CH 9.1: Cognitive Development of Preschoolers

Question 1

What marks the preoperational stage (Piaget) and what ages is it?

Answer 1

children’s use of symbols to represent objects/events; 2-7yrs

Question 2

why are preschoolers’ thoughts more limited than school-age childrens’?

Answer 2

egocentrism, centration and appearance as reality

Question 3

egocentrism

Answer 3

not understanding that others can have different thoughts and feelings than our own/see the world differently than we do

Question 4

centration

Answer 4

narrowing our attention to one aspect of a problem and totally ignoring other relevant aspects

Question 5

what “problem” has been used to show children’s centration?

Answer 5

the conservation problem

Question 6

example of “appearance as reality”

Answer 6

a toddler watches their older sibling put on a scary mask yet still freaks out when the sibling approaches them with the mask; they don’t think “its just my brother in a costume”

Question 7

appearance as reality

Answer 7

children assume that an object really is what it appears to be

Question 8

preschoolers’ theory of biology includes:

Answer 8

-understanding inanimate objects cannot move on their own
-understanding that animals grow in size but inanimate objects do not
-understanding that the insides of animate and inanimate objects greatly differ
-understanding that only living things have offspring that resemble their parents
-understanding that inanimate objects can only “heal” with the help of humans

Question 9

child’s theory of mind in the preschool years

Answer 9

1. age 2: speak their desires and wants and likes
2. age 3: can distinguish the mental world from the physical world and begin lying to hide bad behaviour
3. age 4: understand that behaviour is based on beliefs about events even when the beliefs are wrong

Question 10

counterfactual thinking and what it plays an important role in

Answer 10

a person’s understanding that a situation is counter to reality. plays a role in developing theory of mind

Question 11

by 3yrs old, children can understand “action intentions” what does this mean?

Answer 11

children can observe the gestures and eyes of an adult while hearing a new word and figure out what the word may mean

Question 12

autobiographical memory

Answer 12

our memories of significant experiences in our own lives

Question 13

factors influencing autobiographical memory

Answer 13

parenting style, level of cognitive development, understanding of self in time, quality of bond b/w parent and child

Question 14

3 principles of counting that most children have mastered by age 3

Answer 14

one-to-one
stable-order
cardinality

Question 15

one-to-one principle

Answer 15

each object counted has a number name that is unique to the rest

Question 16

stable-order principle

Answer 16

number names are counted in the same order

Question 17

cardinality principle

Answer 17

the last number name differs from the previous one in a counting sequence denoting the number of objects in a set

Question 18

how did Vytgosky view child development?

Answer 18

as a social relationship through which children collab with others who are more experienced (caregivers etc)

Question 19

Vytgosky’s 3 most known contributions to socio-cultural theory of development

Answer 19

zone of proximal development
scaffolding
private speech

Question 20

zone of proximal development

Answer 20

difference b/w a child’s performance w/ a bit of help from a more skilled other vs their performance without any help

Question 21

scaffolding

Answer 21

teaching style that matches the amount of necessary assistance to the learner’s needs

Question 22

private speech

Answer 22

when children talk to themselves while playing in an attempt to control their behavior

Question 23

inner speech

Answer 23

Vytgosky’s term for “thought”