[lolinder]

Agreed. For me the real question isn't whether being capable of delaying instant gratification leads to better outcomes, it's if the marshmallow test accurately measures susceptibility to pursuing instant gratification in the cases that matter.

Like, I've never liked marshmallows. A second marshmallow would have been uninteresting to me. And even if it were I could totally see a kid going "eh, it's just a marshmallow, I'm going to just eat it now and then go think about something else".

Being able to delay instant gratification for greater rewards is only valuable in cases where you actually care about the reward. Someone who applies it everywhere regardless of interest level is just min-maxing life, and it wouldn't surprise me if obsessively min-maxing even little details doesn't correlate with better outcomes.