These children are faced with a situation that invokes a great amount of cognitive dissonance, which is when their attitudes ( wanting to eat the marshmallow) and their behavior (most of the time not eating the marshmallow) are not consistent. This inconsistency causes people to feel uncomfortable and even physiologically aroused, and according to cognitive dissonance theory people have an innate motivation to reduce these uncomfortable feelings (Festinger, 1957). So in the case of this study the children can either chose to go ahead and not wait to eat the marshmallow or they can decide that they don't really want to eat the marshmallow that bad and can wait. In this specific situation the children are faced with a situation in which effort justification is needed in order to overcome their cognitive dissonance, effort justification is when we put a lot of effort into something that we do not really like or enjoy that much and because we put so much effort into it we feel that we must indeed like it (that our attitude has changed) (Aronson & Mills, 1959). In addition, these children are faced with post decision dissonance/free choice dissonance which is when a person choses between two options and in order to deal with their dissonance they devalue the other option (Brehm, 1956). Obviously if they chose to eat the marshmallow now they will miss out on a second marshmallow but the bonus is that they do not have to wait and eating one now is better than eating two later.
During our day to day lives we are faced with similar tests to this, maybe not about eating a marshmallow now or later but about eating them at all or whether going to a party would be better than reading for a quiz. Im sure that as you have read through this blog you have thought of many instances in which cognitive dissonance has affected you and you probably realized that you have used both ways mentioned to deal with it. What specifically comes to my mind is my current predicament to either go to Phoenix, Arizona for soccer nationals (my boyfriend plays for texas state and the are going!!) My attitude is that I would love nothing more but to go and watch them because they have such a good chance at winning, but my behavior is that I am not going to go :(. This is causing a lot of cognitive dissonance for me, but through devaluing the unchosen alternative I am going to be able to get over it. I am devaluing going to Phoenix for a few really good reasons: (1.) its freakin expensive and I am freakin broke (2.)It is the weekend before our 2nd Social exam as well as a bunch of other papers and proposals and (3.) I want to do something really awesome for Spring Break (because it will be my 21st!! birthday week) and if I go to Az I wont be able to do anything cool because I wont have any money. Therefore, I am beginning to be ok with not going because it is obviously the better choice (right?!?!?!). In conclusion, everyday we are faced with situations in which our behavior does not match how we really feel. Thus, we must find some way to rid ourselves of this cognitive dissonance and in my case I am doing that through devaluing my unchosen option as much as possible.
whole team pic. 
up close !!arent we cute? lolFestinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
Aronson, E., & Mills, J. (1959). The effect of severity of initiation on liking for a group. The Journal Of Abnormal And Social Psychology,59(2), 177-181. doi:10.1037/h0047195
Brehm, J. W. (1956). Postdecision changes in the desirability of alternatives. The Journal Of Abnormal And Social Psychology, 52(3), 384-389. doi:10.1037/h0041006
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