Laylah doesn’t want hot chocolate put in her Doc McStuffins cup because she’s worried the hot liquid will burn Doc McStuffins. The best term to describe this is: A) Animism B) Egocentrism C) Scaffolding D) Conservation
The correct answer and explanation is:
Correct Answer: A) Animism
Animism is the belief that inanimate objects have human qualities, such as thoughts, feelings, or intentions. This is a common feature of early childhood cognitive development, particularly between the ages of 2 and 7, which corresponds to Jean Piaget’s preoperational stage of cognitive development. During this stage, children are not yet capable of logical operations, and their understanding of the world is often based on personal experiences, feelings, and imagination.
In the example of Laylah, she believes that putting hot chocolate into her Doc McStuffins cup might hurt or burn Doc McStuffins. This shows that she perceives the cup as having the ability to feel pain, similar to a human. Since Doc McStuffins is a character that children often see as a nurturing and caring figure, Laylah extends those characteristics to the cup and assumes it also has feelings. This belief is not based on scientific reasoning or factual knowledge, but rather on a child’s emotional and imaginative view of the world.
Animism is a normal and expected part of development in young children. It reflects their growing ability to think symbolically, even though their understanding of physical properties and logic is still limited. As children grow older and gain more experience, they begin to understand that objects do not have emotions or consciousness, and this animistic thinking decreases.
The other options are not appropriate in this case. Egocentrism refers to the difficulty in seeing things from another person’s perspective. Scaffolding is a learning process where an adult or more knowledgeable individual helps a child learn a new task. Conservation involves understanding that properties like volume or number remain the same despite changes in form. Therefore, the best term for Laylah’s behavior is Animism
