The purpose of this paper is to review the intellectual traits of egocentrism and perception dominance in young children 2 through 7 years of age and to explain, in a concrete way, how these two characteristics interact to greatly influence their ability to form logical and stable concepts. A secondary purpose is to suggest activities that may stimulate the thinking operations of young children. The egocentric child's thinking is fixed on its own perspective and judgments are made primarily from that single view. Perception-dominated children cannot mentally make transformations or correctly size things up. They believe what they see, not what was or could be. Children who are egocentric view the passage of time in relationship to their preferred activities or needs. They tend to explain happenings from a personal perspective and do not look outside too often for more natural explanations. The speech of the egocentric child often centers on the content he or she is thinking or expressing. The egocentric concept of morality in young children presents a real challenge to child caregivers. Children's egocentricism often limits their ability to effectively cope with and express emotions in ways that are interpreted correctly by adults. Additionally, egocentricism and perception dominance make perception of three-dimensional and two-dimensional space problematic for the young child and influence the child's understanding and use of cardinal and ordinal numbers. (RH)