Chapter 1: Theories and Perspectives on Development

Question 1

Examples of Species

Answer 1

Apes, humans, rats, etc.

Question 2

Changes in the amount or degree of a skill

Development is additive

Answer 2

Quantitative

Question 3

Changes in the type of skill

Never abilities emerge

Answer 3

Qualitative

Question 4

Qualitative change is a ____ change

Answer 4

Continuous

Question 5

Quantitative change is a _____ change

Answer 5

Discontinuous

Question 6

Domain Specificity

Answer 6

Learning occurs at different times in different domains

Domains include: physical, biological, psychological

Question 7

Domain Generality

Answer 7

Learning occurs across all cognitive domains

Distributed learning

Question 8

Piaget and EF Theorists support:

Answer 8

Domain generality

Question 9

Fodor and Chomsky support:

Answer 9

Domain specificity

Question 10

Infants born with certain specific abilities that prepare them to achieve cognitive tasks

Answer 10

Nativism

Question 11

Nature

Answer 11

Biological, inborn, native, genetic, innate

Question 12

Nurture

Answer 12

Environmental, learned, social, acquired

Question 13

Associationist Perspective

Answer 13

Infants have limited capabilities, learning is key

AKA Blank Slate

Question 14

Constructivist Perspective

Answer 14

Associative capabilities & perceptual skills, learn through active construction

Question 15

Competent-Infant Perspective

Answer 15

Perceptual skills & conceptual understanding, early classification and rapid learning

Question 16

Exposure during a certain period of time is essential for normal development
ex. Language

Answer 16

Critical Period

Question 17

During this period there is a greater ease of access for a concept

Answer 17

Sensitive Period

Question 18

Mechanisms of Change:

Answer 18

Physical Mechanisms vs. Processing Mechanisms

Question 19

Maturation and brain structure

Answer 19

Physical

Question 20

Processing

Answer 20

Actions and experiences

Question 21

Three Meta-Theories:

Answer 21

Piaget
Vygotsky
Information Processing

Question 22

Equilibration

Answer 22

An innate self-regulatory process to stay in a balanced state

Question 23

Assimilation

Answer 23

Interpreting experience in terms of existing cognitive schemas

Question 24

Accommodation

Answer 24

Adjustments to the existing schemas to account for new information that challenges existing beliefs

Question 25

Motor Actions

Answer 25

Sensorimotor (0-2)

Question 26

Mental representations with symbols and relationships

Answer 26

Pre-Operational (2-7)

Question 27

Concrete Operational (7-11)

Answer 27

Mental operations or present/physical objects

Question 28

Mental operations on operations

Answer 28

Formal Operational (11+)

Question 29

Centration

Answer 29

Focuses on one idea to the exclusion of others

Question 30

Zone of Proximal Development

Answer 30

The area lying between where the child is now and where the child could be with help. An adult or peer can guide the child through this zone

Question 31

Temporary support for a child that is slowly withdrawn until the child can perform on their own. In the child’s zone of proximal development

Answer 31

Scaffolding

Question 32

Dialectical process is comprised of the ____, the _____, and the ______

Answer 32

Thesis (original idea), antithesis (opposing idea), and synthesis (resolution between competing ideas).

Question 33

Information processing 4 mechanisms of change:

Answer 33

Automatization, Encoding, Generalization, Strategy construction

Question 34

Automatization

Answer 34

Using mental processes or problem-solving strategies increasingly efficiently, with practice, so that mental resources are freed for other purposes.

Question 35

Modularity Nativism

Answer 35

A set of approaches that posit innate modules, structures, or constraints, each specialized for perception and cognition in a particular domain such as language.

Question 36

Knowledge structures are innate and development is is predetermined

Answer 36

Nativism (Theories of Knowledge Acquisition)

Question 37

Knowledge is acquired through experience alone

Answer 37

Behaviourism (Theories of Knowledge Acquisition)