Cognitive Development Limitations

Front

Centration

Back

Inability to decenter; children focus on one aspect of a situation and neglect others. Example: Jacob teases his younger sister that he has more juice because his juice is in a tall, skinny glass while hers is in a short, wide glass.

Front

Irreversibility

Back

Children fail to understand that some operations or actions can be reversed, restoring the original situation. Example: Jacob does not realize that the juice in each glass can be poured back into the juice box from which it came, which means the amounts must be the same.

Front

Focus on states rather than transformations

Back

Children fail to understand the significance of the transformation between states. Example: In the conservation task, Jacob does not understand that transforming the shape of a liquid (pouring it from one container into another) does not change the amount.

Front

Transductive reasoning

Back

Children do not use deductive or inductive reasoning; instead, they see cause where none exists. Example: Luis was mean to his sister. Then she got sick. Luis concludes that he made his sister sick.

Front

Egocentrism

Back

Children assume everyone else thinks, perceives, and feels as they do. Example: Kara holds a book so only she can see the picture she is asking her father to explain to her.

Front

Animism

Back

Children attribute life to objects not alive. Example: Amanda says the car is hungry and wants some gas to eat.

Front

Inability to distinguish appearance from reality

Back

Children confuse what is real with outward appearance. Example: Courtney believes that if she wears blue-tinted glasses, then everything she sees really did turn blue.