Today I bring you this funny video that shows how children are able to resist the temptation of treats, or almost. The explanation for this unusual fact is that they have the promise that, if they wait to eat the candy, they will get many more goodies.
The strategies of children to contain themselves and not throw themselves on the candy are varied and very funny: there are those who sing, who look the other way, who move their legs impatiently, who smell it, touch it ... And some cleats suck or tear it off some piece so you don't notice that they have already tried it.
In general, the faces of desire are immense, and some do not resist temptation and end up eating the candy, without being able to wait for the greater reward that would come if they had been contained.
Behind the curious images is a theory. The psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a series of experiments in which faced children of 4 years to a dilemma between a simple, close and ephemeral pleasure compared to another greater pleasure that I had to wait for.
The experiment was to put two cookies in front of the child, one small and one large. The child can take the small cookie at any time, but if he wants the large cookie, then he must wait for the adult to return to the room, something that can take up to twenty minutes.
The results show that up to Younger children have traits of discipline and self-control, in search of greater pleasures even if this involves an effort and postpone the obtaining of desire.
Those children who fail to show these natural signs, according to the researcher, will probably have a worse time when they are older, without knowing how to wait or reflect on what is best.
The reactions of the children who participated in the study of Mischel showed similar actions to those we observed in the images: a girl begins to hum a song to remember the instructions: that to get the big cookie there is nothing more to wait, close the eyes and turn their backs on cookies.
Another little boy swings his legs violently back and forth, trying to do anything but think about the cookie he could have at any time.
I already imagined that, even so small, many children can wait to receive the biggest treat by doing a self-control exercise. Will we lose this ability over the years and stop fighting and strive for a reward that we still don't see?
