Question 1

You share the following story with your 3-year-old daughter Carleigh and 4-year-old nephew Jaxon:
This is Brenda. Brenda has a box.
This is Michelle. Michelle has a basket.
Brenda has a ball. She puts the ball into her box.
Brenda goes out for a walk.
Michelle takes the ball out of the box and puts it into the basket.
Now Brenda comes back. She wants to play with her ball. Where will she look for the ball?
Given what you know about false-belief tasks and theory of mind, how will Carleigh answer the question? Explain your answer. Will Jaxon's answer be the same? Explain.

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Question 2

Compare and contrast the information processing approach and Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

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Question 3

Robert's mother pours a cup of milk for him and then realizes that the cup has a small chip in the rim. Not wanting her son to cut his lip, she pours the milk into another cup. The second cup happens to be shorter and wider than the first cup. Robert is upset because he thinks that he has less milk. Explain Robert's behavior using your knowledge of Piaget's stages of cognitive development.

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Question 4

Name and describe the three components of mental hardware.

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Question 5

Name and briefly describe the six key elements of children's naïve theories of biology.

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Question 6

Your friend, Andre, is the father of a 12-month-old daughter, Brooke. Meal time has become a very frustrating time for Andre because Brooke repeatedly pushes her sippy cup and different foods that she is eating off the high chair and onto the floor. The first time that she did this it appeared to Andre that it was an accident but now he is convinced that his daughter is deliberately pushing her cup and food onto the floor to annoy him. Based on what you know about infants being active experimenters, what can you tell Andre that might make him feel better?

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Question 7

Your friend Felipe has a new job as a second grade teacher. He would like to incorporate some of Piaget's theory into his teaching. What teaching practices would you encourage him to use that will foster cognitive growth?

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Question 8

You have been watching your friend Deb trying to teach her son Sean how to do a puzzle. Sean has done this puzzle many times and he usually just needs help with the pieces that are in a difficult area that is all black. Deb is trying to help Sean but her instructions would be appropriate for a child who has never done the puzzle before. What can you tell Deb about Vygotsky's theory, in general, and scaffolding, in particular, that might help her teach Sean in more effective ways?

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Question 9

You are the parent of two young children, ages 4 and 6 years. They have been playing outside and they come running inside asking for a drink. All of the drinking glasses in the house, except two, are dirty. One of these glasses is tall and narrow and the other is short and squat. You KNOW that your children will argue with each other if one thinks that the other child is getting more to drink. Based on your knowledge of conservation of liquid in preoperational children, what should you do to avoid an argument? Explain your answer.

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Question 10

Recently your friend Martha took her sons to a hands-on children's museum. Martha noticed that her 8-year-old son and her 12-year-old son interacted with some of the displays in very different ways. One display involved opening doors to safes by determining the correct combination. Each safe had three, four, or five buttons that had to be pressed in a particular order to open the door. Martha's 8-year-old son randomly pushed the buttons and never found the correct combinations to any of the safes. Martha's 12-year-old son approached the task in a very systematic manner - trying all possible combinations of buttons until the doors opened. Now Martha is concerned that there is something wrong with her younger son. What can you tell Martha about the differences in concrete operational and formal operational thought that might explain her sons' behavior?

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Question 11

Describe three important characteristics of preoperational thinking.

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Question 12

Describe the development of object permanence.

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Question 13

What are some commonly accepted weaknesses of Piaget's theory?

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Question 14

Distinguish between assimilation and accommodation and give an example of each. Explain how they are related to Piaget's concepts of equilibrium and disequilibrium.

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Question 15

Name and briefly describe the five forms of developmental change that occur with age proposed by information-processing theorists.

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Quiz 6: Theories of Cognitive Development