Deck 7: Cognition

Question 1

Eighteen-month-old Mickey is visiting a theme park for the first time. At the park, he sees some zebras, an animal with which he is unfamiliar. Despite this, he looks at the animals and shouts, "Look at the horses!" He had previously formed a mental schema for horses. Piaget would say that Mickey's reaction best demonstrates the concept of

A) accommodation.
B) reversibility.
C) assimilation.
D) formal thought.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Dr. Gretzky defines himself as a cognitive psychologist. Given this information, you might predict that Dr. Gretzky is most interested in

A) operant conditioning in rats.
B) the endocrine system.
C) children's thinking skills.
D) the olfactory system.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is an example of a behavioral schema?

A) Using a block to represent a car
B) Asking about grandma even when she's not present
C) Grasping a block or a bottle of milk
D) Calling the dog by the cat's name

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Which of the following is the best example of assimilation?

A) Naming your dog Barney after the famous purple Barney on TV
B) Changing the name of your dog after finding out that a classmate has a dog with the same name
C) Pretending that your dog is a horse
D) Naming the first dog you meet, "Spot," and then calling all other dogs that you meet "Spot"

Question 5

Adam has a schema for saying, "Hi." He has a second schema for holding out his hand. He has another schema for making eye contact. With time, Adam is able to combine the simple schemas into a complex structure of a greeting (i.e., simultaneously making eye contact, saying "Hi," and holding out his hand to be shaken). According to Piaget, Adam is demonstrating

A) organization.
B) hypothetical-deductive reasoning.
C) reversibility.
D) class inclusion.

Question 6

Piaget stated that adaptation involves the two major processes of

A) accommodation and symbolic thinking.
B) assimilation and accommodation.
C) assimilation and organization.
D) organization and equilibration.

Question 7

Piaget argued that newborns enter the world with

A) no means of adaptation.
B) senses and reflexes that can assist in adaptation.
C) little interest in investigating the world around them.
D) an intuitive knowledge of basic biology and physics.

Question 8

What 1960s event brought Piaget's theory into the mainstream of American science?

A) The end of the Cold War
B) Woodstock, which opened up the society to the acceptance of alternative ways of thinking
C) Flavell's summary of Piaget's work that was published in English
D) Piaget's death, which focused attention on his life's work

Question 9

Ten-year-old Chester has just been asked, "What is 10 plus 10?" He says, "The answer is 22." How would a researcher best use Piaget's clinical method to follow-up this response?

A) She would ask Chester to count the number of fingers on each hand.
B) She would ask Chester to explain how he came up with the answer of "22."
C) She would ask Chester to describe any abuse he had endured as a child.
D) She would ask Chester to give a blood sample.

Question 10

Jerry likes to play with his stuffed animals, dragging them around the house by their arms, ears, or tails. He tries to do this with Tom the cat one day, but Tom hisses at Jerry and runs off, leaving Jerry perplexed and crying. Jerry's original attempt to play with the cat best illustrates the concept of

A) accommodation.
B) assimilation.
C) disequilibrium.
D) fixation

Question 11

Piaget refers to the process of combining existing schemas into new and more complex ones as

A) centration.
B) transitivity.
C) guided participation.
D) organization.

Question 12

Assimilation is best defined as the process in which

A) a conditioned stimulus becomes an unconditioned stimulus.
B) multiple schemas are combined into single schemata.
C) we interpret new experiences in terms of existing schemas.
D) the unconscious mind impacts the conscious mind.

Question 13

Cognition is best defined as the activity of

A) sensing energy in the environment.
B) knowing and processing through which knowledge is acquired.
C) brain maturation.
D) unconscious influences.

Question 14

Piaget's intrigue concerning _____ initially spurred his interest in cognitive development.

A) age-related mistakes in children's responses
B) the relationship between humans and primates
C) sex differences in the ability to problem-solve
D) brain lateralization research

Question 15

According to Piaget, intelligence is the ability to

A) adapt to one's environment.
B) respond to reinforcement.
C) process information.
D) score well on IQ tests.

Question 16

According to Piaget, adaptation is best defined as

A) adjusting to the demands of the environment.
B) reducing schemas.
C) the ability to think about abstract concepts.
D) the maturation of the mind.

Question 17

Piaget was most interested in determining

A) which genes drive development.
B) social interactions with adults could be shown to determine cognitive development in children.
C) the most effective way to test for a child's IQ.
D) how children learn.

Question 18

Which of the following is an example of a symbolic schema?

A) Counting the number of holes on a belt
B) Pointing a finger and saying "Bang!"
C) Sucking on the nipple of a bottle of milk
D) Grasping an adult's finger

Question 19

Piaget's clinical method involves

A) uncovering unconscious motives for behavior.
B) presenting standardized questions to all children tested.
C) observing children in their natural environment.
D) a flexible question-and-answer technique.

Question 20

Which of the following is the best description of a schema?

A) An organized way of thinking or acting that allows us to interpret our experiences
B) A standard way of solving a problem in the fewest possible steps
C) Changing our experiences in order to adapt to our environment
D) Interpreting new experiences by using previously stored information

Question 21

Saturn has discovered that even though her dad won't let her play with his set of car keys, she can use a ring of metal tabs and pretend that these are his car keys. Saturn's behavior would indicate that she is in the _____ substage of sensorimotor development.

A) secondary circular reactions
B) primary circular reactions
C) tertiary circular reactions
D) beginning of thought

Question 22

Which infant behavior best demonstrates object permanence?

A) Crying and reaching for a favorite toy you were playing with after it has been put inside a toy box
B) Repeatedly swiping at a mobile hanging over the crib
C) Crying when someone grabs a toy out of your hand
D) Trying to grab a toy that you can see, but is just out of reach

Question 23

Piaget hypothesized that an infant's first schemas for interacting with the environment always involve

A) cross-modal reactions.
B) conservation.
C) reflexes.
D) trial-and-error accommodations.

Question 24

Once while she was about to take a nap, baby Carolyn accidentally sucked on her blanket. Now she repeatedly sucks on the blanket when she's going to sleep. This new behavior is an example of

A) coordination of secondary schemes.
B) a primary circular reaction.
C) a secondary circular reaction.
D) a tertiary circular reaction.

Question 25

Franco is enjoying a fine lunch in his high chair. He picks up a handful of spaghetti and stuffs it in his mouth. Next, he picks up two handfuls and shoves them in his ears. The next handful goes in his hair, and the one after that is casually thrown on the floor. As his motivation appears to be simply the novelty of each of these acts, Franco's behavior would best be categorized as a

A) secondary circular reaction.
B) primary circular reaction.
C) tertiary circular reaction.
D) beginning of thought.

Question 26

Accommodation is best defined as

A) the process of modifying existing schema to better fit a new schema.
B) knowing an object continues to exist even after it has left your sensory range.
C) thinking that everyone else possesses the same experiences as you.
D) using scientific logic to solve all problems.

Question 27

Mabel always thought of herself as being incapable when it came to fixing things. She easily developed the habit of asking her husband, Abel, to do even the simplest "fix-it" tasks, such as changing a light bulb. Then one day Mabel got a flat tire on a country road. She managed to struggle through the process of changing the tire all on her own. From then on, she felt much more capable, and started to fix more things around the house. This best illustrates

A) accommodation.
B) assimilation.
C) disequilibrium.
D) fixation.

Question 28

To a young infant, out of sight is literally out of mind. Piaget stated that this was due to a lack of

A) reversibility.
B) insight.
C) object permanence.
D) horizontal décalage.

Question 29

Almost all of Timmy's cognitive structures appear to involve basic behavioral schemas for coordinating sensory input and motor responses (e.g., put hand near object, if object is hot, then pull hand away from object). Given this description, Timmy is best classified as being in Piaget's _____ stage of development.

A) formal operations
B) preoperational
C) concrete operations
D) sensorimotor

Question 30

Peggy finds that yelling at her dog is an effective way to get the dog to learn to behave. Peggy has recently taken a job as a substitute Spanish teacher at a local middle school. During her first week of class, Peggy becomes aware that yelling at her students is not an effective way to get them to learn to behave. Piaget would say that Peggy's situation would likely lead her to experience cognitive

A) inclusion.
B) conditioning.
C) realism.
D) disequilibrium.

Question 31

The key characteristic of a primary circular reaction is that they are

A) repeated actions related to one's own body that originally happened by chance.
B) a one-time event related to one's own body that originally happened by chance.
C) repeated actions related to one's own body that originally happened by choice.
D) a one-time event related to one's own body that originally happened by choice.

Question 32

A _____ circular reaction is a repetitive action that involves something in an infant's external environment.

A) coordination
B) primary
C) secondary
D) tertiary

Question 33

Which statement best describes Piaget's theory on intelligence?

A) Intelligence develops as the result of the interactions of classical and operant conditioning.
B) Intelligence develops as the result of interactions between biologically based individuals and their interaction with an environment.
C) Intelligence is solely the product of the interaction of genetic predispositions with biological maturation.
D) Intelligence is solely the product of sociocultural experiences.

Question 34

The A not B error involves the

A) inability to realize that a bowl of ice cream has the same amount when the ice cream has melted.
B) tendency to search for an object in a place where it was last found rather than in a new hiding place.
C) failure to convert a concrete problem into an abstract problem.
D) valuing adaptation over organization.

Question 35

A true sense of curiosity and novelty first emerge during the _____ stage of development.

A) secondary circular reactions
B) coordination of secondary schemes
C) tertiary circular reactions
D) beginning of thought

Question 36

According to Piaget, when our internal thoughts are consistent with the evidence we are receiving from the world, we are experiencing

A) plasticity.
B) equilibration.
C) cognitive dissonance.
D) fixation.

Question 37

Baby Jay accidently sucked his thumb, now seems to love to suck his thumb, and has learned to do it over and over again. This best exemplifies the concept of a

A) beginning of thought.
B) primary circular reaction.
C) secondary circular reaction.
D) tertiary circular reaction.

Question 38

From first to last, what is the correct order of Piaget's stages of cognitive development?

A) Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operations, formal operations
B) Preoperational, sensorimotor, formal operations, concrete operations
C) Sensorimotor, concrete operations, preoperational, formal operations
D) Preoperational, concrete operations, formal operations, sensorimotor

Question 39

According to Piaget, _____ occur when an infant combines secondary actions to achieve a simple goal.

A) secondary circular reactions
B) coordination of secondary schemes
C) tertiary circular reactions
D) beginning of thought

Question 40

Which is the most advanced substage of the sensorimotor stage?

A) Beginning of thought
B) Secondary circular reaction
C) Coordination of secondary schemes
D) Tertiary circular reaction

Question 41

Imaginary companions are most likely to first develop during the _____ stage of development.

A) formal operations
B) concrete operations
C) sensorimotor
D) preoperational

Question 42

Why might perceptual salience lead a child not to believe in the Easter Bunny?

A) The fact that Easter is a holiday
B) The fact that it would be impossible for one rabbit to deliver millions of eggs in one night
C) The fact that eggs come from chickens
D) The fact that Easter eggs come in many colors

Question 43

Focusing on the most obvious features of an object or situation is referred to as

A) perceptual salience.
B) horizontal décalage.
C) decentration.
D) transitivity.

Question 44

Piaget suggested that the key cognitive acquisition in the preoperational stage of cognitive development is the ability to

A) comprehend object permanence.
B) refer to people and objects that are not physically present.
C) seriate concepts.
D) construct a personal fable.

Question 45

Piaget contended that in infancy,

A) reaching was a developmental precursor of looking.
B) reaching and looking represented the same activity.
C) looking was a developmental precursor of reaching.
D) reaching and looking were unrelated behaviors.

Question 46

Virginia tells her mom that "there is no Santa Claus" and as evidence, presents the fact that most of the gifts that are supposed to come from Santa have labels from Target, Wal-Mart, and other retail stores. Virginia's questioning of Santa appears to be based on the concept of

A) guided participation.
B) adolescent egocentrism.
C) seriation.
D) perceptual salience.

Question 47

Piaget stated that the preoperational stage of development normally begins around

A) 2 months of age.
B) 12 months of age.
C) 2 years of age.
D) 12 years of age.

Question 48

Asked to choose between two cookies of equal size, one whole, and one broken, Jenny takes the broken cookie, saying that three cookies are better than one. Piaget would say that Jenny lacks

A) centration.
B) object permanence.
C) seriation.
D) conservation.

Question 49

Conservation is best defined as the ability to

A) think abstractly.
B) think the way other people think.
C) understand that some properties of an object remain the same even if other properties change.
D) realize that an object continues to exist even if that object has left the sensory range.

Question 50

Four-year-old Lenny has invented an imaginary companion, an invisible octopus named Squiggy. How would a Piagetian most likely react to Lenny's behavior?

A) He might suspect that Lenny is cognitively and socially advanced.
B) He would see it as a sign of possible mental illness.
C) He would suggest that Lenny cannot decenter from an object.
D) He would state that it is impossible for a child that young to create any imaginary companions.

Question 51

Which childhood activity best illustrates symbolic capacity?

A) Pretending to be a superhero
B) Riding a two-wheeled bicycle
C) Kicking a soccer ball
D) Playing with an electric train

Question 52

Which of the following demonstrates the child has developed symbolic capacity?

A) a child who uses a cooking pan as a hat
B) a child who has names for favorite stuffed animals
C) a child who is comforted by thumb-sucking
D) a child who waves hello and goodbye

Question 53

Molly's mommy is mad, and Molly doesn't believe it when mommy says, "I'm angry, but I still love you!" Molly thinks that mommy can't be mad and still love her at the same time. Piaget might suggest that Molly's thought process demonstrates Molly's inability to engage in

A) decentration.
B) conservation.
C) irreversibility.
D) centration.

Question 54

Jimmy watches as his mom pours all of his juice out of a tall skinny glass into a short wide cup. He puts up a fuss, because he now thinks he doesn't have as much juice as he started with. Jimmy is unable to

A) center.
B) conserve.
C) seriate.
D) animate.

Question 55

Piaget argued that object permanence is fully developed at 18 months. Recent research has indicated that

A) Piaget's time estimate was right on.
B) object permanence is actually developed at birth.
C) awareness of object permanence is not apparent at birth but develops well before Piaget thought.
D) object permanence actually develops around age two years.

Question 56

Five-year-old Linus is playing with his baby sister, Lucy. He takes Lucy's teddy bear and hides it behind a pillow while Lucy watches. Lucy quickly finds the bear. Then Linus puts teddy in a bag, puts the bag behind a chair (where he dumps teddy), and then brings out the empty bag. Lucy looks inside the bag, but doesn't look for teddy behind the chair and is surprised when it is not there. According to Piaget, Lucy

A) lacks object permanence.
B) is playing to an imaginary audience.
C) is committing the A not B error.
D) is a formal operational thinker.

Question 57

The Piagetian concept of "decentration" refers to the inability to

A) focus on more than one dimension of a problem at one time.
B) mentally reverse simple operations.
C) understand that the amount of something remains the same regardless of a change in shape or position.
D) take another person's point of view.

Question 58

The ability to use images or words to stand for objects or experiences is called

A) object permanence.
B) symbolic capacity.
C) reversibility.
D) horizontal décalage.

Question 59

The "crowning achievement" of the sensorimotor stage is the ability to

A) display secondary circular reactions.
B) deal with a purely abstract task.
C) conserve.
D) construct mental symbols to guide behavior.

Question 60

Object permanence research has found that

A) it is a purely cognitive task and physical task demands have, at most, a very limited impact.
B) toddlers who watch a lot of television tend to develop object permanence at a later age.
C) toddlers who do not achieve object permanence still have normal cognitive development.
D) object permanence responding may be influenced by the time interval between seeing and being able to reach for it.

Question 61

Oscar, a college student, is checking seven-year-old Meyer to see what cognitive skills he has. He asks him to do some basic conservation tasks. Meyer has correctly responded that there is still the same amount of clay, whether it is in a round ball or rolled out into a hotdog-type shape. When Oscar asks why, Meyer demonstrates how the hotdog-type shaped piece of clay can be rolled back into a ball. This shows that Meyer has a good grasp of

A) assimilation.
B) transformational thought.
C) equilibrium.
D) primary circular reactions.

Question 62

While watching a pizza being cut into 10 pieces, eight-year-old Domino suddenly realizes that the 10 pieces of pizza are actually the same amount as the original one pizza. This realization best reflects the process of

A) reversibility.
B) A not B error.
C) seriation.
D) static thought.

Question 63

The logic of class inclusion focuses on understanding that

A) inanimate objects cannot move.
B) a simple transformation does not change all aspects of an object.
C) objects out of perceptual range still exist.
D) parts are included in the whole.

Question 64

Static thought involves a fixation on the

A) process of transformation.
B) end state.
C) process of egocentrism.
D) beginning state.

Question 65

While observing her mother bake cookies, Lorna ignores the process by which eggs, flour, and sugar are combined and baked, but focuses on the end product of a cookie. Lorna's thought best exemplifies

A) conservation.
B) class inclusion.
C) reversibility.
D) static thought.

Question 66

A hallmark achievement of concrete operational thought is being able to

A) solve object permanence tasks.
B) solve conservation tasks.
C) solve hypothetical problems.
D) use relativistic thinking.

Question 67

The tendency to focus on only a single aspect of a problem is called

A) assimilation.
B) centration.
C) conservation.
D) identification.

Question 68

Transformational thought is best defined as the ability to

A) think to one's self.
B) conceptualize processes of change from one state to another.
C) put two or more objects in some order.
D) focus on one aspect of a task.

Question 69

Billy always walks to kindergarten. His mom always picks him up at school after kindergarten on her way home from work. One day, mom asks Billy to walk home from kindergarten by himself. Billy insists he does not know how to walk home from kindergarten-he only knows how to walk to kindergarten. Which cognitive operation does Billy apparently lack?

A) Centration
B) Equilibration
C) Reversibility
D) Transformation

Question 70

Belle is excited when she receives a telephone call from her grandmother on her birthday. When Belle's grandmother asks Belle how old she is, Belle holds up three fingers in front of the phone. Belle's belief that because she can see her fingers, so can her grandmother, reflects the Piagetian concept of

A) centration.
B) egocentrism.
C) animism.
D) formal thought.

Question 71

Which conservation skills does a concrete operations thinker possess?

A) The ability to decenter, but neither reversibility nor transformational thought
B) Reversibility, but neither the ability to decenter nor use transformational thought
C) Transformational thought, but neither the ability to decenter nor to reverse
D) The ability to decenter, reversibility, and transformational thought

Question 72

A preoperational thinker is most likely to exhibit _____ thought.

A) decentration
B) reversible
C) static
D) transformational

Question 73

Houdini is watching a magician pour a clear liquid from one glass into another. When the liquid enters the second glass, it magically changes to the color blue. While Houdini finds the trick interesting, he is not surprised that an object can be changed from one state to another. This indicates that Houdini possesses _____ thought.

A) transformational
B) egocentric
C) sensorimotor
D) animistic

Question 74

When her mommy is sick in bed, Jenna brings her a pacifier and a rattle, thinking these will help mommy feel better since they always make Jenna feel better. Jenna's behavior best demonstrates

A) centration.
B) egocentrism.
C) animism.
D) formal thought.

Question 75

Four-year-old Kula is given a puppet and told to teach it all of the names that she can think of for certain animals and food items. At one point, she is asked the following questions about a lion: "Is it an animal?" and "Is it a type of cat?" Her correct response of "yes" to both questions indicates that Kukla understands

A) object permanence.
B) seriation .
C) hypothetical-deductive reasoning.
D) classification hierarchies.

Question 76

Jack is taking a class on Piaget, and as part of an assignment, he is "testing" someyoungsters on various Piagetian tasks. He gives four-year-old Meg a bag of white and striped marbles. They discuss the fact that marbles are made of glass. Meg counts the marbles-7 whites and 18 stripes. Jack asks, "Are there more striped marbles or more glass marbles?" Meg answers, "There are more striped marbles." This demonstrates Meg's difficulty with

A) class inclusion.
B) conservation.
C) identity.
D) transformations.

Question 77

Sarah Lee is helping her dad, Jefferson, bake cookies. First, Sarah divides the dough into two equal round piles. Then, as she goes to roll her dough, she trips, flattens her pile, and begins to cry. Her dad asks her if she's hurt, whereupon Sarah tells her dad that she isn't hurt but she's sad because now he has a tall pile with more dough than her. Sarah Lee's response demonstrates

A) centration.
B) conservation.
C) relativistic thinking.
D) seriation.

Question 78

Research has demonstrated that when shown a card with a cat on one side and a dog on another side, three-year-olds seemed to correctly understand that when a researcher held the card so that the child saw the dog, the researcher must be seeing a cat. This indicates that children may not be as _____ as Piaget suggested.

A) animated
B) schema-driven
C) logical
D) egocentric

Question 79

The process of mentally "undoing" an action is referred to as

A) assimilation.
B) a personal fable.
C) egocentrism.
D) reversibility.

Question 80

The inability to take a point of view other than one's own is referred to as

A) animism.
B) egocentrism.
C) object permanence.
D) static thought.