The marshmallow test is one of the all-time great psychology experiments. It was invented in the 1960s by a Stanford psychologist called Walter Mischel and has been repeated many times since. Essentially, it's a test of self-control. In brief: put a four-year-old in a room with a marshmallow (or some other sweet they love) and promise them another, but only if they can wait a few minutes before eating the first one.The researcher leaves the room, so the child is left alone with their temptation. Some kids barely wait till the researchers have closed the door (or not even) before gobbling up the one on the plate. Some stare at the thing intensely until they can wait no more and give in after a minute or so. Others find ways to distract themselves - singing, looking away, crawling under the table - and win their reward.
What made the experiment really notable was that Mischel followed the lives of the children in those first tests as they grew into adolescence and adulthood. He found that the ones who managed to wait it out - who were good at managing their own impulses towards instant gratification - tended to be happier and more successful at school and in their careers. Those who didn't even bother trying to resist were more likely to have drug problems, wayward careers, broken relationships, and so on. This suggests just what an important skill it is to be able to manage our own instincts, to conceive of our future selves as well as address our immediate desires, to play the abstract future off against the clamorous present. For a longer, fascinating account of the experiment and its implications, print 'n read this. (The video above is a sort of impressionistic take on the experiment - I don't know if they were doing it 'for real', as it were.)
The test provides a suggestive analogy for brand management, too. Marketers are constantly having to balance the short-term needs and opportunities of a brand against its imagined future. The temptation to eat the marshmallow on the plate comes in many forms (cut the price, run that promotion, do a deal with a partner that doesn't share our values but offers big volumes). Strong brand management requires a vivid ability to imagine (and persuade others of) a future for the brand for which it might be worth sacrificing the immediate opportunity. Brands that are good at this are likely to be stronger and more valuable in the longer-term. Sometimes, however, you just really, really want that marshmallow.
