Question

Young eli, only a bit over 18 months of age, has been fooled by his parents. in order to get him to willingly take a children's chewable vitamin every day, his parents have taught him that it is a "candy." now, whenever eli sees any product that is small and brightly colored, he says "candy! yummm" and tries to put it into his mouth. eli's attempt to make new stimuli consistent with his existing mental structures is an example of __________.

a. centration
b. egocentrism
c. accommodation
d. assimilation

Answer 1

This is an example of assimilation. According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, assimilation is how we take in information and put it with existing knowledge (what we already know). Because Eli knows that the vitamin is small and colorful, he uses that information and calls all small, colorful items "candy".