what is egocentrism in child development

Egocentrism is a term used in child development to describe a childs inability to see a situation from another persons point of view. During the preoperational stage of cognitive development, children have difficulties thinking about more than one aspect of any situation at the same time, and they have trouble decentering in social situations just as they do in non-social contexts. Egocentric children assume that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as the child does. For example, a preschool child might sympathize with their parent and try to comfort them by offering a favorite toy or stuffed animal, reasoning that what helps the child feel better will also comfort the adult. Jean Piaget used the three mountains task to test whether children were egocentric. Egocentric children assume that other people will see the same view of the three mountains as they do. According to Piaget, at age 7, thinking is no longer egocentric, as the child can see more than their own point of view.