THE MARSHMALLOW TEST
2025

The Marshmallow Test is part of the artistic research project Be(Have), which explores the biological, social, and cultural mechanisms of human behavior.

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The series takes as its starting point the well-known psychological experiment by Walter Mischel, in which children are faced with the choice of eating one marshmallow immediately or waiting to receive a greater reward. The experiment has become a widely recognized metaphor for self-control, impulse regulation, and decision-making.

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Rather than focusing on the outcomes, the work examines the subtle strategies of self-regulation: looking away, singing, self-talk, or inventing small rituals of distraction. These simple actions reveal complex cognitive and emotional processes.

Within Be(Have), the series uses painting as an experimental medium to explore the space between impulse and control, attention and distraction. It investigates how behavior emerges, how impulses are regulated, and how conscious decisions relate to underlying neurocognitive processes.

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The paintings are available on Singulart.