Chapter 7

Question 1

cognition

Answer 1

the activity of knowing and the processes through which knowledge is acquired and problems are solved

Question 2

clinical method

Answer 2

a simple question-and-answer technique used to discover how children think about problems

Question 3

Schemes

Answer 3

cognitive structures - organized patterns of action or thought that people construct or interpret their experiences

Question 4

organization

Answer 4

children combine existing schemes into new and more complex ones; the mind does not clutter with facts

Question 5

adaptation

Answer 5

process of adjusting to the demands of environment; occurs through assimilation and accommodation

Question 6

assimilation

Answer 6

the process by which we interpret new experience in terms of existing schemes or cognitive structures

Question 7

accommodation

Answer 7

the process of modifying existing schemes to better fit new experiences

Question 8

equilibration

Answer 8

the process of achieving mental stability where our internal thoughts are consistent with the evidence we are receiving from the external world - reduce mental conflict

Question 9

neuro-constructivism theory

Answer 9

new knowledge is constructed through changes in the neural structures of the brain in response to esperiences

Question 10

Vygotsky on culture and thought

Answer 10

cogniitive development is shaped by the culture in which children live and the kinds of problem-solving strategies that adults and other knowledgeable guides pass on to them

Question 11

zone of proximal development

Answer 11

the gap between what the learner can accomplish independently and what she can accomplish with the guidance and encouragement of a more-skilled partner

Question 12

guided participation

Answer 12

actively participating in culturally relevant activities with the aid and support of their parents and other knowledgeable guides

Question 13

scaffolding

Answer 13

more-skilled person gives structured help to a less-skilled learner but gradually reduces the help as the less-skilled learner becomes more competent

Question 14

private speech

Answer 14

speech to oneself that guides one’s thought and behavior - critical step in development of mature thought

Question 15

human performance is dynamic

Answer 15

changes in response to changes in context (Fischer)

Question 16

skill

Answer 16

a person’s ability to perform on a particular task in a specific context

Question 17

developmental range

Answer 17

people’s abilities vary with context

Question 18

object permanence

Answer 18

fundamental understanding that objects continue to exist when they are no longer visible

Question 19

A-not-B error

Answer 19

the tendency of 8 to 12-month-olds to search for an object in the place where they last found it rather than in its new hiding place

Question 20

symbolic capacity

Answer 20

the ability to use images, or gestures to represent or stand for objects and experiences

Question 21

primary circular reactions

Answer 21

infants repeat (circular) actions relating to their own bodies that had initially started by chance

Question 22

secondary circular reactions

Answer 22

4 - 8 months; infants derive pleasure from repeatedly performing an action using an object (secondary) in its external environment

Question 23

coordination of secondary schemes

Answer 23

8 to 12 months; infants combine secondary action to achieve simple goals such as when they push an obstacle out of the way to grasp a desired object

Question 24

tertiary circular reactions

Answer 24

12 - 18 months; infants experiment in varied ways with toys, exploring them thoroughly and learning all about their properties

Question 25

imaginary companions

Answer 25

some children - especially firstborns - and only children who do not have ready access to play companions invent these

Question 26

perceptual salience

Answer 26

most obvious features of an object or situation - children can be fooled by appearances (a person dressed as Santa Claus)

Question 27

conservation

Answer 27

idea that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered in some superficial way

Question 28

decentration

Answer 28

the ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at once

Question 29

centration

Answer 29

tendency to center attention on a single aspect of the problem

Question 30

reversibility

Answer 30

the process of mentally undoing or reversing an action

Question 31

transformational thought

Answer 31

the ability to conceptualize transformations, or the process of change from one state to another

Question 32

static thought

Answer 32

thought that is fixed on end states rather than the changes that transform one state in to the other

Question 33

egocentrism

Answer 33

tendency to view the world solely from their own perspective and to have difficulty recognizing other points of view

Question 34

class inclusion

Answer 34

the logical understanding that the parts are included within the whole

Question 35

seriation

Answer 35

enables children to arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimension such as weight or length

Question 36

transitivity

Answer 36

describes the necessary relations among elements in a series

Question 37

hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Answer 37

reasoning from general ideas or rules to their specific implications

Question 38

decontextualize

Answer 38

separate prior knowledge or beliefs from the demands of the task at hand -use reasoning rather than intuition

Question 39

adolescent egocentrism

Answer 39

difficulty differentiating one’s own thoughts and feelings from those of other people - imaginary audience and personal fable

Question 40

imaginary audience

Answer 40

confusing your own thoughts with those of a hypothesized audience for your behavior

Question 41

personal fable

Answer 41

tendency to think that you and your thought and feelings are unique

Question 42

postformal thought

Answer 42

ways of thinking that are more complex than those of the formal-operational stage

Question 43

relativistic thinking

Answer 43

understanding that knowledge depends on its context and the subjective perspective of the knower

Question 44

dialectical thinking

Answer 44

detecting paradoxes and inconsistencies among ideas and trying to reconcile them