rewarded with a second treat. Mischel and Ebbesen observed, "(some children) covered their eyes with their hands, rested their heads on their arms, and found other similar techniques for averting their eyes from the reward objects. Many seemed to try to reduce the frustration of delay of reward by generating their own diversions: they talked to themselves, sang, invented games with their hands and feet, and even tried to fall asleep while waiting - as one successfully did." Participants There were 32 children who were used as participants in this experiment consisting of 16 boys and 16 girls. The participants attended the Bing Nursery School of Stanford University. The children ranged in age from three years and six months, to five years and eight months. The median age was four years and six months. Three subjects were disqualified from the experiment because they were unable to understand the instructions and choices given by the experimenters. Detailed procedure The procedures were conducted by two experimenters. There was an opaque cake tin presented on a table in the experimental room. Under the cake tin, there were five pretzels and two animal cookies. There were two chairs in front of the table; on one chair was an empty cardboard box. Near the chair with the empty cardboard box, there were four battery operated toys on the floor. The experimenter pointed out the four toys before the child could play with the toys. The experimenter asked the child to sit in the chair and then demonstrated each toy briefly, and in a friendly manner said they would play with the toys later on. Then the experimenter placed each toy in the cardboard box and out of sight of the child. The experimenter explained to the child that he needed to leave the room, and if the child ate the pretzel, the experimenter would return to the room. These instructions were repeated until the child seemed to understand them completely. The experimenter left the room and waited for the child to eat the pretzel – they repeated this procedure four times. Then the experimenter returned to the experimental room and opened the cake tin to reveal two sets of rewards (in the form of edibles): five pretzels and two animal crackers. The experimenter asked the child which of the two they preferred. Once the child chose, the experimenter explained that the child could either continue