The mother of a young child who didn't like to drink juice was trying to coax him to drink some. Taking the glass of juice, she poured it all into a smaller cup and said, "There! Now you won't have to drink so much." She would never have fooled the child if he had not been in the _______ stage.

A) preconventional
B) preoperational
C) concrete operational
D) formal operational

Question

Andrew Talmage · Accepted Answer

Final Answer : B, Explanation :  The preoperational stage (ages 2-7) is characterized by the child's use of symbols, language, and mental imagery. They are able to represent objects and events in their minds, but their thinking is limited by egocentrism, centration, and lack of conservation. In this stage, children may be easily fooled by perceptual illusions and transformations, and may struggle with understanding concepts such as quantity and size. Therefore, the child in this scenario was likely in the preoperational stage, where they may not have fully comprehended that the amount of juice in the cup had not actually changed, and were more focused on the visual presentation of the juice in the new cup.

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