unit 7

Question 1

piaget preoperational stage

Answer 1

• Ages 2 to 6
• Gains in mental representation
  – Make-believe Play=
  1. play detaches from real life conditions (banana is phone)
  2. play becomes less self centred (doll brushes own hair)
  3. play includes more complex combos of schemes -> sociodramatic play
  – Symbol-Real World Relations->ability to use symbols= objects and words

Question 2

scale error video

Answer 2

2 year old child doesnt understand the sense of scale and emotions override the perception of themselves
-child play with regular size toys and then small version of toys. they play with small version like they would with the regular size toys

Question 3

Egocentrism

Answer 3

Failure to distinguish others’ views from one’s own
-cant take others perspectives

Question 4

limits on conversation: centration

Answer 4

• Centration Focus on one aspect and neglect others

Question 5

limits on conversation: irreversibility

Answer 5

• Irreversibility Cannot mentally reverse a set of
  steps

Question 6

limitations: appearance vs. reality difficulties

Answer 6

-focus on appearance
-short hair= boy
-tied to conservation

Question 7

limitations: static reasoning

Answer 7

-see life as unchanging

Question 8

limitations: animistic thinking

Answer 8

tend to give animate properties to inanimate objects

Question 9

evaluating piaget theory

Answer 9

• Teachers should provide materials &
  conditions creating discovery
• Applying something already known = better
  learning
• Discovering own errors & inconsistencies =
  better learning

Question 10

egocentric thought

Answer 10

• Can adjust language to others & take
  others’ perspectives in simple situations
• Animistic - incomplete knowledge
  *Can distinguish animate & inanimate

Question 11

illogical thought

Answer 11

• Can do simplified conservation
• Can reason by analogy

Question 12

appearance versus reality

Answer 12

• Can solve appearance-reality tasks in nonverbal ways

Question 13

alternative explanations of preformance

Answer 13

• Argument: Mistakes are not due to cognitive difficulties
• So why are children unsuccessful in
  Piaget’s tasks?
  – language difficulties
  – locomotor difficulties
  – poor memory
• (object permanence errors)

Question 14

theories of mind

Answer 14

• Understanding thoughts, desires & beliefs
  – False belief principle
  – Child can take another person’s point of view and
  determine the info causing a false belief
  – 10 months - rudimentary beginnings
  – Age 3 - Understand some aspects
  – Age 4 - basic principle - each person’s actions are
  based on her / his representation of reality

Question 15

theories of mind: influences of development

Answer 15

• Influences on Development of a Theory of
  Mind:
  – Correlated with performance on Piaget’s tasks
  – Enhanced by pretend play, discussion of emotion-
  provoking events with parents
  – Some level of language may be a necessary

Question 16

metacognition

Answer 16

thinking about thinking
-young children dont do this often but around the theories of mind stage they do

Question 17

information processing

Answer 17

Computer models are used to understand
human thinking

Question 18

information processing: short-term storage space

Answer 18

Short-term storage space (STSS): Robbie
Case’s term for the working memory (WM)
– Limit to # of ‘schemes’ that can be attended to at a specific time

Question 19

information processing: operational efficiency

Answer 19

Operational efficiency: Neo-Piagetian term
- maximum # of schemes that can be
processed in WM at one time
– Improves with age

Question 20

attention

Answer 20

-important for information processing theory* Preschool children
– Very short attention spans
– Easily distracted
* To improve attention span, make relevant
information stand out

Question 21

memory: recogniton, recall, nelson

Answer 21

• Recognition - the ability to recognize something
  previously encountered
• Recall - the ability to replicate something from
  memory
• Nelson (1993)
  – Generic: 2 years, production of a script
  – Episodic: awareness that an event has occurred, only
  up to a few months unless repeated
  – Autobiographical: significant events & experiences in
  their own lives

Question 22

memory: long-term memory, metamemory, metacogniton

Answer 22

– Long-term memory
* Related to language (traumatic events)
– Metamemory
* Knowledge about how memory works
* Ability to control & reflect on one’s own memory
– Metacognition
* Knowledge about how the mind thinks
* Ability to control & reflect on one’s own thoughts

Question 23

understanding numbers and counting: 3 basics

Answer 23

• 3 basic principles of numbering:
  – One-to-one principle: There is a number name
  for each object counted
  – Stable-order principle: Number names must be
  counted in the same order
  – Cardinality principle: The last number in a
  counting sequence denotes the number
  of objects

Question 24

vygotsky sociocultural theory

Answer 24

Zone of Proximal Development
* Scaffolding supports children’s
learning
* Assisted Discovery
– Peer collaboration
* Make-believe play

Question 25

language as a tool

Answer 25

• Private speech
  – Piaget called this “egocentric speech”
  – Helps guide behavior
• Used more when tasks are difficult,
  after errors, or when confused
  – Gradually becomes more silent
• Vygotsky viewed language (social mediation) as
  foundation for all higher cognitive processes

Question 26

evaluation of vygotsky theory

Answer 26

Yes:Helps explain cultural diversity in cognition
Yes: Emphasizes importance of teaching
No: Focus on language deemphasizes observation,
other learning methods
No: Says little about biological contributions to
cognition
No: Vague in explanation of change

Question 27

D. language development: critical

Answer 27

• Critical Period
  – Specific time period that language must be
  acquired within

Question 28

D. Language development: sensitive

Answer 28

• Sensitive period
  – Less strict
  – Language is acquired most effectively during
  this period

Question 29

constraints on word names

Answer 29

– An unfamiliar word must refer to an object that
doesn’t have a name
– Names refer to the whole object, not just a part
of it
– New names for an object refer to a subcategory
of the object
– A name used only for one member of a
category is a proper noun

Question 30

cognitive factors and naming

Answer 30

• Cognitive factors (e.g. attentional &
  perceptual skills) assist in learning
  language
  – Fast mapping= at 18 months
• Naming errors result from
  – Underextension - defining words too
  narrowly
  – Overextension - defining words too
  broadly

Question 31

learning grammar

Answer 31

• Basic Rules
  – Subject-verb-object structure by age 4
  – Inflections – addition of grammatical
  morphemes (e.g. ‘ing’)
• Plurals
  – To be, questions, negatives
• Telegraphic speech - 2- & 3 word sentences
  (18 months)
• Overregularization

Question 32

sentence clues

Answer 32

• Unfamiliar words are embedded in sentences
  containing words already known
• Other words & overall structure can be helpful
  clues
• Example:
  – Event described using familiar words, but unfamiliar
  verb
  – Can infer the verb refers to action performed
  by subject

Question 33

pragmatics

Answer 33

• Effective communication requires:
  – Taking turns
  – Use a language that the listener understands
  – Paying attention & confirming understanding
• 2-year-olds can have effective
  conversations
• By 4, adjust to fit age, sex, social status of
  listener
• Difficult situations
  – Telephone

Question 34

encouraging language growth

Answer 34

• Parents assist in learning language by:
  – Speak to children frequently
  – Name objects of children’s attention
  – Use grammatically sophisticated speech
  – Reading to them
• Phonological awareness = faster at learning to read
  – Encourage watching programs that emphasize
  learning new words (Sesame Street)

Question 35

measuring intelligence

Answer 35

• Binet &Simon (1905)
• First modern intelligence test
• Intelligence quotient (IQ)
• Ratio of mental age to chronological age
• Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC-IV,
  2003)
  – Verbal comprehension index
  – Perceptual reasoning index
  – Working memory index
  – Processing speed index
• IQ tests
  – Fairly good job of predicting success in school
  – Don’t measure other variables of success
  – Are quite stable across time
  – Influences
• Heredity is highly important initially
• Also important role of the environment (e.g. Head Start)
  – Limitations
• Cultural biases (e.g. Indigenous children) –
  should use direct observation assessments