# I don't get this cartoon; please explain.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 18, 2017, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441 "2017-01-18T02:00:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441/21 "2017-01-18T20:58:55Z")

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The cartoonist should have used a [circus peanut](http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2015/07/20/trump-b-1801_custom-fefb9a73f5d4a9d4386ba5d2ec259c656afec19c-s900-c85.jpg) instead.

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**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441/22 "2017-01-18T22:10:56Z")

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> [@psychobunny](#):
>
> Shhh-don’t tell anybody but they’ve actually been following up on us for more than 40 years. The last I heard they were doing brain MRIs on some on the kids.  
> Yes-I’m one of the original marshmallow kids  
> _No I don’t remember what I did.  
> No they won’t tell us._  
> The original study was actually designed to study the ways in which children distracted themselves. The longer-term follow-up was not originally planned.

They won’t even tell me if I was in that study, but I distinctly remember marshmallows somewhere in my past.

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**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441/23 "2017-01-18T23:04:51Z")

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I remember believing marshmallows grew on a plant. I didn’t know how to account for the varying sizes.

I always feel like key personality info comes from these questions:

Do you want to hear the good news first or the bad news first?

Do you eat your favorite thing on the plate first, or your least favorite?

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**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\
**Post date:** [January 19, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-get-this-cartoon-please-explain/777441/24 "2017-01-19T00:02:12Z")

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I remember reading something about the marshmallow test being a better indicator of whether the kids thought adults were trustworthy. Or, in other words, if kids believed that the adult would show up with 2 marshmallows, they were willing to wait; if they were used to grownups breaking promises all the time and thought that there was no second marshmallow on the way, well, there was no good reason to wait.  
It does seems likely that children who have reliable adults in their corners could likely do better in school than children with flaky ones.

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