Insights from Piaget

Preschoolers' Egocentrism

It is the nature of young children to be egocentric in their thinking. To say that preschoolers' thinking is egocentric simply means that young children have an excessive reliance on their own point of view, coupled with a corresponding inability to be objective. By and large, young children tend to focus on one feature or perspective at a time. Their tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation to the exclusion of all others is called centration. Preschooler egocentrism shows up in young children's inability to share their toys, a fact that parents often fail to understand. Because parents frequently do not comprehend the limitations of young children's logic, they tend to scold them when they refuse to share their toys. The inability to consider two perspectives at once, however, means that very young children are unable to comprehend the concept of sharing. According to Piaget, the reluctance to share does not mean that young children are necessarily selfish. On the contrary, they frequently attempt to comfort others in distress. Their attempts to comfort another child or an adult, however, are likely to come in a distinctly egocentric form such as offering a toy or lollipop. These examples reflect the preschooler's lack of understanding about what might soothe another person as well their egocentric view that what is important to them is also valuable to others. The inability of preschoolers to consider two perspectives simultaneously can also be seen in their failure to conserve matter and volume. The inability to understand that the quantity of matter (such as clay) does not change when the shape changes, or that the volume of water remains the same if it is poured from a short squat glass to a tall narrow glass, is reflected in preschoolers' judgment (Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). Where that lack of understanding is likely to show up is if young children are given drinks in different-size containers. The young child is likely to complain that another child has more juice if the other child's glass is taller, even if the amount of juice is the same in both glasses.

What This Means for Professionals

Rather than expressing impatience with preschoolers when they do not share, parents might take their young children's perspective in the matter. Parents can be certain that each child has an identical toy or when noticing that two children are insisting on having the same toy might distract one of the children by offering that child an equally attractive toy. Because preschoolers lack the ability to conserve matter and liquid, parents need to be patient with them when they complain that they have less lemonade than the other children whose glasses are taller (even though they are narrower). Instead of providing a logical explanation to the prelogical preschooler regarding how the width of one glass compensates for the height of the other glass, it is better to take care that glasses chosen for their liquid refreshments are all the same height and width.