Ch. 6: Cognitive & Physical Development in Middle Childhood

Question 1

Mental Operations

Answer 1

Cognitive actions that can be performed on objects or ideas. Goes with entering Piaget’s concrete operational stage, when kids realize things can be acted on and changed or reversed. (Beaker liquid amount if the same no matter which container it is poured into, etc.)

Question 2

Deductive Reasoning

Answer 2

Children in Piaget’s formal-operational stage (11+) can do this, draw appropriate conclusions from the facts presented

Question 3

Working Memory

Answer 3

Where most human thoughts take place, a relatively small number if thoughts and ideas can be stored at one time

Question 4

Long-term Memory

Answer 4

Permanent Storehouse of knowledge with unlimited capacity

Question 5

Metamemory

Answer 5

a child’s intuitive understanding of memory, children get better at this as they age and figure out what strategies work best for helping them remember things (organization, elaboration, etc.)

Question 6

Metacognitive Knowledge

Answer 6

Children’s growing understanding and awareness of cognitive processes (perception, attention, thinking, etc.)

Question 7

Cognitive Self-Regulation

Answer 7

Skill at identifying goals, selecting effective strategies, and monitoring accurately is a characteristic of successful students (knowing what you need to do in order to reach a specific learning goal)

Question 8

Psychometricians

Answer 8

Psychologists who specialize in measuring psychological traits such as intelligence and personality

Question 9

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

Answer 9

Adds six additional types of intelligences to conventional list. Nine total: Linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal (internal), naturalistic, and existential.

Question 10

Sternberg’s Theory of Successful Intelligence

Answer 10

Using one’s abilities skillfully to achieve one’s goals. Use analytic, creative, and practical abilities to do this.

Question 11

Analytic, Practical, and Creative Abilities

Answer 11

Analytic: analyze probs and generate different solutions
Creative: ability to deal adaptively to novel problems and situations
Practical: ability to know which problem solutions are likely to work

Question 12

Mental Age

Answer 12

In intelligence testing, a measure of children’s performance corresponding to the expected problems that children of certain age are likely to be able to solve.

Question 13

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Answer 13

Created by Lewis Terman based on Binet and Simon’s research into mental age. Quotient is ratio of mental age to chronological age, multiplied by 100. IQ = MA/CA x 100. Started Stanford-Binet intelligence test. IQ is no longer calculated this way. Now it’s about broad comparisons of knowledge across age group averages.

Question 14

Stereotype Threat

Answer 14

knowledge of stereotypes leads to anxiety and reduced performance (girl doing poorly on a math test because she is told women perform poorly at math)

Question 15

Divergent thinking

Answer 15

creativity associated with ability to think in novel and unusual directions, often finding multiple solutions to a problem

Question 16

Phonological Awareness

Answer 16

Ability to distinguish that sounds in spoken words

Question 17

Knowledge-Telling Strategy

Answer 17

Writing style of children and younger adolescents where they write down information on a topic as they retrieve it from their memory. No obvious story structure

Question 18

Knowledge-Transforming Strategy

Answer 18

Writing skill that some children begin to acquire in elementary school. Organizing thoughts and information in a way that will best convey the topic to the reader