Deck 3: Cognitive Development in the Early Years

Question 1

At approximately what age are children first able to tell stories with a beginning,middle,and end as well as conversing with multiple people simultaneously?

A)3 to 4 years
B)4 to 5 years
C)2 to 3 years
D)6 to 7 years

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements is most accurate with regard to Piaget's theory?

A)Piaget firmly believed that children who were at a particular stage of cognitive development had the same level of understanding in all areas,such as understanding causality,morality,agency,etc.
B)Piaget believed that children's progress through the stages could vary.For example,very intelligent children could skip a stage.
C)Piaget believed in the dynamic quality of stages and understood that children in the same stage could vary greatly in their specific understanding of causality,morality,and so forth.
D)Piaget believed that children could vary in their understanding of morality but that their understanding of causality was the same for all children within a particular stage

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In Piaget's work with children,he established that a child's process of assimilating new information involves modifying what the child already knows to make the new information fit.This aspect of adaptation is known as what?

A)Executive function
B)Intersensory integration
C)Accommodation
D)Intermodal perception

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Piaget's research with babies helped him theorize about infant cognition by focusing primarily on their

A)babbling patterns with other children.
B)motor interactions with the environment.
C)eating habits and intake quantities.
D)DNA,blood type,and hereditary markers.

Question 5

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development,what did he call the stage children typically experience during the preschool years,beginning around the age of 2?

A)Preoperational
B)Sensorimotor
C)Adaptation
D)Self-regulation

Question 6

Which of the following skills or abilities is most closely associated with a child's theory of mind?

A)Accommodation
B)Centration
C)Perspective taking
D)Habitation

Question 7

Mrs.Harmon,the mother of 18-month-old Bryce,is concerned that Bryce has not learned to speak very well.He has a limited vocabulary and seems content to point to the things he wants.Based on her reading of several child development books,Mrs.Harmon believes that Bryce should have progressed further in language learning.Mrs.Harmon fears that Bryce is not keeping up developmentally.Based on your understanding of the timing of developmental stages,what would be your best advice?

A)Don't pay attention to developmental milestones and treat each child as an individual.
B)Since Bryce appears developmentally delayed,he should be referred immediately for a speech and language evaluation.
C)Developmental stages can be useful guidelines,but there is a range of normal development within stages.
D)Mrs.Harmon should use exercises such as flashcards with Bryce to increase his knowledge of vocabulary.

Question 8

Vygotsky and Luria believed that egocentric or private speech was the precursor to what?

A)Self-regulation
B)Adaptation
C)Accommodation
D)Egocentrism

Question 9

Researchers are discovering new ways to assess the memory of infants.Based on their studies,recognition skills are first detected at what age?

A)In the sixth month
B)As early as three months
C)Birth
D)Within weeks after birth

Question 10

Vygotsky believed that parents and other more advanced thinkers of a culture promoted cognitive development of children or novice learners.What term is used to define this type of help that promotes learning?

A)Elaborating
B)Orienting
C)Duplicating
D)Scaffolding

Question 11

Which of the following widely held assumptions about children's cognitive development was derived from Jean Piaget?

A)Children are blank slates receiving knowledge.
B)Knowledge is funneled into children.
C)Children passively absorb information.
D)Children construct their knowledge.

Question 12

For babies with normally developing motor,visual,and auditory processes,at what age do they typically begin walking alone?

A)Around 18-20 months
B)Around 8 months
C)Around 5-6 months
D)Around 12 months

Question 13

Piaget's hidden object test was designed to assess which of the following?

A)Habituation
B)Dishabituation
C)Object permanence
D)Preferential response to objects

Question 14

As children learn a language,what aspect of language do they learn first?

A)The phonology of the language
B)The semantics of the language
C)The syntax of the language
D)The pragmatics of the language

Question 15

The incidence rate of autism and autistic spectrum disorders is rising.Long-term epidemiological research at the University of California-Davis continues to investigate the cause,and their study focuses on which of the following?

A)Genetic and environmental factors
B)Pediatric vaccines
C)Type of parenting
D)Parent-child relationships

Question 16

Among our contemporary ideas about children's development,which of the following seems to be directly influenced by Vygotskian theory?

A)Our practices should be based on stages of development.
B)Our views on the topic focus on heredity and genetic influences.
C)Our ideas on the topic are shaped by our culture.
D)Our research on the topic emphasizes preoperational development.

Question 17

The set of cognitive processes involved in intentionally controlling our own behavior,determining what we pay attention to,setting goals,and choosing our responses to stimuli is called what?

A)Representational thought
B)Adaptations
C)Assimilations
D)Executive functions

Question 18

Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky investigated children's cognitive growth.What was the emphasis of his central theory of cognitive development?

A)Progression of stages of development
B)Level of education and economic status of a child's parents
C)Role of culture and society
D)Rate of development of a child's language skills

Question 19

Piaget's number conservation task provides supporting evidence of what characteristic of preoperational thought?

A)Agency
B)Cognitive flexibility
C)Accommodation
D)Centration

Question 20

When a child attempts a task and is unable to do it alone,but succeeds with the help of a person skilled in the task,the child is working in his or her

A)area of representational thought.
B)zone of proximal development.
C)preoperational stage.
D)zone of scaffolding.

Question 21

Jacinta,the mother of a 10-month-old baby boy,is concerned about her son's increasing fussiness when she leaves him with his babysitter each morning.Which explanation of his behavior is most likely to be accurate?

A)He is showing separation distress because his recognition memory is improving during this period.
B)He is showing separation distress because his recall memory is improving during this period.
C)He is showing lack of habituation to his caregiver which suggests the need to seek out a new babysitter.
D)He is showing increased willfulness suggesting the need for greater discipline from his parents.

Question 22

Ms.Hernandez is working with 4-year-old Peter,who is afraid of the dark.He believes monsters like he has seen on TV come out at night.Ms.Hernandez patiently explains that there are no real monsters,but to no avail.Peter still refuses to go to sleep.What might Piaget propose as the reason for this treatment failure?

A)Ms.Hernandez has not challenged Peter's irrational beliefs in a way that gets his attention.
B)Peter,at 4 years old,still has difficulty understanding that monsters are not real because he sees monsters on TV.
C)Peter can understand what Ms.Hernandez is telling him,but he has difficulty expressing his feelings about it.
D)Peter's parents have not done enough explaining about the true nature of TV monsters so that he can better understand.

Question 23

Developmentalists study what infants and children understand about other people's intentions,desires,beliefs,feelings,and so on.This field of study is referred to as

A)cognitive development.
B)theory of mind.
C)concrete operational thought
D)preoperational thought.

Question 24

Jacinta,the mother of a 10-month-old baby boy,is concerned about her son's increasing fussiness when she leaves him with his babysitter each morning.Whose opinion of the situation is most consistent with what you have learned about infant cognitive development?

A)Jacinta's sister,who believes the baby has been spoiled by too much attention and now has difficulty separating.
B)Jacinta's mother,who believes the baby must have a physical problem that is causing him to be clingy.
C)Manuel,the baby's father,who believes the boy must not like his babysitter.
D)Jacinta's neighbor,who says her children went through this stage and Jacinta should try to be understanding and maintain a consistent environment.

Question 25

The general consensus is that disorders of the autism spectrum

A)are not related to any detectable brain growth abnormalities.
B)are directly caused by pediatric vaccines containing thimerosal.
C)are neurobiological in nature and have high family concordance rates.
D)cannot be reliably diagnosed because there is too much variation.

Question 26

The ability to use language to communicate effectively by using well-organized narratives primarily depends upon the development of ____________ skill.

A)phonological
B)semantic
C)pragmatic
D)syntactic

Question 27

Which of the following research techniques is an appropriate method for studying cognitive development of individuals during the sensorimotor period?

A)Habituation paradigm
B)Survey method
C)Semi-structured interview
D)Conservation of matter tasks

Question 28

Which of the following is the best example of the concept of a child's zone of proximal development?

A)Sherri works on her algebra homework for two hours without being able to answer a single question correctly.
B)Jeff makes a note of the homework assignment for his last period class and completes it while riding home on the school bus.
C)Cindy explains to her younger sister how to solve a problem in math by organizing the information in a new way.Her younger sister can then complete her homework.
D)A mother shows her 8-month-old infant flashcards of words in different languages while she repeats each word on the card.

Question 29

Sam is at home with his two children,3-year-old Daria and 6-week-old Keith.Sam is reading a story to Daria when baby Keith wakes up and screams for his bottle.Daria gets very upset when Sam leaves her to tend to the baby.Sam tries to explain to his daughter that her baby brother can't wait,but Daria continues to insist.Sam is concerned that Daria is not accepting her new baby brother.Based on your understanding of preschoolers' cognitive development,what would you tell Sam?

A)Daria is probably exhibiting normal cognitive egocentrism because she cannot fully understand the needs of another person yet.
B)Daria is probably exhibiting a stress response that suggests the family may need some counseling.
C)Daria is probably exhibiting separation distress which is normal for children her age.
D)Daria is probably exhibiting a failure to show empathy and needs more training in this area.

Question 30

Which cognitive achievement underlies a baby's ability to form an attachment to a specific adult,like a parent or other caregiver?

A)Conservation
B)Object permanence
C)Code switching
D)Agency

Question 31

A counselor tries to use sports' metaphors with her clients in order to help them gain insight into their behavior.Certain clients lack the background knowledge about sports to understand her messages,so they fail to demonstrate any increased understanding about themselves or their problems.This primarily describes a failure of

A)assimilation.
B)accommodation
C)intrinsic motivation
D)accepting new information
Essay Questions (Chapter 3)

Question 32

According to Vygotsky,language is one product of shared understanding among members of a social group and may be considered a ____________ that facilitates learning and thinking.

A)scaffold
B)tool or sign
C)culture
D)developmental line

Question 33

Research using habituation and preferential response paradigms has provided us with much of what we know about the infant's perceptual abilities.The habituation paradigm takes advantage of

A)baby's ability to form habits
B)the absence of an orientation response in infants
C)baby's ability to report their own reactions
D)baby's tendency to orient to new stimulation

Question 34

Which of the following statements does not reflect contemporary critiques of Piagetian theory that have experimental support?

A)Progress in intellectual development is often domain-specific.
B)Preschoolers may be capable of more advanced cognitive tasks than Piaget had specified.
C)Infants may have a rudimentary understanding of object permanence earlier in infancy than Piaget suspected.
D)Infants frequently have the ability to mentally represent objects at birth.

Question 35

In a number conservation task a set of discrete items is laid out in two rows.First the items in the two rows are laid out in exactly the same way,and then the items in one row are moved farther apart.Typically,3- and 4-year-olds

A)recognize that the rows have the same number when they are arranged identically,but believe there are more items when they are farther apart.
B)have no trouble with simple number conservation tasks like this,but make mistakes with more abstract math problems.
C)can easily decenter from the number of objects to consider the spacing of items at the same time.
D)realize that number of items is conserved when they are moved around,because they take into account all the relevant observations at once.

Question 36

One important lesson helping professionals can take from Piaget's and Vygotsky's work is that

A)children must be expected to make independent progress,and not to be supported by adults in every task.
B)understanding how young clients think can help in structuring interventions that build effectively on existing knowledge and meanings.
C)stages of cognitive development proceed regularly,and are not altered by individual experiences.
D)language learning is not necessary for children to make progress in problem solving.

Question 37

Normally developing motor and visual milestones for a 4-month-old include

A)crawling,scribbling with a crayon,interpreting facial expressions.
B)sitting without support,playing with simple toys,20/20 vision.
C)rolling over,reaching for objects,visual tracking moving objects.
D)standing with support,reaching for objects,visual preference for faces

Question 38

Ms.Hernandez is working with 4-year-old Peter,who is afraid of the dark.He believes monsters come out at night like he has seen on TV.Ms.Hernandez patiently explains that there are no real monsters,but to no avail.Peter still refuses to go to sleep.What Piagetian idea helps to explain why Peter does not understand the truth about the unreality of TV monsters?

A)Peter assimilates the information that monsters are not real and accommodates the true information into his schema about monsters.
B)Peter fails to assimilate the idea that monsters are not real.
C)Peter may assimilate the information about monsters,but he lacks the knowledge structures needed to accommodate the new information into his existing framework.
D)Peter accommodates the information that monsters are not real but fails to assimilate it into his existing schema about monsters.

Question 39

Vygotsky pointed out that children do not independently construct a definition for each a word they learn,but rather they learn the meanings that the surrounding culture has ascribed to each word.This central concept in Vygotsky's theory is called

A)scaffolding.
B)operational thought.
C)tools and signs.
D)mediated learning.

Question 40

Vygotsky believed that egocentric or private speech (talking aloud to self)played an important role in cognitive development by

A)enabling young children to express and understand their emotions.
B)helping organize young children's thinking,as a precursor to self-regulation.
C)scaffolding young children's zone of proximal development.
D)revealing children's idiosyncratic thinking.

Question 41

Compare and contrast the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky.In what ways are they similar and in what ways are they different?

Question 42

Parents wish to locate a program for their toddler and preschool children that is developmentally appropriate.What elements would you advise these parents to look for in the programs they observe?