Page 7 - Flipbook: Sociology Shortcuts Issue 4: Testing the Marshmallow Test

The Situation…

So far we’ve looked at the Marshmallow Test from
a predominantly psychological viewpoint and to Thus, although the same concepts are present,
complete this toasting we can change the focus to they’re being used in very different ways and this
look at it through a more-sociological, lens. produces very different meanings and
interpretations. For sociologists (and situational
The first way we can do this is by looking at the psychologists), the key criterion here is the cultural
concepts of delayed and immediate gratification situation in which people find themselves.
and the historical sociological context in which
they’ve been used. This should illustrate a A second way to change the focus is to test
fundamental difference between individualistic whether the crucial variable in the original Test was
psychological and sociological perspectives. the situational context in which it took place. While
Mischel et al. were very careful to ensure their lab
Barry Sugarman (1970) was one of the first UK setting was made as welcoming and undistracting
sociologists to use the concepts when he argued as possible, one crucial variable was not
that one of the defining features of working class controlled: the fact the situation itself was reliable.
subcultures was immediate gratification – an idea When the experimenters said to the young children
he contrasted with the delayed gratification that if they could wait 15 or 20 minutes without
characteristic of the middle-classes. The key eating the marshmallow they would receive a
difference between this usage and the way they’re second marshmallow they were true to their word.
used in something like the Marshmallow Test is
their situational context. Immediate gratification However, as we’ve suggested, one of the key
in the latter is considered in terms of individual sociological observations about gratification in
responses to specific situations (the Test) while in relation to the working and middle classes is that
the former it’s considered in terms of general the former tend to experience the world as
social responses to particular social situations. unreliable: something, such as food, that is
available now may not be available at some point
In terms of the Marshmallow Test the rational in the future.
response is to delay gratification because if you
can do this you are guaranteed a reward. It makes, therefore, perfect sense in unreliable
Sociologically, however, if you’re working class the situations to take whatever’s on offer now (such as
rational response is the reverse: you should a tasty treat) because there’s no guarantee it will
choose immediate gratification because that way be available later - a form of food insecurity
you are at least guaranteed some benefit in an frequently experienced by the poor. Middle class
uncertain world. children, on the other hand, tend to live more-
reliable lives; they rarely, if ever, experience
To put it bluntly, you take what’s on offer now something like food insecurity for example.
because there’s no guarantee anything better will
be available at some indeterminate future point
(and if you don’t take what’s on offer you risk
losing it).

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