Young children across the globe enjoy playing games of hide and seek. For them, there's something highly exciting about 1 someone else's glance and making oneself unable to be seen.
However, we all witness that preschool children are remarkably 2 at hiding. They often cover only their eyes with their hands, leaving the rest of their bodies 3 .
For a long time, this ineffective hiding method was 4 as evidence that children are hopelessly "egocentric"（自我中心的）creatures. But our 5 research results in child developmental psychology 6 that idea.
We brought young children aged 2-4 into our Minds in Development Lab at USC. Each 7 sat down with an adult who covered her own eyes or 8 . We then asked the child if she could 9 or hear the adult. Surprisingly, children replied that they couldn't. The same 10 happened when the adult covered her own mouth: 11 children said that they couldn't 12 to her.
A number of 13 ruled out that the children misunderstood what they were being asked. The results were clear: Our young subjects 14 the questions and knew 15 what was asked of them. Their 16 to the questions reflected their true 17 that "I can see you only if you can see me, too." They simply 18 mutual（相互的）recognition and regard. Our 19 suggest when a child "hides" by putting a blanket over her head, it is not a result of egocentrism. In fact, children consider this method 20 when others use it.
