Piaget’s three-mountains problem.
Piaget’s three-mountains problem.
Each mountain is distinguished by its color and by its summit. One
has a red cross, another a small house, and the third a snowcapped peak. Children at the preoperational stage respond
egocentrically. They cannot select a picture that shows the
mountains from the doll’s perspective. Instead, they simply
choose the photo that reflects their own vantage point.
FIGURE 7.6 Some Piagetian conservation tasks.
Children at the preoperational stage cannot yet conserve. These
tasks are mastered gradually over the concrete operational stage.
Children in Western nations typically acquire conservation of
number, mass, and liquid sometime between 6 and 7 years and of
weight between 8 and 10 years.
Inability to Conserve.
Piaget’s famous conservation tasks reveal a variety of deficiencies
of preoperational thinking. Conservation refers to the idea that
certain physical characteristics of objects remain the same, even
when their outward appearance changes. At snack time, Priti and
Sammy had identical boxes of raisins, but when Priti spread her
raisins out on the table, Sammy was convinced that she had more.
Piaget’s three-mountains problem.
In another conservation task involving liquid, the child is shown
two identical tall glasses of water and asked if they contain equal
amounts. Once the child agrees, the water in one glass is poured
into a short, wide container, changing its appearance but not its

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