American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) Practice Exam 2026 - Free ABPN Practice Questions and Study Guide

The correct choice is the stage of preoperational thought, where children begin to display phenomenalistic causality. During this stage, which typically occurs between the ages of 2 and 7 years, children develop the ability to engage in symbolic play and begin to think about things in terms of representations rather than solely physical interactions.

Phenomenalistic causality refers to a cognitive process in which children make connections between events based on their experiences and perceptions rather than logical reasoning. For example, a child may believe that because they think about a toy, it magically appears. This stage is characterized by egocentric thinking, where children have difficulty seeing things from perspectives other than their own, and they often attribute life and consciousness to inanimate objects.

The other stages do not align with the development of phenomenalistic causality as distinctly as the preoperational stage. In the sensorimotor stage, infants primarily learn through sensory experiences and motor actions without complex reasoning about events. The concrete operations stage involves more logical reasoning but still relies on concrete situations rather than abstract thinking. Lastly, in the formal operations stage, individuals develop the capacity for abstract and hypothetical thinking, moving beyond the phenomenalistic interpretation of causality.