The joke is that in this version of the experiment, the child isn’t being tested, the marshmallow is. And in this case, the marshmallow has decided to eat this one child instead of waiting until later, when it would have been allowed to eat two children.
5 minutes is not worth 1 marshmallow.
Marshmallows are not that good, so one is way enough.
As a kid, I could never trust adults who wanted to limit good things. Who’s to say the strange adult in a white coat would really bring a 2nd marshmallow? What if they actually remove the marshmallow instead?
In short, it can only separate kids in two groups: the blind followers of authority and the other ones.
The marshmallow experiment is one of those that self-help gurus and LinkedIn ‘influencers’ love to peddle as being meaningful, in no small part because it tells people who had lucky upbringings that they are inherently better than others, and not just a product of their environment. But when it’s actually examined critically, it falls apart.
Time to calculate how much 1 marshmallow is worth in time considering minimum wage in my country.
Let’s begin.
Minimum wage in Slovakia is €4.69/h.
An 80g bag of Jojo marshmallows is €1.19 at Tesco.
It claims one portion is 3 marshmallows which is 11.7g.
Therefore 1 marshmallow is 3.9g.
Therefore there are 20 - 21 marshmallows in the bag.
Therefore 1 marshmallow costs roughly €0.058.
€4.69/h is €0.078/m or €0.0013/s.
Therefore, 1 marshmallow costs roughly 44.62 seconds of work time.
Well, assuming there are no taxes. So maybe something close to 1 minute per marshmallow. Although… maybe if we add total time, including time you’re not working… 12 marshmallows an hour, 288 a day, 2016 a week, 8640 a month. That’s €501.12/month.
Based on this the minimum monthly wage after taxes and all is €661.80/month.
I think we were also given 3. We were given one at the start of the small sunday school class, and if we had it at the end of it, we were given three more. So the difference was that if you ate it early, you still would have had to wait anyway.
I don’t get it
“The Stanford marshmallow experiment was a study on delayed gratification in 1970 led by psychologist Walter Mischel, a professor at Stanford University.[1] In this study, a child was offered a choice between one small but immediate reward, or two small rewards if they waited for a period of time.”
The joke is that in this version of the experiment, the child isn’t being tested, the marshmallow is. And in this case, the marshmallow has decided to eat this one child instead of waiting until later, when it would have been allowed to eat two children.
Oh shit, I totally didn’t see that the marshmallow was biting the kid. The image is so small it looked like a power outlet behind him on the wall
Same! Man this really needs an edit where the marshmallow is biting from there opposite side of his arm.
Same, was confused until I zoomed in.
Thanks. I didn’t see the marshmallow chewing on the kids arm till I read this then zoomed in. Lol
I always found this study to be lacking…
5 minutes is not worth 1 marshmallow. Marshmallows are not that good, so one is way enough. As a kid, I could never trust adults who wanted to limit good things. Who’s to say the strange adult in a white coat would really bring a 2nd marshmallow? What if they actually remove the marshmallow instead?
In short, it can only separate kids in two groups: the blind followers of authority and the other ones.
They should have done cookies instead.
And sweeten the deal. 1 cookie or a BAG… Yeah, give me a BAG it cookies, yeah. I’m an ADULT.
Guess what? This effect has been found in other experiments!
The marshmallow experiment is one of those that self-help gurus and LinkedIn ‘influencers’ love to peddle as being meaningful, in no small part because it tells people who had lucky upbringings that they are inherently better than others, and not just a product of their environment. But when it’s actually examined critically, it falls apart.
Time to calculate how much 1 marshmallow is worth in time considering minimum wage in my country.
Let’s begin.
Minimum wage in Slovakia is €4.69/h.
An 80g bag of Jojo marshmallows is €1.19 at Tesco.
It claims one portion is 3 marshmallows which is 11.7g.
Therefore 1 marshmallow is 3.9g.
Therefore there are 20 - 21 marshmallows in the bag.
Therefore 1 marshmallow costs roughly €0.058.
€4.69/h is €0.078/m or €0.0013/s.
Therefore, 1 marshmallow costs roughly 44.62 seconds of work time.
Well, assuming there are no taxes. So maybe something close to 1 minute per marshmallow. Although… maybe if we add total time, including time you’re not working… 12 marshmallows an hour, 288 a day, 2016 a week, 8640 a month. That’s €501.12/month.
Based on this the minimum monthly wage after taxes and all is €661.80/month.
Conclusion: It is worth the 5 minutes.
This is what I’ve said since I learned of this experiment. I’m only waiting for the second marshmallow if BOTH of the following statements are true:
I want two marshmallows.
I trust the adult to keep his word.
Marshmallows are bad. 2 would be a punishment.
We did this in church with maltesars
Way better than marshmallows!
I think we were also given 3. We were given one at the start of the small sunday school class, and if we had it at the end of it, we were given three more. So the difference was that if you ate it early, you still would have had to wait anyway.
Won’t it melt from the heat in your hand/pocket? I ain’t having chocolate stains in my pocket, I’m eating it now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment?wprov=sfla1
I know what the marshmallow test is; I don’t get the joke in the comic. It depicts one of the kids who didn’t wait. Where’s the joke?
It’s not the kid who didn’t wait…
The marshmallow is eating the kid, not the other way round.
I think it’s that he waited 5 seconds and got zero marshmellows?
Or he ate it already between the 2nd and 3rd panel, and is demanding the second one?
I didn’t get it til another poster pointed it out – instead of the kid eating the marshmallow, the marshmallow is biting the kid’s arm.
I glanced over the comic a couple times, and each time I saw the kid tossing the marshmallow in the air as if to catch it in his mouth.
Oohh!