Chapter 6: Cognitive Development Approaches

Question 1

Which psychologist developed the cognitive-developmental theory?

Answer 1

Piaget

Question 2

What are the three processes of cognitive development that explain the transition from built-in schemes to complex mental schemes?

Answer 2

Assimilation, Accommodation, Equilibriation

Question 3

What is assimilation?

Answer 3

Using schemes to make sense of past events/experiences

Question 4

What is accommodation?

Answer 4

Changing a scheme in reaction to new information

Question 5

What is equilibriation?

Answer 5

Balancing assimilation and accommodation to create schemes that suit the environment.

Question 6

When/what is the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 6

Birth - 2 years. Children use sensory and motor skills to act upon the world.

Question 7

When/what is the preoperational stage?

Answer 7

2-7 years. Children acquire symbolic schemes and use them to think and communicate.

Question 8

When/what is the concrete operational stage?

Answer 8

7-11 years. Children begin to think logically to solve problems.

Question 9

When/what is the formal operational stage?

Answer 9

11+ years. Children learn to think logically about abstract ideas.

Question 10

What is substage 1 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 10

0-1 months. Use of built in schemes (reflexes)

Question 11

What is substage 2 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 11

1-4 months. Use of primary circular reactions – simple, repetitive, organized around the infant’s body

Question 12

What is substage 3 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 12

4-8 months. Use of secondary circular reactions – repeating actions to trigger reactions outside of the body

Question 13

What is substage 4 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 13

8-12 months. Coordination of secondary schemes and understanding of causal connections, using means-end behaviour.

Question 14

What is substage 5 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 14

12-18 months. Tertiary circular reactions. Behaviour becomes purposeful and experimental with slight alterations from the repetition.

Question 15

What is substage 6 of the sensorimotor stage?

Answer 15

18-24 months. Beginning of mental representation. Symbols can be used to represent objects/events.

Question 16

At what age do infants begin developing object permanence?

Answer 16

2 months.

Question 17

At what age does object permanence become robust?

Answer 17

8-12 months.

Question 18

At what age do infants begin to imitate facial expressions?

Answer 18

8-12 months.

Question 19

What is deferred imitation and when does it begin?

Answer 19

Imitating an action significantly after it is observed. 18-24 months.

Question 20

What is a major criticism of Piaget’s understanding of object permanence?

Answer 20

Children don’t gain the ability to grasp objects until 7-8 months. Researchers argue that we should track eye movements instead, and this shows signs of object permanence as early as 4 months.

Question 21

What is an example of sensorimotor play? When does it occur?

Answer 21

Shaking blocks and putting them in their mouths. 1 year.

Question 22

What is an example of constructive play? When does it occur?

Answer 22

Stacking blocks on top of one another. 2 years.

Question 23

What is an example of first pretend play? When does it occur?

Answer 23

Drinking from an empty teacup. 15-21 months.

Question 24

What is an example of substitute pretend play? When does it occur?

Answer 24

Using a broomstick to pretend it’s a horse. 2-3 years.

Question 25

What is an example of sociodramatic play? When does it occur?

Answer 25

Taking on a role while playing “House” and sticking to it. 3-4 years.

Question 26

What is rule governed play? When does it occur?

Answer 26

Developing rules and sticking to them. 5-6 years.

Question 27

What is centration? When does it occur?

Answer 27

The tendency in the preoperational stage to focus on one salient aspect of a situation and neglect other. Example: seeing a leaf blow in the wind, assuming it’s alive.

Question 28

What is the identity component of conservation?

Answer 28

Things remain the same if nothing is added or taken away.

Question 29

What is the compensation component of conservation?

Answer 29

Changes in one dimension can be offset by changes in another.

Question 30

What is the reversibility component of conservation?

Answer 30

A change can be cancelled out by mentally reversing the steps and tracing back to the origin.

Question 31

Across development, there is a robust increase in _____ in the _____ stream.

Answer 31

Myelination, dorsal

Question 32

What is abstract thinking?

Answer 32

Using symbols, ideas and concepts, not experienced directly through the senses.

Question 33

What is complex thinking?

Answer 33

Taking into account many different connections or perspectives.

Question 34

What is metacognition?

Answer 34

Thinking about your own thinking.

Question 35

Whose view of egocentrism is based on Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable?

Answer 35

Elkind

Question 36

What is “imaginary audience”?

Answer 36

The adolescent’s belief that he/she is alone on a “stage”, being judged by others

Question 37

What is “personal fable”?

Answer 37

The adolescent’s belief that he/she is special, unique and invulnerable, like the main character in a story.

Question 38

What is postformal thought?

Answer 38

A possible stage that follows the formal operational stage. Thought to be more flexible, logical, willing to accept moral and intellectual complexities, and dialectical than previous stages. The existence of this stage is debated.

Question 39

Who developed the sociocultural theory of development and what was its premise?

Answer 39

Vygotsky – social interaction is critically important in building cognitive skills.

Question 40

What is the major difference between Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories?

Answer 40

Piaget focused on interaction with the environment, while Vygotsky focused on interaction with other people.

Question 41

What is scaffolding?

Answer 41

Learning new skills with guidance from someone who is more knowledgeable in that domain.

Question 42

What is the zone of proximal development?

Answer 42

A range of tasks that an individual cannot complete alone, but that can be accomplished with scaffolding.

Question 43

What is the primitive stage of cognitive development?

Answer 43

Child learns primarily through conditioning until langauge develops.

Question 44

What is the naive psychology stage of cognitive development?

Answer 44

Child learns to use language to communicate, but does not fully understand the symbolic value or arbitrary nature of langauge.

Question 45

What is the egocentric speech stage of cognitive development?

Answer 45

Child uses language to problem solve, overly articulating their thoughts out loud.

Question 46

What is the ingrowth stage of cognitive development?

Answer 46

Child learns to internalize these speech patterns.