Deck 7: Theories of Cognitive Development

Question 1

According to Seigler (1998), which of the following best describes why Piaget's theory of cognitive development is one of the most important to emerge from the study of human development?

A) Piaget's theory allows for the individual to function in the social world
B) Piaget's theory attempts to provide answers to questions such as 'what is intelligence?', how does knowledge develop and draws together seemingly unrelated aspects of development
C) Piaget's theory requires an understanding and acknowledgement of the connectionist model
D) Piaget's theory determines that development occurs via a process known as internalization

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Adaptation and organization are two biological concepts which are central to which of the following theorists?

A) Skinner
B) Atkinson
C) Piaget
D) Vygotsky

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Conservation task relates to which of the following statements?

A) Tests children's understanding that the physical characteristics of an object, substance or quantity remain the same even though their physical appearance may change
B) A technique in which the child's learning environment is structured into small groups of peers who work together toward a common goal
C) Refers to an interrelated set of actions, memories, thoughts or strategies that are employed to predict and understand the environment
D) The process by which important features of an object are picked out so that a mental representation can be formed

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is not a part of the information processing model?

A) Sensory register
B) Transitive inference
C) Working memory
D) Long-term memory

Question 5

In terms of Piaget's stages of Sensorimotor Development, at what age would you expect to see evidence of an infant reaching the substage of tertiary circular reactions?

A) 1-4 months - when an infant can gain control over reflex behaviours
B) 8-12 months - when an infant is able to repeat chance behaviours which lead to satisfactory results and may be able to anticipate events
C) 12-18 months - when the infant repeats actions, varying them deliberately in an exploratory manner
D) 18-24 months - when the concept of 'pretend play' begins to develop

Question 6

Vygotsky's notion of mediation is described as which of the following?

A) By the use of symbolic 'tools' such as language, art, numbers
B) Attention and memory
C) Moving functions from the interpersonal to the intrapersonal
D) The interactive process in which the adult adjusts the amount and type of support offered in order to achieve mastery of the skill by the child

Question 7

Vygotsky determined that children aged between 3 and 5 years begin to create their own dialogues with each other, enjoying expressing and listening to each others viewpoints. This interaction he called:

A) 'Mediated processes'
B) 'Egocentric speech'
C) 'Intersubjectivity'
D) 'Information processing'

Question 8

Cooperative learning is a technique described by Vygotsky as relating to which of the following scenarios?

A) A group of children is formed, each taking turns to lead discussions on particular topic areas
B) A group of children is formed with those of both more and those with less accomplished skill and where expert instruction is provided to those less skilled
C) A group of children is expected to perform activities such as questioning, summarizing, clarifying and predicting
D) A group of children will be exposed to the processes that engage them more explicitly in terms of understanding and predicting future content of text. In this way, any members having difficulties with this concept can internalise the skills involved

Question 9

Which of the following theorists most relies upon language as communication?

A) Case
B) Piaget
C) Vygotsky
D) Seigler

Question 10

Connectionism is a form of developmental cognitive neuroscience. Which of the following describes characteristics on which connectionism is based?

A) Neural networks and uses computer simulation
B) The way in which a child's thinking leads them to focus on one characteristic or dimension of a task
C) Where an individual demonstrates the tendency to organize cognitive structures or schemes into efficient systems
D) The capacity to hold information actively in mind