Chapter 4

Question 1

According to Piaget, children understand the world with ____________.

Answer 1

schemes

*Children actively construct knowledge as they manipulate and explore their world; they build schemas (knowledge structure) by the processes of assimilation and accommodation.

Question 2

Schemes

Answer 2

psychological/cognitive structures that organize experience

*schemes are mental categories of related events, objects, and knowledge

Question 3

Piaget’s Constructivist Approach

• Children of the same age often make…?
• Studied how children…?
• Piaget’s initial studies…?

Answer 3

• Piaget noticed that children of the same age often made similar kinds of mental mistakes
• Studied how children think, not just what they know
• Piaget’s initial studies were his naturalistic observations of his own infant children

Question 4

Piaget’s theory is based on what?

Answer 4

Kid’s mistakes

*Dr. Allaire mentioned this as a possible test question

Question 5

Piaget’s Constructivist Approach – How Does Intelligence Develop?

1. Knowledge is created by building…?
2. This knowledge is assimilated by using two inborn functions _______ and _______.

Answer 5

1. Knowledge is created by building schemes from experiences using two inborn functions, organization and adaptation
2. Organization and adaptation.
   - Organization – existing schemes are systematically combined into new and complex schemes
   - Adaptation – process of adjusting to the demands of the environment that occurs through assimilation and accommodation

Question 6

Adaptation

Answer 6

Building schemes through direct interaction with environment by assimilation and accommodation

Question 7

Assimilation

Answer 7

Using current schemas to interpret external world (knowledge/experience). Assimilation occurs when new experiences are readily incorporated into existing schemes.

ex. Baby has basic grasping schema. Baby discovers through assimilation that grasping schema also works on blocks and toy cars.

Question 8

Accommodation

Answer 8

Adjusting old schemes (knowledge) and creating new ones to better fit environment. Accommodation occurs when schemes are modified based on experiences.

ex. Child has schema for dog = dog has 4 legs. Believes that all animals with four legs = dog. Child then learns that cats have 4 legs. Schema for dogs will now adjust, and new schema for cats forms.

Question 9

Cognitive conflict or disequilibrium occurs when?

Answer 9

When new events seriously challenge old schemes or prove our existing schemes to be inadequate.

*Child realizes they are spending too much time accommodating and less time assimilating (disequilibrium)

Question 10

Equilibrium

Answer 10

When disequilibrium occurs, children reorganize their schemes to return to a state of equilibrium.

*Disequilibrium leads to cognitive growth

Question 11

Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development

Answer 11

1. Sensorimotor stage: birth to approx. 2 years of age
2. Preoperational stage: approx. 2-7 years of age
3. Concrete operations stage: approx. 7-11 years of age
4. Formal operations stage: approx. 11 years of age and beyond

Question 12

1st Stage of Cognitive Development: Sensorimotor stage

Answer 12

• birth to 2 years of age
• the world is understood through the senses and actions
• The dominant cognitive structures are the behavioral schemes that develop through coordination of sensory information and motor responses

Question 13

Object Permanence

Answer 13

Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight

Question 14

According to Piaget, when does object permanence develop?

Answer 14

8-12 months

*Prior to 8 months:
If I drop my toy and I can’t see it, it is gone! (peek-a-boo)

8 to 12 months
You hid my toy, I’m looking for it the last place I saw it.

After a year
You hid my toy, I’m looking for it!

Question 15

2nd Stage of Cognitive Development: The preoperational stage

Three characteristics of preoperational stage?

Answer 15

-2-7 years of age

1. egocentrism
2. centration
3. appearance as reality

Question 16

Preoperational stage:

Egocentrism

Answer 16

Belief that others see the world exactly as they do, and have difficulty recognizing other points of view

Question 17

Preoperational stage:

Centration

Answer 17

Piaget’s term for narrowly focused thought. Preoperational youngsters have tunnel vision: they concentrate on one aspect of a problem but ignore other equally relevant aspects.

*Piaget’s conservation-of-liquid-quantity task –
Children younger than 6 or 7 typically do not understand that the volume of liquid is conserved despite the change in the shape it takes in different containers

Question 18

Preoperational stage:

Appearance as Reality

Answer 18

Preoperational children confuse appearance and reality.

Ex. a glass of milk looks brown when seen through sunglasses. To the a preoperational child, the milk is brown.

Question 19

Preoperational stage:

Difficulty with classification

Answer 19

Difficulty with classification

• Using criteria to sort objects on the basis of characteristics such as shape, color, function
• Lack class inclusion, the ability to relate the whole class (furry animals) to its subclasses (dogs, cats)
• The preoperational child does not understand that the subclasses are included within the whole class

Question 20

Common criticisms of Piaget’s theory:

Answer 20

• Underestimates cognitive competence in infants and young children and overestimates competence in adolescents
• Infants have a greater understanding of objects than Piaget thought
• Vague with respect to processes of change. Ex. assimilation and accommodation too vague to be tested.
• Model does not account for variability in child’s performance. Child’s thinking may be sophisticated in some domains but naive in others.
• Undervalues the influence of the sociocultural environment

Question 21

General Principles of Information Processing

-Human thinking based on __________ and __________?

Answer 21

Mental hardware and mental software

Question 22

Mental hardware

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Mental software

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Attention

Answer 24

the process that determines which sensory information receives additional cognitive processing

Question 25

Two aspects of attention:

Answer 25

Orienting response, and habituation

Question 26

Orienting response

Answer 26

an unfamiliar stimulus produces a change in heart rate and brain waves

Question 27

Habituation

Answer 27

the diminished response to a stimulus once it becomes familiar (ex. the sound of traffic)

Question 28

Learning can take on these four forms:

Answer 28

Habituation, Classical Conditioning, Operant Conditioning and Imitation

Question 29

Learning: Classical Conditioning

Answer 29

A neutral stimulus elicits a response originally produced by another stimulus

Example: running water makes an infant cry because he knows he is getting a bath

Question 30

Learning: Operant Conditioning

Answer 30

Focuses on the relation between the consequences of behavior and the likelihood that the behavior will recur

*Example: a baby’s smile is rewarded with a hug, therefore she will be more likely to smile in the future

Question 31

Imitation

Answer 31

Infants are able to imitate adult facial expressions; young children imitate behavior of others

Question 32

Memory: Three important features in young babies?

Answer 32

• Events from the past are remembered
• Over time, events are no longer recalled
• Cues prompt memories that seem to have been forgotten

Question 33

Growth in these two brain regions support memory storage.

Answer 33

Hippocampus, and amygdala (emotions)

Question 34

Growth in this brain region supports memory retrieval

Answer 34

prefrontal cortex

Question 35

Autobiographical memory

Answer 35

-people’s memory of the experience/events of their own lives

• First develops in the preschool years
• A result of basic memory skills that develop in infancy, language skills, and a sense of self
• Sense of self lends coherence and continuity to experiences
• Open-ended questions result in more detailed memories