The "marshmallow experiment" makes people believe that those children who can delay satisfaction and have developed initiative and self-control will have a sound personality and develop smoothly in their later lives; However, children with underdeveloped initiative and self-control often have personality problems, making life development more difficult. In the following decades, "delayed gratification" and its related qualities such as self-control, self-control and initiative have become important indicators for parents and teachers to evaluate excellent children.
However, I thought of something else:
Those 4-and 5-year-olds are staring at the sweet marshmallows on the table. Every child wants to eat it, but why do some children resist the temptation and some children have to eat it all at once?
In these children's minds, they will think, what will happen if they choose not to eat this marshmallow right away?
If a child tells him that he can get another marshmallow in 15 minutes, he doesn't believe it at all! Because in his life experience, he is always cheated, telling him that those who wait will always fail. Then he won't wait 15 minutes, because he's not sure that there will really be two marshmallows waiting for him in 15 minutes.
It is also possible that some children have never eaten marshmallows. He has only seen other children and their parents eating marshmallows hand in hand in the park, and he has never had such an opportunity. He wants to eat so much that even if there is only one, he will be satisfied. He wants to taste it quickly; And the other kid, he can eat marshmallows every day, so it really doesn't matter if he waits for a while.
So are other children. In the environment where he grew up, don't say 15 minutes. Even if he waits for two minutes, the marshmallows in front of him may be taken away. Therefore, only eating them as soon as possible is truly safe and belongs to him. And some children, just tell them that this marshmallow is his, and this marshmallow will always belong to him. No matter how long they wait, it is safe, so he can wait.
So, you see, in fact, delaying satisfaction is not only a child's personal quality, but also related to his life situation, past experience and life experience, as well as his sense of trust, security and wealth. Children who are extremely lacking in security, satisfaction and trust will have a huge hole in their hearts. If we don't consider these factors and only judge a child from his external behavior, I think we may miss something.
Only when psychological experiments can help us understand an individual's life better and more deeply, and treat this life with more sympathy, will this theory have more human significance.