Delayed gratification plays an important role in human psychology and underpins many aspects of human culture, including social interactions and religious practices. A key study in this area was the Stanford 'marshmallow experiment' conducted nearly half a century ago. Researchers studied how preschoolers cope with the choice of eating one marshmallow now or waiting a little while to receive two marshmallows later.
The marshmallow test is more than just an interesting experiment with children. Initial research showed that children with higher willpower face fewer behavioral problems, achieve higher academic scores, and have lower body mass indexes. Furthermore, subsequent studies revealed that the socio-economic status of children is a significant factor.
Background conditions influence willpower. It is evident that it is easier to resist temptations and trust authorities if a person has grown up in a privileged environment. A 2020 study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization found that the test does not have predictive power regarding self-regulation in middle age.
Not only humans can resist temptations, but some animals can as well. Recent studies have shown that even cuttlefish are capable of passing this test (though instead of marshmallows, they had crabs).
Delayed gratification is also observed in animals such as monkeys, parrots, and crows. How does this happen? A review that included 52 studies concluded that scientists currently lack sufficient data to understand the underlying mechanisms of delayed gratification in the animal kingdom (including humans). Significant variations are observed within the same species, similar to what occurs in humans.
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