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Observation A

1.

Data

Melvin sits down at the table with Reesa and she puts up a line of seven M&Ms in front

of Melvin. Reesa tells Melvin that the existing seven M&Ms are for her and tells Melvin to take

the same number of M&Ms out of the M&M pile for himself. When Melvin is asked perform

this task in English, he seems confused with the questions. However, when asked to take the

same number of pennies in Chinese he understands the question understands the question more

clearly and he also takes out five pennies from the pile of M&M’s. Melvin says okay and is able

to do so. He counts the M&Ms Reesa has and then counts out seven M&Ms as he takes them

from the pile. Reesa spreads out her M&Ms and asks Melvin if they have the same number of

M&Ms. Melvin agrees.

Analysis

This demonstrates that Melvin is able to reason logically that he and Reesa have the same

number of M&Ms even though Reesa’s M&Ms are spread out. Melvin’s age falls within Piaget’s

preoperational stage, but as stated in this stage, children usually lack logical reasoning (Myer

144). Melvin’s ability to understand the seemingly mathematical transformation between Reesa’s

M&Ms doesn’t change the amount of M&Ms she has and places him within the concrete

operational stage of Piaget because Melvin exhibits logical reasoning (Myer 144). The section of

observation A illustrates many explanations of Melvin’s cognitive processes other than the ones

provided by Piaget. First, to address the language difference between Melvin and Reesa, it is

shown that language plays a special role in early childhood thought (Cole 350). “Research

emphasizes that language bridges gaps in understanding between people, and allows them to
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coordinate in shared activities. The words of a language, and the ways in which these words are

used in everyday contexts, provide children with ready-made templates for the meanings and

distinctions that are important in their community” (Cole 351). The emphasis on language can

explain why Melvin didn’t understand Reesa’s question when it was asked in English. Melvin

was able to better process the question when it was asked in his first language, Cantonese.

Language is very important in Melvin’s thinking because different cultures explain concepts

differently through their languages. After understanding the question, Melvin’s actions can be

further illustrated by an information processing approach to cognitive processes. Critics of

Piaget’s theory were dissatisfied by the fact that Piaget’s ideas considered assimilation and

accommodation as mysterious forces within the child development process (Cole 9). In order to

repair the gaps within Piaget’s approach, psychologists developed the information processing

approach that can explain Melvin’s actions through his mental reasoning similar to a computer.

Melvin is able to demonstrate this information processing strategy because he shows the ability

to perform the requested task accurately. When Melvin is asked to take the same amount of

pennies, his sensory register stores that stimulation from the environment. The request to take out

the same number of pennies goes into Melvin’s short term memory and then to his long term

memory when Melvin takes out the same number of pennies (Cole 334). Both the information

processing theory and Piaget’s child development stages provide explanation for Melvin’s

actions.

2.

Data
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During the next part of Observation A, Melvin exhibits one of the phenomena listed in the

preoperational stage, pretend play. In this section of the observation, Reesa tells Melvin that they

will play “store” and that she will by pennies from Melvin. Reesa tells Melvin that if Melvin

gives her a penny, she will give him an M&M:

• Melvin gives Reesa a penny

• Reesa gives Melvin an M&M

• Melvin then gives Reesa two pennies

• Reesa gives Melvin two M&Ms

• Melvin gives the last two pennies to Reesa

• Reesa gives Melvin the last two M&Ms

After this, Reesa asks Melvin how many M&M’s he has and Melvin responds saying that he has

“five pennies.” When Reesa asks Melvin how many pennies she has, Melvin shrugs his

shoulders and makes a blank expression of “I don’t know.” Then Melinda translates the question

into Chinese and asks Melvin again, Melvin still looks unsure of himself and guesses that there

are six pennies.

Analysis

To relate this to the preoperational stage, it is clear that Melvin hasn’t grasped the

concept of logical thinking a hundred percent (Myer 144). However, this can also show that

Melvin is egocentric; a common characteristic of this stage (Myer 146). Egocentrism in Piaget’s

theory is the inability of the preoperational child to take another’s point of view (Myer 146).

Melvin exhibits this because he is only able to think of the amount of M&M’s in his hand but is
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unable to realize that Reesa has the same number of pennies since she gave him one M&M for

each penny (Myer 146). Melvin doesn’t understand the logic of the situation and probably

doesn’t think he can’t find the amount of pennies in Reesa’s because he doesn’t understand her

point of view. A modern view on developmental psychology could also add that Melvin’s actions

demonstrated the function of scripts. Scripts are guides to actions. The scripts are described as

mental representations the children and adults use to predict events in familiar circumstances

(Cole 349). Melvin’s ability to distinguish that Reesa and him are pretending to play store shows

that he personally has a concept of a store like scenario between a clerk and a customer and can

act accordingly to the predicted outcome.

3.

Data

Melinda puts four paper strips of different sizes in a row. Each strip has the same

distance separating each strip. Then Melinda takes the fourth strip out of the series of strips and

asks Melvin, “Would you put this back where it belongs?” Melvin puts the paper strip along the

longest strip. When Melinda asks Melvin why he does so, he answers “it’s like a ladder.” Melvin

rearranged the strips so that they would look like a ladder.

Analysis

This observation doesn’t support or contradict Melvin’s logical thinking according to

typical experiment results. Melvin didn’t give the generic response by putting the paper strip

where it belongs but placed in a certain place and was able to give good reasoning behind the

placement. One would argue that this observation would support the idea that Melvin’s logical

thinking is developed rather than contradict it.

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4.

Data

Melinda took two fat glasses and one tall glass and placed them on the kitchen table.

Melinda poured water into two fat glasses and asked Melvin to see if they had the same amount

of water. Melvin replied, “Yes” without hesitation. Then when Reesa poured water into a taller

glass, she asked Melvin if the two glasses had the same amount of water. Melvin pointed to the

skinnier glass and said “This one has more water.” He also doesn’t hesitate with this answer and

smiles.

Analysis

With this observation, Melvin lacks the concept of conservation (Myer 146).

Conservation is the principle (which Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational

reasoning) that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in

the forms of objects (Myer 146). Melvin doesn’t see that the amount of water in all the glasses is

equal. However, to explain Melvin’s logic from a different perspective, psychologist can use

domains to reveal what children think in certain contexts. Domains can be knowledge of a

domain or activity (Cole 337). The four domains of physics, biology, psychology, and social

interaction can help explain how children base their thinking (338). In this situation, Melvin

showed reference to the domain of naïve physics, which explains the intuitive understanding of

properties of objects and forces that children understand (Cole 339). Melvin doesn’t understand

that the properties of fluid simply take the shape of their container and do not change in mass

even if they seem to.

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5.

Data

Reesa asks Melvin a series of questions:

• Reesa: Do you have a sister?

• Melvin: Yes

• Reesa: Does sister have a brother?

• Melvin: Yes

• Reesa: What is her name?

• Melvin: Sister!*

• Reesa: Why is the sky blue?

• Melvin: Because it’s the daytime

• Reesa: Why does it get dark outside?

• Melvin: Because the Earth is moving

• Reesa: Is a tree alive?

• Melvin: Yes

• Reesa: Is a car alive?

• Melvin: No

Analysis

Melvin shows characteristics of Piaget’s preoperational stage within his answers. Melvin’s

thoughts are not always egocentric. In Piaget’s theory, egocentrism is the inability of the

preoperational child to take another’s point of view (Myer 147). When Melvin is asked, “Do you

have a sister?” He replies, “Yes.” When Melvin is asked “Does sister have a brother?” He replies,
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“Yes.” This dialogue reveals that Melvin doesn’t entirely think from an egocentric point of view

and is growing out of the preoperational stage. Melvin still shows egocentrism when Reesa asks

him about his sister’s name. Melvin says that her name is “Sister*,” and he says this because he

is thinking of how he addresses his sister everyday and not considering that his sister also has a

name other than sister. When Reesa asks Melvin “Why is the sky blue,” she is testing Melvin’s

precausal thinking. Precausal thinking was Piaget’s description of the reasoning of young

children that does not follow procedures of either deductive or inductive reasoning (Cole 327).

Melvin is aware of an idea of cause and effect but doesn’t fully have the mental capacity to

explain his reasoning in depth. For instance, when asked about why it gets dark, Melvin has

learned something about the Earth’s rotation around the sun but gives a simplified answer

because he doesn’t have the genuine cause-and–effect reasoning.

*In Chinese families, it’s common for siblings to address older siblings by the term “Sister”

rather than by their name.

6.

Data

Reesa lays out paper and crayons for Melvin on the table. Melvin sits down and looks

happy to draw. Reesa asks Melvin if he can draw his family and Melvin replies, “Sure, I know

how to draw humans.” Melvin begins drawing and looks very concentrated as he draws his

family. Melvin says “The first one is going to be me,” as he draws the picture. Then he turns to

Melinda and says “Now I’m going to draw you,” and then while he is drawing, Melvin speaks

about “A body, a hand, and feet,” while he draws out the individual body parts. Melvin names

body parts as he draws and he names parts as “Mommy head” or “daddy head” and so on while

he’s drawing. Then he talks about his Dad’s eyes (Dad has glasses) and continues to draw. Reesa
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then asks Melvin “who is in the family?” and Melvin replies “Mommy, me, sister, and Daddy.”

Melvin shows that he is able to draw all the body parts and associate the differences in different

people.

Analysis

Melvin’s drawing can help show the schemas he has for family and human anatomy. A

Schema is a concept or framework that organizes and interprets information (Myer 143). Melvin

is able to use his concepts of family and draws all the family into a picture. Melvin draws only

the people in his immediate family in the picture but doesn’t include anyone else, like cousins.

This shows that his concept of family is simply his immediate family and Melvin wouldn’t be

able to draw any other family members unless he was asked specifically for “cousin” or “uncle”.

Melvin also describes to what he’s drawing to Reesa when he is drawing the family picture in

sequence. Typically, a characteristic of Melvin’s language development stage is having number

concepts of 4 or more and can count to ten (Language). Melvin is aware of who he’s drawing and

can tell you who he drew first and last. When Melvin draws, he is indicating how his information

processing and motor skills can be used to represent his world onto paper (Cole 335). For

instance, in Melvin’s drawing, Melvin uses only one color to draw his family. This could mean

that he was either too busy to get a different color or that he sees all of him family members as

the same. The level of affection he has for each member is equal and he chooses not to

distinguish them by the colors he draws them in. Also, Melvin’s schema for the human body can

be seen in Melvin’s drawing since he processes the information to draw each body part and also

understands that each body part has its own specific purpose.
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7.

Data

Reesa tells Melvin that he’s going to hear a story and Melvin exclaims, “I love stories!”

Reesa and Melinda choose to tell the simpler version of the story for Melvin since he is younger.

Reesa tells Melvin: Pretend you best friend is having a birthday party. Your friend lives just

across the street and as you are going to the party this little boy who moved in next door has

fallen down and is hurt and crying. If you stop to help him you will miss having the cake and ice

cream. Are you going to help him?

When Reesa tells Melvin that the little boy fell down, Melvin says, “Oh no! That’s terrible!”

Melvin answers Reesa’s question and says “Yes, I’m going to help him.” Reesa then asks Melvin

again for clarity, “are you going to help the boy or have ice cream?” Melvin confirms his answer

by saying “yes” and nodding.

Analysis

One could argue that Melvin’s moral reasoning is a bit above the preoperational level.

According to Piaget’s Development, moral reasoning occurs in the formal operational stage,

which doesn’t begin until age twelve (Myer 144). Melvin shows sympathy for the other child and

understands how he feels. This ability to think about another’s mental state can be observed in

the theory of mind (Cole 341). There is different evidence provided for the developing theory of

mind of a child (Cole 341). “Melvin is four years old and within his age, children are supposed to

think about the relation between their own beliefs and those of others” (Cole 341). Melvin is able

to think about the other boy and this is evidence that shows the existence of the theory of mind.
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Melvin is following normal milestones for his age. A child at age four uses most speech sounds

but may distort some of the more difficult sounds such as l, r, s, sh,ch, y, v, z, th (Speech). These

sounds may not be fully mastered until age 7 or 8 (Speech). Melvin uses “That’s terrible” and

doesn’t mispronounce “terrible.” Also he shows increased vocabulary because he chooses to use

“terrible” instead of an easier word to pronounce like “bad” or “sad.” Children also typically use

consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of words during this age (Speech). Some of the

more difficult consonants may be distorted, but children attempt to say them (Speech). The quote

shows that Melvin is able to speak with consonants in the beginning, middle, and ends of the

sentence and also speaks his words clearly without any problems. Melvin also says “going” in

his response. One characteristic of this language stage is the ability to use verbs that end in "ing,"

such as "walking," "talking" (Language). Melvin can use these verb changes and also knows

conjunctions like “I’m,” Melvin is developing the English language at the expected rate.

Follow Up Story

Data

Reesa tells Melvin that he is going to hear another story, Melvin is very excited an

exclaims, “Yay!” In the beginning of Reesa’s story, Melvin seems distracted by a ball on the

ground but returns his attention to Reesa. Reesa tells Melvin the follow up story: One child

climbed up to steal a cookie and broke one of his mom’s dishes, another child accidentally

bumped over a stack of his mom’s dishes and broke five. Who should be punished? Melvin seems

a little confused and Melinda translates for Melvin in Chinese. In the middle of Melinda’s

Chinese version of the story, Melvin gasps when he hears that five plates are broken. Melvin

replies to the question that the boy who broke five dishes should be punished. When asked why,

Melvin replies and says, “Because he broke five of them.”

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Analysis

This observation illustrates Melvin’s moral reasoning. Piaget said that a child’s moral

reasoning is based on his own cognitive development (Myer 164). Kohlberg, agreeing with

Piaget, created three stages of morality (Myer 164). Melvin’s moral reasoning can be explained

with Kohlberg’s stages of morality. Melvin is obviously within the preconventional morality

stage. The preconventional moraily stage is a stage that most children are in before age nine

(Myer 164). In this stage, most children usually think with self interest and obey to avoid

punishment; Melvin thinks strictly of how he thinks the mother will react responding to the

amount of plates broken but he forgets to consider the plates broken by accident and the ones

broken on purpose (Myer 164). As contemporary psychology shows, a child’s idea of what is

good and bad is based on what an adult’s reaction is. Piaget described this as heteronomous

morality, or morality that is subject to externally imposed controls (Cole 375). Melvin’s idea that

one child who broke five dishes should receive greater punishment is from the fact that his

environmental surroundings have taught him about the quantitative factors that go into

punishment. Melvin has probably experienced some kind of punishment in the past where he

carried out an action too much instead of just once on a rare occasion. Melvin will learn later that

not all rules are the same in every kind of situation.