Deck 7: Section 1: Conceptual Development

Question 1

Describe how toddlers' understanding of causality influences their ability to recall and imitate actions in the order they saw them. Why does this association exist?

Answer 1

Not Answer

Question 2

Choose one of these categories: furniture, vehicles, tools, clothing, or food. For the chosen category, think about how a child's concept of this category might progress from infancy through the preschool years, and answer these questions: (a) What might the initial concept of the category entail, and what are some examples of the likely members of this initial category? (b) On what information would this initial conception be formed? (c) Are there any category members that are not likely to be included in the child's initial concept? (d) Are there examples of objects the child might include that adults would not consider to be a member of the category? (e) Why might a child make these errors? (f) As the child's conception matures, how will these errors be corrected?

Answer 2

Not Answer

Question 3

Describe how children's theory of mind develops from age 2 to age 5. (a) What do 3- and 5-year-old children understand about the associations among emotions, perceptions, beliefs, desires, and actions that 2-year-old children do not understand? (b) What types of errors are typically made by children of age 2 that are not typically made by children of age 3? (c) What types of errors are typically made by children of age 3 that are not typically made by children of age 5?

Answer 3

Not Answer

Question 4

Describe the development of children's understanding of inheritance. Give examples of the differences between the beliefs of preschoolers and the beliefs of school-age children.

Question 5

Discuss how self-locomotion is associated with infants' coding of space. Describe the methodology and results of a study that demonstrates this association.

Question 6

Discuss two ways in which the development of an understanding of living things and/or objects appears to be continuous and two ways in which it appears to be discontinuous. Support your points with examples as necessary.

Question 7

Describe the notion of informal theories proposed by Wellman and Gelman. Explain the characteristics of these informal theories, how they are formed, and their purpose.

Question 8

What do infants understand about time and causality? What evolutionary purpose might these early understandings serve? What do infants not understand about these concepts?

Question 9

Do preschoolers understand that human beings are animals? Provide evidence to support your position.

Question 10

Choose three of the areas discussed in this chapter-the development of number, causality, space, time, concepts, psychological understanding, or biological knowledge. For each area, describe the nativist perspective and the empiricist perspective. Provide one argument or piece of evidence for each perspective for each of the three areas of development.

Question 11

Describe how pretend play and sociodramatic play are associated with children's psychological understanding and explain why this association exists. Be specific, and provide examples to support your points.

Question 12

Imagine that a mother takes her preschool son to an outdoor zoo. Walking around the zoo, the mother and child will surely see many animals and plants, as well as inanimate objects such as benches and rocks. While they are there, the mother plans to try to get an idea of the child's understanding of the characteristics of animals, plants, and inanimate objects. Give examples of the types of questions the mother will ask the child to get an insight into his understanding. She may want to find out about which things the child believes are alive; which can grow, get sick, and heal; as well as how each type of thing becomes what it is (e.g., through inheritance). If the son is typical of children of the preschool age, what answers to the mother's questions can be expected?

Question 13

Describe the notion of a theory of mind module. Provide a piece of evidence in support of its existence and a piece of evidence that suggests that it does not exist. In addition, describe the notion of a biology module, providing a piece of evidence in support of its existence and a piece of evidence that suggests that it does not exist. Finally, describe your beliefs about the existence of these two modules.

Question 14

How does an understanding of cause-effect relations help children form categories? In addition, how does an understanding of how objects are grouped into categories assist children's understanding of cause-effect relations? (Hint: Think about the study by Krascum and Andrews using imaginary wugs and gillies.)

Question 15

Imagine a child named Elliot who has had many untreated ear infections and thus has hearing difficulties. Although Elliot is not deaf, his hearing is quite poor, and by the age of 2, it is clear that he has delays in language development. Discuss how Elliot's hearing and language difficulties may affect his conceptual development, including conceptual understanding and new concept formation. Give specific examples of the effects that might be expected.

Question 16

Describe two ways in which one could help an infant advance his or her coding of space. Be specific.

Question 17

How is vision related to the development of spatial understanding and the ability to code space? Describe two research studies and discuss how they inform this question.

Question 18

Do infants have any understanding of number? Give an example to support your answer. Are infants able to perform simple arithmetic ? Discuss the evidence supporting the claim that they can. What is an alternative explanation to this evidence?