Deck 4: Theories of Cognitive Development

Question 1

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.

Answer 1

integrate reflexes into more complex behaviors.

Question 2

Six-month-old Liliana has been exclusively breast-fed since birth and thus has never drunk milk from a bottle. The first time Liliana is offered a bottle, she tries to suck on it the way she is used to sucking. However, her sucking behavior is not successful with the bottle. She thus has to adapt her sucking in order to get sufficient milk from the bottle. Liliana's new understanding of how to suck on the bottle is an indication that she has engaged in the process of:

A)organization.
B)calibration.
C)accommodation.
D)assimilation.

Answer 2

accommodation.

Question 3

According to Piaget, infants of what age begin to show interest in toys, animals, and people beyond their own bodies?

A)newborn
B)3 months
C)6months
D)10 months

Answer 3

6months

Question 4

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

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

Question 5

In Piaget's view, what produces cognitive development?

A)nature only
B)nurture only
C)the interaction of nature and nurture
D)both nature and nurture, independently

Question 6

According to Piaget, the time of the most rapid cognitive development is;

A)infancy.
B)early childhood.
C)late childhood.
D)adolescence.
E)adulthood.

Question 7

When Delia's father places a rattle in her hand, Delia often brings the rattle to her mouth to suck on it. According to Piaget's, Delia developed this skill at approximately what age?

A)newborn
B)3 months
C)6months
D)10 months

Question 8

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 9

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

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

Question 10

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 11

Which of the following statements does NOT describe a characteristic of Piaget's stages?

A)The transitions from one stage to another are instantaneous.
B)No stages are ever skipped.
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 12

Which of the following views best represents Piaget's theory of development?

A)child as social being
B)child as scientist
C)child as computational system
D)child as product of evolution

Question 13

Piaget believed that nature includes children's motivation to meet these two basic functions, central to cognitive growth:

A)adaptation and equilibration.
B)calibration and equilibration.
C)adaptation and organization.
D)assimilation and organization.

Question 14

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 15

Which of the following terms does NOT identify one of
Piaget's stages?

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

Question 16

Which of the following statements is NOT a reason why 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.
E)All of the statemens are reasons why developmental psychologists find theories of child development useful.

Question 17

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

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

Question 18

The tendency to respond to the requirements of the environment in ways that meet one's goals is referred to as:

A)assimilation.
B)adaptation.
C)accommodation.
D)organization.

Question 19

Which of the following lists best represents the phases of Piaget's equilibration process?

A)equilibrium, disequilibrium, organization
B)disequilibrium, adaptation, accommodation
C)adaptation, assimilation, equilibrium
D)equilibrium, disequilibrium, equilibrium

Question 20

Which of the following lists best represents Piaget's stages in the correct chronological order?

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

Question 21

Devon has just begun to use objects to stand for other objects. For instance, his current favorite game is to pretend to play guitar on a toy golf club. Devon is probably in Piaget's stage.

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 22

Children in Piaget's stage develop a conservation concept.

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 23

An experimenter shows a child two clay "sausages" that are identical in size and shape and then allows the child to watch as she rolls one of the clay sausages into a longer, thinner sausage. The experimenter 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?"
E)A child in the concrete operational stage would not be able to answer the question as he or she would not yet understand size comparisons.

Question 24

Centration refers to:

A)perceiving the world solely from one's own point of view.
B)using one object to stand for another.
C)focusing on a single salient feature of an object to the exclusion of other features.
D)having difficulty taking other people's perspectives.

Question 25

Which of the following statements is an example of a symbolic representation?

A)Jared puts a bowl on his head and tells his father he has on a firefighter's helmet.
B)Alicia tells her motheer she wants to be a doctor when she grows up.
C)Lucas watches his grandmother remove the top from a container and then tries to take it off himself the following day.
D)Tricia sees her father's shoes and is able to think of her father even though he is out of view.

Question 26

According to Piaget, which of the following behaviors contributes to young children's problems with conservation of liquid tasks?

A)focus on static state rather than transformation
B)centration
C)egocentrism
D)All of the answers are correct.

Question 27

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

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

Question 28

Egocentrism is characteristic of which of Piaget's_____ stage.

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 29

Jacob and his mother are driving home from school.
Jacob, who is sitting in the back seat 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 30

Kevin and his mother are playing with an interesting 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 of the following statements 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 the statements are true.

Question 31

An experimenter shows a child two clay "sausages" that are identical in size and shape and then allows the child to watch as she rolls one of the clay sausages into a longer, thinner sausage. The experimenter 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 32

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 33

Children first come to reason logically about features of the world in Piaget's stage.

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 34

Which of the following is an example of centration?

A)Andrew 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)Bradley yells to his father from another room, "See, Daddy, I did it."
D)Michelle pretends to have a sword fight using a stick as a sword.

Question 35

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 36

The experiment in which Piaget asks what a doll would see if it were sitting in a chair across the table from the child was designed to examine:

A)centration.
B)egocentrism.
C)symbolic representations.
D)conservation.

Question 37

Deferred imitation is an indication that a child has developed:

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

Question 38

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 behaviors
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 bringinteresting results
D)search for hidden objects; integrate reflexes into
more complex behaviors

Question 39

Rami, a 13-month-old, and his mother are playing with an interesting 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. What is Rami's MOST likely response?

A)He will behave as if the toy has vanished.
B)He will search for the toy under the blanket.
C)He will search for the toy behind the pillow.
D)He will search for the toy behind his mother's back.
E)All of the responses are equally likely.

Question 40

According to Piaget, which of the following behaviors develops first?

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

Question 41

According to information-processing theories, which of the following statements is true?

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 42

Which of the following aspects 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 43

Which of the following adjectives is NOT characteristic of formal operational thought?

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

Question 44

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)None of the answers is correct.

Question 45

Piaget's theory suggests that teachers should
to help their students learn.

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 46

Levin and her colleagues' study in which children walked in a circular motion while holding onto a 7-foot metal bar on a pivot demonstrated which of the following?

A)Lecturing to 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 47

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)Piaget's theory does not apply to this type of thought.

Question 48

theory(ies) concentrate(s) on precisely detailing the processes involved in children's thinking?

A)Core-knowledge
B)Information-processing
C)Piagetian
D)Sociocultural

Question 49

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 of the following comparisons is MOST likely to be made by an individual in Piaget's formal operations 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

Question 50

Structure and processes are part of:

A)dynamic-systems theory.
B)core-knowledge theories.
C)Piagetian theory.
D)information-processing theory.

Question 51

Which of the following statements is a weakness of Piaget's theory?

A)Piaget was too specific about the cognitive processes involved in cognitive growth.
B)Piaget paid little attention to the influence of the social world on cognitive development.
C)Piaget's use of easy tasks overestimated infants' and young children's competencies.
D)Children's thinking within each stage is not as consistent as Piaget described.
E)Both A and C are weaknesses.
F)Both B and D are weaknesses.

Question 52

According to information-processing theories, cognitive development occurs as children go through all of the following processes EXCEPT:

A)acquiring new strategies.
B)coming to utilize innate understandings of crucial concepts.
C)expanding the amount they can process at one time.
D)becoming increasingly efficient at executing basic
mental activities.

Question 53

Monica's grandmother wants to teach her granddaughter a new concept. Piaget's theory would suggest that Monica's grandmother should:

A)try to teach the concept as early as possible, and then find a way for Monica to learn the concept by actively experiencing it.
B)wait to teach the concept until Monica's way of thinking is appropriate, and then find a way for Monica to learn the concept by actively experiencing it.
C)try to teach the concept as early as possible, and carefully explain all the relevant aspects of the concept to Monica.
D)wait to teach the concept until Monica's way of thinking is appropriate, and carefully explain all the relevant aspects of the concept to Monica.

Question 54

Which of the following views best represents information-processing theories?

A)child as social being
B)child as scientist
C)child as computational system
D)child as product of evolution

Question 55

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

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

Question 56

Information-processing theories include which of the following processes?

A)assimilation and accommodation
B)object permanence and conservation
C)task analysis and memory
D)guided participation and social scaffolding
E)the use of rules and strategies

Question 57

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

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 58

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 operations
B)formal operations
C)sensorimotor
D)preoperational

Question 59

The pendulum problem described in the text is used to examine children's:

A)systematic thinking.
B)egocentrism.
C)symbolic representations.
D)conservation.

Question 60

According to Piaget's theory, a person in the stage is able to conduct a systematic scientific experiment.

A)formal operations
B)sensorimotor
C)postoperational
D)preoperational
E)concrete operations

Question 61

Myelin acts as a(n):

A)insulator.
B)storage area.
C)automatic encoder.
D)speed controller.

Question 62

Which of the following statements about working memory is true?

A)Adults can hold in working memory and operate on between 1 and 10 items.
B)The capacity and speed of working memory remain constant over time.
C)Working memory can retain information for an unlimited amount of time.
D)For right-handed people, working memory tends to operate solely in the left hemisphere.

Question 63

Myelination does all of the following processes
EXCEPT:

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

Question 64

When trying to remember something, individuals often focus only on the information that is most relevant to their current goal, while not focusing on other information. This is referred to as:

A)selective attention.
B)planning.
C)analogical reasoning.
D)rehearsal.

Question 65

Neural systems related to memory are widely distributed throughout the cortex.

A)long-term
B)sensory
C)working
D)operational

Question 66

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 67

The visual cortex is especially active in
memory for sights.

A)sensory
B)working
C)both sensory and long-term
D)both working and long-term

Question 68

According to information-processing theories, which of the following lists is the typical problem-solving sequence?

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

Question 69

Children's general knowledge about vehicles is an example of information stored in:

A)working memory.
B)long-term memory.
C)sensory memory.
D)short-term memory.

Question 70

The capacity of which of the following components of memory increase(s) with development?

A)working memory only
B)long-term memory only
C)sensory memory only
D)both working memory and long-term memory
E)both working memory and sensory memory
F)both long-term memory and sensory memory

Question 71

Sensory memory refers to:

A)information retained about how one feels about a particular event or individual.
B)the workspace in which information from the environment and relevant knowledge are brought together.
C)sights and sounds that are just entering the cognitive system and that are briefly held in raw form.
D)information retained on an enduring basis.

Question 72

Which of the following statements about the structures involved in the three types of memory is true?

A)For long-term memory, the brain areas that are active vary according to the sensory modality involved.
B)For both sensory memory and working memory, the brain areas that are active vary according to the sensory modality involved
C)The brain structures involved in long-term memory and working memory are the same.
D)Unlike working memory, long-term memory includes an executive system.

Question 73

After 10-year-old Bryan's mother tells him his grandmother's phone number, to remember it while he goes to the phone to dial it, Bryan keeps repeating it to himself. Brian is utilizing:

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

Question 74

Information-processing theories place particular emphasis on:

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

Question 75

Working memory is also known as memory.

A)operational
B)long-term
C)sensory
D)short-term

Question 76

Several times during Carmen's first week of school, she mistakenly opened the closet door when she meant to open the door to the bathroom. Which of the following explanations for Carmen's mistake is likely the best?

A)The axons in Carmen's brain are not fully myelinated.
B)Carmen has utilization deficiency.
C)Carmen's processing speed is too slow.
D)Carmen has not encoded the location of the bathroom door.

Question 77

Which of the following components of memory has the smallest capacity and retention time?

A)working memory
B)long-term memory
C)sensory memory
D)occupational memory

Question 78

Encoding refers to:

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

Question 79

Which of the following behaviors is considered a basic process by information-processing theorists?

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

Question 80

Leslie is reading a sentence about cars. Which of the following items is likely to be in her working memory?

A)the visual appearance of the letters c-a-r-s
B)her general knowledge about cars
C)the sound of the word "cars"
D)All of the answers are correct.
E)None of the answers is correct.