Deck 4: Theories of Cognitive Development

Question 1

This is the tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found, rather than in the new location where it was last hidden.

A) object permanence
B) deferred imitation
C) A-not-B error
D) symbolic representation

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Dr. Brown conducts a study in which participants are presented with the pendulum problem described in the text and are asked to determine which factor or factors influence the amount of time it takes the pendulum to swing through a complete arc: the length of the string, the heaviness of the weight, the height from which the weight is dropped, or some combination of these factors. Which comparison is MOST likely to be made by an individual in Piaget's formal operational stage?

A) heavy weight on short string versus light weight on long string, both dropped from the same height
B) heavy weight on long string versus light weight on short string, both dropped from the same height
C) light weight on short string dropped from high position versus light weight on short string dropped from lower position
D) light weight on long string dropped from high position versus light weight on short string dropped from lower position

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Mira, who is 8 years old, has loved animals since she was a preschooler, and she knows a lot of information about them. She takes a trip to the zoo with her friend Danielle. Danielle is 10 years old, and although she likes animals, she does not know nearly as much about them as Mira does. According to information-processing theories, who is likely to learn more from a guided tour by an animal expert, Mira or Danielle?

A) Danielle, because she is older and thus better able to remember things
B) Mira, because she is younger and has a more pliable memory structure
C) Danielle, because she has so much more to learn
D) Mira, because her higher level of knowledge enables her to have better memory for new information

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Arden is sitting in a tree and has a perfect view of his twin brother George digging a hole and burying a treasure. A few weeks later, the boys want to dig up the buried treasure, but leaves are covering the area, making it impossible to see the loosened dirt where George dug the hole. According to the dynamic-systems perspective, which brother is more likely to remember where the treasure is?

A) A prediction cannot be made, as memory is not a focus of the dynamic-systems perspective.
B) Arden would be more likely to remember the location.
C) George would be more likely to remember the location.
D) The brothers would have an equal chance of remembering the location.

Question 5

What was demonstrated by Levin and her colleagues in their study in which children walked in a circular motion while holding onto a 7-foot metal bar on a pivot?

A) Lecturing children is not an effective strategy to get them to learn difficult concepts.
B) Some concepts are too abstract for young children to comprehend.
C) Children can learn concepts beyond what is considered age-appropriate by actively experiencing the concepts.
D) Children are not able to conserve length until age 8.

Question 6

Austin is presented with the pendulum problem described in the text. He begins his experiments with the belief that the heaviness of the weight is the most important factor, tests his belief with unsystematic experiments, and concludes that his belief is accurate even though no clear conclusion could be drawn. Austin is in Piaget's _____ stage.

A) concrete operational
B) formal operational
C) sensorimotor
D) preoperational

Question 7

Which statement is TRUE according to information-processing theories?

A) Cognitive development occurs through a series of sudden changes.
B) Children of different ages think in qualitatively different ways.
C) Significant cognitive changes occur during brief transition periods between stages.
D) Changes are constantly occurring.

Question 8

Ann Brown's community-of-learners program is BEST supported by _____ theory.

A) dynamic-systems
B) sociocultural
C) information-processing
D) Piagetian

Question 9

According to Piagetian theory, young infants' goals are _____, and older infants' goals are more _____.

A) concrete; abstract
B) abstract; concrete
C) realistic; unrealistic
D) unrealistic; realistic

Question 10

Which statement can help explain why children tend to lie about transgressions as they get older?

A) As they get older, they are more apt to imagine negative consequences for their actions.
B) As they get older, they are better able to generate ways of avoiding negative consequences.
C) As they get older, they are more apt to imagine negative consequences for their actions and are better able to generate ways of avoiding them.
D) Research has not determined that children tend to lie about transgressions as they get older.

Question 11

Stacey is 2 years old and learning about her environment. As she does so, her language skills expand. She is best able to identify objects as either people, animals, or nonliving things. Stacey is demonstrating which characteristic of children's theories about their world?

A) Children identify fundamental units for dividing relevant objects and events into a few basic categories.
B) Children explain many phenomena in terms of a few fundamental principles.
C) Children explain events in terms of unobservable causes.
D) Children do not develop theories about their world.

Question 12

The _____ theory is especially concerned with how variable children's thinking is at any given point in development.

A) Piagetian
B) dynamic-systems
C) sociocultural
D) overlapping waves

Question 13

Reflexes are the primary manner of interacting with the world for children of what age?

A) newborn
B) 6 months
C) 9 months
D) 12 months

Question 14

According to sociocultural theories, the level at which parents can optimally support children's learning is

A) the level at which children can perform without assistance.
B) a level that is slightly higher than the level at which children can perform without assistance.
C) a level that is significantly higher than the level at which children can perform without assistance.
D) at all of these levels equally.

Question 15

Piaget believed that the BEST way for children to learn is through

A) rewards and punishments.
B) modeling peers and adults.
C) explicit instruction from adults.
D) experimenting with the world on their own.

Question 16

Which is the BEST example of guided participation?

A) Clarisa's grandfather gives her explicit instructions on how to kick a soccer ball with the side of her foot.
B) Mark's teacher asks a few of his classmates if Mark can play on the playground with them.
C) Marika's mother holds the screwdriver in the screw so that Marika can turn it without it falling out.
D) Jabar's mother holds his block tower steady so that she can place a final block on top while Jabar watches.

Question 17

Vygotsky's theory is a type of _____ theory.

A) information-processing
B) sociocultural
C) Piagetian
D) dynamic-systems

Question 18

Which behavior is considered a basic process by information-processing theorists?

A) selective attention
B) encoding
C) rehearsal
D) autobiographical memory

Question 19

Guided participation refers to the process by which more knowledgeable people

A) arrange situations in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to succeed at a level beyond their current abilities.
B) allow less knowledgeable people to attempt things on their own while being observed by the more knowledgeable people.
C) essentially complete a task for less knowledgeable people while making them believe that they are participating.
D) defer to the intuition of less knowledgeable people to guide the more knowledgeable people.

Question 20

Amanda has developed egocentrism. This is characteristic of Piaget's _____ stage.

A) formal operational
B) sensorimotor
C) preoperational
D) concrete operational

Question 21

According to information-processing theories, young children have particular difficulty with planning because

A) planning requires inhibiting the desire to solve the problem.
B) they have trouble thinking of multiple steps in succession.
C) the parietal lobe of the brain is one of the last parts to mature.
D) they tend to underestimate their ability to solve problems.

Question 22

The period within Piaget's theory in which intelligence is expressed through sensory and motor abilities is called the _____ stage of cognitive development.

A) sensorimotor
B) preoperational
C) concrete operational
D) formal operational

Question 23

According to Piaget, which behavior develops FIRST?

A) deferred imitation
B) resolution of the A-not-B error
C) mental representation of objects not currently being perceived
D) infant "scientific experiments"

Question 24

Who would be MOST likely to engage in private speech?

A) 5-year-old Mike, who is working on a task he has done many times before
B) 3-year-old Natalia, who is working on a challenging task
C) 6-year-old Elijah, who is working on a challenging task
D) 12-year-old Theresa, who is working on a task she has done many times before

Question 25

The repetition of other people's behavior a substantial time after it originally occurred is referred to as

A) deferred imitation.
B) egocentrism.
C) symbolic representation.
D) object permanence.

Question 26

Which theoretical perspective views children as entering the world equipped with general learning abilities as well as specialized learning mechanisms that allow them to quickly and effortlessly acquire information of evolutionary importance?

A) information-processing theory
B) dynamic-systems theory
C) Piaget's theory
D) core-knowledge theory

Question 27

Ten-month-old Claudia and her mother are playing. Claudia's mother looks up at the ceiling fan and says, "Claudia, look at the fan. Around and around it goes!" Claudia notices that her mother is looking up, so Claudia looks up at the fan as well. Claudia and her mother are engaging in

A) joint attention.
B) social scaffolding.
C) guided participation.
D) social referencing.

Question 28

Avia is in the _____ stage of cognitive development, according to Piaget. She is now able to represent her experiences in language and symbolic thought.

A) sensorimotor
B) preoperational
C) concrete operational
D) formal operational

Question 29

The term "conservation concept" refers to the idea that

A) all nature is of vital importance and thus worth preserving.
B) perceptions of the world differ depending on point of view.
C) a particular object can be used to stand for another object.
D) merely changing the appearance of objects does not change their key properties.

Question 30

According to Piaget's theory, _____ should be able to think abstractly about all the factors involved in "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

A) all older children, adolescents, and adults
B) no older children but all adolescents and adults
C) some adolescents and adults
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 31

According to Piaget, the accomplishment that characterizes the first few months of life is infants' ability to

A) search for hidden objects.
B) react to the world with reflexes.
C) repeat others' actions long after they have occurred.
D) integrate reflexes into more complex behaviors.

Question 32

The dynamic-systems approach considers _____ to be a mechanism for change.

A) variation and selection
B) assimilation and accommodation
C) intersubjectivity and scaffolding
D) private speech and personification

Question 33

Sam and his mother are building a wooden box, using a hammer and nails. If Sam's mother would like to teach him how to hammer a nail, which behavior would NOT be considered high-quality social scaffolding?

A) hammering all of the nails while Sam watches
B) holding the nail while Sam hammers
C) explaining to Sam how to hold the hammer
D) demonstrating to Sam how to hammer the nail into the board

Question 34

Rami, a 13-month-old, and his mother are playing with a musical toy. Rami's mother shows Rami the toy and then hides it under a blanket. Rami has fun finding the toy under the blanket and then giving it back to his mother. After several rounds of this game, Rami's mother hides the toy behind a pillow instead of under the blanket. Rami will be MOST likely to

A) behave as if the toy has vanished.
B) search for the toy under the blanket.
C) search for the toy behind the pillow.
D) search for the toy behind his mother's back.

Question 35

Information about a particular content area is known as

A) domain-specific.
B) task analysis.
C) problem solving.
D) overlapping waves.

Question 36

Who proposed the most prominent nativist theory, which is called core-knowledge theory?

A) Elizabeth Spelke
B) Henry Wellman
C) Susan Gelman
D) Lev Vygotsky

Question 37

Domain-specific understanding does NOT allow children to

A) distinguish between living and nonliving things.
B) understand the variability in the thinking of others.
C) anticipate that inanimate objects they encounter for the first time will remain stationary unless an external force is applied to them.
D) anticipate that animals they encounter for the first time might move on their own.

Question 38

Which statement about executive functioning is TRUE?

A) It is fully developed by approximately the age of 19.
B) Its quality in early childhood is highly predictive of occupational status in adulthood.
C) It is directly related to IQ and cannot be taught.
D) All of these statements are true.

Question 39

According to the dynamic-systems perspective, development

A) involves long periods of relatively stable phases.
B) is characterized by a series of predictable improvements.
C) is changing constantly and involves some regressions.
D) is described by all of these.

Question 40

Ten-year-old Bryan is going to call his grandmother. After his mother tells Bryan his grandmother's phone number, Bryan repeats it to himself while he goes to the phone to dial it. Bryan is utilizing

A) selective attention.
B) planning.
C) autobiographical memory.
D) rehearsal.

Question 41

Which aspect of Piaget's theory is LEAST likely to be considered an asset by current cognitive developmentalists?

A) integrated depiction of cognitive development from birth through adolescence
B) observations of age-related changes in children's behavior
C) tasks for testing children's abilities at different ages
D) the exact ages at which children are able to complete cognitive tasks

Question 42

The Heathcock, Lobo, and Galloway study described in the text found that preterm infants' reaching appeared to be improved by

A) increasing infants' motivation to reach.
B) providing practice with reaching by guiding infants' arm movements.
C) providing infants with interesting objects placed very close to them.
D) all of these modifications.

Question 43

The attempt to overcome obstacles and attain goals is referred to as

A) problem solving.
B) working memory.
C) encoding.
D) task analysis.

Question 44

Which statement is NOT a reason developmental psychologists find theories of child development useful?

A) Theories raise fundamental questions about human nature.
B) Theories provide definitive answers to key questions about child development.
C) Theories motivate new research.
D) Theories provide frameworks for understanding important phenomena.

Question 45

Research demonstrating that playing numerical board games increased preschoolers' numerical knowledge provides support for

A) both information-processing theories and Piagetian theory.
B) neither information-processing theories nor Piagetian theory.
C) information-processing theories but not Piagetian theory.
D) Piagetian theory but not information-processing theories.

Question 46

Bonnie is a preschooler whose father works outside the home and whose mother stays home with her. On learning that her friend's mother works outside the home, Bonnie is confused because she believes that only fathers work outside the home. Piaget would say that Bonnie is in a state of

A) chaos.
B) maladjustment.
C) disequilibrium.
D) dissimilation.

Question 47

Kevin and his mother are playing with a squeaky toy. Kevin's mother squeezes the toy in front of him and then hides it under a blanket. Kevin has fun finding the toy under the blanket and then giving it back to his mother. After several rounds of this game, Kevin's mother hides the toy behind a pillow instead of under the blanket. Rather than looking behind the pillow, however, Kevin lifts the blanket to look for the toy. Which statement is TRUE?

A) Kevin does not know the toy still exists.
B) Kevin is making the A-not-B error.
C) Kevin is approximately 6 months old.
D) All of these statements are true.

Question 48

Sociocultural theorists do NOT focus on children as

A) teachers.
B) products of their culture.
C) learners.
D) theorists.

Question 49

Which statement about information is TRUE?

A) Information that is not encoded is not remembered later.
B) Information that is not remembered was not encoded.
C) Information that is not associated is not generalized later.
D) Information that is not generalized was not associated.

Question 50

The process of repeating information over and over again in order to remember it is considered _____ by the information-processing approach.

A) effective
B) to be due to poor myelination
C) utilization deficient
D) irrational

Question 51

Juan is now able to reason logically about objects and events. He is in Piaget's _____ stage of cognitive development.

A) sensorimotor
B) preoperational
C) concrete operational
D) formal operational

Question 52

A dynamic-systems theorist would MOST likely be interested in the development of which attribute?

A) crawling
B) memory
C) executive functioning skills
D) preference

Question 53

The entirety of an individual's knowledge makes up his or her

A) long-term memory.
B) working memory.
C) executive functions.
D) information-processing core.

Question 54

The perspective that infants have substantial innate knowledge of evolutionarily important domains is referred to as

A) nativism.
B) core-knowledge.
C) domain-specific.
D) constructivism.

Question 55

Which statement about guided participation is TRUE?

A) It typically occurs in a situation in which a parent is explicitly trying to teach something to his or her child.
B) It ensures that less knowledgeable people do not attempt activities that are outside of their skill level.
C) It is a core component of most elementary school classrooms.
D) It includes cultural artifacts, values, and symbol systems.

Question 56

Which characteristic is NOT shared by children's rudimentary theories and those of formal scientific theories?

A) They identify fundamental units for dividing relevant objects and events into a few basic categories.
B) They explain many phenomena in terms of a few fundamental principles.
C) They explain events in terms of unobservable causes.
D) There are no shared characteristics between children's rudimentary theories and formal scientific theories.

Question 57

Which theory of cognitive development focused on examining how change occurs as well as the nature versus nurture controversy?

A) information-processing
B) sociocultural
C) dynamic-systems
D) all of these theories

Question 58

Piaget believed that infants develop the concept of object permanence at approximately _____ months.

A) 5
B) 8
C) 12
D) 16

Question 59

_____ theory is particularly concerned with private speech.

A) Dynamic-systems
B) Overlapping waves
C) Piagetian
D) Sociocultural

Question 60

With which statement does the overlapping waves theory agree?

A) At any given time, children possess several different strategies for solving a particular problem.
B) Children cycle through strategies, regardless of whether they are effective.
C) Children of a given age use a particular strategy to solve a particular class of problems.
D) With development, children add strategies to their repertoire without removing older strategies.

Question 61

This limited understanding of children hinders the full understanding of the concept of natural selection.

A) nativism
B) essentialist
C) domain-specific
D) constructivism

Question 62

Now that Nate is an adult, his memories of childhood are in his

A) long-term memory.
B) working memory.
C) executive functions.
D) information-processing core.

Question 63

Working memory involves

A) attending to and processing information.
B) retaining information.
C) inhibiting counterproductive actions.
D) all of these.

Question 64

Jacob and his mother are driving home from school. Jacob, who is sitting in the backseat behind his mother, is telling a story about his foot getting hurt. Of course, his mother, who is driving, cannot see his foot, but Jacob keeps pointing to his foot, saying, "Mommy, see where I have my boo-boo?" Jacob is suffering from

A) egocentrism.
B) poor symbolic representations.
C) centration.
D) a lack of conservation.

Question 65

The dynamic-systems approach is intended to counter which disadvantage of other theories of cognitive development?

A) the inability to explain infants' apparent innate knowledge of some domains
B) the lack of emphasis on how others help children learn
C) the lack of attention to strategic variability
D) the impression that children's thinking and their actions are independent

Question 66

Miguel is sitting in his highchair at breakfast time. As if to drive his parents crazy, Miguel picks up each and every piece of food, from mushy peaches to crunchy Cheerios, and drops it onto the floor. Sometimes he drops just one piece, and sometimes he drops multiple pieces simultaneously, as though he wants to see whether there is a difference in the result. As he drops each piece, he carefully watches as it hits the floor. According to Piaget, Miguel is MOST likely to be at what age?

A) 6 months
B) 10 months
C) 16 months
D) 26 months

Question 67

In which situation would Michael Tomasello be MOST interested?

A) an older sibling teaching a younger sibling the truth about the Tooth Fairy
B) the increased mathematical reasoning skills of an older child in comparison with a younger child
C) young infants' inability to retrieve hidden objects
D) the increased memory skills of an older child in comparison with a younger child

Question 68

Individual variability in the development of walking would be most interesting to psychologists within which perspective?

A) Piagetian
B) dynamic-systems
C) sociocultural
D) information-processing

Question 69

Which adjective is NOT characteristic of formal operational thought?

A) systematic
B) abstract
C) advanced
D) one-dimensional

Question 70

According to Piaget's theory, Juan, who is in the _____ stage of cognitive development, should be able to conduct a systematic scientific experiment.

A) formal operational
B) sensorimotor
C) preoperational
D) concrete operational

Question 71

Which factor integrates working memory and long-term memory?

A) strategies
B) executive functioning
C) problem solving
D) task analysis

Question 72

Which factor is NOT a major type of executive function?

A) inhibition of actions
B) enhancement of working memory
C) knowledge of reasoning strategies
D) maintenance of cognitive flexibility

Question 73

According to dynamic-systems theories, development is NOT

A) a process of organizing and integrating.
B) determined by evolution.
C) characterized as a steady progression.
D) determined by cultural experiences.

Question 74

Research from this perspective shows that 3-year-olds understand deception much better when they are actively involved in perpetrating the deceit than when they merely witness the same deception being perpetrated by others.

A) information-processing theory
B) dynamic-systems theory
C) Piaget's theory
D) core-knowledge theory

Question 75

Which theories of cognitive development highlighted continuity and discontinuity in the developmental process?

A) Piaget and core-knowledge
B) information-processing and dynamic-systems
C) sociocultural and core-knowledge
D) information-processing and sociocultural

Question 76

Jacob and his mother are driving home from school. Jacob, who is sitting in the backseat behind his mother, is telling a story about his foot getting hurt. Of course, his mother, who is driving, cannot see his foot, but Jacob keeps pointing to his foot, saying, "Mommy, see where I have my boo-boo?" According to Piaget's stages, Jacob would MOST likely be under the age of

A) 3.
B) 4.
C) 6.
D) 8.

Question 77

Which statement is the BEST example of centration?

A) Bill thinks a big empty box is heavier than a small box full of rocks.
B) Fiona gives her newborn brother her favorite doll when he is crying.
C) Bryson yells to his father from another room, "See, Daddy, I did it!"
D) Marla pretends to have a sword fight using a stick as a sword.

Question 78

Which topics are included in information-processing theories?

A) assimilation and accommodation
B) object permanence and conservation
C) guided participation and social scaffolding
D) rules and strategies

Question 79

Sociocultural theories refer to the values, economic circumstances, symbol systems, and skills that are involved in everyday interactions as

A) cultural tools.
B) cultural by-products.
C) social constructs.
D) social instruments.

Question 80

Joint attention begins in

A) the first month of life.
B) late infancy.
C) the preschool years.
D) adolescence.