Question

A parent gives a 3-year-old a cookie. the child says, "i want two cookies." the parent breaks the cookie in half and hands the two pieces to the child, who happily accepts them.

Answer 1

Answer: This is what is reffered to as empathy.

Answer 2

Answer:

The child is in Piaget's pre-operational stage.

Explanation:

This stage begins at the age of 2 and continues until the age of 7. As the name states, the child is not yet ready to form concrete operations and  understand logic, which means that he/she still cannot fully manipulate information mentally.

A person who has passed this stage can comprehend that a cookie cut in half is still one cookie because that person understand reversibility, which is to go backwards on a central idea to its origin.

So, if the cookie is cut in half, the person can go back on the thought that the cookie is still one, not two. A child in the pre-operational stage does not understand this concept yet, therefore he/she thinks that he/she now has two cookies.