Question 1

Object permanence is important in a child's cognitive development because it marks the beginning of the child's ability to:

Accepted Answer

Object permanence is the recognition that objects exist even when they are not seen or heard. This ability allows children to mentally represent and manipulate objects in their mind, enabling further cognitive development in areas such as problem solving and language comprehension. Choices A, C, and D do not accurately describe this developmental milestone.

Question 2

In Piaget's theory, the process of modifying existing cognitive structures in response to experience and new information is called:

Accepted Answer

Accommodation is the process of modifying existing cognitive structures in response to experience and new information. This can involve changing existing schemas or creating new ones in order to better understand and interact with the world around us.

Question 3

Ali sees a butterfly and chases it saying, "Birdie!" Piaget would say that this is an example of:

Accepted Answer

Piaget would say that this is an example of assimilation, where Ali is incorporating new information (the butterfly) into an existing schema (birdie).

Question 4

A child is in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. If Piaget's model is correct, the child will next move to the ________ stage.

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget's stages of cognitive development, after the sensorimotor stage, a child moves to the preoperational stage.

Question 5

For Jean Piaget, the mistakes or errors children make:

Accepted Answer

Piaget believed that the errors children make provide important clues about their level of cognitive development. These errors or mistakes are a natural and necessary part of learning and indicate where a child is in their cognitive development. Piaget called these errors "constructive mistakes" because they reflect a child's attempts to construct their understanding of the world.

Question 6

In Piaget's theory, the process of absorbing new information into existing cognitive structures is called:

Accepted Answer

In Piaget's theory, assimilation refers to the process of absorbing new information into existing cognitive structures or mental frameworks. It involves interpreting new experiences in terms of existing knowledge or schemas.

Option A (conservation) refers to the ability to understand that the quantity of an object or substance remains the same even if the shape or arrangement changes.

Option B (accommodation) refers to the process of creating or modifying existing cognitive structures to match new information.

Option D (operations) are organized, formal, logical mental processes that individuals use to understand their world.

Question 7

Which of the following is an example of telegraphic speech?

Accepted Answer

Telegraphic speech refers to early language development in which only essential words are used to convey a message. Option C, "Mama dress," shows this type of speech because the toddler is using only the essential words to express her desire for her mother to put on her clothes. The other options do not demonstrate telegraphic speech. Option A involves pointing, which is a nonverbal communication strategy, option B involves word acquisition, which is not related to speech style, and option D involves babbling, which is not yet meaningful language.

Question 8

Janis sees a bat flying over the lake and says, "Birdie"! Her mother says, "That flies like a bird, Janis, but that is a bat." Janis begins pointing saying, "Bat! Bat! Bat!" Piaget would say that this is an example of:

Accepted Answer

This is an example of accommodation, where Janis adjusts her understanding to incorporate the new information that bats are different from birds, changing her schema to include bats as a separate category.

Question 9

According to Piaget, ________ represents the beginning of the child's capacity to use mental imagery and other symbolic systems.

Accepted Answer

Piaget believed that the development of object permanence, or the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they are not visible, marks the beginning of a child's ability to use mental imagery and other symbolic systems. This typically occurs around 8-10 months of age. Egocentric thinking, assimilation, and accommodation are all important concepts in Piaget's theory of cognitive development, but they are not directly related to the development of symbolic thinking.

Question 10

Emily calls her husband into the living room saying, "I'm just sure that the baby recognized the word mommy!" Emily's baby is most likely:

Accepted Answer

Most babies begin to recognize and respond to familiar words like "mommy" between the ages of 4 to 6 months. At this age, babies have developed some basic language comprehension skills and may start to associate words with people, objects, or actions. However, it is important to note that every baby develops at their own pace, so some babies may recognize words earlier or later than this range.

Question 11

A child is able to pretend that a large box is a school bus. Later that day, she has difficulty reversing her actions and completing a puzzle after she has taken it apart. Piaget would suggest that she is in the:

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development, children are in the preoperational stage from ages 2 to 7, during which they are able to engage in pretend play but have difficulty with tasks that require mental operations such as reversing actions or understanding cause and effect. This is consistent with the child's ability to pretend the box is a school bus but struggle with reversing the puzzle.

Question 12

Psychologists studying the acquisition of language have found that:

Accepted Answer

Psychologists have found that the process of language acquisition begins in the first months of life, with crying and cooing. Infants' cries and coos change over time as they learn to control their vocalizations and produce more complex sounds.

Answer: C 
 Psychologists have also found that babies begin to recognize the sound structure of their native language around six months of age. This means that they can differentiate between the phonemes (sounds) of their language and those of other languages.

Answer: D 
 While babies may begin to respond to the pitch and sound of language at six months, and recognize the sound structure of their native language around the same time, it is not until around 12 months that they begin to recognize their own names as meaningful words in their language.

Question 13

A child in Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development will be able to:

Accepted Answer

A child in Piaget's preoperational stage of cognitive development has not yet developed the ability to think logically and perform mental operations. They engage in symbolic play and make-believe, which is reflected in their ability to pretend to drink juice out of toy buckets in the sandbox. However, they may not be able to understand conservation (Choice C), reversibility of operations (Choice B), or the idea that the appearance of a liquid can change (Choice A).

Question 14

A toddler smacks her lips to let her parents know that she wants food. This is an example of:

Accepted Answer

The toddler's action of smacking her lips is a symbolic gesture, as it is a nonverbal way of communicating a desire for food. A is incorrect because a language acquisition device is a proposed innate mechanism that humans have for acquiring language, which is not relevant to this situation. B is incorrect because parentese refers to the high-pitched, sing-song way that adults often speak to infants, which is also not relevant to this situation. D is incorrect because telegraphic speech refers to a type of speech in which only essential words are used, usually by young children just starting to speak in short phrases, which is also not relevant here.

Question 15

Late one night George went to the drug store to pick up formula for his newborn child. He noticed that they were out of the brand his wife normally bought. When his wife tried to feed the new formula to the baby, she kept spitting out the nipple of the bottle, until she finally began to accept the new taste. The ability of the baby to adapt to the taste of the new brand of formula reflects:

Accepted Answer

The ability of the baby to adapt to the taste of the new formula reflects accommodation, which is the process of adjusting one's existing schemes (in this case, the baby's taste preferences) to incorporate new information or experiences (the different taste of the new formula). Centration refers to the tendency of young children to focus only on one aspect of a situation, while assimilation and conservation are related to Piaget's stages of cognitive development and do not apply to this scenario.

Question 16

Which of the following is the correct order of Piaget's stages of cognitive development?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's stages of cognitive development are sensorimotor (0-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (11 years and up). The correct order is sensorimotor followed by preoperational, then concrete operational, and finally formal operational. Choice D correctly follows this order.

Question 17

Sam is playing with a ball when it rolls under a piece of furniture and out of sight. When this happens, he acts as if it no longer exists and makes no attempt to find it. According to Piaget, Sam would be in the ________ period of development.

Accepted Answer

According to Piaget, the sensorimotor period is when infants learn about the world through their senses and actions. During this stage, they develop object permanence, the understanding that objects continue to exist even when they cannot be seen. Sam's behavior suggests he has not yet developed object permanence, indicating he is in the sensorimotor stage.

Question 18

Piaget referred to the ability of individuals to react to new experiences on the basis of similarities to past experiences as:

Accepted Answer

Piaget referred to the ability to react to new experiences on the basis of similarities to past experiences as assimilation.

Question 19

In regard to language acquisition, adults seem to know that:

Accepted Answer

The melody and rhythm of "baby talk" are known to aid in language acquisition by helping babies discern the sounds and patterns of their native language.

Question 20

Piaget mistakenly believed that:

Accepted Answer

Preoperational children cannot take another person's point of view.

Quiz 13: Development Over the Life Span