at this point to reverse the reopening, unless a catastrophic
second wave hits all the states and municipalities that have opened prematurely.
As an individual, we can choose to not partake in the reopening until we are
sure that the second wave has been averted. The unsatisfactory and nagging
feeling is that we, those who passed the
marshmallow test, are at the mercy of those who did not, that our lives may be
adversely affected by their inability to delay their gratification, and that
those who passed the marshmallow experiment are not infected or worse because
of the actions of those who did not pass the marshmallow experiment.
No basket of hot
wings is worth sentencing your fellow human to extreme sickness or death.
