Identifying Questions and Hypotheses

The Marshmallow experiment.


Renowned psychologist Walter Mischel is the designer of the famous Marshmallow Test, explained what self-control was and how to master it, through a simple test involving 16 little kids. The experiment was held at Stanford College in 1970. I these studies, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards if they waited for a short period, approximately 15 minutes, during which the tester left the room and then returned. The question posed by Doctor Mischel was probably something like "How does self-control work, and how does it carry with you throughout your years?" The question was backed up by the hypothesis, "If a child has better self-control than the other children by not eating the marshmallow for 15 minutes, then that child will be more successful in the life than the other ones". 

Prior to writing this, I had already known about the experiment for a couple of years. I heard it during a conference, and the speaker mentioned the experiment. I have also had a great interest in the subject of self-control and experiments like these, because I want to know how the people end up in the end.