A researcher shows 6-year-old Amara a picture containing 8 dogs and 3 cats. The researcher asks, "Are there more dogs or more animals?" Amara confidently replies, "More dogs."
According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, which of the following is the correct explanation for Amara's response?
Amara is in the pre-operational stage and fails to demonstrate class inclusion because she cannot mentally coordinate the subordinate class (dogs) and the superordinate class (animals) simultaneously.
Amara is in the concrete operational stage and fails to demonstrate class inclusion because she is still bound by centration, focusing only on the physical appearance of the animals.
Amara is in the pre-operational stage and fails to demonstrate conservation because she cannot understand that the total quantity remains unchanged despite regrouping.
Amara is in the pre-operational stage and struggles with egocentrism, meaning she cannot adopt the researcher's cognitive perspective on the categorization task.
Practise AQA A Level Psychology Piaget's theory of cognitive development with exam-style questions for A Level Psychology. 59 questions, matched to the AQA A Level Psychology (7182) specification and written in Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 style. Every question includes a full worked solution and mark scheme, so you can see where marks are awarded rather than just whether you got the answer right.
