Cognitive Development Flashcards
As described by Vygotsky, private speech is:
A. a means of self-guidance that eventually becomes inner speech.
B. a means of self-guidance that interferes with cognitive development.
C. due to egocentrism and gradually fades away.
D. due to egocentrism and plays an important role in cognitive development.
Answer A is correct. Vygotsky referred to the speech that children utter aloud to guide their actions as private speech and viewed it as an important contributor to cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, private speech eventually becomes inner (covert) speech. Note that, in contrast, Piaget viewed the self-talk (private speech) of young children to be a manifestation of egocentrism and not essential for cognitive development.
Babies first exhibit intentional, goal-directed behaviors and imitation of the novel behaviors of others during substage ___ of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage.
A. 2
B. 4
C. 5
D. 7
Answer B is correct. Infants first intentionally combine secondary reactions to achieve goals and imitate actions of others that aren’t in their current repertoire (i.e., novel actions) in substage 4 (coordination of secondary circular reactions).
Research on sex differences has most often found which of the following?
A. Boys obtain higher scores on measures of visual/spatial skills (especially on tasks involving mental rotation), while girls obtain higher scores on most measures of verbal skills.
B. Boys obtain higher scores on most measures of verbal skills, while girls obtain higher scores on measures of visual/spatial skills (especially on tasks involving mental rotation).
C. Girls obtain higher scores than boys on most measures of visual/spatial and verbal skills.
D. Boys obtain higher scores than girls on most measures of visual/spatial and verbal skills.
Answer A is correct. Research has most consistently found that girls score higher on most measures of verbal ability (an exception is that boys obtain higher scores on measures of verbal analogies), while boys score higher on measures of visual/spatial abilities, especially on tasks involving mental rotation.
As described by Piaget, __________ involves using current schemas to interpret new information.
A. equilibration
B. adaptation
C. assimilation
D. accommodation
Answer C is correct. For the exam, you want to be able to recognize descriptions and examples of assimilation and accommodation. As their names suggest, assimilation involves assimilating (incorporating, integrating) new information into current schemas, while accommodation involves accommodating (adjusting, changing) current schemas to fit new information. Note that adaptation (answer B) is not the best answer because it encompasses both assimilation and accommodation.
Increasing age in adulthood is most associated with a decline in:
A. sensory memory.
B. primary memory.
C. secondary memory.
D. tertiary memory.
Answer C is correct. Secondary memory is also known as recent long-term memory and has been found to be the aspect of memory that’s associated with the greatest age-related decline.
A 14-year-old gets a “bad” haircut and doesn’t want to go to school because he thinks everybody will be staring and laughing at him because of his hair. As described by Elkind (1981), this is an example of:
A. identity foreclosure.
B. identity moratorium.
C. the personal fable.
D. the imaginary audience.
Answer D is correct. According to Elkind, one manifestation of adolescent egocentrism is the belief that one is always the focus of the attention and concern of other people – i.e., is always “on stage” – and he referred to this as the imaginary audience.
Which of the following best describes the gender gap in self-esteem?
A. Females have higher self-esteem than males do from late childhood through late adulthood.
B. Males have higher self-esteem than females do from late childhood through late adulthood.
C. Females have higher self-esteem than males do in late childhood, but males have higher self-esteem than females do in adulthood.
D. Males have higher self-esteem than females do in late childhood, but females have higher self-esteem than males do in adulthood.
Answer B is correct. Studies investigating age, gender, and self-esteem have consistently found a gender gap, with self-esteem being higher in males than females beginning in late childhood and persisting until late adulthood.
