Confounding

All you know is that you have one marshmallow. Everything else is guesswork.

Will you get another marshmallow if you wait, like they say? Will they take this one away instead? If you get a second marshmallow and then keep waiting, will there be more? Is your mom still waiting for you outside the room? If you eat the marshmallow before you’re supposed to, will they tell her? Will you get in trouble? Are they watching you?

You have a choice, the man said when he gave you the marshmallow. It’s a weird choice. It’s weird that they’re paying so much attention to you. This whole place is weird. One of the rooms you passed on the way in had a machine with a lot of wires coming out of it. You asked what it was for and they told you not to worry about it.

You’re a little bit worried about it.

Marshmallows aren’t your favorite. How long would you have to wait to get a peanut butter cup? You can’t ask, because you and your marshmallow are alone. They’re not your favorite, but they’re not bad. You’d rather have one marshmallow than none. You’d rather have two than one, but who knows what’s going to happen when the man comes back?

You eat it. You have a choice: eat a marshmallow, or trust them. Of course you eat it.