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Implications of Object Permanence

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Definitions of Object Permanence

  1. (a)

    Knowledge that an object continues to exist when there is no longer sensory input from the object.

  2. (b)

    A sensorimotor organization of schemes, completed by about 18 months of age, that enables the infant’s organization of reality into a world of objects, including the infant as one of them. – Piaget.

  3. (c)

    Inference, that an infant knows innately or early that objects exist when occluded, based on longer infant looking when an inferred expectation, resting on the assumption of that knowledge, is violated, and on additional assumptions that violation of expectation results in surprise and surprise results in longer looking.

Practical Implications of Object Permanence

Knowing that something exists when not perceived implies that the knowledge exists free of sensory input and suggests it can be used mentally without sensory support. The knowledge has been freed from the limitations and constraints of time, space, and perception. The knower no longer...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    Richard Bogartz

Authors
  1. Richard Bogartz
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Correspondence to Richard Bogartz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, Michigan, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of South Carolina – Beaufort, Bluffton, SC, USA

    Carey Fitzgerald

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Bogartz, R. (2018). Implications of Object Permanence. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2375-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2375-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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