Final answer:
Preoperational children are not able to take the perspective of others and demonstrate egocentric thinking. This stage of development, described by Piaget, is characterized by a lack of understanding of conservation and logical thought, with children relying on their personal knowledge to draw conclusions.
Step-by-step explanation:
Preoperational children have egocentric thinking, which means they are not able to take the perspective of others. At this stage, a child, such as Kenny, would choose an Iron Man action figure for his sister Keiko's birthday, wrongly assuming that she would like it simply because he does. This illustrates the key characteristic of egocentrism in the preoperational stage of development as described by developmental psychologist Jean Piaget.
During the preoperational stage, which spans from approximately 2 to 7 years old, children are unable to perform certain mental operations and do not yet understand the concept of conservation. They use personal knowledge rather than logical reasoning, which can lead to incorrect conclusions, such as thinking that more pieces of pizza mean a greater quantity. However, as they approach the concrete operational stage around 7 to 11 years, children start to develop logical thinking about real events and master concepts like conservation and reversibility.