We live in an “act now!” world that frequently tests us, luring
us with temptations and encouraging us to indulge. We may
clearly see the importance of living within our budget yet still
be dazzled by the shiny appeal of that new sports car; we may
strongly believe in the benefits of a healthy diet yet still be
weakened with lust for that large slab of double chocolate cake.
Nevertheless, we do sometimes succeed in delaying immediate
gratification for the sake of something better in the future, in
remembering those clichés about “good things come to those who
wait” that our parents and grandparents inflicted on us.
Undoubtedly, this is something we’re able to achieve because
we’re humans, because we can be goal-directed and can prevail
over our impulses, because we are more than unthinking animals
who are captives to their immediate needs. Right? Not so fast.
It is true that many animals seem unable to defer gratification,
with prior experiments showing that animals such as rats,
pigeons and chickens will rar