Chapter 7: Cognition

Question 1

What is Jean Piaget’s theory called?

Answer 1

Piaget’s constructive approach

Question 2

The main theme of this theory is about how children come to know their world by constructing their own schemes or cognitive structures through active exploration.

Answer 2

Constructive approach/ Cognitive Development (Jean Piaget)

Question 3

The activity of knowing and the process through which knowledge is acquired and problems are solved.

Answer 3

Cognition

Question 4

According to Piaget, it is a basic life function that helps an organism adapt to its environment.

Answer 4

Intelligence

Question 5

These are cognitive structures – organized patterns of action or thought that people construct to interpret their experiences.

Answer 5

Schemes

Question 6

2 inborn (nature) intellectual functions according to Piaget that children use to create knowledge.

Answer 6

Organization
Adaptation

Question 7

Children systematically combine existing schemes into new and more complex ones.

Answer 7

Organization

Question 8

The process of adjusting to the demands of the environment.

Answer 8

Adaptation

Question 9

2 complimentary processes where adaptation occurs.

Answer 9

Assimilation
Accomodation

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Assimilation

Question 11

The process of modifying existing schemes to better fit new experiences.

Answer 11

Accommodation

Question 12

A negative conflict we experience when new events challenge our old schemes; uncomfortable state of mind that the child seeks to resolve.

Answer 12

Disequilibrium

Question 13

Process of achieving mental stability where our internal thoughts are consistent with the evidence we are receiving from the external world.

Answer 13

Equilibration

Question 14

States that new knowledge is constructed through change in the neural structures of the brain in response to experience.

Answer 14

Neuroconstructivism Theory

Question 15

The main theme of this theory is that cognitive growth occurs in sociocultural context and evolves out of a child’s social interaction.

Answer 15

Sociocultural Perspective/Theory (Lev Vygotsky)

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Question 17

The aid and support of parents and other knowledgeable guides.

Answer 17

Guided Participation

Question 18

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

Answer 18

Scaffolding

Question 19

A preschool’s speech to oneself that guides his/her speech and behavior; a critical step in the development of mature thoughts.

Answer 19

Private Speech

Question 20

Behavior emerges from interaction between person and context; human performance is dynamic, it changes in response to change in context.

Answer 20

Dynamic Skill Framework (Kurt Fischer)

Question 21

Human performance changes in response to change in context.

Answer 21

Dynamic

Question 22

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

Answer 22

Skill

Question 23

Used to capture findings that people’s abilities vary with context.

Answer 23

Developmental Range

Question 24

Earliest in Piaget’s theory of cognitive development; a time of tremendous growth and change; it is through the senses and motor abilities that infants gain a basic understanding of the world around them.

Answer 24

Sensorimotor Stage

Question 25

Child understands the environment purely through inborn reflexes such as sucking and looking.

Answer 25

Reflexes

Question 26

Involves coordinating sensation and new schemas.

Answer 26

Primary Circular Reactions

Question 27

Child becomes more focused on the world and begins to intentionally repeat an action in order to trigger a response in the environment.

Answer 27

Secondary Circular Reactions

Question 28

Child starts to show clearly intentional actions; child may also combine schemas in order to achieve a desired effect.

Answer 28

Coordination of Secondary Schemes

Question 29

The tendency of 8-12 months olds to search for an object in the place where they last found it (A) rather than in its new hiding place (B).

Answer 29

A-not-B error

Question 30

Children begin a period of trial-and-error experimentation.

Answer 30

Tertiary Circular Reactions

Question 31

Children begin to develop symbols to represent events or objects in the world.

Answer 31

Beginning of Thought

Question 32

Is the fundamental understanding that objects continue to exist - they are permanent - when they are no longer visible or otherwise detectable to the
senses.

Answer 32

Object Permanence

Question 33

The ability to use images, words, or gestures to represent or stand for objects and experiences.

Answer 33

Symbolic Capacity

Question 34

Focus on the most obvious features of an object or
situation; preschoolers can be fooled by appearances.

Answer 34

Perceptual Salience

Question 35

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

Answer 35

Concept of Conservation

Question 36

The logical understanding that the parts are included within the whole.

Answer 36

Class Inclusion

Question 37

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

Answer 37

Egocentrism

Question 38

Involves mastering the logical operations missing in the preoperational stage, becoming able to perform systematic mental actions on objects

Answer 38

Concrete-operational Stage

Question 39

Allows the child to mentally reverse the
pouring process and imagine the water in its original container

Answer 39

Reversibility

Question 40

Allows the child to better understand the process of change involved in pouring the water.

Answer 40

Transformational thought

Question 41

The child has logic, not just appearance, as a guide.

Answer 41

Logical Operations

Question 42

Involves going from a specific experience to a general principle.

Answer 42

Inductive logic

Question 43

Enables children to arrange items mentally along a
quantifiable dimension such as length of weight.

Answer 43

Seriation

Question 44

Describes the necessary relations among elements in a series.

Answer 44

Transivity

Question 45

Reasoning from general ideas or rules to their specific implications.

Answer 45

Hypothetical Deductive Reasoning

Question 46

Separate prior knowledge and beliefs from the demands of the task at hand.

Answer 46

Decontextualize

Question 47

Imaginary audience phenomenon involves confusing their own thoughts with those of a hypothesized audience for your behavior.

Answer 47

Adolescent Egocentrism

Question 48

A tendency to think that you and your thoughts and feelings are unique.

Answer 48

Personal Fable

Question 49

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

Answer 49

Postformal Thought

Question 50

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

Answer 50

Relativistic Thinking

Question 51

Detecting paradoxes and inconsistencies among ideas and trying to reconcile them

Answer 51

Dialectical Thinking