Question 1

Shortly after falling asleep, five year old Casey wakes up suddenly, thrashing about and talking incoherently. Her mother races to her room and notices that she is breathing heavily and her heart is racing. Casey likely experienced a ____.

Accepted Answer

Casey likely experienced a sleep terror, which is characterized by sudden awakening with physical activity and emotional distress. Unlike nightmares, individuals often do not recall the event. Symptoms such as heavy breathing and a racing heart are common during sleep terrors.

Question 2

Terri finds her five year old son Omar walking back to his room in the middle of the night with a glass of milk in his hand. She is perplexed by the fact that Omar quietly enters his room, sets the glass on his nightstand, and then goes back to bed. What may Omar be experiencing?

Accepted Answer

Omar's behavior of walking and performing activities while seemingly asleep suggests he is experiencing somnambulism, commonly known as sleepwalking.

Question 3

Six-year-old Pippa has difficulty controlling her bladder and has "accidents" at least twice per month. Pippa suffers from ____.

Accepted Answer

Enuresis is the medical term for involuntary urination, especially by children at night. Given Pippa's age and the description of her symptoms, enuresis is the correct diagnosis.

Question 4

Five year old Alan has difficulty controlling his bowels and has had an occasional "accident" at school. Alan suffers from ____.

Accepted Answer

Encopresis is a condition involving the repeated passing of feces into inappropriate places (such as clothing or the floor) by someone over the age of four, either involuntarily or intentionally. It often indicates an underlying difficulty with bowel control.

Question 5

What are the two words that best characterize Piaget's preoperational stage?

Accepted Answer

During Piaget's preoperational stage, children's thinking is characterized by inflexibility and irreversibility. They struggle to see things from perspectives other than their own and to understand that actions can be reversed.

Question 6

Preoperational thought is characterized by the use of ____.

Accepted Answer

Preoperational thought, a stage in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, is characterized by the use of symbols (such as words and images) to represent objects and relationships among them. This stage typically occurs from ages 2 to 7.

Question 7

Jodi watches as her son Raj plops down on the rug and pretends to fall asleep before quickly bolting up and smiling. This type of pretend play where children perform activities that are familiar typically commences at the age of ____.

Accepted Answer

Pretend play, where children engage in familiar activities in a playful manner, often starts around 12 to 13 months of age. This developmental milestone reflects their growing imagination and understanding of the world around them.

Question 8

Li picks her three year old son Min up from daycare and asks, "What did you do today?," Min shouts back, "You know mommy, stop asking!" According to Piaget, Min is demonstrating ____.

Accepted Answer

Min's response is an example of egocentrism, a characteristic of Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development, where children believe that others see the world as they do.

Question 9

What test did Piaget use to learn whether children at certain ages are egocentric or can take the viewpoints of others?

Accepted Answer

Piaget used the three-mountains test to determine if children could understand and take on perspectives other than their own, which was a way to assess their egocentrism.

Question 10

Which child is demonstrating precausal thought?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which child is demonstrating precausal thought?
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Question 11

Which child is demonstrating transductive reasoning?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which child is demonstrating transductive reasoning?
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Question 12

Which child is demonstrating animism?

Accepted Answer

Animism is attributing human-like qualities or emotions to inanimate objects or natural phenomena, as Timotea does by saying stars shine because they are afraid of the dark.

Question 13

Which child is demonstrating artificialism?

Accepted Answer

Artificialism is the belief that natural phenomena are created by humans. Gavin's question suggests he believes the tree was built by his father, demonstrating artificialism.

Question 14

Bryan watches as his father pours two cups of water into a wide saucepan and two cups of water into a tall pot. Bryan is unable to understand that the saucepan and pot contain the same amounts of water because he does not understand the law of ____.

Accepted Answer

Bryan's misunderstanding is due to not grasping the concept of conservation, which is the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance.

Question 15

When Bryan watches his father pour two cups of water into a wide saucepan and two cups of water into a tall pot, Bryan fixates on the height of the tall pot and believes that it contains more water. Bryan's fixation on the height of the pot illustrates ____.

Accepted Answer

Bryan's fixation on the height of the pot, leading him to believe it contains more water despite the volume being the same, illustrates centration. Centration is a term from Piaget's theory of cognitive development, referring to the tendency of children in the preoperational stage to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting others.

Question 16

Four-year-old Luis is shown a picture of seven hot dogs and four hamburgers. When asked which there are more hot dogs or more food, Luis answers, "More hot dogs." According to Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development, why does Luis answer the question incorrectly?

Accepted Answer

Luis's response reflects a characteristic of the preoperational stage of cognitive development, where children struggle with understanding the concept of classification, specifically the ability to consider subclasses (hot dogs, hamburgers) within a broader class (food) at the same time.

Question 17

Vygotsky's term for temporary cognitive structures or methods of solving problems that help the child as he or she learns to function independently is ____.

Accepted Answer

Scaffolding is a term introduced by Vygotsky to describe the support given to a child by a more knowledgeable other, allowing the child to achieve higher levels of thinking and problem-solving that they would not be able to reach independently. This support is gradually removed as the child becomes more competent.

Question 18

Vygotsky's term for the situation in which a child carries out tasks with the help of someone who is more skilled is the ____.

Accepted Answer

Vygotsky's concept of the "zone of proximal development" refers to the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner.

Question 19

Three year old Hannah watches Sesame Street every morning. According to research studies, how will this affect her cognitive skills?

Accepted Answer

Research has shown that educational programs like Sesame Street can have a positive effect on young children's cognitive skills, including literacy and numeracy.

Question 20

Moses and Flavell's experiment, in which they show that four-year-olds, but not three-year-olds, tend to understand that people have different perspectives, demonstrates the concept of ____.

Accepted Answer

Moses and Flavell's experiment is a classic study in developmental psychology that demonstrates the development of theory of mind, which is the understanding that other people have thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives that are different from one's own. This experiment showed that by the age of four, children start to grasp this concept, distinguishing them from three-year-olds who typically do not yet understand that different people can have different perspectives.

Quiz 4: Early Childhood