Question 1

Incorporating new information into existing theories is to ________ as modifying existing theories in light of new information is to ________.

Accepted Answer

Incorporating new information into existing theories is assimilation, while modifying existing theories in light of new information is accommodation. This concept is an important aspect of Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory, where he proposed that children actively construct their understandings of the world through these processes.

Question 2

"Out of sight, out of mind" can describe the behavior of a child who has not mastered the concept of

Accepted Answer

"Out of sight, out of mind" refers to the idea that if something is no longer visible, it doesn't exist. This is a concept related to object permanence, which is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are out of sight. Therefore, the best choice is D - object permanence.

Question 3

Little Franklin takes away his baby sister's rattle and hides it under her blanket. His sister, who is three-months-old, will probably

Accepted Answer

At three months old, the baby is too young to understand object permanence, which means that she does not understand that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible. Therefore, she will likely act as if the rattle was never there and move on to something else. She is not yet developmentally ready to search for the rattle or point at her brother accusingly.

Question 4

You tried to play peek-a-boo with your six-month-old infant, but whenever you hid your face, he would cry. You try it again three months later, and now he laughs and enjoys the game, trying to uncover your face with his hands. Your baby has now developed

Accepted Answer

Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible. A six-month-old infant typically has not yet developed object permanence, which is why hiding their face during peek-a-boo can cause distress. By nine months, an infant has typically developed object permanence, allowing them to understand that the person hiding their face during peek-a-boo still exists and will likely reappear. Egocentrism, hindsight bias and conservation are unrelated to the development described in the scenario.

Question 5

Your child has entered the stage Piaget called preoperational. Which of these do you now expect your child to be able to do?

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget, during the preoperational stage (ages 2-7), children begin to represent the world with words and images, but they are not yet capable of performing mental operations, reversing them or giving logical reasons for knowing something.

Question 6

In Piaget's cognitive development theory, the ________ stage occurs during the period of infancy.

Accepted Answer

Piaget's cognitive development theory outlines four stages of cognitive development: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational. The sensorimotor stage occurs during infancy (birth to 2 years old), during which infants learn to coordinate their sensory experiences with their motor actions. They also develop object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen or heard.

Question 7

Which of Piaget's stages of cognitive development is characterized by egocentric thought?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's preoperational stage is characterized by the child's development of symbolic thought, but they still struggle with egocentrism, meaning they have difficulty understanding that other people have different perspectives and thoughts than their own.

Question 8

Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive a doll for Christmas. This best illustrates Piaget's concept of

Accepted Answer

Egocentrism is a concept from Piaget's theory of cognitive development, where young children are unable to differentiate between their own perspective and that of others. Jennifer's belief that her mother would want a doll reflects her egocentric thinking, assuming others share her interests and desires.

Question 9

If children cannot grasp the concept of conservation, they are unable to

Accepted Answer

Conservation is the concept that the amount of a substance remains the same even if its shape or arrangement changes. If children cannot grasp this concept, they cannot understand this fundamental property of matter. This does not necessarily affect their ability to deal with toilet training, see things from another person's point of view, or retain earlier schemas when confronted with new experiences.

Question 10

According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget, egocentrism refers to the difficulty in perceiving things from another person's point of view. Children tend to see the world only from their own perspective, and they have trouble understanding that others may have different thoughts, feelings or beliefs. This is particularly evident in preoperational children, who also exhibit other types of egocentric behavior such as animism and artificialism.

Question 11

According to Piaget, accommodation refers to

Accepted Answer

Accommodation in Piaget's theory refers to the process of adjusting existing schemas or cognitive structures to make sense of new experiences or information that cannot be assimilated into existing schemas. It involves changing existing thought patterns or creating entirely new ones. Thus, option D is the correct answer. Option A is incorrect as it refers to socialization and not cognitive development. Option B is a close distractor but does not fully capture the meaning of accommodation. Option C is also incorrect as it refers to social acceptance among peers and not cognitive changes.

Question 12

Baby Janice knows that when she is put in the highchair it is time to eat. So when her father puts her in the highchair and hands her a book, Janice puts the corner of the book in her mouth. Janice is exhibiting

Accepted Answer

Janice is assimilating the book into her existing schema for eating, which is being in the highchair. She is using her current understanding of eating to interact with the book.

Question 13

In which stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development does a child coordinate sensations with movements?

Accepted Answer

The stage of coordinating sensations with movements is the first stage of Piaget's theory of cognitive development, known as the sensorimotor stage. During this stage, which typically occurs from birth to age 2, infants learn about the world through their senses and physical actions. They begin to coordinate their sensory experiences with motor actions, such as grasping, reaching, and crawling.

Question 14

You give your younger brother Joe a big cookie. He accidently drops it and it breaks into many smaller parts. Suddenly he gets very excited and says, "Joe look how many cookies I have now!" He is most likely in which developmental stage?

Accepted Answer

Joe's excitement over the broken cookie is a characteristic of the preoperational stage of development, where children are still developing the ability to understand conservation (that the amount of something remains the same even when its appearance or form changes). Children in this stage also tend to focus on the appearance of objects rather than their actual properties or quantities, which could explain why Joe thinks he has more cookies now that the big one is broken into smaller pieces.

Question 15

You arrange two rows of pennies so they are equal in length. A child views the rows and states that they have the same amount of pennies. You spread out the pennies in the bottom row so that this row is longer than the top one. The child now states that the bottom row has more pennies. This child is in Piaget's ________ stage of development.

Accepted Answer

This scenario is an example of conservation of number, which is a task commonly used in Piaget's theory to assess children's cognitive development. Children in the preoperational stage (ages 2-7) often fail this task as they have difficulty understanding that the amount of pennies remains the same despite changes in appearance or arrangement. The child's initial response of the rows having the same amount of pennies indicates their lack of conservation; their change in response after the arrangement is changed shows that they are beginning to understand conservation, but are not fully there yet.

Question 16

Little Alicia knows that fish swim in the water. When she sees her first alligator, she says to her father, "Look at the big fish!" Her father tells her that the creature is not a fish, but an alligator. After some deliberation, Little Alicia decides that some creatures that swim in the water are not fish. Alicia initially exhibited ________, and then she exhibited ________.

Accepted Answer

Little Alicia initially tried to fit the alligator into her existing schema or concept of a fish, which is assimilation. However, when she realizes that the alligator does not fit her concept of a fish, she adjusts her schema or concept to accommodate this new information. This is accommodation.

Question 17

Which psychologist articulated the steps of cognitive development from infancy to adulthood?

Accepted Answer

Piaget articulated the steps of cognitive development from infancy to adulthood, which includes the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.

Question 18

The ability to multiply two numbers together falls under ________ development.

Accepted Answer

The ability to multiply two numbers together is a cognitive development skill as it involves mental processes such as memory, attention, and problem-solving. It has nothing to do with physical, socio-emotional, or personality development.

Question 19

A wise mother will give both her three-year-old and her four-year-old children identically shaped glasses of soft drink to avoid conflict over who has the most. The mother is showing her awareness of her children's difficulty with

Accepted Answer

Conservation refers to the understanding that certain properties of an object remain the same even when its appearance has been altered in some superficial way. In this scenario, the mother is aware that her children may engage in conflict over who has more drink, so she gives them identically shaped glasses to show them that the amount of drink is the same for both. This demonstrates her understanding of conservation, as she knows that the shape of the glass does not change the amount of drink each child has.

Question 20

What technique in studying infant perception involves looking for a reliable preference for one stimulus over another?

Accepted Answer

Preferential looking is a technique in which two stimuli are presented side by side and researchers observe which stimulus the infant looks at for a longer period of time. This can indicate a preference for one stimulus over the other and provides insight into infant perception.

Quiz 9: Human Development

Incorporating new information into existing theories is to as modifying existing theories in light of new information is to .