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Piaget's Stages: Child Development Tests

The document describes several experiments testing object permanence, egocentrism, conservation, and abstract thinking in children of different ages. A 2-year-old boy understood object permanence by finding a hidden toy truck. A 7-year-old boy displayed egocentrism by choosing to have all 8 pieces of candy for himself rather than share. A 9-year-old girl understood conservation by recognizing that expanding the distance between rows of pennies did not change the amount. An 11-year-old boy demonstrated abstract thinking by providing an unconventional explanation for why the sky is blue involving plant photosynthesis.

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56 views2 pages

Piaget's Stages: Child Development Tests

The document describes several experiments testing object permanence, egocentrism, conservation, and abstract thinking in children of different ages. A 2-year-old boy understood object permanence by finding a hidden toy truck. A 7-year-old boy displayed egocentrism by choosing to have all 8 pieces of candy for himself rather than share. A 9-year-old girl understood conservation by recognizing that expanding the distance between rows of pennies did not change the amount. An 11-year-old boy demonstrated abstract thinking by providing an unconventional explanation for why the sky is blue involving plant photosynthesis.

Uploaded by

theonorwood
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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AP Psych Extra Credit

By: Elijah Grubb


OBJECT PERMANENCE:
We tested a little boy of about 2 years of age. First we took a toy truck of his and
placed it under a blanket and then asked the little boy where his truck was. He
was easily able to go over and find it from under the blanket. He did find the
activity fun and kept indicating for the truck to be placed underneath again.
Another experiment that we tried was a simple game of Peek-a-Boo. While he
didn't seem to believe that the player was missing, it still seemed to increasingly
delight him.
The little boy showed signs that his is no longer in the sensorimotor stage but has
progressed, at least partially, into the preoperational stage. While he did seem to
find delight and wonder in both Peek-a-Boo and the hiding of his truck, he did
not seem to think anything had really disappeared. He understood the concept of
object permanence, a trait found by those who have moved on from the
sensorimotor stage in Piaget's Developmental Theory.
EGOCENTRISM:
We tested a boy of about 7 years old. In order to test egocentrism we used candy
as the operator. Since there were 8 people in the room, we brought out 8 pieces of
candy. We told the little boy that either all 8 of us could each have 1 piece of
candy, or he could have all 8. He quickly chose to take all 8.
This little boy displayed very strong evidence of egocentrism. This would place
him in the preoperational stage of Piaget's theory. By choosing himself and
placing his wants above thinking about others, he demonstrated his current
dependence on self-esteem and personal gain.
CONSERVATION:
We tested a girl of about 9 years of age. We placed two rows of pennies in front of
her, with 7 pennies in each row. We asked her which row had more pennies, she
replied they were the same. After expanding out one row to make it appear larger,
we again asked her which row had more pennies. Again she said they were the
same. Once more we further expanded that same row's distance. And once again
she decided that they were the same.
The girl showed evidence that she understood the principle of conservation. She
knew that even though one row of pennies appeared bigger than the other one,
they still had the same ammount of value to her. She is moving past the concrete
operational stage into teh formal operational stage. She is showing evidence that
she is no longer subject to believe that mere quantity, numbers and physical
appearance actually means there is more of something.
ABSTRACT THINKING:
We tested a boy of about 11 years of age on abstract thinking. We asked him a
simple question, "Why is the sky blue?" in order to decide where his type of
thinking lies. His reply was very interesting, to say the least. It went something
like "It's blue because of the plants releasing chemicals through photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis is where the plants eat the sun in order to survive." It was a rather
fun response to listen to.
While unconventional, the boy appeared to be demonstrating abstract thinking.
Instead of just saying that the sky is blue 'just because it is', he tried to think it
out. He thought of ways that to him make sense as to why the sky is blue, but at
the same time was obviously thinking outside the box. This evidence indicateds
that the boy has moved past the concrete operational stage into the formal
operational stage.

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