Do young children really see themselves at the centre of the world, and is that such a bad thing? Penny Tassoni considers the angles
The word 'egocentric' conjures up pictures of someone who is selfish, self-obsessed and likely to be unpleasant. Yet it is a word that is quite often used about young children. Is this fair? Are they really 'egocentric' and if so, at what point does this begin to change?
To answer some these questions, it is worth looking to the child development theorist Jean Piaget, as it could be argued that his work has contributed to the widespread view of children being 'egocentric'.
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