Question

A researcher hides the baby's toy under a cloth in location A as the baby watches. The baby finds it easily. The researcher again hides the toy as the baby watches, again in location A. The baby finds it easily. Then the researcher hides the toy under a cloth in location B. Although the baby saw the toy hidden in location B, the baby still looks in location A. This cognitive error is claimed to demonstrate ____________?

a. The child is egocentric.
b. The baby lacks cognitive flexibility.
c. The child has developed "theory of mind"
d. The child has not yet fully developed object permanence.

Answer 1

This cognitive error is claimed to demonstrate D. The child has not yet fully developed object permanence.

Step-by-step explanation:

Object permanence is the ability a child has to understand that an object still exists, even if he/she cannot see it. This term was introduced by Piaget.

In this case, we can see the baby might have some object permanence development but not fully since he/she will still look in location A, believing it is there. This is because as soon as the object was put in location B, it ceased to exist for the baby.