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Then the experimenter placed each toy in the cardboard box and out of sight of the child. The experimenter asked the child to sit in the chair and then demonstrated each toy briefly, and in a friendly manner said they would play with the toys later on. The experimenter pointed out the four toys before the child could play with the toys.
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Near the chair with the empty cardboard box, there were four battery operated toys on the floor. There were two chairs in front of the table on one chair was an empty cardboard box.
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Under the cake tin, there were five pretzels and two animal cookies. There was an opaque cake tin presented on a table in the experimental room. The procedures were conducted by two experimenters. Three subjects were disqualified from the experiment because they were unable to understand the instructions and choices given by the experimenters. The median age was four years and six months. The children ranged in age from three years and six months, to five years and eight months. The participants attended the Bing Nursery School of Stanford University. There were 32 children who were used as participants in this experiment consisting of 16 boys and 16 girls. Many seemed to try to reduce the frustration of delay of reward by generating their own diversions: they talked to themselves, sang, invented games with their hands and feet, and even tried to fall asleep while waiting - as one successfully did." Participants Mischel and Ebbesen observed, "(some children) covered their eyes with their hands, rested their heads on their arms, and found other similar techniques for averting their eyes from the reward objects. The researchers let the children know they could eat the treat, but if they waited 15 minutes without giving in to the temptation, they would be rewarded with a second treat. The children were led into a room, empty of distractions, where a treat of their choice (either two animal cookies or five pretzel sticks) were placed on a table.
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The attention on the reward (that was right in front of them) was supposed to make them wait longer (for the larger reward). Since the rewards were presented in front of them, children were reminded of why they were waiting. The authors hypothesized that an increased salience of a reward would in turn increase the amount of time children would be able to delay gratification (or wait). Not many studies had been conducted in the area of human social behavior. Most of the research conducted during that time was done with delayed rewards in areas such as time perspective and the delay of rewards, resistance to temptation, and psychological disturbances. The purpose of the study was to understand when the control of delayed gratification, the ability to wait to obtain something that one wants, that develops in children. The first experiment in delayed gratification was conducted by Walter Mischel and Ebbe B. The predictive power of the marshmallow test was challenged in a 2020 study. The replication suggested that economic background, rather than willpower, explained the other half. A replication attempt with a sample from a more diverse population, over 10 times larger than the original study, showed only half the effect of the original study. In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI), and other life measures. The reward was either a marshmallow or pretzel stick, depending on the child's preference. During this time, the researcher left the room for about 15 minutes and then returned. In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time. The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1972 led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University. ( February 2022) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help improve this article by checking for citation inaccuracies. The reason given is: the article mixes up the 19 marshmallow experiments Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. This article possibly contains inappropriate or misinterpreted citations that do not verify the text.