Deck 9: Early Childhood: Cognitive Development

Question 1

Three-year-old Theresa does not want to eat the hot dog her mother made because it has ketchup on it. Her mother wipes off the ketchup, but Theresa still will not eat it. This characteristic of preoperational thought, in which the child feels that a thing cannot be undone or restored, is known as _____.

Answer 1

irreversibility

Question 2

Discuss the concept of language shift in bilingualism. What is it and how do young children exhibit it?

Answer 2

Language shift refers to the tendency of children to become more fluent in their new language than in the language spoken in their home. Some children exhibit a language shift by refusing to speak their first language, preferring the new language. This often occurs because young children are preoperational, focusing on immediate appearances and their own point of view; because parents often let their children know that they want them to learn the new language, the children respond by using the new language to the exclusion of the home language.

Question 3

Explain and discuss the process of fast-mapping and the related idea of logical extension. Give an example of each concept.

Answer 3

Both fast-mapping and logical extension refer to a child's terrific surge of perceptual interrelationships among words. Fast-mapping refers to the phenomenon by which young children develop an interconnected set of categories for words, a kind of mental map, which makes speedy vocabulary acquisition possible. Fast-mapping speeds the development of learning new words because children immediately assign a new word to one of the categories in their mental language grid. Thus, the first time a child sees a pet ferret, he may assign it the status of a type of dog or a kind of cat, since he does not have a weasel concept. The child's understanding of the new word is not always precise. Children refine their understanding through use and experience.
Logical extension refers to a child applying a newly learned word to another related object. A young girl who was just read a story about a Dalmatian dog may then refer to a black-and-white cow as a Dalmatian cow.

Question 4

Francesca is frustrated when trying to learn to tie her shoelaces. According to Vygotsky, should her parents get involved, or should they let her try to master this task on her own? If they decide to get involved, what should her parents do?

Question 5

Discuss the major differences between child-centered and teacher-directed early-childhood education programs. What does each type of program emphasize in its work with young children?

Question 6

The belief that inanimate things (furniture, moon, clouds) are alive is called _____.

Question 7

Describe at least three factors that underlie high-quality early education.

Question 8

_____ is a particular type of centration in which a child may insist that Mommy is his mother, not his cousin's aunt.

Question 9

_____ refers to preschoolers' tendency to view the world and others exclusively from their own personal perspective.

Question 10

Have scientists changed their stance over the years about whether early childhood is a critical period or a sensitive period for language learning? What is the current consensus?

Question 11

Jana always chooses the taller, narrower glass instead of the shorter, wider glass when her older brother pours each of them a glass of juice. Even though there is the same amount of juice in each glass, she believes that there is more juice in hers. Jana is demonstrating that she does not yet understand the concept of _____.

Question 12

Explain at least three main characteristics of preoperational thinking.

Question 13

Preschoolers make mistakes in conservation problems because they focus strictly on _____.

Question 14

Explain the difference between Piaget's concept of egocentrism and the concept of egocentrism as it is used in common language. Give an example of each of the two different usages.

Question 15

Explain what theory of mind is and indicate at what age it generally begins to develop. Discuss at least two factors that affect its development.

Question 16

The four obstacles to logical thinking during the preoperational period include centration, focus on appearance, static reasoning, and _____.

Question 17

Explain the concept of animism. Give two examples of how children demonstrate this concept.

Question 18

Intensive early-childhood programs have been implemented in the United States. Give at least four examples of ways in which children benefit from early intervention (in the short term or the long term).

Question 19

What is conservation? Describe an example of a conservation task, noting the initial presentation of the material, the transformation of the material, and the questions that children are asked. What is a preoperational child's response?

Question 20

A child watches a ball of modeling clay being rolled into a Tootsie Roll shape. If the child perceives that there is the same amount of modeling clay before and after it is rolled out, that child understands the concept of _____.

Question 21

The child who says, "I throwed the ball," or "My tooths hurt," is demonstrating a language error called _____.

Question 22

Five-year-old Biyu participated in a study in which an upside-down cup covered dozens of candies. When Biyu couldn't resist moving the cup to see what was underneath, she told the researchers that she had accidentally knocked the cup over. Her lie reveals her rapidly developing _____.

Question 23

According to Vygotsky, the set of skills that a boy can perform with assistance but not independently is considered to be within his _____.

Question 24

The key research conclusion about what is important for early-childhood education, whether at home or at school, is the _____ of the educational environment.

Question 25

A temporary, sensitive support structure set up to help children work in the zone of proximal development is called _____.

Question 26

Neuroscience finds that young _____ children store two languages in the same areas of their brains.

Question 27

When a child learns a word and then uses it to describe other objects in the same category (such as calling a black-and-white cow a "Dalmatian cow" after learning about Dalmatian dogs), the child is using _____.

Question 28

When 2- to 6-year-old children imitate an adult's action that is irrelevant, perhaps even inefficient, it is called _____.

Question 29

The internal dialogue in which one talks to oneself either aloud or in one's mind is called _____.

Question 30

Maturation of the brain's _____ is required for the development of a child's capacity to understand the perspective of others.

Question 31

The view that children's cognitive development is embedded in a social context originated with the work of _____.

Question 32

The human desire to develop theories to explain what is seen and heard is called _____.

Question 33

Amy designed her preschool classroom with several play areas that can accommodate groups of children so that they can learn from one another. Her classroom shows the influence of _____, who thought that children learn from other children in addition to adults.

Question 34

Learning vocabulary by connecting a new word to words and categories that are already understood is called _____.

Question 35

Children are more interested in asking questions about why adults behave in certain ways than in simply copying what adults do. This reveals that they are striving to develop _____ to understand the world.

Question 36

_____ is the rapid and sometimes imprecise way in which children learn new words by placing them in mental categories based on their perceived meaning.

Question 37

Beginning around age 4, children go through a change in thinking that allows them to develop a set of ideas about other people's thinking; this new perspective indicates that the children have developed a(n) _____.

Question 38

The process by which one person learns from a more experienced mentor as they share social experiences and explorations is known as _____.

Question 39

Elsa is becoming more fluent in English than her native Spanish. She is exhibiting a(n) _____.

Question 40

Antonio is as competent in his second language as in his native Italian. Antonio is a(n) _____.

Question 41

About _____ percent of U.S. 3- and 4-year-olds attend Head Start programs.

Question 42

Early-childhood educational programs that are designed to meet children's developmental and growth needs are called _____ programs.

Question 43

A preschool program that teaches basic skills (precursors to reading, writing, and arithmetic) in order to prepare children to be "ready to learn" when they enter elementary school is called a(n) _____ program.

Question 44

Preoperational thinking is _____.

A) rational
B) symbolic
C) logical
D) sophisticated

Question 45

Child-centered programs are influenced by _____, who believed that children can learn much from other children with the guidance of adults.

Question 46

To focus on one aspect of a situation and simultaneously exclude all other aspects is called _____.

A) magical thinking
B) static reasoning
C) centration
D) animism

Question 47

Piaget believed that until about age 6, it is difficult for children to think _____.

A) subjectively
B) egocentrically
C) logically
D) about animism

Question 48

Piaget called the stage of human cognitive development between the ages of 2 and 6 _____ intelligence.

A) operational
B) egocentric
C) preoperational
D) sensorimotor

Question 49

A magician's goal is to get the audience to focus on one aspect of his demonstration while he manipulates another. This is easy to do with preoperational children, as they are fooled by their tendency to _____.

A) be logical thinkers
B) reverse things in their minds
C) demonstrate centration
D) equilibrate

Question 50

_____ is the federally funded early-childhood education program that was started in 1965 to help foster better health and cognition in disadvantaged children before first grade.

Question 51

_____ designed a special educational program with structured, individualized projects meant to give children a sense of accomplishment.

Question 52

Preoperational intelligence _____.

A) allows children to think in symbols
B) includes logical reasoning
C) is characterized by reversibility of thought
D) relies on children's motor skills and senses

Question 53

In addition to being influenced by Vygotsky, child-centered programs are also influenced by _____, who believed that each child is capable of discovering new ideas.

Question 54

Ivan was playing under the kitchen table when he stood up suddenly and bumped his head. He pointed at the table and sternly said, "Naughty table!" This is an example of _____.

A) egocentrism
B) operational thinking
C) centration
D) animism

Question 55

Head Start provides the strongest benefits for children from the lowest income families, for those living in _____ areas, and for those with disabilities.

Question 56

Nine-year-old Bobby has no problem understanding that the 20-year-old woman who sometimes stays with him is both a student and a babysitter. According to Piaget, this is because Bobby's thinking has moved beyond _____.

A) conservation
B) object permanence
C) overregularization
D) centration

Question 57

"You are your mom's daughter, right?" Grandpa asked Beatriz. "Yes!" Beatriz eagerly answered.
"Well, your mom is my daughter," Grandpa replied.
"No! She's my Mommy!" Beatriz exclaimed. Why did Beatriz make this error?

A) conservation
B) object permanence
C) overregularization
D) centration

Question 58

Piaget called the stage of human cognitive development between the ages of 2 and 6 "preoperational intelligence" because children do not yet _____.

A) have intelligence
B) use logical operations
C) understand language
D) produce language

Question 59

The young children who are least likely to attend preschool in the United States are those from _____ homes.

Question 60

One of the milestones of preoperational thought is the ability to _____.

A) use symbolic thought
B) understand reversibility
C) display conservation
D) think logically

Question 61

Daryl has a ball of Silly Putty. His 6-year-old son, Mason, watches as Daryl flattens the Silly Putty into a thin "pancake." When Daryl asks Mason if there is now more Silly Putty, Mason replies "Yes" because he has _____.

A) an understanding of scaffolding
B) not mastered the concept of conservation
C) an understanding of object permanence
D) demonstrated fast-mapping

Question 62

Evelyn dropped a tiny spot of ketchup on her pants during lunch. Even though her teacher was able to completely remove the spot, Evelyn is crying hysterically and says that she wants to go home because her outfit is ruined. Her behavior demonstrates the characteristic of preoperational thought known as _____.

A) irreversibility
B) centration
C) egocentrism
D) conservation

Question 63

A child's inability to understand that undoing a sequence of events will bring about the original situation is called _____.

A) concrete operations
B) conservation
C) irreversibility
D) symbolic thought

Question 64

According to Vygotsky, guided participation requires that a child _____.

A) interacts with a mentor to accomplish a task
B) be told instructions for a task only once
C) discovers the solution to a task on his or her own
D) be taught new skills by other children

Question 65

Skills that the child can accomplish with assistance but can't yet perform independently are part of _____.

A) private speech
B) the gap between heredity and learning
C) distal development
D) the zone of proximal development

Question 66

The characteristic of preoperational thought in which a young child thinks that nothing changes is called _____.

A) animism
B) conservation
C) static reasoning
D) centration

Question 67

After her haircut was complete, Tania began crying inconsolably. "You turned me into a boy!" she cried. Which obstacle to logic was Tania demonstrating?

A) egocentrism
B) static thinking
C) focus on appearance
D) symbolic thinking

Question 68

According to Vygotsky, a child's first guided participation is provided by a guide who is likely a(n) _____.

A) classmate
B) teacher
C) parent
D) older sibling

Question 69

Four-year-old Jonathan is sitting at the lunch counter next to his sister Erin. They are having hot dogs for lunch. When his mom cuts Jonathan's hot dog into five pieces and Erin's into six pieces, Jonathan protests, "Erin has more than me!" Which ability does Jonathan not yet demonstrate?

A) animism
B) centration
C) egocentrism
D) conservation

Question 70

A child who is unable to read a picture book independently gets help from an adult to accomplish the task. This assistance will only be effective if the _____.

A) assistance is offered in a warm and gentle manner
B) child is at least 6 years old
C) child is in the period of preoperations
D) skill is within the child's zone of proximal development

Question 71

A child is shown two identical tall containers, both half-filled with water. The water from one container is then poured into a short, wide container. If the child states that both containers still have the same amount of water, then the child understands the concept of _____.

A) classification
B) conservation
C) centration
D) transformation

Question 72

Jake's father takes him to the barber for his first real haircut. At first, Jake is excited; but as soon as the barber makes the first cut in his hair, Jake becomes very upset and tells his father to make the barber stop. In spite of his father's efforts to assure him that his hair will grow back, Jake is devastated. Jake is exhibiting the characteristic known as _____.

A) animism
B) centration
C) egocentrism
D) irreversibility

Question 73

Irreversibility refers to the preoperational child's tendency to _____.

A) focus on something other than appearances
B) use deductive reasoning to solve a problem
C) believe that what has been done cannot be undone
D) engage in centration when another solution is needed

Question 74

When children assume that the world is unchanging, they engage in _____.

A) magical thinking
B) static reasoning
C) centration
D) a focus on appearance

Question 75

Jennie sees her third-grade teacher in the grocery store and is shocked to see her outside of school. This shock is likely due to Jennie's _____.

A) static reasoning
B) abstract reasoning
C) concrete thinking
D) irreversibility

Question 76

Beverly and her mother were shopping for a birthday gift for Beverly's father. "How about this? Daddy would love it!" Beverly exclaimed, showing her mother a pink and purple toy horse with flowing mane and tail. Beverly's belief that her father would enjoy a toy that she herself would enjoy is an example of _____.

A) static reasoning
B) egocentrism
C) irreversibility
D) conservatism

Question 77

A preschool child thinks that a tall 20-year-old man is older than a short 40-year-old man. This is an example of _____.

A) egocentrism
B) static thinking
C) focus on appearance
D) symbolic thinking

Question 78

The Piagetian term for a particular type of centration in which a child thinks about the world only from his or her personal perspective is _____.

A) static reasoning
B) egocentrism
C) irreversibility
D) conservatism

Question 79

Each time Juan puts a puzzle together, his father gives him a little less help. Which theorist would be pleased with Juan's father?

A) Piaget
B) Vygotsky
C) Skinner
D) Freud

Question 80

Researchers now believe that Piaget underestimated cognition in infancy and _____ cognition in early childhood.

A) overestimated
B) also underestimated
C) correctly estimated
D) failed to estimate