Motivation and the Marshmallow Test: Understanding Self-Control

We all want our dogs to wait for things. We want them to wait for the door to open, we want them to wait for us before they leave for a walk, and we want them to wait for food to be given to them, instead of taking it for themselves. These are all important things to teach our dogs as their ability to wait can even be the line between life and death. However, the act of waiting or leaving something alone can sometimes be hard to teach a dog who is not good at self-control. So, what is self-control and how do we encourage our dogs to have self-control? Keep reading to find out!

What is Self-control: Motivation and Choose

Many of us might know what self-control is. Self-control seems to be the act of controlling one’s self. I believe that is true. Self-control in dogs is judged by their ability to leave something untouched when we all know they really want to touch it…and possibly run away with it in a game of keep away! But, as usual, there is a much deeper part of self-control that is important for your dog’s success. To effectively teach self-control, we must understand it. To understand self-control, we must understand the process the dog goes trough to make it happen. The key to this process is motivation. Just like anything else in life, animals, and people alike, do not do things very well unless they are properly motivated. But this brings up an especially important point to all animal and people training. Intrinsic motivation is often more impactful than extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within us while extrinsic motivation is motivation that come from outside of ourselves. Even if we do better when we have an external motivator, that will only work if we are internally motivated to respond to that motivator. If we are not internally motivated in some way, then the action often deteriorates over time. Think of it this way. Many people might say “my dog will leave it alone if I yell at him loud enough.” Now, that might be true, as a matter of fact, I have seen it happen. However, is that self-control? If the animal is leaving something alone because of discomfort caused by an external motivator, is that truly self-control? I would say no. True self-control is when the animal chooses to leave something alone because it knows that doing so is worth it, because it is intrinsically motivated to do so. For people it is often because “it is the right thing to do,” but for animals it is different.

How Do We Encourage Dogs to Have Self-control: The Marshmallow Test

In the world of psychology, there was a test called the Stanford Marshmallow Test. This test was used to evaluate a child’s ability to understand delayed gratification (there were other reasons this test was used, but they are now being reevaluated, you can read about this here or check reference section). To administer the test, the evaluator places one marshmallow in front of a child and tells the child that they can eat the marshmallow whenever they want to and nothing bad will happen (they will not get in trouble). However, if they wait to eat the marshmallow for a certain amount of time, then the child will get two marshmallows instead of one. In psychology research, this game was used to determine if children under a certain age possess the ability to wait for longer periods of time when faced with a highly motivating outcome rather than going with the immediate outcome (check reference section for article on The Stanford Marshmallow Test). In the dog world, a simplified version of this test is used to train dogs to wait for food (please do not feed your dog marshmallows). The outcome has taken the internet by storm as people have posted videos of them testing their dog’s ability to leave food alone even when they leave the room! To train this game, the dog is taught that, rather then being yelled at, they will get to eat something yummy (what is in front of them plus something in addition) if they wait to eat what is placed in front of them until their owner comes back and gives them permission. A dog who can do this is acting on an internal motivation to wait. A dog who can do this has truly learned self-control!

Closing Thoughts

By training your dog that they will get something out of waiting, you will end up with an element of intrinsic reward in the equation (things that are associated with food have an element of intrinsic reward due to satisfaction of appetite). The dog will be internally motivated to wait because they know they will get more food or a better treat. When training your dog to have self-control, take it slow and always reward your dog. Keep in mind that dogs who can wait in a room, with food in front of them, and with no person present have practiced a lot and have started with small amounts of food while someone is monitoring them. So, start with easy steps and gradually increase the level of difficulty. Always make sure that your dog can succeed. Any time we are training an animal the goal is not to push them as far as they can go. The goal is to help them learn. The best way to do that is to help them succeed as much as they can while still challenging their minds. And, as always, have fun!

To read an interesting article on how scientists used this test with crows, click here!

Note: Please do not feed your dog marshmallows.

References:

The Stanford Marshmallow Test: https://practicalpie.com/stanford-marshmallow-test/

Crows Can Pass The Marshmallow Test as Well as Human Children, New Study Shows: https://www.sciencealert.com/once-again-crows-have-passed-the-marshmallow-test-and-demonstrated-self-control