Young Matthew is playing with his mother. She has his favorite stuffed animal, and she suddenly hides it under his blanket. Instead of looking for it under the blanket, Matthew starts to cry a little, since he thinks his toy is gone. Matthew's tears suggest that he has not yet developed
A) conservation.
B) reversibility.
C) transitory properties.
D) object permanence.

Question

Young Matthew is playing with his mother. She has his favorite stuffed animal, and she suddenly hides it under his blanket. Instead of looking for it under the blanket, Matthew starts to cry a little, since he thinks his toy is gone. Matthew's tears suggest that he has not yet developed
A) ​conservation.
B) ​reversibility.
C) ​transitory properties.
D) ​object permanence.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Matthew's tears suggest that he has not yet developed object permanence, which is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible or present. In this situation, he assumes that his toy is gone when it is simply hidden. Conservation is the understanding that the amount or quantity of an object stays the same despite changes in appearance, such as pouring the same amount of water into a short, wide glass as into a tall, skinny glass. Reversibility is the ability to understand that a process can be reversed, such as understanding that if you pour water from one glass into another, you can pour it back to the original glass. Transitory properties refer to the understanding that objects have temporary properties that can change, such as a pencil being green on one end and red on the other.

Young Matthew Is Playing with His Mother