sometimes i think about that kid in the experiment who was sat down and told to wait some time before eating the sweetness put in front of him

that his patience would bring a reward

and i think about how they laughed when he didn’t succeed in waiting and instead crammed the entire gummy bear into his mouth the second they left

looking so guilty afterward

the way they gloated and collected data and prognosticated about his future job prospects and potential success-
certainly not as good as those who waited, they said

it was something about self-control

i know all too well that when he got home there were probably no sweets
or if there were, they were there for a moment only
before being snatched away by either cruel hands or circumstance,

no guarantee that promises meant anything, much less that they were kept.

if it had been me in that chair
i’d have eaten it too.

This study is actually kind of sad, because upon further reflection on the data, it was found that the kids with "poor impulse control" were actually less likely to trust authority figures because they had experienced so many letdowns or broken promises from adult role models in their lives. Kids with happy home lives who were used to getting treats were way more likely to wait for the second marshmallow, whereas kids who had been consistently lied to or had never been given spontaneous treats by their caretakers were more likely to just take what was right in front of them.

I had to zoom in

The kid is smart, he gets an healthy dose of marshmallow now instead of a sickening quantity later

Calvin?

Oh ye, that experiment was rather bad

Just to confuse him, wait five minutes then eat just one of them.

That marshmallow clearly has issues with authority, not a lack of self control