Name: 【TED】Joachim de Posada 說，先別吃棉花糖 Joachim de Posada: Don't eat the marshmallow!
Uploaded: 2014-09-16T14:59:43.000Z
Duration: 6 min 3 s

I'm here because I have a very important message:

我在此是為了傳達一個非常重要的訊息。

形容詞最高級

And it was found close to here, Stanford.

它是在離這裡非常近的史丹福大學被發現的。

Psychology professor took kids that were four years old

心理學教授找來一些四歲大的幼童

and put them in a room all by themselves.

And he would tell the child, a four-year-old kid,

"Johnny, I am going to leave you here with a marshmallow

「強尼，我將要把這顆棉花糖留給你，

If, after I come back, this marshmallow is here,

如果我回來時這顆棉花糖還在，

you will get another one. So you will have two."

你會多得到一顆。這樣你就有兩顆了。」

To tell a four-year-old kid to wait 15 minutes

告訴一個四歲的孩子等十五分鐘

is equivalent to telling us, "We'll bring you coffee in two hours."

就如同告訴我們，「兩小時後我們會幫你帶杯咖啡回來。」

So what happened when the professor left the room?

那麼當教授離開房間後發生了什麼事？

三個小孩中有兩個吃了棉花糖。

Five seconds, 10 seconds, 40 seconds, 50 seconds,

五秒，十秒，四十秒，五十秒，

two minutes, four minutes, eight minutes.

What's interesting is that one out of three

would look at the marshmallow and go like this ...

They would walk around. They would play with their skirts and pants.

他們會走來走去。他們會拉扯他們的裙子或是褲子。

這些小孩，儘管才四歲，已經懂得

the most important principle for success,

which is the ability to delay gratification.

They went to look for these kids who were now 18 and 19.

他們回去找這些現在已經十八或十九歲的孩子。

of the children that had not eaten the marshmallow were successful.

沒有吃棉花糖的孩子都很成功。

They had good grades. They were doing wonderful.

They had good relationships with the teachers, students.

A great percentage of the kids that ate the marshmallow,

而吃了棉花糖的孩子中有很大一部份，

They had bad grades. Some of them dropped out.

有些雖然還在唸書但是成績很糟。

I had a question in my mind: Would Hispanic kids

於是我腦中浮現一個問題：拉丁美洲的小孩

跟美國小孩的反應會是相同的嗎？

So I went to Colombia. And I reproduced the experiment.

所以我去了哥倫比亞。並重複了這個實驗。

And it was very funny. I used four, five and six years old kids.

這個實驗非常好玩。我用了四，五，六歲大的小孩。

所以哥倫比亞的孩子是如何反應的？

Hispanic kids, two out of three ate the marshmallow;

三分之二的拉美小孩吃了棉花糖。

In other words, she wanted us to think that she had not eaten it, so she would get two.

換句話說，她希望我們認為她沒有吃，這樣她可以拿到兩個。

So we know she'll be successful. But we have to watch her.

所以我們知道她將會成功。但是必須有人能夠監督她。

She should not go into banking, for example,

例如說，她不能去金融業上班，

And this applies for everything. Even in sales.

這能應用到任何事情上。甚至是推銷。

the customer says, "I want that." And the person says, "Okay, here you are."

當客戶說，「我要那個。」這個推銷員說，「好的，您要的東西在此。」

If the sales person says, "Wait a second.

如果這個推銷員說，「請等一下，

Let me ask you a few questions to see if this is a good choice."

讓我問您一些問題，看看您的選擇是否適合。」

So this has applications in all walks of life.

所以這個研究可以應用在生活各式各樣的面相中。

我用這個來做結束 — 韓國人這麼做了。

that we want a marshmallow book for children.

我們需要一本訴說棉花糖故事的童書。

We did one for children. And now it is all over Korea.

我們為小孩設計了一本。現在全韓國都在看這本書。

They are teaching these kids exactly this principle.

And we need to learn that principle here in the States,

我們在美國的人也需要學習這個原則。

We are eating more marshmallows than we are producing.

我們吃的棉花糖比我們製造的更多。