In Piaget’s Three Mountain task, a child is shown a figure of three mountains. One mountain has a red cross at the top, one has a small house, and the third is snow-capped. On the other side of the figure (across the table from the child) sits a doll. When asked which mountain view the doll has, the preoperational child typically thinks the doll’s view is the same as the child’s own view. Piaget used this task to illustrate that others’ perspectives may differ from our own, or the inability to understand that commands, tactics, intelligence, and egocentrism.
The Correct Answer and Explanation is:
Correct Answer: Egocentrism
Jean Piaget designed the Three Mountain Task to study how children understand perspectives other than their own. In this task, a child is presented with a model containing three distinct mountains, each with unique features such as a red cross, a house, or a snow-covered peak. A doll is then placed on the opposite side of the model. The child is asked to determine what the doll sees from its location.
Children in the preoperational stage, typically between the ages of 2 and 7, often fail to understand that the doll might see something different than what they see. Instead, they describe the doll’s view as identical to their own. This response is not due to a lack of intelligence or misunderstanding of the task itself but reflects a cognitive limitation characteristic of that developmental stage.
This phenomenon is known as egocentrism. In this context, egocentrism refers to a child’s inability to mentally step outside their own perspective and imagine how the world looks to someone else. The child assumes that everyone sees, thinks, and experiences the same things they do. This mental limitation is not selfishness but a normal part of early cognitive development.
Piaget used this task to demonstrate that young children are not yet capable of taking another person’s viewpoint. This inability fades as children grow older and enter the concrete operational stage, where they begin to develop skills such as perspective-taking and logical reasoning.
Egocentrism, as revealed in the Three Mountain Task, highlights an important stage in cognitive development. Recognizing this stage allows for better understanding of how thought processes evolve in early childhood, particularly in social interactions, communication, and problem-solving. The task serves as a foundational example in developmental psychology for illustrating how children’s minds change over time.
