A developmental researcher administers the classic Sally-Anne false-belief task. Sally hides a marble in a basket, leaves the room, and Anne moves it to a box. Children are asked, "Where will Sally look for the marble?" In a sample of 40 typically developing children, most 3-year-olds answer "the box," whereas most 5-year-olds answer "the basket."
The 3-year-olds' incorrect answer most clearly reflects which Piagetian limitation?
- Acheck_circle
Egocentrism characteristic of preoperational thought
- B
Reversibility of concrete operations
- C
Sensorimotor reflexes
- D
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
Explanation
Egocentrism—difficulty taking another's perspective—is the preoperational hallmark and explains the 3-year-old's failure to separate Sally's belief from their own knowledge.