Interesting fact: this test was originally ment to look at a kids āwillpowerā but it actually tests a kids economic status. Poor kids will eat the first marshmallow because theyāve learned that food/resources may not always stick around while richer kids are more willing to trust that theyāll get the two marshmallows later.
Still a good metaphor for the current crisis but itās not saying that Americans lack the patients for the second marshmallow, itās saying most of us canāt afford to wait for it.
Later testing actually revealed that it was mostly about whether or not the kids trusted the adults who told them theyād get two marshmallows later. (Or more precisely, the reliability of the promise of marshmallows later.) This often had an interaction with the stability and safety of their home of origin, which has a complex correlation with poverty and lack of resources, but not a strictly or simplistically predictive one.
Which is actually MUCH more germane to the current state of the USA and the American publicās interaction with the pandemic. And also directly correlates to what people who have studied previous pandemics have said.
So weāre dyingā¦ because of a lack of public trust?Ā
ā¦.. that tracks.Ā
