I don't think they are misinterpreting anything, just explaining their point in a way that looks like misinterpretation to you :D Let me try another way. 1. S

I don't think they are misinterpreting anything, just explaining their point in a way that looks like misinterpretation to you :D Let me try another way. 1. Some children, of which I would have been an example, when sat down and told about the marshmallows will interpret this interaction as a test. 2. Believing that they are being tested, some of these children, of which I would also have been an example, will want to pass the test. 3. Based on previous experience, some of these children, of which I would have been an example, will believe that they pass the test if they get the maximum number of marshmallows. To be fair, what I would have considered the correct answer may have depended on how exactly the scenario was described to me, but considering various options I think almost every time I would have thought waiting was the correct action - this is obviously through the lens of hindsight rationalisation so I have no way to support this idea. All that aside, it appears that even if having some desire to pass tests makes a child more inclined to "pass" the Marshmallow Test, it doesn't provide any significant predictive power on the outcome that was measured when you also account for the socio-economic factors discussed in the article.