ch 4

Question 1

according to piaget, taking in information that is compatible with what is already known. Ie. Child discovers that their grasping scheme also works on blocks and toy cars

Answer 1

assimilation

Question 2

according to piaget, changing existing knowledge based on new knowledge. Ie. Child using 2 hands to grasp heavy objects because 1 hand won’t lift the item.

Answer 2

accommodation

Question 3

according to piaget, mental structures that organize information and regulate behavior.

Answer 3

schemes

Question 4

according to piaget, a process by which when disequilibrium occurs, children reorganize their schemes to return to a state of equilibrium.

Answer 4

equilibration

Question 5

piaget’s 4 cognitive stages:

Answer 5

• sensorimotor (infancy, birth to 2 yrs)
• preoperational (preschool and early-elementary-school yrs, 2 to 6 yo)
• concrete operational (middle and late elementary school years, 7 to 11 yo)
• formal operational (adolescence and adulthood, 11 yrs and up)

Question 6

the understanding, acquired in infancy that objects exist independently

Answer 6

object permanence

Question 7

Not until about ______ do infants fully understand object permanence

Answer 7

18 months

Question 8

3 characteristics of preoperational thinking

Answer 8

• egocentrism
• centration (“tunnel vision”)
• appearance as reality

Question 9

mental and neural structures that are built in and that allow the mind to operate

Answer 9

mental hardware

Question 10

mental “programs” that are the basis for performing particular tasks

Answer 10

mental software

Question 11

processes that determine which information is processed further by an individual

Answer 11

attention

Question 12

an individual views a strong or unfamiliar stimulus, and changes in heart rate and brain-wave activity occur

Answer 12

orienting response

Question 13

becoming unresponsive to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly

Answer 13

habituation

Question 14

a form of learning that involves pairing a neutral stimulus and a response originally produced by another stimulus. Ie an infant smiling when they hear a dog’s collar because they know the dog is coming to play with them

Answer 14

classical conditioning

Question 15

a form of learning in which reward and punishment determine the likelihood that a behavior will recur. Ie. When a baby smiles, an adult will hug a baby in return; this pleasing consequence makes the baby likely to smile again

Answer 15

operant conditioning

Question 16

older children and up learn much by watching others behave. Ie. learning sports moves by watch professional athletes

Answer 16

imitation

Question 17

the development of memory during the first 2 years reflects growth in these two different brain regions

Answer 17

• frontal cortex

- hippocampus

Question 18

memories of the significant events and experiences of someone’s own life. Can be reinforced by parents asking open ended questions to children to recall details of an event.

Answer 18

autobiographical memories

Question 19

a counting principle that states that there must be one and only one number name for each object counted

Answer 19

one-to-one principle

Question 20

a counting principle that states that number names must always be counted in the same order

Answer 20

stable-order principle

Question 21

a counting principle in which the last number name denotes that number of objects being counted

Answer 21

cardinality principle

Question 22

young children can often accomplish far more with some adult guidance than they can accomplish alone

Answer 22

Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development

Question 23

a style in which teachers gauge the amount of assistance they offer to match the learner’s needs

Answer 23

scaffolding

Question 24

a child’s comments that are not intended for others but are designed instead to help regulate the child’s behavior

Answer 24

private speech

Question 25

unique sounds used to create words, making them the basic building blocks of language

Answer 25

phonemes

Question 26

speech that adults use with infants that is slow, has exaggerated changes in pitch and volume, and is thought to aid language acquisition

Answer 26

infant-directed speech

Question 27

early vowel-like sounds that babies produce

Answer 27

cooing

Question 28

speech-like sounds that consist of vowel-consonant combinations and are common at about 6 months

Answer 28

babbling

Question 29

a child’s connections between words referents that are made so quickly that he or she cannot consider all possible meanings of the word

Answer 29

fast mapping

Question 30

when children define words more narrowly than adults do

Answer 30

underextension

Question 31

when children define words more broadly than adults do

Answer 31

overextension

Question 32

a language-learning style of children whose vocabularies are dominated by names of objects, people, or actions

Answer 32

referential style

Question 33

a language-learning style of children whose vocabularies include many social phrases that are used like one word

Answer 33

expressive style

Question 34

speech used by young children that contains only words necessary to convey a message

Answer 34

telegraphic speech

Question 35

words or endings of words that make a sentence grammatical

Answer 35

grammatical morphemes

Question 36

grammatical usage that results from applying rules to words that are exceptions to the rule

Answer 36

overregularizations