Whether you are preparing for your master’s ASWB exam or clinical ASWB exam, you are bound to get at least a few questions on the various developmental stages - are you ready to successfully answer them? Within Erickson’s, Piaget’s, and Freud’s developmental stages, there is a lot to learn, and trying to learn it all can feel downright daunting. Amanda Rowan has done an excellent job identifying the most commonly tested information across these developmental stages and has created a user-friendly quick study on the developmental stages for anyone using one of TDC’s LMSW or LCSW ASWB exam prep programs. Today we are going to look at one of Piaget’s stages: the Preoperational Stage.
Preoperational Stage
Piaget's Preoperational stage is the second stage in his theory of cognitive development. During this stage the child is, as the name suggests, pre-operations (before operations); so they cannot yet use logic. This stage is characterized by the child learning symbolic function, including the use of language, mental images, and symbols that represent objects that are not physically present. It is also during this stage that children learn to solve problems mentally. Children in the Preoperational stage have a difficult time distinguishing between fantasy and reality and often engage in magical thinking (for example, a child in this stage may think that their dog ran out the front door because it was mad at them).
How Will This Show Up on the ASWB Exam?
How might this show up on your exams? You might see an ASWB question that presents a scenario and has you identify which stage the child is in. It's also possible an ASWB question asking you to identify which characteristic is representative of a certain stage, or, like in this week’s ASWB practice test question, you could see a question asking you to identify which of a list of characteristics is not representative of a certain stage. Let’s see how you do on this week’s FREE ASWB practice question on Piaget’s Preoperational stage.
ASWB Practice Question:
Each of the following is characteristic of the preoperational stage of development EXCEPT:
A. The child develops object permanence
B. The child uses symbolic function
C. The child can solve problems mentally
D. The child engages in symbolic play
Share your answer and rationale in the comments section below and check back tomorrow for a discussion of the answer and rationale for this week’s ASWB practice test question. To learn more about Piaget’s stages of development (as well as all of the other development theories you need to know for your ASWB social work licensing exams!), sign up for one of TDC’s ASWB exam study guides to help you prepare for your LMSW or LCSW exams today! Amanda Rowan has helped thousands of social workers pass their ASWB social work exams-are you our next success story?
Comments
A. Object permanence. This one is tricky as logic could be confused with problem solving.
Object Permanence is developed in the Sensorimotor Stage of Piaget's Stages of Development.
The answer is A - Object Permanence is in the Sensorimotor stage
Oject Permanence is developed during the Sensorimotor Stage of Piaget's stages of development.
A Children in this stage learn to solve problems mentally. A is the closest correct answer even though C says children CAN solve problems mentally, there is that difference of learning to and can solve problems mentally.
I believe object permanence is the correct answer.