50 years ago in the early 1970s, two researchers at Stanford University did an experiment

noteworthy for its clever design, its extraordinary follow-up and results, and just how easily

misunderstood and wrong it was.

Hello, it's John, from Glasgow in

Ecos, and you're

an episode special

of the archives of Akimbo.

That's right.

I want to talk for a couple minutes about the

Marshmallow test, the Stanford

marshmallow test, and then I want to get to a really important question.

The marshmallow experiment, it took place at the preschool that was run at Stanford University.

It was done several times in the early 1970s.

The conceded the experiment is super clever.

First, find out if a kid prefers pretzels or marshmallows, but for the sake of this conversation,

and because it's so much more fun to say, we'll talk about marshmallows.

You say to a kid, three years old, four years old, maybe even five, here's the deal.

I'm going to leave you alone in this room, this library filled with toys and books, and I'm going

to put a marshmallow in this box. If I come back in 15 minutes and the marshmallow is still there,

I'll give you two marshmallows. On the other hand, if you eat the marshmallow before I come back, no more marshmallows for you.

And what they found is that some kids ate the marshmallow. There's actually very amusing

video of kids torturing themselves, looking at the marshmallow before they eat it. And then

...