Imitation, central to the learning experience of preschool children, is a complex act because of differences in the size of the operators (the adult and the child), different levels of dexterity, and even different outcomes. Recent work indicating that preschool children do have the ability to understand causal relationships has modified our understanding of the ability of preschool children to engage in abstract thinking (see Chapter 18). Such misunderstandings reflect young children's developing hypotheses about the nature of the world, as well as their difficulty in attending simultaneously to multiple aspects of a situation. Invariably, they choose the one that looks larger (usually the tall vase), even when the examiner points out that no water has been added or taken away. In one experiment, water is poured back and forth between a tall, thin vase and a low, wide dish, and children are asked which container has more water. Piaget demonstrated the dominance of perception over logic. After 2 yr of age, the child develops a concept of herself or himself as an individual and senses the need to feel “whole.” A child might try to comfort an adult who is upset by bringing the adult a favorite stuffed animal.
Egocentrism refers to a child's inability to take another's point of view and does not connote selfishness. A child might believe that people cause it to rain by carrying umbrellas, that the sun goes down because it is tired, or that feeling resentment toward a sibling can actually make that sibling sick.
Magical thinking includes confusing coincidence with causality, animism (attributing motivations to inanimate objects and events), and unrealistic beliefs about the power of wishes. The preschool period corresponds to Piaget's preoperational (prelogical) stage, characterized by magical thinking, egocentrism, and thinking that is dominated by perception, not abstraction (see Table 18.2). Kliegman MD, in Nelson Textbook of Pediatrics, 2020 Cognition
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