Most 5 year olds cannot correctly solve the classic conservation task involving equal amounts of water in different-sized containers because their thinking is characterized by:

Their thinking is characterized by centration and irreversibility. Centration is the predisposition to center on one noticeable aspect of a condition and desert other, perhaps relevant aspects while irreversibility is a phase in early child development in which a child incorrectly believes that actions cannot be upturned or reversed.