Based upon a psychological test described in a book Neva and I are currently reading about children's mental development, I performed the following routine with Grafton.
I placed one M&M on a plate for Grafton and told him, "If you can wait one minute without eating that M&M, I'll come back and give you two more. Remember, you can't eat it!"
He passed! I then repeated with 2 M&Ms first, followed by the promise of 7 more, with a 2 minute wait in between.
He passed again! And proudly proclaimed "I didn't eat them!" when I returned.
However, it was a somewhat biased test of his willpower, since he was watching Mary Poppins at the time, so it was probably much easier for him to resist the temptation. I'll try again later under more controlled conditions.
Mary Poppins or no that is great. I remember learning about this test when I was training to be a teacher.
ReplyDeleteWay to go Grafton!
What exactly is being tested? Willpower? Submission to authority? Willingness to cooperate? Sense of time? Blood sugar level? Investment acumen? Time value of candy? Sense of accomplishment?
ReplyDeleteWhat if you put out one celery stalk with the promise of two in a minute, etc.?
These are serious questions.
In any case, he's a great, happy little guy.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment
ReplyDelete