Deck 4: The Emergence of Thought and Language: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood.

Question 1

Classical conditioning focuses on the relation between the consequences of behavior and the likelihood that the behavior will recur.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A grammatical morpheme refers to the part of a word that can be omitted without affecting grammatical correctness or meaning.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Scott understands that when he counts his toy cars, there is one and only one number for each separate car. This demonstrates that Scott has mastered the principle of cardinality.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Tosha is playing jacks, and each time she bounces a ball she has to pick up one additional jack. She uses private speech as she counts the number of jacks in her head rather than out loud.

Question 5

Piaget identified several shortcomings in the symbolic skills of most preschoolers. They include egocentrism, centration, and a focus on appearance as reality.

Question 6

Research has found that interviewing a preschooler right after an event has taken place about the details of that event will produce the least accurate memories because the child is typically still so upset.

Question 7

According to Piaget, children understand the world with scripts, which are psychological structures that organize experience.

Question 8

At around 18 months of age, children will learn approximately 10 or more new words and labels each week.

Question 9

If you were to let a preschooler watch you give a Barbie doll a haircut, that child would expect Barbie's hair to start growing back on its own just like their own hair does after a haircut.

Question 10

A child's cognitive growth occurs most rapidly when their understanding of the world is constructed for them by a teacher or parent.

Question 11

Mental software refers to mental and neural structures that are built in and that allow the mind to operate.

Question 12

Parents are more effective than videos in teaching new words to their children.

Question 13

Phonemes refer only to vowel sounds and morphemes refer only to consonant sounds.

Question 14

The zone of proximal development refers to the difference between what a child can do on his or her own and what they can do only with assistance.

Question 15

According to the core knowledge hypothesis, infants are born with some rudimentary knowledge of the world, and that knowledge is elaborated upon as they have experiences.

Question 16

When there is an imbalance between assimilation and accommodation processes, children reorganize their schemes to a state of equilibrium in a process called equilibration.

Question 17

Piaget's theory is often criticized for having overestimated the cognitive skills of infants and young children and for underestimating the cognitive skills of adolescents.

Question 18

One way that infants can pick words out of spoken language is the stress, or emphasis, that is placed on certain words.

Question 19

The three formulae that children use to express their ideas in only two words are actor + action, action + object, and possessor + possession.

Question 20

Many parents emphasize conversational turn-taking even before a child can speak her first word.

Question 21

Mia likes to kick soccer balls. She has developed a mental structure for kicking that may be applied to different situations. This mental structure for kicking would best be described as

A) ​a scheme.
B) ​a fuzzy cognition.
C) ​an intonation.
D) ​an expressive style.

Question 22

According to Jean Piaget, children demonstrate ____ when new information that they encounter is incorporated into their existing schemes.

A) ​accommodation
B) ​conservation
C) ​assimilation
D) ​animism

Question 23

What is the correct order of the four stages of cognitive development, according to Piaget?

A) ​sensorimotor period, formal operational period, preoperational period, concrete operational period
B) ​sensorimotor period, preoperational period, concrete operational period, formal operational period
C) ​preoperational period, sensorimotor period, formal operational period, concrete operational period
D) ​formal operational period, concrete operational period, preoperational period, sensorimotor period

Question 24

Laurentis is a three-month-old child who enjoys sucking on his thumb. According to Piaget, he probably first developed this enjoyment as a result of a(n)

A) equilibration.
B) ​assimilation.
C) ​choice.
D) ​reflex.

Question 25

Piaget believed that children are like little

A) ​blank slates, who come into the world with no existing cognitive skills.
B) ​artists, constructing their own beautiful canvases.
C) ​performers, constantly vying for attention.
D) ​scientists, creating theories about how the world works.

Question 26

The approximate ages of Piaget's sensorimotor period of cognitive development is

A) ​birth to 2 years.
B) ​2 years to 7 years.
C) ​7 years to 11 years.
D) ​11 years through adulthood.

Question 27

____ are psychological structures that organize information and regulate behaviors.

A) ​Assimilations
B) ​Accommodations
C) ​Scripts
D) ​Schemes

Question 28

Millie is only 14 months of age, but has already started using some basic word like "mama," "dada," and "kitty." When her parents take her to the zoo, she points to the goats who are being fed by other children, and yells, "KITTY!" The fact that she is lumping a new animal into her existing schema of a kitty demonstrates

A) ​irreversibility.
B) ​assimilation.
C) ​accommodation.
D) ​egocentrism.

Question 29

When assimilations are out of balance with accommodations, Piaget stated that a child is likely to engage in

A) ​egocentrism.
B) ​homeostasis.
C) ​equilibration.
D) ​calibration.

Question 30

Young Matthew is playing with his mother. She has his favorite stuffed animal, and she suddenly hides it under his blanket. Instead of looking for it under the blanket, Matthew starts to cry a little, since he thinks his toy is gone. Matthew's tears suggest that he has not yet developed

A) ​conservation.
B) ​reversibility.
C) ​transitory properties.
D) ​object permanence.

Question 31

The defining characteristic of centration is ____ thought.

A) ​abstract
B) ​narrowly focused
C) ​accommodative
D) ​overextended

Question 32

Within Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children demonstrate ____ when they adjust their existing cognitive schemes around new information or experiences that are inconsistent with those schemes.

A) ​assimilation
B) ​reversing
C) ​accommodation
D) ​egocentrism

Question 33

A common law of physics, noted by Sir Isaac Newton, states that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." If you were to apply that principle to Piaget's theory of cognitive development in children, actions being in balance with each other would describe the process of

A) equilibration.
B) ​assimilation.
C) ​accommodation.
D) ​schematization.

Question 34

Isaac and Larry, two young brothers, are sitting at the breakfast table when their father gives them both a glass of chocolate milk. Isaac's glass is taller but thinner than Larry's glass, which is shorter but wider. Larry gets upset and complains that "Isaac got more milk!" The fact that Larry is only focusing on one feature of his milk glass demonstrates the Piagetian concept of

A) ​accommodation.
B) ​egocentrism.
C) ​reversion.
D) ​centration.

Question 35

An extension of intentional behavior, wherein a child will start 'experimenting' with different actions and repeating them when they produce pleasant outcomes, usually appears at approximately

A) ​4 months.
B) ​8 months.
C) ​12 months.
D) ​18 months.

Question 36

The preoperational concept of ____ suggests that children in this stage believe that others see the world exactly as they do; that is, that their perspective is the only perspective there is.

A) ​animism
B) ​centration
C) ​egocentrism
D) ​object permanence

Question 37

Piaget believed that by about 18 months of age, the average child began to have the ability to use and understand symbols. How did he feel this was demonstrated?

A) ​by the emerging use of language and gestures for communication
B) by the successful resolution of the Oedipus conflict
C) ​by demonstrating a significant reduction in both egocentrism and equilibration
D) ​by moving from crawling to walking independently

Question 38

Piagetians believe that an average child would first demonstrate the onset of intentional behavior when he or she is approximately

A) ​18 hours old.
B) ​8 weeks old.
C) ​8 months old.
D) ​18 months old.

Question 39

While sitting with her parents in a restaurant waiting for service, four-year-old Elana watches as the waitress walks by without taking their order. "Mommy," she whines to her mother, "why isn't she talking to us when I'm so hungry?" Elana's belief that the waitress must know how hungry she is demonstrates the Piagetian concept of

A) ​equilibration.
B) ​egocentrism.
C) ​centration.
D) ​object permanence.

Question 40

Which of the following is NOT one of the features of a child who is in the preoperational period of cognitive development?

A) ​lacking object permanence
B) ​egocentrism
C) ​centration
D) ​appearance-based reality

Question 41

When Maurice's father walks through the door after the end of a long day at work, Maurice jumps up, claps his hands, and runs to see Daddy. Lately, though, he has been dropping his toys and getting excited when he hears his father's keys in the lock. The fact that the response has changed stimuli is a demonstration of

A) ​operant conditioning.
B) ​habituation.
C) ​the orienting response.
D) ​classical conditioning.

Question 42

Which of the following is a useful strategy for helping children focus their attention and reduce distractions?

A) ​Teach children the value of "sitting still" as a means of reducing physical stimuli.
B) ​Make relevant information stand out and eliminate competing sensations.
C) ​Institute a series of operant outcomes for children who focus on salient events.
D) ​Utilize classical (Pavlovian) strategies for fidgeting.

Question 43

Which of the following is NOT one of the aspects of a typical four-year-old's theory of biology?

A) ​growth
B) ​internal parts
C) ​expansion
D) ​inheritance

Question 44

Why is it that an orienting response tends to disappear after repeated exposure to a stimulus?

A) ​Because the brain no longer registers it as a sensation
B) ​Because the stimulus becomes familiar and loses its novelty
C) ​Because the attention increases as stimuli become more familiar
D) ​Because our mental hardware becomes inconsistent with our software

Question 45

Marion has learned that whenever she cries in a specific way, her parents will give her the attention that she is seeking. Therefore she cries in that way whenever she wants that attention. The process of ____ conditioning has led to this outcome.

A) ​social
B) ​operant
C) ​classical
D) ​imitative

Question 46

Which of the following underlies the process of operant conditioning?

A) ​Pleasant consequences lead to decreased behaviors, while unpleasant consequences lead to increased behaviors.
B) ​A neutral stimulus can come to evoke a response that used to be associated with a different stimulus.
C) ​Pleasant consequences lead to increased behaviors, while unpleasant consequences lead to decreased behaviors.
D) ​The observation of another person engaging in a behavior can lead the repetition of that behavior.

Question 47

In ____ conditioning, a neutral stimulus elicits a response that was originally evoked by a different stimulus.

A) ​reinforcing
B) ​operant
C) ​classical
D) ​vicarious

Question 48

While Piaget believed that the theories that children develop about their worlds are comprehensive in explaining a variety of phenomena, the ____ hypothesis believes that infants are born with rudimentary knowledge of the world that is elaborated upon based on the child's experiences.

A) ethological
B) ​psychosocial
C) ​dynamic systems
D) ​core knowledge

Question 49

Changes in heart rate or brain-wave activity that occur in response to the introduction of a new stimulus are called a(n) ____ response.

A) ​habituating
B) ​attentive
C) ​orienting
D) ​processing

Question 50

Several years ago, a major ketchup manufacturer experimented with selling ketchup in different colors, including green, purple, and others. The idea was that kids would be excited by different colors, even though extensive blind taste tests indicated that the flavors of the different products were identical. The product failed and was discontinued after only a few years. Children just did not seem to be able to accept that it was still ketchup even though it was not red. This sort of reliance on the appearance of an object is most typical of ____ children.

A) ​sensorimotor
B) ​preoperational
C) ​concrete operational
D) ​formal operational

Question 51

Several criticisms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development have been offered over the years. Which of the following is NOT one of these?

A) ​The theory underestimates the cognitive skills of infants and young children.
B) ​The theory overestimates the cognitive skills of adolescents.
C) ​The theory does not account for variability in children's performance.
D) ​The theory is based on an excessively large sample.

Question 52

Famed linguist Noam Chomsky has written that human beings are born with the mental structures that allow us to acquire language skills. He called these structures the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). From an information processing model, the LAD would be an example of mental ____.

A) hardware
B) ​software
C) ​RAM
D) ​Power

Question 53

Meltzoff and Moore's controversial finding that three-week-olds would stick out their tongues to match an adult performing the same act has been used to support the notion of early life

A) ​imitation.
B) ​centration.
C) ​orienting response.
D) ​habituation.

Question 54

Which BEST exemplifies the core knowledge hypothesis?

A) ​The fact that Gene, an adolescent, really enjoys his science classes.
B) ​The fact that 10-year-old Paul has the math skills of a 30-year-old.
C) ​The fact that five-month-old Ace loves to kiss his mother but not his father.
D) ​The fact that Peter, an infant expects that unsupported objects will fall.

Question 55

The concept of naïve physics was postulated by ____, who found that infants as young as four and a half months would consistently look longer at unrealistic events than at realistic events.

A) ​Urie Bronfenbrenner
B) ​Carol Gilligan
C) ​Erik Erikson
D) ​Rene Baillergeon

Question 56

In the information processing model, mental ____ refers to mental and neural structures that are built in and that allow the mind to operate, while mental ____ refers to mental processes that are the basis for performing particular tasks.

A) ​software; hardware
B) ​hardware; software
C) ​RAM; REM
D) ​REM; RAM

Question 57

The process by which certain sensory information receives additional cognitive processing is called ____.

A) ​habituation
B) ​memory
C) ​attention
D) ​orientation

Question 58

Young Ruthie is tickled pink to learn that she will be visiting her beloved grandmother who recently moved to a nearby apartment. The first time she walks into the apartment, Ruthie immediately notices the strong scent of the wintergreen-based gel her grandmother used for muscle and joint pain and comments that it "smells funny in here." Soon, however, Ruthie no longer notices the wintergreen scent. However, after Ruthie's initial reaction to the scent would be a(n) ____, and her later lack of reaction to it demonstrates ____.

A) ​attention; orientation
B) ​habituation; attention
C) ​orienting response; habituation
D) ​habituation; orienting response

Question 59

When Max's father installed a new ceiling fan in his room, the "whirring" sound initially disturbed Max's sleep. After a few nights, however, Max was back to sleeping normally, as if the fan did not bother him at all. Max's filtering out of the fan's noise is best described as ____.

A) ​attention
B) ​habituation
C) ​mental hardware
D) ​mental software

Question 60

Which is the BEST example of habituation?

A) ​turning your head to listen to a passing jet
B) ​tasting sushi for the first time and liking it
C) ​focusing your eyes on one of those "3-D" art pictures until the 3-D image pops into view
D) ​being bothered by the feel of a watch the first time it is on your wrist and then getting so used to it that you forget it's there

Question 61

Which two parts of the brain are responsible for the initial storage of information?

A) ​the amygdala and the hippocampus
B) ​the hypothalamus and the medulla
C) ​the pons and the reticular activating system
D) ​the cerebral cortex and the cerebellum

Question 62

The idea that number names must be counted in the same sequence, without change, defines the ____.

A) ​stable-order principle
B) ​one-to-one principle
C) ​cardinality principle
D) ​universality principle

Question 63

By about ____ months of age, a child can distinguish two objects from three and three objects from four.

A) ​five
B) ​seven
C) ​nine
D) ​twelve

Question 64

In Vygotsky's theory, the difference between what a child can do on his or her own and what they can do only with assistance is called the

A) ​zone of proximal development.
B) ​scaffolded skill set.
C) ​continuum of concrete operations.
D) ​opposing skills set.

Question 65

By the age of ____ years, most youngsters can apply the basic principles of counting to as many as nine objects, even though they may still make some mistakes.

A) ​3
B) ​5
C) ​7
D) ​9

Question 66

Preschool children may have difficulty providing reliable testimony about events, particularly abuse, because children at this age _____.

A) ​have not yet developed a hippocampus
B) ​are particularly suggestible
C) ​have an inactive amygdala
D) ​are overly skilled at monitoring

Question 67

Collette is sitting with her young son Jim, and has placed five jellybeans in front of him. Jim starts to count the beans, and as he points to the beans says, "one, two, three!" He then looks up at Collette and smiles. Jim has not yet mastered the

A) ​stable-order principle.
B) ​one-to-one principle.
C) ​cardinality principle.
D) ​universality principle.

Question 68

Which of the following is NOT offered by your authors as a method to help increase a preschool child's ability to provide reliable testimony?

A) ​Ask children to describe the event(s) in question in their own words.
B) ​Encourage children to tell the truth and to feel free to say, "I don't know."
C) ​Give children time to control their emotions and remember things rationally.
D) ​Ask questions that consider alternative explanations of the event.

Question 69

Memories that help people construct their life history and create socially shared memories are

A) ​eidetic memories.
B) ​autobiographical memories.
C) ​semantic memories.
D) ​procedural memories.

Question 70

"Daddy, can you help me get dressed?" Boris asked his father. "You can put on your pants and socks by yourself, but I'll help with your shirt and shoes," his father said. From Vygotsky's theory, Boris's father is using ____ when he does not give his son help on skills that his son has already mastered.

A) ​concrete schemes
B) ​the zone of proximal development
C) ​scaffolding
D) ​the principle of cardinality

Question 71

Eleven-month-old Oreo loves cookies. One day he sees his mother putting cookies into cups for a party. As he is watching, his mom puts one cookie into the first two cups, two cookies into the next two cups, and three cookies into the last two cups. If Oreo is a normally developing 10-month-old who likes cookies, he will most likely reach for

A) ​a cup located nearest his left hand.
B) ​the first cup in which he saw a cookie being placed.
C) ​a cup with three cookies.
D) ​the darkest-colored cup.

Question 72

With regard to the memories of young babies, which of the following is the MOST accurate statement?

A) ​Young babies remember where their toys have been left, and will search in those locations.
B) ​Babies can remember their own names at two weeks of age.
C) ​Other than the scent of their own mothers, young babies demonstrate no significant memory skills.
D) ​Young babies remember events for days, or even weeks.

Question 73

The fact that the last number name differs from the previous ones in a counting sequence by denoting the number of objects is called the ____ principle.

A) nominal-ordinal-interval
B) ​stable-order
C) ​one-to-one
D) ​cardinality

Question 74

A memory for some significant life event is called a(n) ____ memory.

A) ​autobiographical
B) ​generalized
C) ​intonational
D) ​Semantic

Question 75

How did Piaget and Vygotsky view the "journey" of cognitive development?

A) ​Both saw children as making the journey alone.
B) ​Piaget saw the journey as involving an apprenticeship driven by collaboration with others, while Vygotsky saw children as making the journey alone.
C) ​Vygotsky saw the journey as involving an apprenticeship driven by collaboration with others, while Piaget saw children as making the journey alone.
D) ​Both saw the journey as involving an apprenticeship driven by collaboration with others.

Question 76

Russian psychologist ____ proposed the idea that development in childhood is an apprenticeship in which children advance when they collaborate with more-skilled others.

A) ​Alexander Zaporozhets
B) ​Aleksey Leontyev
C) ​Ivan Pavlov
D) ​Lev Vygotsky

Question 77

According to the theory of Fivush (2011), autobiographical memory is based upon three memory skills. They include all EXCEPT which of the following?

A) language skills
B) ​sense of self
C) ​processing skills
D) ​basic memory skills

Question 78

____ occurs when a teacher gauges the amount of assistance they provide to match the needs of a specific learner.

A) ​Centration
B) ​Proximity
C) ​Apprenticing
D) ​Scaffolding

Question 79

Five-year-old Jonah likes to play a scrabble-like game on the family computer. He plays against other family members, and usually does pretty well. When he gets a list of letter tiles that are too difficult for him to use, he asks his mother and father for help. The difference between letter tiles that Jonah can use and letter tiles with which he needs help typifies what Vygotsky called the zone of ____ development.

A) ​assisted
B) ​distal
C) ​proximal
D) ​located

Question 80

Research has found that when parents use a(n) ____ style to help their children expand on their descriptions of events, they will have earlier memories of childhood when they reach adolescence.

A) ​measured
B) ​formal
C) ​idiomatic
D) ​conversational