this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 20 points 20 hours ago (5 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 19 hours ago

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:

  1. I want two marshmallows.

  2. I trust the adult to keep his word.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 17 hours ago

As a kid, I could never trust adults who wanted to limit good things.

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 15 hours ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

Marshmallows are bad. 2 would be a punishment.