Question

Juan and his little sister, Anne, are each given a large cookie. "Their mother breaks Anne's cookie into four pieces to enable her to eat it easily. Juan immediately begins to cry and says that it is not fair for his sister to get so many cookies when he only has one. Juan is showing a lack of:

A. Conservation
B. Centration
C. Theory of mind
D. Symbolic function

Answer 1

Juan lacks conservation, which is the understanding that the appearance change of an object doesn't affect its fundamental properties, like quantity.

Step-by-step explanation:

Juan is showing a lack of conservation. Conservation is the understanding that changing the appearance of an object does not change its key properties, such as quantity. In Piaget's theory of cognitive development, conservation is a concept that children typically understand at a later stage than Juan's age. Since Juan sees his sister's cookie broken into four pieces and believes she has 'more' than him, although the quantity of cookie remains the same, he lacks the understanding of conservation. It is a common behaviour observed in the preoperational stage, which occurs from approximately 2 to 7 years old. At this stage, children have not yet developed the ability to perform mental operations and do not have an understanding of conservation, which is critical to recognizing that his sister does not actually have more cookies, but rather the same amount divided into smaller parts.