Cary was beating on his "drum" in the kitchen.Cary's drum is really one of his mother's cooking pots.When Cary gets through beating on his drum, his mother takes it, washes it, and then puts it on the stove to boil water.Cary starts screaming, "You burn drum." Cary is exhibiting a behavioral characteristic of which cognitive stage?
A) formal operations
B) concrete operational
C) prelinguistic
D) preoperational

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Cary is exhibiting the lack of conservation, which is a hallmark characteristic of the preoperational stage of cognitive development. In the preoperational stage, children have not yet developed the ability to understand that physical quantities, such as the amount of water that fits into a pot, remain the same even if their appearance changes (such as when boiled). Cary's belief that his drum has somehow been damaged when it's really just the same pot, indicates a lack of conservation.

Cary Was Beating on His "Drum" in the Kitchen