# PTE SMW #4: Psychological Studies on Delayed...

Select Missing Word #4 - Level 2 - Feeds Listening

> You will hear a recording. At the end, the last word or words are replaced by a beep. Choose the option that best completes the recording.

- temptation
- marshmallow
- kids
- test

## Answer

temptation

## Explanation

The speaker widens the lesson to "whatever your temptations are in life" and says to "minimize that temptation." So "get rid of the" temptation completes the advice. The option "marshmallow" is tempting because the test uses one. But the speaker is now talking about your own cabinet, not the children's test.

## Hints

- Consider the internal conflict the subjects experience when presented with a reward.
- The missing word represents the abstract concept of the desire that the subjects must overcome.

## Transcript

By now, a lot has been said about the marshmallow test. You guys probably know about this where, you know, children are asked, you can eat this one marshmallow now, or if you wait until I come back, you can get two marshmallows. People talk about this in terms of the resolution that the little kids have and how good they are at resisting temptation and stuff. But there's something that's often overlooked here, which is that one of the most common strategies that kids used was simply covering their eyes, just clapping their hands over their eyes, so they're not looking at the marshmallow. And it turns out that's a very effective strategy. And so when we think about minimizing temptations, whatever your temptations are in life, just think about the ways that you can actually contractually minimize that temptation so it's not there. Not a fake thing where you think, oh, yeah, I won't... If it's in the back of the cabinet, I won't do it. But, like, actually get rid of the...

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