Howie and his little sister stephie are each given one large cookie. the mother breaks stephie's cookie into four pieces to her eat it more easily. howie immediately begins to cry and says that it isn't fair for stephie to get so many cookies when he only has one. howie is showing a lack of: ?

 lack of conservation
  Lack of conservation is found in  the preoperational stage as posited by philospher jean piaget. It is evidenced by lack of differentiating whole and fractional numbers .  It often develop in the concrete preoperational stage of 2-7. children can not tell that something remains the same with changes in shape,design, or adjustment of the container.