Correct Answer - Option 2 : Pre-operational
"Jean Piaget", a Swiss psychologist, is famous for his work on child development. He made a systematic study of cognitive development in his theory that is categorized in four stages.
- The above-mentioned characteristics belong to the 'preoperational period' which lasts around 2 to 6 or 7 years of age.
- In this stage, the child assumes that other people feel, see, and hear exactly the same as the child does.
- It refers to the child's inability to infer the perspective of other people or to see a situation from other's points of view.
Characteristics of the preoperational period:
- Egocentrism takes place.
- Begin to think symbolically.
- Develops the skills of language acquisition.
- Faces problems with the concept of conservation.
- Begin to use words and pictures to represent objects.
- Struggles with the idea of centration and irreversibility.
- Learns to compare objects through external characteristics.
Hence, it could be concluded that the ego-centric thinking of the child develops in Pre-operational stage.
The Four Stages of Cognitive Development:
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Stage
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Development
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Sensorimotor
(0 to 2 years)
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- In this stage, infants progressively construct an understanding of the world by using their senses along with physical interactions with objects.
- The development of object permanence is one of the most important accomplishments of this stage.
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Pre-operational
(2 to 7 years)
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- Children develop memory, curiosity, and imagination.
- They are also able to understand things symbolically (playing house, having a tea party).
- Thinking is egocentric and doesn’t consider other’s viewpoints.
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Concrete Operational
(7 to 12 years)
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- Ability to distinguish between their own thoughts and the thoughts of others
- children can classify objects by their number, mass, etc
- Ability to think logically about objects and events
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Formal Operational
(12 years to older)
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- Abstract and scientific thinking
- It is the most crucial stage where mental capabilities can be developed to the maximum level.
- Ability to think abstractly, metacognition and problem solving
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