Human Growth and Development CLEP Prep Practice Exam

What is the term for the type of thinking in which a child's categories are all-or-nothing?

1. Assimilation

2. Centration

3. Transduction

4. Conservation

The correct answer is: Centration

The term for the type of thinking in which a child's categories are all-or-nothing is called centration. Centration refers to the tendency of young children to focus on only one aspect of a situation, disregarding other important features. For example, a child might recognize that two glasses have the same amount of liquid, but if the liquid is poured into a taller, thinner glass, the child may believe that the new glass has more liquid because it appears taller. This type of thinking is characteristic of the pre-operational stage of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. Assimilation (A) is the process of incorporating new information into existing knowledge or schemas. This is important for learning, but it does not specifically refer to the all-or-nothing thinking style described in the question. Transduction (C) is a way of reasoning where a child connects two unrelated events based