Juan and his little sister, Anne, are each given a large cookie. Their mother breaks Anne's cookie into four pieces to enable her to eat it easily. Juan immediately begins to cry and says that it is not fair that his sister got more cookies than him. Juan is showing a lack of
A) constancy.
B) conservation.
C) intuition.
D) symbolic function.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Juan is showing a lack of conservation, which is the understanding that even if the appearance of an object changes, its properties remain the same. In this case, Juan is only focused on the appearance of the cookies (one whole cookie vs. four pieces) and not considering that the amount of cookie is still the same for both him and his sister.

Juan and His Little Sister, Anne, Are Each Given a Large