I was talking about this a few weeks ago and realized I would eat the damn marshmallow. Researchers do not act in good faith. Maybe they're testing me for delayed gratification. Maybe they're measuring my anxiety levels as I wait for someone to come back with a promised reward. Maybe they want to know how angry I'd get if they come back and said they were out of marshmallows - or come back and flat out ate the marshmallow in front of me. A lot of researchers would happily trick me into thinking I was killing someone if they thought they could get away with it.
Its the truth that demolishes all the hand-waving about the marshmallow test - it relies on the subject's trust of the person running the experiment. I wouldn't trust them, why should anyone else?
When evaluated that way - particularly when testing on children - the outcome is painfully predictable.
- Children who have adults in life that they trust have better outcomes.
- Children who do not have adults in their lives who they trust have worse outcomes.
I was a subject in a college psychology experiment when I was an undergrad. The researcher said I would get some amount of $ for each new word in a sequence that I could correctly remember and repeat without error. I mentally made up a story and added each new word to the story. At the end they said that I remembered too many words, more than they had ever anticipated, it was too much $ for them to pay and gave me $5. Later I wondered whether the real experiment was about reacting to being tricked.
This has been theorized by his brother and others, but I'm not sure he ever claimed that. He wrote a lot of words in a pretty famous document as to why he bombed his targets, none of which were federal government targets.
Ted Kaczynski didn't bomb the federal government though.
I'd also be curious about a citation for his motivation being the MK Ultra experiments, it's news to me that he ever explicitly called those as a motive.
Having been in the former camp to such a heavy degree, I wouldn't have even thought of this dimension as a confounding variable, despite always trying to see that sort of thing.
Indeed, I couldn't really participate in psychology research because there is almost always an element of deception and I couldn't help but look for it.
One extreme example arguably created the Unabomber.[0]
Its the truth that demolishes all the hand-waving about the marshmallow test - it relies on the subject's trust of the person running the experiment. I wouldn't trust them, why should anyone else?
When evaluated that way - particularly when testing on children - the outcome is painfully predictable.
- Children who have adults in life that they trust have better outcomes.
- Children who do not have adults in their lives who they trust have worse outcomes.