Exam 2 (Ch. 7 - Ch. 12) Flashcards
Cognition
The activity of knowing and the processes through which knowledge is acquired.
(For example, attending, perceiving, remembering, and thinking.)
Schema
A cognitive structure or organized pattern of action or thought used to deal with experiences.
Adaptation
In Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory, a person’s inborn tendency to adjust to the demands of the environment, consisting of the complementary processes of assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation
Piaget’s term for the process by which children interpret new experiences in terms of their existing schemata.
Contrast with accommodation.
Accomodation
In Piaget’s cognitive develop- mental theory, the process of modifying existing schemes to incorporate or adapt to new experiences.
Contrast with assimilation.
Object Permanence
The understanding that objects continue to exist when they are no longer visible or otherwise detectable to the senses; fully mastered by the end of infancy.
Name Piaget’s stages of development and a characteristic of each
- Sensorimotor - senses and reflexes
- Preoperational - symbolic capacity, imagination
- Concrete Operational - logical, flexible, organized
- Formal Operational - thinking in the hypothetical and abstract realm
Symbolic Capacity
The capacity to use symbols such as words, images, or actions to represent or stand for objects and experiences; representational thought.
Conservation
The recognition that certain properties of an object or substance do not change when its appearance is altered in some superficial way.
Centration
In Piaget’s theory, the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a problem when two or more aspects are relevant.
Reversibility
In Piaget’s theory, the ability to reverse or negate an action by mentally performing the opposite action.
Static Thought
In Piaget’s theory, the thought characteristic of the preoperational period that is fixed on end states rather than on the changes that transform one state into another.
Contrast with transformational thought.
Egocentrism
The tendency to view the world from the person’s own perspective and fail to recognize that others may have different points of view.
Transitivity
The ability to recognize the necessary or logical relations among elements in a serial order.
(For example, that if A is taller than B, and B is taller than C, then A must be taller than C.)
Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning
A form of problem solving in which a person starts with general or abstract ideas and deduces or traces their specific implications; “if–then” thinking.
Adolescent Egocentrism
A characteristic of adolescent thought that involves difficulty differentiating between the person’s own thoughts and feelings and those of other people; evident in the personal fable and imaginary audience phenomena.
Imaginary Audience
A form of adolescent egocentrism that involves confusing one’s own thoughts with the thoughts of a hypothesized audience for behavior and concluding that others share these preoccupations.
Personal Fable
A form of adolescent egocentrism that involves thinking that oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings are unique or special.
“No one has ever felt like this before!” “Nobody understands!”
Decentration
The ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at one time.
Transformational Thought
In Piaget’s theory, the ability to conceptualize transformations, or processes of change from one state to another, which appears in the stage of concrete operations.
Contrast with static thought.
Information Processing Approach to Memory
An approach to cognition that emphasizes the fundamental mental processes involved in attention, perception, memory, and decision making.
Sensory Register
The first memory store in information processing in which stimuli are noticed and are briefly available for further processing.
Characteristic of Sensory Register
immediate, brief
Short Term Memory (STM)
Temporary store for memories that have gained our attention.
Characteristic of STM
7 +/- 2 items, 18-20 seconds
Long Term Memory (LTM)
Serves as a storehouse for information that must be kept for long periods of time.
Characteristic of LTM
unlimited, relatively permanent
Encoding
The first step in learning and remembering something, it is the process of getting information into the information- processing system, or learning it, and organizing it in a form suitable for storing.
Rehearsal
A strategy for remembering that involves repeating the items the person is trying to retain.
Retrieval
The process of retrieving information from long-term memory when it is needed.
Recall Memory
Recollecting or actively retrieving objects, events, and experiences when examples or cues are not provided.
Contrast with cued recall memory and recognition memory.
Recognition Memory
Identifying an object or event as one that has been experienced before, such as when a person must select the correct answer from several options.
Contrast with cued recall memory and recall memory.
Cued Recall Memory
Recollecting objects, events, or experiences in response to a hint or cue.
Contrast with pure recall memory and recognition memory.
Implicit Memory
Memory that occurs unintentionally and without consciousness or awareness.
Contrast with explicit memory.
Explicit Memory
Memory that involves consciously recollecting the past.
Contrast with implicit memory.
Organization of Memory
A technique that involves grouping or classifying stimuli into meaningful clusters.
Metamemory
A person’s knowledge about memory and about monitoring and regulating memory processes.
Metacognition
Knowledge of the human mind and of the range of cognitive processes, including thinking about personal thought processes.
Automatization
The process by which in- formation processing becomes effortless and highly efficient as a result of continued practice or increased expertise.
Autobiographical Memory
Memory of everyday events that the individual has experienced.
Childhood Amnesia
A lack of memory for the early years of a person’s life.
Psychometric Approach
The research tradition that spawned standardized tests of intelligence and that views intelligence as a trait or a set of traits that can be measured and that varies from person to person.
Fluid Intelligence
Aspects of intelligence that involve actively thinking and reasoning to solve novel problems.
Contrast with crystallized intelligence.
Crystallized Intellegence
Those aspects of intellectual functioning that involve using knowledge acquired through experience.
Contrast with fluid intelligence.
Sternberg’s Theory
Intelligence is having the abilities to succeed i life and optimize strengths and compensate for weaknesses.
Attention to HOW intelligent answers are produced.
Convergent Thinking
Thinking that involves “converging” on the one best answer to a problem; what IQ tests measure.
Contrast with divergent thinking.
Divergent Thinking
Thinking that requires coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions to a problem when there is no one right answer.
Contrast with convergent thinking.
What changes in memory skills from childhood to adolescence?
- Elaboration is mastered.
- Better use of strategies.
- Basic capacities increase.
- Knowledge base increases.
- Metacognition increases.
What are the influential factors of memory skills in adulthood?
- More efficient problem solving.
- Thought becomes automatic.
- More organized and elaborative.
Explain memory decline in old age.
- Evident by age 70.
- More likely to be upset by memory trouble.
- Attention takes more effort.
- Slower processing.
How does Vygotsky’s theory differ from Piaget’s?
Piaget believed that children go through set stages of cognitive development, and Vygotsky believed that cognitive development is continual.
How does the stability of IQ scores change with age?
Becomes greater at age 4, increases at adolescent age and correlate with adult IQ.
How does IQ predict performance in life?
High IQ means less likely to drop out of high school, more likely to go to college.
Flynn Effect
The rise in average IQ scores over the 20th century.
How do genes influence IQ?
- Identical twins raised apart score more similarly than fraternal twins raised together.
- IQs of adopted children are more similar to biological parents.
Explain culture bias in IQ testing.
Arises when one group is familiar with the information being tested, but another group might not be.
Major concern: they cover material specific to European American culture.
Mental Retardation
See intellectual disability.
Significantly below- average intellectual functioning with limitations in areas of adaptive behavior such as self-care and social skills, originating before age 18 (previously known as mental retardation).
^^SNEAKY!
Giftedness
The possession of unusually high general intellectual potential or of special abilities in such areas as creativity, mathematics, or the arts.
Language
A symbolic system in which a limited number of signals can be combined according to rules to produce an in nite number of messages.
What is meant by a critical period for language? What evidence is there?
Presumably ends around puberty when brain lateralization is coming to an end.
What is the order of language development in infants and young children?
Before an infant speaks:
- Intonation (2 months)
- Understand word segmentation (7 ½ mos.)
A sentence is more than just 1 long word.
Predictive of greater vocabulary in toddlers.
Phonology
Basic units of sound within a given language.
Morphology
Rules that govern the formation of words from sounds. (making words plural, changing tenses, etc.)
Syntax
Rules specifying how words can be combined to form meaningful sentences in a language.
Nonverbal Gestures/Cues
Intentional body language used to communicate and influence the behavior of others.
Intonation
Recognized and used to distinguish different languages.
Word Segmentation
In language development, the ability to break the stream of speech sounds into distinct words.
Cooing
An early form of vocalization that involves repeating vowel-like sounds.
Joint Attention
The act of looking at the same object at the same time with someone else; a way in which infants share perceptual experiences with their caregivers.
How is joint attention related to language development?
Joint attention draws connections between words and objects.
What is typical of language development in toddlers?
- Telegraphic speech (2 word sentences).
- Vocabulary is 200+ words.
Overextension
The young child’s tendency to use a word to refer to a wider set of objects, actions, or events than adults do.
(For example, using the word car to refer to all motor vehicles.)
Contrast with underextension.
Underextension
The young child’s tendency to use general words to refer to a smaller set of objects, actions, or events than adults do.
(For example, using candy to refer only to mints.)
Contrast with overextension.
Overregularrization
The overgeneralization of observed grammatical rules to irregular cases to which the rules do not apply.
(For example, saying mouses rather than mice.)
Neologisms
Making up new words to fill in for words not yet learned. (cutters = scissors)
Explain language development in adolescence through adulthood.
- Improved grammar
- Increased ability to define abstract terms
- Increased complexity
- Pragmatics
- Expanded vocabulary
Mastery Motivation
An intrinsic motive to master and control the environment evident early in infancy.
Pros/Cons of Preschool
Pros: when academics and play are balanced
Cons: academics > play
Personality
The organized combination of attributes, motives, values, and behaviors that is unique to each individual.
Name each of the Big 5
OCEAN :)
- Openness to experience
- Conscientiousness
- Extraversion
- Agreeableness
- Neuroticism
Self-Recognition
The ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or photograph, which occurs in most infants by 18 to 24 months of age.
Categorical Self
A person’s classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex.
Social Comparison
The process of defining and evaluating the self through comparisons with other people.
Gender Roles (what/how are they established?)
A pattern of behaviors and traits that defines how to act the part of a female or a male in a particular society.
Gender Role Norms/Stereotypes (what/how are they established?)
Overgeneralized and largely inaccurate beliefs about what males and females are like.
Gender Typing
The process by which children become aware of their gender and acquire the motives, values, and behaviors considered appropriate for members of their biological sex.
Gender Segregation
The formation of separate boys’ and girls’ peer groups during childhood.
Gender Intensification
A magnification of differences between males and females during adolescence associated with increased pressure to conform to traditional gender roles.
Androgyny
A gender-role orientation in which the person blends both positive masculine-stereotyped and positive feminine-stereotyped personality traits.
Androgyny Shift
A psychological change that begins in midlife, when parenting responsibilities are over, in which both men and women retain their gender-typed qualities but add to them qualities traditionally associated with the other sex, thus becoming more androgynous.
Sexual Orientation
A person’s preference for sexual partners of the same or other sex, often characterized as primarily heterosexual, homo- sexual, or bisexual.
Babbling
An early form of vocalization that appears between 4 and 6 months of age and involves repeating consonant–vowel combinations such as “baba” or “dadada.”
Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Perspective
Culture affects how and what we think. Knowledge depends on social competencies.
Zone of Proximal Development
Range of abilities spanning what a child can accomplish on his own to what he can accomplish with guidance and encouragement from a more skilled partner.
Guided Participation
Shared endeavors between more expert and less expert participants, working toward a common goal.
Scaffolding
Adjusting the support offered during a teaching session to fit the child’s current level of performance.
Private Speech
Self-directed speech that guides behavior. (3-4 years old)
AKA egocentric speech
How does the environment influence IQ scores?
Home situation. Parental involvement, stimulation, and discipline.
Who loves you more than life?
Myal
correlates of achievement motivation (child, parent, school factors)
who benefits most from early preschool experiences?
Explain achievement motivation across the lifespan.
How does Erikson differ from Freud in beliefs about personality?
What does research say about the Big 5?
What is the basic idea being the Social Learning Theory?
Looking Glass Self
Erikson’s stage theory of Psychosocial Development
Temperament - different types
ideal self
real self
How do children characterize self-concept?
Marcia’s Theory
Does the midlife crisis exist?
Explain vocational changes over the lifespan.
What are the 4 theories that explain gender role development?
What are the characteristics of sexuality across the lifespan?
What changes in sexuality in adulthood?
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