Why Does a Child Cover Their Eyes When Trying to Hide?
When children attempt to hide, they often cover their eyes. This behavior is common and reveals fascinating insights into their developing understanding of perception.
It is a familiar sight: a young child, intending to disappear from view, simply covers their eyes. While it may seem ineffective to an adult, this action serves a specific purpose from the child's perspective.
The Core Reason: Egocentric Perspective
According to research, children cover their eyes when hiding because they assume that they are invisible to others because they are invisible to themselves (Russell et al., 2012).
This demonstrates a stage in cognitive development where a child's understanding of the world is heavily influenced by their own perspective. They project their own sensory experience onto others.
- Child's Logic:
- "I cannot see you when my eyes are covered."
- "Therefore, if I cannot see you, you also cannot see me."
- "By covering my eyes, I make myself 'unseen' from my own viewpoint, thus making myself 'invisible' to everyone else."
This egocentric viewpoint means the child hasn't yet fully grasped that other people have independent perspectives and that being unable to see someone doesn't equate to being unseen by them. Their own lack of visual input is mistakenly generalized to the external world.
While adults understand that hiding requires physically concealing their body from others' line of sight, a young child may primarily focus on altering their own visual perception as the key to successful hiding.
