The famous Marshmallow Test was invented by Walter Mischel in Trinidad in the 1950s to answer his question of why the local Asian Indians tended to have more money than the local blacks: it turned out that Indian kids were better at delaying immediate gratification (getting one marshmallow NOW) in favor of getting a bigger payoff (two marshmallows later) than were black kids.
For some reason, this experimental tradition has not been cancelled from the psychology textbooks, although the original Trinidad version is not emphasized in favor of one later performed at Stanford. Instead, Mischel’s subsequent rationalization for his Trinidad finding—oh, it doesn’t have anything to do with race, it’s just that the Indian kids tend to come from intact two-parent homes while the black kids tend to come from single mother homes—has been accepted, by those few who have bothered to look into the origin of marshmallow test, as wholly explanatory.
Of course, a moment’s reflection should let you realize Mischel is just saying that the Indian kids’ parents passed their own adult version of the marshmallow test (sex after marriage) and the black kids’ parents failed (sex NOW).
From Psychological Science, a new version of the marshmallow test:
Cultures Crossing: The Power of Habit in Delaying Gratification
Kaichi Yanaoka, Laura E. Michaelson, Ryan Mori Guild, …
First Published June 24, 2022
https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221074650Resisting immediate temptations in favor of larger later rewards predicts academic success, socioemotional competence, and health. These links with delaying gratification appear from early childhood and have been explained by cognitive and social factors that help override tendencies toward immediate gratification. However, some tendencies may actually promote delaying gratification. We assessed children’s delaying gratification for different rewards across two cultures that differ in customs around waiting. Consistent with our preregistered prediction, results showed that children in Japan (n = 80) delayed gratification longer for food than for gifts, whereas children in the United States (n = 58) delayed longer for gifts than for food. This interaction may reflect cultural differences: Waiting to eat is emphasized more in Japan than in the United States,
One reason the Japanese aren’t as fat as us.
whereas waiting to open gifts is emphasized more in the United States than in Japan.
Waiting to open presents on Christmas (and to a lesser extent on birthdays) is a memorable part of American culture for American kids. The postwar Japanese do Christmas to some extent—it’s not like the immediate postwar era when an enthusiastic but confused Japanese department store celebrated Christmas by nailing Santa to a cross. But it’s not as huge as Christmas in the U.S.
My guess is that most presents in Japanese culture are brought by visitors and it is considered polite to immediately open them and act excited over them.
But what if the gift is a fancy department store melon? Are you supposed to show your appreciation by immediately cutting it up and eating it on the spot with your guest? Or would that imply that you can’t delay gratification for food, which would be shaming? Would it be shaming to imply your guest can’t delay gratification either? But then why bring melons? As you can see, there is much I don’t understand about Japanese culture.
These findings suggest that culturally specific habits support delaying gratification, providing a new way to understand why individuals delay gratification and why this behavior predicts life success.
Inculcating habits is a very good thing. I suspect American society is getting worse at it.
