Little Malcolm, at 16 months, loves to place his toy cars and blocks on the coffee table and push them off, just to watch them fall to the floor. Malcolm's curiosity has led him to experiment with other objects, such as his mother's cookie jar, in his fascination with falling objects. Malcolm is probably in what substage of the sensorimotor stage of development?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Malcolm is in the tertiary circular reactions substage, which occurs from about 12 to 18 months of age. In this substage, children experiment with new behaviors to see what effects they will have, showing a more sophisticated understanding of cause-and-effect relationships. Malcolm's behavior of dropping various objects to see what happens is a classic example of the experimentation and curiosity seen in this substage.

Little Malcolm, at 16 Months, Loves to Place His Toy