Dr. Reyes shows 4-year-olds two identical glasses with equal amounts of juice. She then pours one glass into a tall, narrow container while the children watch. When asked which has more juice, 78% of the children point to the tall container. When the same children are tested at age 7, only 12% make the same error.
Which Piagetian concept best explains the 4-year-olds' responses?
- A
Object permanence has not yet been acquired
- B
Theory of mind is absent in preoperational thought
- Ccheck_circle
Failure to conserve liquid quantity due to centration on height
- D
Hypothetico-deductive reasoning is still developing
Explanation
Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance. Preoperational children center on one salient dimension (height), failing to coordinate it with width. By concrete operational stage (around 7), they decenter and conserve.