'We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

On occasion I have wondered whether I might have been genetically predisposed to a career in advertising. Inevitably my thoughts turn to my Dad to whom I’m indebted for a capacity to drink and an inclination to discourse on all manner of triviality. But then there was my Mum, a gentle soul who had an uncanny talent for branding.

Mum would often make me a very particular sandwich – white-sliced Sunblest, some lettuce leaves, a couple of slithers of tomato and a dollop of Heinz Salad Cream. Perhaps aware that this combination held only a moderate appeal to a growing lad, she called it Jim’s Sandwich Special. And I became an avid enthusiast.

Sometimes, when Martin was invited to a party at a friend’s house, Mum would console me by organising A Treat. A Treat entailed asking a few of my own local chums round for fractious games of Ludo and a tea of Sandwich Specials, Swiss Rolls and orange Club Biscuits.

I’m ashamed to admit to a certain amount of scheming at these events. Mum would allocate one orange Club Biscuit for every attendee, and I knew that, if I waited long enough, one of my friends would purloin mine. At which point I could report to Mum for pity and sympathy.

All rather manipulative, I know. But even at a very young age I had calculated that there were rewards to be had from a pleasure foregone.

'Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.’
Søren Kierkegaard

The much-celebrated Stanford Marshmallow Experiment, led by psychologist Walter Mischel in the early 1970s, examined the dynamics of deferred gratification. A number of children aged between 3 and 5 were offered one marshmallow, but promised two if they waited 15 minutes. The researchers then left the children alone in the room with the two marshmallows.

The youngsters found themselves in a muddle of temptation and denial. Mischel originally thought that the presence of the two marshmallows would motivate them to resist and hang on. But the proximate prize only increased their frustration. Some succumbed pretty quickly. Others endeavoured to endure by distracting their attention from the tasty treat.

'They made up quiet songs…hid their head in their arms, pounded the floor with their feet, fiddled playfully and teasingly with the signal bell, verbalized the contingency…prayed to the ceiling, and so on. In one dramatically effective self-distraction technique, after obviously experiencing much agitation, a little girl rested her head, sat limply, relaxed herself, and proceeded to fall sound asleep.’

Mischel concluded that success in the test was correlated with the ability to distract oneself: not thinking about a reward enhances one’s ability to earn it.

In this respect the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment does not seem to conform to conventional wisdom. In challenging times we are encouraged to keep our eyes on the prize; to focus on our goals. Athletes often talk about visualising the finish line; imagining themselves on the victory podium.

However, at least within the realms of a creative business, I’m with Team Stamford. When Pitching I found that considering the scale of the account to be won, the glory of potential victory, only served to predispose teams and leaders to cautious choices and conservative proposals. At best the prospect of success was deeply stressful. At worst it induced paralysis.

Far better in my experience to concentrate on the work in hand; to address the task regardless of the reward. Better to keep your eyes off the prize.

'The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.’
James Dean

The Stanford Marshmallow Experiment is best remembered for the follow-up studies conducted 10 years after the original investigation. Researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for their treat tended subsequently to have better life outcomes, as measured by such things as SAT scores, educational attainment and body mass index. They concluded that the ability to discipline oneself, to delay gratification in the short term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is an indicator of future success in work and life. As a result many educationalists set about training self-control and will power in schools.

No doubt patience is indeed a valuable life skill. However, when the experiment was restaged in 2018, with a bigger, more representative sample, it arrived at a quite different set of results, contributing to what some have called a 'replication crisis' in the field of psychology. In the repeat experiment researchers concluded that the capacity to hold out for a second marshmallow is determined in large part by a child’s social and economic background. For poorer kids a marshmallow in the hand is worth two on the table.

None of the studies mentions if any children eschewed the marshmallows entirely in anticipation of emotional compensation. They would have represented an altogether more troubling category.

'Tempted by the fruit of another.
Tempted, but the truth is discovered.
What's been going on?
Now that you have gone,
There's no other.’
Squeeze, ’Tempted’ (C Difford / G Tilbrook)

No. 303