This is what happened when psychologists gave toddlers a version of the classic Marshmallow Test

By Christian Jarrett The US psychologist Walter Mischel famously tested children’s ability – aged four to six – to delay immediate gratification with his “Marshmallow Experiment”. It’s become a classic, not least because the children who were better at resisting one marshmallow now, for the promise of two if they waited, went on to enjoy more success in adult life. Mischel also showed that children with stronger willpower used better distraction strategies, such as looking away or covering their eyes. Now a group of Polish psychologists have extended this line of inquiry to toddlers. The findings, published in Infant Behaviour and Development, show that individual differences in self-control are already apparent at the tender age of 18 months. The study also reveals how self-control develops through the second year of life, and it shows the kind of toddler behaviours that were correlated with stronger willpower. Marta Bialecka-Pikul and her colleagues at Jagiellonian University recruited hundreds of toddlers and their parents. At 18 months, each toddler sat on his or her parent’s lap at a desk upon which was a corn puff treat – a hit with toddlers in Poland – under a transparent cup. The female experimenter got up and asked the toddler to wait for the treat until she returned to the room, which she did after 60 seconds. The parent was not allowed to intervene. The researchers videoed what happened while they were gone. At 24 months, the...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Developmental Source Type: blogs