Final answer:
Piaget's concept of egocentrism in the preoperational stage explains why children cannot understand perspectives other than their own, leading to behaviors like choosing gifts based on personal preference and experiencing stranger anxiety.
Step-by-step explanation:
The egocentrism that Piaget believed to be characteristic of the preoperational stage of cognitive development can explain certain behaviors in children. During the preoperational stage, which occurs approximately between the ages of 2 to 7 years, children are not yet capable of understanding adult logic or mentally manipulating information. Their thought processes are based on personal knowledge and experience, rather than on more universal logic or principles such as conservation. For example, a child might mistakenly think they have more pizza than another simply because their single slice is cut into more pieces, not understanding that the actual amount of pizza remains the same.
Egocentrism means that a child at this developmental stage is unable to take the perspective of others. They believe that everyone else sees, thinks, and feels exactly the same way they do. This aspect of cognitive development can be observed when children choose gifts for others based on their own preferences, as well as in their interactions with strangers. They might demonstrate stranger anxiety because they cannot predict a stranger's behavior based on their own experiences.