Accessibility links
Let Them Eat Marshmallows : Planet Money The marshmallow test is one of the most famous social experiments of all time, but we may be thinking about it all wrong.

Planet MoneyPlanet Money

The Economy Explained

The Indicator

Let Them Eat Marshmallows

Cameroonian kids were part of an experiment based on the classic "marshmallow test": Put a single treat before a child but tell the child if he or she waits, say, 10 minutes, a second treat will be given.
Enlarge this image
ZenShui/Michele Constantini/Getty Images/PhotoAlto
Cameroonian kids were part of an experiment based on the classic "marshmallow test": Put a single treat before a child but tell the child if he or she waits, say, 10 minutes, a second treat will be given.
ZenShui/Michele Constantini/Getty Images/PhotoAlto

A 4-year-old kid is given a marshmallow and a choice: either eat the marshmallow in front of her, or wait a few minutes (after the adults leave the room) and be rewarded with a second marshmallow. If the child can successfully wait, she can expect a bright future — or at least a brighter future on average than if she had not waited.

The marshmallow experiment is one of the most famous studies in all the social sciences, its conclusions widely known. A new study looks at its results for a different, more diverse group of kids than were tested in the original, and arrives at some surprising conclusions.

Music by Drop Electric. Find us: Twitter/ Facebook.


Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts, PocketCasts and NPR One.

Planet MoneyPlanet Money

The Economy Explained