Madelaine is working to teach her 4-year-old daughter Eliza how to count.She places ten pennies in one row with very little space between the pennies,and eight pennies in another row with more space between the pennies.Then Madelaine asks Eliza which row has more pennies.Eliza chooses the second row,even though she knows that ten is more than eight.What is Eliza's response an example of?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Eliza's response is an example of centration, where she focuses on one aspect of a situation (the spacing of the pennies) and ignores other relevant aspects (the actual number of pennies). This is typical of the preoperational stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Madelaine Is Working to Teach Her 4-Year-Old Daughter Eliza How