Human Development

Question 1

What are the theories of cognitive development from birth through adolescence?

Answer 1

Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development, multi-theoretical perspectives of language, intelligence, and children with special needs.

Question 2

Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Answer 2

Proposes that cognitive development begins with a childs innate ability to adapt to the environment, and that development is a result of the childs interface with the physical world, social experiences, and physical maturation

Question 3

A conceptual tool that allows a child to recognize that when altering the appearance of an object, the basic properties do not change

Answer 3

Conservation

Question 4

Refers to the way children incorporate new information with existing schemes in order to form a new cognitive structure. (ex: preschool child calls a lion “doggie” because it’s a four legged animal)

Answer 4

Assimilation

Question 5

Occurs when children take existing schemes and adjust them to fit their experience. (ex: a preschool child plays with the keys on the piano to hear the different sounds of musical notes. when he tries this with an electric keyboard, he learns that the keyboard needs to be turned on before it is played.)

Answer 5

Accommodation

Question 6

Sensorimotor Period

Answer 6

Birth-2 years old. First stage of Piaget’s cognitive development model. Behavior is based upon the infant’s physical responses to immediate surroundings. Infants are at the center of their universe.

Question 7

Preoperational Stage

Answer 7

2-7 years old. Development of symbolic thought and imagination is boundless. Multitude of “why” questions. Representational thought has emerged. Errors in spoken language. Love to hear stories, sing songs, recite nursery rhymes. Language increases rapidly as children learn many new words each day.

Question 8

Concrete Operations Period: Middle Childhood

Answer 8

7-11 years old. Ability to solve simple problems while thinking about multiple dimensions of information. “Think about thinking” (metacognition). Cannot yet think abstractly. Clear sense of seriation, transitivity, reversibility, and conservation. Has the ability to set own values as he becomes more subjective to moral judgments.

Question 9

Formal Operations Period: Adolescence

Answer 9

12 years old - adult. Reason abstractly and solve complex problems.

Question 10

Object Permanence

Answer 10

Objects do not disappear when they are out of sight. Piaget believed object permanence could not be mastered until about eight months old.

Question 11

Seriation

Answer 11

Childs ability to arrange objects in logical progression (i.e. arranging sticks in order from smallest to largest)

Question 12

Schemas

Answer 12

The way children mentally represent and organize the world

Question 13

Symbolic Function Substage

Answer 13

The child uses words and images (symbols) to form mental representations to remember objects without the objects being physically present (i.e. a child’s dog is lost, so the child scribbles a picture of the dog, or the child pretends that a stuffed animal is the missing dog)

Question 14

Transitive Inference

Answer 14

The ability to draw conclusions about a relationship between two objects by knowing the relationship to a third object (if A = B, and B = C, then A = C)

Question 15

Centration

Answer 15

Tendency for a child to focus only on one piece of information at a time while disregarding all others (preoperational).

Question 16

Causal Reasoning

Answer 16

During preschool, children cannot think logically about cause and effect. Children believe that their thoughts can cause actions, whether or not the experiences have a causal relationship

Question 17

Animism

Answer 17

Children believing that non-living objects have lifelike qualities

Question 18

Lawrence Kohlberg

Answer 18

the level of moral reasoning is dependent upon how the child responds to challenges and experiences.

Question 19

Piaget and Moral Development

Answer 19

Morality is coupled with cognitive development in two noticeably different stages, morality of constraint and morality of cooperation.

Question 20

Morality of constraint

Answer 20

Piaget believed children ages 4-7 see their moral world through the eyes of justice and rules, which are unchangeable.

Question 21

Morality of cooperation

Answer 21

Piaget, at age 10 children view each dilemma and consider the consequences before making a moral decision.

Question 22

Lawrence Kohlberg and Moral Development

Answer 22

Sequential stages that individuals pass through while gradually becoming mature in their moral reasoning. Stages progress from concrete to abstract. As children mature, they begin to look internally for a mature choice based on moral standards of good and bad.

Question 23

Kohlberg: Level I: Preconventional

Answer 23

Ages 4-10 years. Children obey because adults tell them to obey. Children judge morality on the basis of consequences.

Question 24

Kohlberg: Level II: Conventional

Answer 24

Ages 10-14 years. Reason at the conventional level of morality. Most concerned about the opinions of their peers.

Question 25

Kohlberg: Level III: Postconventional

Answer 25

13 years and beyond. Morality is judged in terms of abstract principles and not by abstract rules that govern society.

Question 26

Vygotsky and Language

Answer 26

Thought development determined language. Intellectual expression cannot take place until thought and knowledge exist, and this internal intellectual process cannot progress without the interrelation of thought and language.

Question 27

Noam Chomsky and Language Acquisition

Answer 27

Language learning is innate. Infants have a language acquisition device built-in neurologically (LAD) so that they can intuitively understand grammar. (universal grammar)

Question 28

Intelligence

Answer 28

Most would agree that intelligence is a trait that is inferred on the basis of observable behavior. An individuals general mental abilities including: reasoning, problem solving, knowledge, memory, successful adaptation to the environment.

Question 29

IQ

Answer 29

Often equated with intelligence, but not the same as intelligence. IQ is just a score on an intelligence test.

Question 30

Learning Disabilities

Answer 30

Often children with average to above average intelligence who exhibit emotional and/or physical maladaptive behavior. Often a discrepancy between a child’s measured intelligence and performance in the classroom.