"Do you want to play patty-cake?" Sofia asks her infant daughter. The baby responds by clapping her hands. In which stage of sensorimotor development is Sofia's baby?

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

The question asks us to place Sofia's infant in the correct sensorimotor stage.
Option 1: stage three. This stage, traditionally labeled as secondary circular reactions (roughly 4–8 months), involves infants repeating actions that produce interesting effects on the outside world and beginning to engage with external stimuli. Clapping in response to a social cue (like being prompted to patty-cake) can be interpreted as these repeated, outward-focused actions and rudimentary imitation of social routines typical of Stage 3.
Option 2: stage four. Stage four (around 8–12 months) covers more advanced coordination of secondary schemes and purposeful imitation of others, including more deliberate problem solving and goal-directed behavior. If the baby were reliably imitating complex adult actions or coordinating multiple steps to achieve a goal, Stage 4 would be a better fit. Since the prompt emphasizes clapping in response to patty-cake, the example aligns more closely with Stage 3’s outward-directed actions rather than Stage 4’s coordinated, intentional imitation.
Option 3: stage two. Stage two, or primary circular reactions (about 1–4 months), centers on repeating body-centered actions (like sucking on a thumb) that involve the infant’s own body rather than external objects or social cues. Clapping in response to a prompt goes beyond simple self-focused activities, making Stage 2 an inappropriate fit.
Option 4: stage one. Stage one consists of reflexive, inborn reflexes at birth (such as grasping or rooting). These reflexes are foundational and not characterized by purposeful responses to social prompts like patty-cake, so this choice does not describe the observed behavior.
Overall, the observed clapping in response to a request aligns with Stage 3’s transition toward more outward, interactive responses, rather than the earlier, self-focused stages or the later, more deliberate imitation characteristic of Stage 4.

Intro to Child Psychology Exam #2 (5-7) - Due 10/15-16 (Remotely Proctored)

"Do you want to play patty-cake?" Sofia asks her infant daughter. The baby responds by clapping her hands. In which stage of sensorimotor development is Sofia's baby?

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