The Three Mountains Task

The Three Mountains Task is a psychological experiment used to assess a child's ability to understand different perspectives. In the test, a child views a model with three mountains of varying shapes and sizes, each with distinct features. The child is asked to describe what a doll positioned at different points around the model would see. The child's ability to accurately identify the view from the doll’s perspective indicates whether they possess "egocentric" thinking—believing everyone sees the world the same way—or can recognize that others may have different viewpoints. This test helps illustrate the developmental stages of cognitive perspective-taking.