Which Piaget stage lasts from about 2 to 7 years, featuring symbolic thought and egocentrism?

Which Piaget stage lasts from about 2 to 7 years, featuring symbolic thought and egocentrism?

• A. Sensorimotor Stage
• B. Preoperational Stage
• C. Concrete Operational Stage
• D. Formal Operational Stage

Answer: (B)

Symbolic thought and egocentrism characterize the period from about two to seven years. In this stage, children begin to use words and images to represent objects and ideas, engage in pretend play, and explore language in rich ways. At the same time, their thinking is centered on their own viewpoint, making it hard for them to understand perspectives other than their own. They haven’t yet developed the logical operations that come later, such as conservation and reversibility. This combination of growing symbolic use and still-limited perspective-taking fits the phase commonly described as the Preoperational Stage. Earlier, in the sensorimotor period, infants learn through direct experience and object permanence emerges; later, the concrete operational stage (roughly ages 7 to 11) brings logical thinking about concrete objects and conservation, and the formal operational stage (adolescence onward) introduces abstract reasoning.

Symbolic thought and egocentrism characterize the period from about two to seven years. In this stage, children begin to use words and images to represent objects and ideas, engage in pretend play, and explore language in rich ways. At the same time, their thinking is centered on their own viewpoint, making it hard for them to understand perspectives other than their own. They haven’t yet developed the logical operations that come later, such as conservation and reversibility. This combination of growing symbolic use and still-limited perspective-taking fits the phase commonly described as the Preoperational Stage. Earlier, in the sensorimotor period, infants learn through direct experience and object permanence emerges; later, the concrete operational stage (roughly ages 7 to 11) brings logical thinking about concrete objects and conservation, and the formal operational stage (adolescence onward) introduces abstract reasoning.