Question 1

The defining characteristic of centration is ____ thought.

Accepted Answer

Centration is a term used in psychology to describe a kind of thought observed in early childhood, where a child focuses on one aspect of a situation, neglecting other important features. This is why it is described as "narrowly focused" thought. It is a concept introduced by Jean Piaget to explain the cognitive limitations in children during the preoperational stage of his theory of cognitive development.

Question 2

During a power outage, Blair does not want to finish eating her vanilla ice cream because, as she puts it, "When the lights went out, the ice cream turned black, and I don't like black ice cream!" Blair is in the ____ stage of development.

Accepted Answer

Blair is in the preoperational stage of development, which typically includes children ages 2-7. This stage is characterized by egocentrism and a lack of understanding of the principles of conservation—the understanding that certain properties of objects, like volume, mass, and number, remain the same despite changes in the forms or arrangements of objects. Blair's reaction to the ice cream changing color in the dark (due to lack of light, not an actual change in the ice cream) illustrates this lack of understanding, typical of the preoperational stage.

Question 3

The conservation of liquid task directly assesses a child's level of

Accepted Answer

The conservation of liquid task assesses a child's understanding that the quantity of liquid remains the same even when its appearance changes, which is a concept that challenges centration. Centration is the tendency to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting others, a characteristic of preoperational stage thinking in Piaget's theory of cognitive development.

Question 4

The theory that human infants are born with a rudimentary knowledge of the world and they use their experience to expand this knowledge underlies the ____ hypothesis.

Accepted Answer

The core knowledge hypothesis suggests that human infants have an innate, basic understanding of the world, which they then build upon through experiences. This contrasts with the tabula rasa view, which posits that infants are born with no knowledge and acquire it solely through experience.

Question 5

Piaget used the three-mountain problem to assess a child's level of

Accepted Answer

The three-mountain problem was designed by Piaget to assess a child's level of egocentrism. In this task, children are asked to describe what a doll sees from different positions around a model of three mountains, testing their ability to understand perspectives different from their own.

Question 6

Michael, who is a preoperational thinker, watches as a movie character appears to turn from a nice teenager into a werewolf. What is Michael's most likely reaction?

Accepted Answer

Preoperational thinkers, typically children aged 2 to 7, tend to focus on the appearance of things rather than their underlying reality. Therefore, Michael is likely to believe that the character has actually become a werewolf, leading to a reaction of terror.

Question 7

When Noam bumps into a table, he says to it, "You bumped into me because you're mean." Noam is exhibiting

Accepted Answer

Noam is attributing life and intention to an inanimate object (the table), which is a characteristic of animism. This is a common cognitive behavior in early childhood where children believe that non-living objects have lifelike qualities and are capable of actions and feelings.

Question 8

When asked to describe why storm clouds travel so slowly in the sky, Sirius gives several interesting answers. Which of her answers provides the best example of animism?

Accepted Answer

Animism is the belief that natural objects, phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls or consciousness. Sirius's answer that storm clouds "have to crawl" because they "have no legs" personifies the clouds, attributing them with animal-like characteristics and intentions, which is a clear example of animism.

Question 9

Which child does Piaget's theory have the most difficulty explaining?

Accepted Answer

Daisy has mastered the conservation task but fails the three-mountain task, which Piaget's theory has difficulty explaining.

Question 10

According to Piaget, which normally developing child would most likely have just begun to engage in preoperational thinking?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's preoperational stage typically begins around age 2 (24 months) and lasts until about age 7. This stage is characterized by the development of language and the use of symbols, but thinking is still intuitive and egocentric.

Question 11

One criticism of Piaget's theory is that it

Accepted Answer

The answer of One criticism of Piaget's theory is that...

Question 12

Marina is visiting her dad's office on a take-your-child-to-work day. Just after they arrive, an executive bursts into the room and screams at Marina's father about a poorly written report he submitted. All the time that he is being berated, Marina's dad keeps smiling. Once the executive has left, Marina turns to her dad and says, "You really must like it when your boss hollers at you." Marina's lack of understanding that one's internal state may not match an external state is best explained by the concept of

Accepted Answer

Marina's interpretation that her dad must enjoy being yelled at because he is smiling reflects a misunderstanding of the concept of appearance as reality, which involves taking external appearances or expressions at face value without recognizing that internal states may not match these outward expressions.

Question 13

In the children's television show Pee-wee's Playhouse , the floor, globe, and chair could talk, move, and had their own personalities. The fact that many young children view such objects as being "alive" is consistent with the Piagetian concept of

Accepted Answer

The Piagetian concept of animism refers to the cognitive tendency of young children to attribute life and lifelike qualities to inanimate objects, which is consistent with the portrayal of objects like the floor, globe, and chair in Pee-wee's Playhouse.

Question 14

Which is not a Piagetian-based implication for teaching?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's theory emphasizes active learning and discovery, suggesting that students learn best through experiences that allow them to explore, experiment, and solve problems on their own. Providing answers directly contradicts this approach, as it discourages independent thinking and problem-solving.

Question 15

Research with "possible" and "impossible" events has led to the conclusion that infants

Accepted Answer

Research involving "possible" and "impossible" events has shown that infants develop an understanding of object permanence earlier than Jean Piaget originally theorized. Piaget suggested that object permanence emerges during the sensorimotor stage of development, which spans from birth to about 2 years of age, with full understanding developing by around 18-24 months. However, more recent studies using different methodologies have indicated that even younger infants, sometimes as young as a few months old, can demonstrate some understanding of object permanence, suggesting that this cognitive skill begins to develop earlier than Piaget proposed.

Question 16

Which is a legitimate criticism of Piaget's theory?

Accepted Answer

Piaget's theory has been criticized for not sufficiently accounting for the influence of sociocultural factors on cognitive development. He focused more on the stages of cognitive development and how children interact with their environment, but less on how cultural and social interactions shape cognitive growth.

Question 17

Preoperational thinker Blake has edged his way close to the top rim of the Grand Canyon. His mother then asks him, "What do you think someone at the bottom of the canyon looking up would see?" Given the egocentric nature of his thought, Blake's most likely response would be

Accepted Answer

Preoperational thinkers, typically children ages 2 to 7, have difficulty understanding perspectives different from their own, a characteristic known as egocentrism. Therefore, Blake is likely to assume that someone at the bottom of the canyon would see the same thing he sees from the top.

Question 18

Donny's mother has just poured two glasses of orange juice, one for Donny and one for his sister. After they are poured, Donny becomes very upset that he got less juice than his sister. Their mother points out that while Donny's glass is short, it is also wider, and thus both children have the same amount. Donny continues to protest, arguing that his juice is shorter, thus he has less juice. Piaget would explain Donny's behavior as being the result of

Accepted Answer

Donny's behavior is an example of centration, a concept from Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Centration refers to the tendency of children in the preoperational stage to focus on one aspect of a situation while neglecting others. In this case, Donny is focusing solely on the height of the juice in the glass, ignoring the width that compensates for the difference in height.

Question 19

Four-week-old Dixie appears to understand that when you push a cup over the edge of a table, the cup will fall to the ground. Such an understanding would provide support for the concept of

Accepted Answer

Dixie's understanding that a cup will fall when pushed over the edge of a table reflects an early grasp of basic physical principles, such as gravity and object permanence, which is referred to as naive physics. This concept suggests that even young infants have some innate understanding of the physical world.

Question 20

Which best exemplifies the core knowledge hypothesis?

Accepted Answer

The core knowledge hypothesis suggests that humans are born with an innate, basic understanding of certain concepts, such as numbers, which is exemplified by Gene's innate understanding of quantity without being taught.

Quiz 4: The Emergence of Thought and Language: Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood