The Spiritual Power of Delayed Gratification
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.”
A transformative 1972 Stanford University study evaluated how children’s predisposition to gratification could determine future success as they grew into adulthood. In the first study, they gave 50 children, 25 boys and 25 girls, a choice. The child could receive one marshmallow now, or two if they could wait fifteen minutes. The children ranged in age from three years and six months to five years and six months. The Stanford team performed two further studies of children and delayed gratification.
The results found that children who had the marshmallow in front of them for the full 15 minutes struggled to wait to receive the second treat. Additionally, when children thought about the absent marshmallow, they struggled to maintain their self-control as much as if the marshmallow was staring them in the face. Those children who were able to wait and receive the gratification of two marshmallows successfully were those who focused not on the treat, but on creating their individual avoidance mechanisms. According to the Stanford team, “They [children] made up quiet songs…hid their heads in their arms, pounded on the floor with their feet, fiddled playfully and teasingly with the signal bell, verbalized the contingency…prayed to the ceiling, and so on.” Those children who could intentionally focus on something other than their immediate desire were able to fulfill their two-marshmallow goal.
In 1988, 1990, 2006, and 2011, the Stanford team checked on the original group of children. Those children, who in 1972 were able to focus beyond immediate gratification, were significantly more competent adolescents in 1988. By 1990, those same children with the ability to delay gratification had higher SAT scores. By 2011, those same children, now adults, participated in brain imaging studies. Those who originally delayed gratification showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex and ventral striatum. Those who could delay gratification were not only more successful but also had benefited from biological changes in their brains.
While some more recent studies have questioned the study’s ability to predict adult outcomes reliably, it is apparent that one’s ability to delay gratification provides positive outcomes. Self-control is essential to carving out a meaningful, faith-filled life. Grabbing at the shiny, exciting object or idea often leads to despair. Self-control is a gift because it helps us make choices that benefit us over the long term. Reflect on your level of self-control at different stages of your life. Then, invite God’s Spirit to guide you to reclaim control over your decision-making, allowing you and God to be one in Word and deed.
