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Derek D. Stamper
Abstract
The author studied one randomly selected three year-old male subject to test
whether or not the subject was exhibiting characteristics that match Piaget’s
preoperational stage. The author conducted six tests (three experiments using materials
and three series of interview questions) and made observations to test for classic
class-differentiation, egocentric thinking, and reversibility. The author found that the
subject tested as Piaget would have predicted on four of the six tests, while one test
(centration with a water level task picture) had vague results, and one test (reversibility)
had different results than Piaget’s theory would predict. The author concludes that the
Introduction
Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development suggests that if a child isn’t in the
appropriate stage of cognitive development for his age group then this could cause
adverse reactions for the child. These adverse reactions include negative self-esteem and
areas. The author is interested in learning whether or not the randomly selected subject is
in the preoperational thought stage as Piaget says he should be in for his age. The
author’s hypothesis is whether or not the subject displays characteristics that match
The author will conduct six experiments to test Piaget’s theory about the
preoperational period and the author’s hypothesis. These experiments will test for
Piaget Realized 3
conserve, class-differentiation, and egocentric thought. The author will make sure the
Method
The author conducted a total of six experiments with one randomly selected three
year-old male subject. Three of the experiments used tangible materials and three
The first tangible experiment was designed to test for centration. The subject was
presented with a printed out picture of a water level task showing bottles in various
angles. The subject was handed a light blue colored pencil and instructed to draw in the
The second tangible experiment was designed to test for conservation of number.
The author lined up ten pennies in two lines of five each. The lines were of the same
length with the pennies touching next to each other but not above/below. The subject was
asked which line had more pennies and to count them aloud and figure out which line had
more. After the subject came to the first conclusion of which line had more pennies, the
author rearranged the lines of pennies. The author spaced the second line of pennies so
that the line extended past the first line and the pennies did not touch next to each other or
the pennies above. The author then asked the subject which line had more pennies, and to
The third tangible experiment was designed to test for class-differentiation. The
subject was presented with a printed out drawing of apples and oranges colored with
colored pencils. The apples and oranges were randomly arranged and randomly spaced.
The picture had seven total oranges and nine total apples, for a total of sixteen apples and
oranges. The subject was asked to identify the apples and oranges as the first step. Next,
the subject was asked if apples were pieces of fruit. Then the subject was asked if
oranges were pieces of fruit. Lastly, the subject was asked which had more, “apples or
pieces of fruit?” The subject was asked to count aloud before picking his choice.
The first interview experiment was designed to test for egocentric thinking. The subject
was asked to retrieve his favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed dog with a stuffed Nemo the
fish attached, from his room. Once he retrieved it and returned to the testing area, the
author asked the subject how he felt about his toy. Once the subject answered, the author
asked if the subject’s mother felt the same about his toy. Next the author asked if the
subject’s friends at daycare felt the same way about his toy. Lastly, the author asked if
The second interview experiment was designed to test for reversibility. The author
presented the subject with a red apple. The author asked the subject to identify the apple.
Once identified, the author asked the subject what happens when an apple is eaten. Next
the author proceeded to take a few bites of the apple and ask what happens when the
apple is bitten. Next the author asked the subject what would have happened if the author
The third interview experiment was designed to test for centration. The author
asked the subject questions about his mother, father, and animals. The author asked if the
Piaget Realized 5
subject’s mother was his mother, then if she was someone’s sister. The author asked if the
subject’s father was the subject’s father, then if he was someone’s son. The author asked
if the subject’s mother was ever as little as the subject is right now, then asked if the
subject’s mother ever attended daycare like the subject does. Next the author asked the
subject if lions and cats were cats, then if wolves and foxes were dogs.
Results
Centration
The subject colored water lines at the tops of all the bottles with a light blue colored
pencil. Then he proceeded to use a red colored pencil water to color in the entire bottle.
The subject asked if the interviewer wanted to help him color in the bottles, and the
Piaget Realized 6
author helped the subject color in bottle number two with the red colored pencil and the
Conservation of number
The author spaced out two lines of five pennies, totaling ten pennies. The pennies
were touching in line next to each other but not touching the line above/below. When
subject was asked which line had the most pennies and to count the pennies, he counted
the pennies with his finger aloud and claimed the top line had five pennies while the
bottom line only had four pennies. The author then spaced out the bottom line of pennies
so that it appeared longer than the top line of pennies. The author then asked the subject
which line had more pennies, and the subject claimed the second longer line had five
pennies while the top first line only had four pennies.
Piaget Realized 7
Class-differentiation
The subject was asked how many apples were present in the drawing. The subject
counted with his finger and claimed there were six apples on the entire page. He said that
the apples on the bottom line had the most, with four apples in a row. He counted with
his fingers again and said there were seven oranges on the entire page. When the subject
was asked which was more, apples or pieces of fruit (apples plus oranges), the subject
said there were more oranges on the page. The subject also acknowledged that there
Egocentric thinking
The subject was asked how he felt about his favorite stuffed animal, and he expressed
sentiment towards it. When asked if the subject’s mother felt the same sentiments toward
his favorite stuffed animal, the subject insisted that she did. He also insisted that his
friends and the author felt the same sentiments toward his favorite stuffed animal.
Piaget Realized 8
Reversibility
The subject claimed that the apple was “yummy” when eaten and claimed the same
when the author took a few bites and asked what happened when bites were taken out of
the apple. When asked what happens when you take a bite out of an apple, the subject
explained using hand gestures that the apple goes through your body. When the author
asked what would happen if the apple hadn’t been bitten into/eaten, the subject claimed
that the apple would become “yucky”. The subject said that an apple becomes “yummy”
because it’s being eaten, yet he acknowledged when asked that he’s eaten a “yucky”
Centration
The subject was unable to realize that his mother and father had different roles
besides being his parents. He was also unable to classify lions and tigers as cats,
although he acknowledged his housecat pet, Miranda, as a cat. He was also unable to
acknowledge wolves and foxes as dogs, yet acknowledge his grandmother’s dogs
Sebastian and Missy as dogs. This test had interesting results, and selected questions and
answers include,
Discussion
The implications of the author’s findings indicate that the subject is in the
preoperational stage that Piaget says he should be according to his age. The subject did
as Piaget would predict in almost all the tests the author conducted. Surprising results
were shown, however, with the centration water test. Piaget would have said that the
subject would color the water lines within the bottle near all the bottoms of the bottle.
However, perhaps the subject misunderstood the question because the subject colored in
water lines at all the tops of the bottles, and then proceeded to color in the entire bottles
The experiment designed to test for reversibility had vague results. The subject
stated that an apple becomes “yucky” when it is not eaten, yet the subject acknowledged
that he had eaten a “yucky” apple before and that it was “yummy” when he ate it.
The author found predictable results in the other five tests conducted. The subject
conserve numbers, egocentric thinking, the inability to differentiate between classes, and
centration.