A Child Is Presented with Two Identical Balls of Clay

Multiple Choice

A child is presented with two identical balls of clay. The experimenter rolls one ball into a long, thin shape; the other remains in its original ball form. The child is then asked if there is more clay in the ball or in the long, thin piece of clay. If the child answers the problem correctly but cannot use abstract reasoning yet, the child most likely is in which stage of Piaget's cognitive development theory?

A) sensorimotor stage
B) preoperational stage
C) formal operational stage
D) concrete operational stage