What If The Kids Who Failed The Marshmallow Test Were Smarter Than We Think?

I have to admit that I have some serious doubts about the marshmallow test.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the marshmallow test is an experiment first run in 1972 in which a young child is left in a room with a single marshmallow, and informed that they’ll be given a second marshmallow if they can resist the urge to eat the first for 15 minutes.

Not only is it great fun to watch the kids squirm as they sniff, nibble and otherwise fixate on the marshmallows, the children who were able to wait the 15 minutes tended to achieve better outcomes across a range of metrics in later life. Lower incidence of obesity, a decreased risk of drug addiction and higher SAT scores, to name a few.

But while all of that is great, I can’t help wondering how the kids who waited felt when they received their second marshmallow. I mean seriously, it’s a marshmallow. It’s not like we’re talking about an ice cream or a chocolate bar. Was that second tiny lump of aerated sugar really worth the 15 minutes of anguish they endured?

That was 15 minutes that they could have spent playing outside (it was the 70s remember, so playing outside wasn’t yet considered child abuse), or watching TV, or doing anything other than sitting alone in a room being…