The case of Sara Essay Example for Free

The case of Sara Essay Since Sara is mere two and a half years old, Piaget will immediately respond to the case by stating that the child is still under the so-called sensorimotor stage. At this part of the various cognitive stages in the life of an individual, especially to that of a child, Sara is most expected to acquire the basic learning in life by the utilization of both reflex and motor actions from the body. This general observation can be broken down further into the idea that the child, at such an age, is expected to comprehend that he or she is entirely detached or is set apart and is unique from his or her surrounding environment. That is, the various elements that are located within the child’s environment are learned by the child as objects that remain existent even if these very objects are beyond or are hidden from the primary senses of the child. Hence, Sara is already able to recognize the fact that all of her friend’s toys are separate from her self and that, eventually, she is able to understand that her friend’s toys will always be there albeit they are not in her midst. Since the foundation of learning at this age rests strongly on the sensorimotor stages, it is not surprising to know that the efforts of Sara’s father are ineffective. The primary reason behind this is that mere â€Å"telling† or the act of talking to the child is insufficient. Rather, what must be done is that, in order to modify Sara’s inclination towards taking her friend’s toys, her father should use a frown complemented by either a soothing or a calmed voice as Piaget will suggest. Starting at age four, Sara may be able to better infer the mental states of her friends. The explanation rests on Piaget’s preoperational stage wherein the child is compelled by his assumption that the people around her visualize every situation similar or parallel to his point of view. Hence, Sara, by four, will acquire an increase in the ability to comprehend that how her friends see the world is analogous to how she sees that same world.