Chapter 6

Question 1

Basic principles of Piaget’s theory

Answer 1

• child is an active participant in their own development
• children as little scientists
• create schemas and alter them by assimilation or accomodation

Question 2

Assimilation

Answer 2

• new experiences incorporated into existing theory

- when new information fits the schema

Question 3

Accommodation

Answer 3

• existing theories are modified based on experience

- when new information doesn’t fit the schema

Question 4

Memory in infants

Answer 4

• babies remember events for days and weeks
• cued recall works in infants
• need sense of self and language to be able to encode autobiographical memories

Question 5

Infantile amnesia

Answer 5

• most of us cannot retrieve events from before age 3

- bc babies don’t have sense of self or language

Question 6

Numerosity

Answer 6

• understanding numbers
• can use violation of expectancy to test this (bunnies behind a screen)
• or test of quantity
• easier for babies to tell differences between numbers when it’s a 1:2 ratio

Question 7

Allocentric spatial reference frame

Answer 7

• location of objects in relation to other objects

- can test in rats, allocentric frame if they find platform in pool regardless of starting point

Question 8

Egocentric spatial reference frame

Answer 8

• location of objects in relation to me
• infants use this at first
• can cause issues if you change orientation (think C1 elevators)

Question 9

Bayley scales of infant development

Answer 9

• Cognitive scale (recognizing objects, object permanence, pretend play)
• Language scale (understanding/expression of language)
• Motor scale (gross and fine motor skills)
• Social-emotional scale (ask caregivers ab ease of calming, social responsiveness)
• Adaptive behavior scale (ask ab self care, self-control, rule following, etc)

Question 10

Language in babies

Answer 10

• babies start using gestures (ie pointing) around first birthday
• young babies can hear phonemes that are not in their language
• infants can identify individual words

Question 11

Naming explosion

Answer 11

• 18 months

- child starts naming things at rapid rate

Question 12

Fast mapping

Answer 12

• direct reference or novel mapping
• direct reference: child generalizes between objects that look the same
• novel mapping: using knowledge about known objects to infer info ab new ones

Question 13

Overextension

Answer 13

• mistake in fast mapping
• word is defined too broadly (overgeneralization)
• eg all small round red things are apples

Question 14

Underextension

Answer 14

• mistake in fast mapping

- eg only basketballs, soccer balls, and baseballs are balls (not football)

Question 15

Referential style of learning language

Answer 15

• intellectual tool
• easily label/name objects
• tend to interact more w adults than peers
• use more single words and gradually build on them
• to support: build on what they say

Question 16

Expressive style of learning language

Answer 16

• social tool
• often speak in ways that are unintelligible
• talk to adults and peers
• use fewer nouns, language used to express feelings and needs and to socialize
• often lump two words together (stopit, allgone)
• to support: adjust speech to emphasize certain words (to help separate them)

Question 17

Adaptation

Answer 17

• building schemas through direct interaction with the environment
• eg babies banging stuff

Question 18

Sensorimotor stage

Answer 18

• first stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• birth to 2 years
• gather info from senses, learn how to move body, develop object permanence

Question 19

Preoperational stage

Answer 19

• second stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• 2 to 7 years
• pretend play, learn words symbolize objects
• egocentric (can’t think ab perspective of others)
• develop mental representations at end of stage

Question 20

Concrete operational stage

Answer 20

• third stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• 7 to 11 years
• learn conservation (water glass experiment)
• can start reasoning ab mathematics
• can classify objects into sets

Question 21

Formal operational stage

Answer 21

• fourth stage of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development
• 11 to 15 years
• abstract concepts, hypotheses
• moral reasoning

Question 22

Six substages of Sensorimotor development

Answer 22

• Simple reflexes (1 month)
• First habits and primary circular reactions (1 to 4 months) – recreate pleasing events
• Secondary circular reactions (4 to 8 months) – circular reactions w objects
• Coordination of secondary circular reactions (8 to 12 months) – means to an end
• Tertiary circular reactions (12 to 18 months) – experimenting eg drop diff objects
• Beginnings of thought (18 months to 2 years) – mental representation

Question 23

Object permanence

Answer 23

• Piaget thought 1-4 month olds do not have object permanence
• Piaget: 8-10mo have some understanding (A not B search error) and 12mo master object permanence
• but infants as young as 4 1/2mo have been shown to have object permanence in different circumstances

Question 24

Naïve theories

Answer 24

• children’s reasoning about objects, people, and morals
• naïve physics (3-4mo): objects cannot go through walls and move in continuous paths
• naïve physics (6 months): objects move when collided with
• naïve biology: only animate objects eat and drink; might think computer is sick with a virus

Question 25

Information processing theory

Answer 25

• people, like computers, are symbol processors
• mental hardware: sensory, working, and long-term memory
  mental software: mental programs that allow us to perform mental tasks
• involves encoding, storage, and retrieval

Question 26

Central executive

Answer 26

• part of model of working memory (info processing theory)
• conscious part of the mind
• coordinates incoming info w info in system
• controls attention
• selects, applies, and monitors strategies

Question 27

Orienting response

Answer 27

• method of infant learning

- physical reaction (eg turn towards noise)

Question 28

Habituation

Answer 28

• method of infant learning

- state of diminished responding due to repeated exposure

Question 29

Dishabituation

Answer 29

• method of infant learning

- state of re-orientation

Question 30

Infant-directed speech

Answer 30

speaking slowly in exaggerated changes of pitch and loudness when communicating with babies

Question 31

Cooing

Answer 31

• first step of speech development
• around 2 months
• sounds like ooooo or ahhhh

Question 32

Babbling

Answer 32

• second step of speech development
• 5 to 6 months
• one syllable speech sounds