A toddler sees a large brown dog and says, 'Moo!' This is an example of:

A toddler sees a large brown dog and says, 'Moo!' This is an example of:

• A. Accommodation
• B. Assimilation
• C. Magical thinking
• D. Object permanence

Answer: (B)

This illustrates assimilation. The child uses an existing category from their experience—animals that say “moo” (cows)—to interpret a new object, a dog, and labels it with that familiar sound. In Piagetian terms, a familiar schema is applied to a new object without changing the underlying understanding. If the child later learns that dogs don’t moo and instead bark or make a different sound, they would adjust their thinking through accommodation, which changes or creates a new schema. Magical thinking would involve linking objects to nonreal, fantastical properties, and object permanence is about knowing things still exist when out of sight, neither of which fits this scenario.

This illustrates assimilation. The child uses an existing category from their experience—animals that say “moo” (cows)—to interpret a new object, a dog, and labels it with that familiar sound. In Piagetian terms, a familiar schema is applied to a new object without changing the underlying understanding. If the child later learns that dogs don’t moo and instead bark or make a different sound, they would adjust their thinking through accommodation, which changes or creates a new schema. Magical thinking would involve linking objects to nonreal, fantastical properties, and object permanence is about knowing things still exist when out of sight, neither of which fits this scenario.