Deck 4: Theories of Cognitive Development

Question 1

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.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

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

Answer 2

A

Question 3

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 behaviours.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Lanae has recently developed the ability to reason logically about features of the world. She is in Piaget's _____ stage.

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

Question 5

Accommodation refers to the process by which children

A)create a stable understanding.
B)translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand.
C)adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences.
D)balance assimilation and adaptation to create a stable understanding of the world.

Question 6

Shelby has mastered deferred imitation. This is an indication that she has developed

A)enduring mental representations.
B)symbolic representation.
C)egocentrism.
D)conservation.

Question 7

Children first come to think abstractly and reason hypothetically in Piaget's _____ stage.

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

Question 8

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 9

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

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

Question 10

Sociocultural theories suggest that to help their students learn, teachers

A)ensure that children's existing knowledge does not interfere with learning new concepts.
B)make learning a cooperative activity.
C)provide an environment that can be actively experienced by children.
D)do task analysis to determine children's specific difficulties.

Question 11

Which theory focuses on the theme of the active child?

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

Question 12

Which statement about content knowledge is NOT true?

A)Content knowledge improves recall of new material.
B)Content knowledge increases with age.
C)Content knowledge generally interferes with learning.
D)When children have more content knowledge than do adults, children remember new information better than do adults.

Question 13

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 14

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 15

In their perspective on the extent to which the child is an active participant in his or her own development, dynamic-systems theories are MOST similar to

A)Piagetian theory.
B)sociocultural theories.
C)information-processing theories.
D)none of these.

Question 16

Dr. Waldron is conducting an experiment and shows a child two clay "sausages" that are identical in size and shape. He then allows the child to watch as he rolls one of the clay sausages into a longer, thinner sausage. Dr. Waldron then asks the child whether the two clay sausages still contain the same amount of clay. A child in Piaget's preoperational stage would be MOST likely to say

A)"Yes, they have the same amount of clay."
B)"No, the longer sausage has more clay than the shorter sausage."
C)"No, the shorter sausage has more clay than the longer sausage."
D)"Wait, I don't understand.How did you make that sausage bigger?"

Question 17

According to Piaget, which factor does NOT contribute to young children's problems with conservation of liquid tasks?

A)focus on static state rather than transformation
B)centration
C)egocentrism
D)formal operational thought

Question 18

Sociocultural theories posit that the values of a culture do NOT influence _____ in its members.

A)memories
B)thoughts
C)skills
D)encoding

Question 19

Amy and her father are playing with a squeaky toy. Amy's father is squeezing the toy in front of Amy. Amy is very excited and reaches for the toy. Amy's father, however, quickly hides the toy behind his back. At this point, Amy turns away from her father and begins to look at the ladybug design on her dress. Amy is probably approximately what age?

A)1 month
B)6 months
C)10 months
D)15 months

Question 20

Young children can be defined as _____ in that they believe that members of a species have a fixed inner essence that makes then what they are.

A)nativist
B)essentialist
C)domain-specific
D)constructivist

Question 21

Strategies and processes are part of _____ theory.

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

Question 22

Private speech is conceived of by Vygotsky to be a(n)

A)error that young children make.
B)example of something that adults explicitly teach children.
C)cultural tool.
D)step towards internalizing parents' statements.

Question 23

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

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

Question 24

Which theory of cognitive development is the broadest in terms of age range and content?

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

Question 25

Professor Schmidt is an information-processing theorist. This means that he places particular emphasis on

A)what changes occur.
B)when change occurs.
C)how change occurs.
D)for whom change occurs.

Question 26

According to core-knowledge theorists, children do NOT form naïve theories of

A)physics.
B)psychology.
C)biology.
D)botany.

Question 27

Which statement does NOT describe a characteristic of Piaget's stages?

A)The transitions from one stage to another are instantaneous.
B)Children proceed through the stages in a fixed order.
C)The type of thinking typical of a particular stage pervades thinking across diverse content areas.
D)The type of thinking typical of a particular stage is qualitatively different from the type of thinking typical of the previous stage.

Question 28

Which term does NOT identify one of Piaget's stages?

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

Question 29

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 behaviour
C)tasks for testing children's abilities at different ages
D)the exact ages at which children are able to complete cognitive tasks

Question 30

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

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

Question 31

According to dynamic-systems theories, which aspect is a constant across the process of development?

A)change
B)learning mechanisms
C)memory capacity
D)learning through scaffolding

Question 32

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 33

Theorists hypothesize that _____ enables young children to rapidly master the complicated systems of grammatical rules that are present in all human languages.

A)the language acquisition device
B)object permanence
C)deferred imitation
D)symbolic representation

Question 34

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 35

Zach is now old enough to think abstractly and master such topics as algebra and geometry. He is in Piaget's _____ stage of cognitive development.

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

Question 36

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 37

Jenny watches her big brother climb from the couch to the coffee table, a behaviour she has never attempted herself. The next day, Jenny climbs up on the couch and then over to the coffee table. Jenny's behaviour is referred to as

A)post-observation modelling.
B)replication.
C)deferred imitation.
D)symbolic representation.

Question 38

Margo is 4 years old and has a pet cat. As she pets her cat, he begins to meow loudly. Margo then gets up and pours some water for her cat in his bowl. Margo 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 39

The simplest and most frequently used mental activities are referred to as

A)strategies.
B)core processes.
C)basic processes.
D)executive functions.

Question 40

_____ theory is particularly concerned with private speech.

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

Question 41

Which factor is NOT a central property of Piaget's theory?

A)qualitative change
B)broad applicability
C)brief transitions
D)variant sequence

Question 42

Core-knowledge constructivist theories share all these characteristics with formal scientific theories EXCEPT they

A)identify fundamental units for dividing relevant objects and events into a few basic categories.
B)explain cognitive development as something that is quickly and easily acquired.
C)explain many phenomena in terms of a few fundamental principles.
D)explain events in terms of unobservable causes.

Question 43

The child as scientist is to _____ theory as the child as well-adapted product of evolution is to _____ theory.

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

Question 44

The process by which children balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding is referred to as

A)equilibration.
B)adaptation.
C)alteration.
D)calibration.

Question 45

According to dynamic-systems theories, _____ is NOT related to children's selection amongst alternative approaches to a problem.

A)efficiency of the approach
B)novelty of the approach
C)relative success of the approach
D)similarity to other approaches

Question 46

The mutual understanding that people share during communication is referred to as

A)social scaffolding.
B)guided participation.
C)intersubjectivity.
D)proximal development.

Question 47

According to Piaget, infants are able to _____ before they are able to _____.

A)repeat actions on the environment that bring interesting results; integrate reflexes into more complex behaviours
B)search for hidden objects; repeat others' actions long after they have occurred
C)repeat others' actions long after they have occurred; repeat actions on the environment that bring interesting results
D)search for hidden objects; integrate reflexes into more complex behaviours

Question 48

Which theory places the LEAST emphasis on children's own efforts to understand the world?

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

Question 49

Working memory is limited in

A)both the length of time it can retain information and in its capacity.
B)neither the length of time it can retain information nor in its capacity.
C)the length of time it can retain information but not in its capacity.
D)its capacity but not in the length of time it can retain information.

Question 50

The understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view is referred to as object

A)existence.
B)permanence.
C)recollection.
D)stability.

Question 51

The theory that infants have substantial innate knowledge of evolutionarily important domains is to _____ as the theory that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary innate knowledge with subsequent experiences is to _____.

A)nativism; constructivism
B)essentialism; empiricism
C)constructivism, empiricism
D)nativism; essentialism

Question 52

Professor Stott is conducting an experiment where he shows a child two clay "sausages" that are identical in size and shape. He then allows the child to watch as he rolls one of the clay sausages into a longer, thinner sausage. Professor Stott then asks the child whether the two clay sausages still contain the same amount of clay. This experiment was designed to examine

A)object permanence.
B)egocentrism.
C)symbolic representations.
D)conservation.

Question 53

Robert's mother pours a cup of milk for him and then realizes that the cup has a small crack in the rim. Not wanting her son to cut his lip, she pours the milk into another cup. The second cup happens to be shorter and wider than the first cup. Robert is not upset because he knows that the amount of milk has remained the same. Robert is at LEAST _____ years old.

A)3
B)5
C)7
D)9

Question 54

The perspective that infants build increasingly advanced understanding by combining rudimentary innate knowledge with subsequent experiences is referred to as

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

Question 55

Myelination does NOT

A)increase connectivity amongst brain regions.
B)contribute to greater processing speed.
C)enhance the ability to resist distractions.
D)improve efficiency of neural communication.

Question 56

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 57

Which problem-solving sequence is typical according to information-processing theories?

A)goal, obstacle, strategy
B)obstacle, strategy, goal
C)memory, goal, strategy
D)goal, strategy, memory

Question 58

Children make the transition from Piaget's preoperational to concrete operational stage at around _____ years of age.

A)2
B)5
C)7
D)12

Question 59

This theoretical perspective views children as having some innate knowledge in domains of special evolutionary importance and domain-specific learning mechanisms for rapidly and effortlessly acquiring additional information in those domains.

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

Question 60

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 61

Which theory of cognitive development focuses 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 62

Myelination and increased connectivity amongst brain regions contribute to which development with age?

A)faster processing
B)more frequent rehearsal
C)better encoding
D)more selective attention

Question 63

Task analysis refers to

A)a researcher's determination of the level of difficulty of a task presented to children.
B)the method by which computers break down commands into their smallest parts.
C)identification of an individual's goals, information in the environment, and processing strategies.
D)all of these.

Question 64

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

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

Question 65

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 66

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 67

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 68

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 69

The concept of social scaffolding is MOST similar to the concept of

A)joint attention.
B)guided participation.
C)intersubjectivity.
D)private speech.

Question 70

Which child is MOST likely to lie about committing a transgression?

A)Stan, who is 5 years old
B)Maryam, who is 4 years old
C)Micah, who is 6 years old
D)Stella, who is 7 years old

Question 71

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

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

Question 72

According to Piaget, which behaviour 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 73

Which aspect(s) of working memory change(s) with age from childhood to adolescence?

A)speed and structure of subsystems
B)capacity
C)speed and capacity
D)speed, capacity, and structure of subsystems

Question 74

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 75

Encoding refers to

A)representing features of objects in memory.
B)recognizing objects.
C)generalizing from one event to another.
D)goal-directed behaviour.

Question 76

Which theory does NOT address the question of how change occurs?

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

Question 77

Sociocultural theorists do NOT focus on children as

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

Question 78

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 79

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 80

The father of 4-year-old Annabelle and 9-year-old Shana tells his daughters that they need to buy 10 items at the supermarket, including 5 items to make cake (eggs, flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate) and 5 items for lunch (milk, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and apples). He asks Annabelle to help him remember the cake ingredients, and he asks Shana to help him remember the lunch items. What is MOST likely to happen?

A)Annabelle will pay careful attention only to her 5 items, but Shana will pay the same attention to all 10 items.
B)Annabelle and Shana will both repeat their own 5 items over and over until they select the items at the store.
C)Annabelle will pay equal attention to all 10 items, and Shana will repeat her own 5 items over and over until they select the items at the store.
D)Annabelle will repeat all 10 items, and Shana will repeat only her own 5 items, over and over, until they select the items at the store.