The Three Mountain Task was developed by Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child development. Piaget's theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology".
What is the three mountain task?
What is the three mountain task used to measure? The Three Mountain Problem was devised by Piaget to test whether a child's thinking was egocentric, which was also a helpful indicator of …
What are the methods of the three mountain problem?
The Three Mountain Task was developed by Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder in the 1940s to study children's ability to coordinate spatial perspectives. In the task, a child faced a display of three …
What is the three mountain problem in child development?
What does the three mountains task measure? Piaget developed the Three-Mountain Task to determine the level of egocentrism displayed by children . Children view a 3-dimensional …
What was Piaget's aim in the three mountain problem?
The Three Mountain Task was developed by Jean Piaget and Bärbel Inhelder in the 1940s to study children's ability to coordinate spatial perspectives. In the task , a child faced a display of …
What does the three mountains task measure?
What is Piaget's 3 mountains task a test of?
What are the three mountains used to measure quizlet?
What are conservation tasks?
What is assimilation in psychology?
What is Piaget known for?
Which of the following tasks is used to assess children's egocentrism?
What is egocentrism quizlet?
What is meant by brain specialization?
What is a Seriation task?
What are the 4 types of conservation?
- Environmental Conservation.
- Animal conservation.
- Marine Conservation.
- Human Conservation.
What other 3 forms of conservation did Piaget describe?
Who developed the Three Mountain Problem?
Three mountain problem. The Three Mountains Task was a task developed by Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist. Piaget came up with a theory for developmental psychology based on cognitive development. Cognitive development, according to his theory, took place in four stages. These four stages were classified as the sensorimotor, ...
What is Piaget's theory of development?
Piaget came up with a theory for developmental psychology based on cognitive development. Cognitive development, according to his theory, took place in four stages. These four stages were classified as the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. The Three Mountain Problem was devised by Piaget ...
What are the stages of cognitive development?
These four stages were classified as the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. The Three Mountain Problem was devised by Piaget to test whether a child's thinking was egocentric, which was also a helpful indicator ...
When do children choose the correct picture?
At age 6, an awareness of perspective different from their own could be seen. Then, by ages 7–8, children can clearly acknowledge more than one point of view and consistently select the correct photograph.
What is implied in the child's selection?
What is implied is that the child's selection is based on egocentric thinking. Egocentric thinking is looking at the world from the child's point of view solely, thus "an egocentric child assumes that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as the child does.”.
What is egocentric thinking?
Egocentric thinking is looking at the world from the child's point of view solely, thus "an egocentric child assumes that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same as the child does.”. This is consistent with the results for the preoperational age range as they selected photographs paralleling their own view.
When did Piaget conclude that children were able to decenter their thoughts and acknowledge perspectives different than their own?
Piaget concluded that, by age 7, children were able decenter their thoughts and acknowledge perspectives different than their own. This was evidenced by the consistent and correct selection of photographs by seven- and eight-year-olds in the 1956 study.

Overview
The Three Mountains Task was a task developed by Jean Piaget, a Swiss developmental psychologist. Piaget came up with a theory for developmental psychology based on cognitive development. Cognitive development, according to his theory, took place in four stages. These four stages were classified as the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. The Three Mountain Problem was devised by Piaget to test whether a child'…
Methods
Piaget's aim in the Three Mountain Problem was to investigate egocentrism in children's thinking. The original setup for the task was:
The child who is seated at a table where a model of three mountains is presented in front. The mountains were of different sizes, and they had different identifiers (one mountain had snow; one had a red cross on top; one had a hut on top). The child was allowed to do a 360 surveillance of …
Findings
The findings showed that at age 4, children would choose the photograph that best reflected with their own view. At age 6, an awareness of perspective different from their own could be seen. Then, by ages 7–8, children can clearly acknowledge more than one point of view and consistently select the correct photograph.
During Preoperational Stage
A distinction can be made between children who are in the preoperational stage of cognitive development and the concrete operational stage. The prototypical child in the preoperational stage will fail the Three Mountain Problem task. The child will choose the photograph that best represents their own viewpoint, not that of the doll's.
What is implied is that the child's selection is based on egocentric thinking. Egocentric thinking i…
During Concrete Operational Stage
The concept of centrationis observed predominantly in children in the preoperational stage of cognitive development. Conversely, children in the concrete operational stage demonstrate decentration - an ability to recognize alternate point of views and a straying away from egocentric thinking. Piaget concluded that, by age 7, children were able decenter their thoughts and acknowledge perspectives different than their own. This was evidenced by the consistent and c…
Follow Up Studies
There has been some criticism that the Three Mountain Problem was too difficult for the children to understand, compounded with the additional requirement of matching their answer to a photograph. Martin Hughes conducted a study in 1975 called the Policeman Doll Study. Two intersecting walls were used to create different quadrants, and “policeman" dolls were moved in various locations. The children were asked to hide another doll, a “boy” doll, away from both poli…
Variations of the Three Mountain Problem
Common criticism of the Three Mountain Problem is about the complexity of the task. In 1975, another researcher by the name of Helen Borke replicated the task using a farm area with landmarks such as a lake, animals, people, trees, and a building. A character from Sesame Street, Grover, was put in a car, and he was driven around the area. When he stopped to "take a look at the scenery," children were asked what the landscape looked like from Grover's perspective. The …
See also
• Egocentrism
• Centration
• Jean Piaget
• Developmental stage theories
• Piaget's theory of cognitive development