Rational snacking: young children's decision-making on the marshmallow task is moderated by beliefs about environmental reliability.
Children are notoriously bad at delaying gratification to achieve later, greater rewards (e.g., Piaget, 1970)-and some are worse at waiting than others. Individual differences in the ability-to-wait have been attributed to self-control, in part because of evidence that long-delayers are more successful in later life (e.g., Shoda, Mischel, & Peake, 1990). Here we provide evidence that, in addition to self-control, children's wait-times are modulated by an implicit, rational decision-making process that considers environmental reliability. We tested children (M=4;6, N=28) using a classic paradigm-the marshmallow task (Mischel, 1974)-in an environment demonstrated to be either unreliable or reliable. Children in the reliable condition waited significantly longer than those in the unreliable condition (p<0.0005), suggesting that children's wait-times reflected reasoned beliefs about whether waiting would ultimately pay off. Thus, wait-times on sustained delay-of-gratification tasks (e.g., the marshmallow task) may not only reflect differences in self-control abilities, but also beliefs about the stability of the world.
Brain & Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Meliora Hall, Rochester, NY 14627-0268, USA. ckidd@bcs.rochester.edu
Celeste
C
Kidd
Holly
H
Palmeri
Richard N
RN
Aslin
D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003469:Culture; D003657:Decision Making; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D012201:Reward; D012649:Self Concept; D012727:Sex Characteristics