The stanford marshmallow experiments on delay of gratification demonstrated that children could successfully resist the temptation to eat a marshmallow in an effort to obtain the delayed payoff of two marshmallows. these children were able to distract themselves from the marshmallow by focusing on

The children who were able to delay gratification in the form of not eating the marshmallow until a period of time had passed mostly distracted themselves by physically limiting their exposure to the marshmallow., For example many of the children covered their eyes with their hands or turned around and did not look at the marshmallow.