According to Piaget, the preoperational period marks the emergence of which mental capabilities in children?
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Answer: D. Child begins to represent the world symbolically but remains intutive and egocentric
Explanation
The preoperational stage is marked by symbolic thought, though children remain egocentric and intuitive rather than logically operational. Children in this developmental window use language and mental imagery to represent objects that are not physically present. Despite these symbolic gains, they struggle with logical mental operations and perspective-taking tasks like conservation. Jean Piaget formulated a comprehensive four-stage theory of cognitive development describing how children acquire knowledge. The preoperational period generally spans from approximately two to seven years of age in human children. Classic experiments by Piaget demonstrated preoperational egocentrism by showing children assume others share their exact viewpoint.
Children begin to speak for the first time much earlier during the late sensorimotor developmental stage. Infants recognize the faces of primary caregivers during the early months of the sensorimotor period. Solving problems logically characterizes the concrete operational and formal operational stages rather than the preoperational period.
- Subject
- Psychology
- Category
- Psychology
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- —
- Difficulty
- medium
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