Question

Tommy was at the park with his father and excitedly pointed to the squirrel and exclaimed, "kitty, kitty!" tommy had never seen a squirrel before but has a cat at home. his father pointed out that this was a squirrel and not a kitty. this best illustrates the process of:

Answer 1

I believe the answer is: assimilation
In psychology, assimilation is the process of combining a new information with another information that already existed in our brain.
This process is a crucial process in developing children's ability to understand the difference between one object with another.

Answer 2

Assimilation.
   This is a process by which Tommy is getting all the necessary social skills and mental skills he needs to be able to adapt and adjust to life in the human society. He learns about the intricacies of his surrounding environment and everything around him. Whatever that is picked up sticks, just as his father is showing him the squirrel, next time Tommy encounters a squirrel he would be able to identify it himself without the aid of his father.