Chapter 6 Quick Quiz
- The first stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development begins with reflex action and ends with mental representations. This first stage is known as the
a. sensorimotor stage. c. concrete operational stage.
b. preoperational stage. d. formal operations stage.
- According to Piaget’s theory, children’s understanding grows through two main processes: ______, in which the child places a new stimulus or experience within the context of the way he or she currently thinks; and ______, in which the child changes his or her way of thinking to include the new stimulus or experience.
a. accommodation; assimilation c. assimilation; accommodation
b. adaptation; organization d. organization; adaptation
- The information-processing approach to cognitive development examines three processes in terms of children’s ability to process information. Those processes are ______, ______, and ______.
a. decay; interference; amnesia c. sensory; short-term memory; long-term memory
b. semantic; episodic; procedural memory d. encoding; storage; retrieval
- For Ashley’s second birthday, her family went on a trip to Disney World, but now, just four years later, Ashley has little or no memory of this family trip. Ashley’s inability to remember this major family excursion is due to
a. memory interference. c. infantile amnesia.
b. retrograde amnesia. d. proactive amnesia.
- All of the following are traditional measures of infant intelligence EXCEPT the
a. visual-recognition memory measurement.
b. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
c. developmental quotient.
d. Bayley Scales of Infant Development.
- Claude gets his mother’s attention by making a kind of grunting noise and then looks at the ball just out of his reach. Claude’s attempt to communicate his desire for the ball is an example of
a. semantics. c. language.
b. babbling d. prelinguistic communication.
- Alfie calls for the “book” when he wants the menu in the neighborhood diner. Alfie’s use of the word “book” to include the menu best illustrates which characterization of early speech?
a. holophrases c. overextension
b. telegraphic d. underextension
- In the nativist approach to language development, theorist Noam Chomsky suggests that an innate mechanism directs language development. He refers to the neural system of the brain hypothesized to permit understanding of language as a(n) ______.
a. language acquisition device c. grammar checker
b. universal grammar d. communication device
- Martha went from person to person asking if they wanted some birthday cake, but when she asked the youngest children at the party her voice pitch rose and she spoke with a type of singing quality. Martha was utilizing ______with the children present.
a. attention-getting speech c. holographic speech
b. infant-directed speech d. telegraphic speech
- Research on deaf infants reveal the following similarities in language development when compared with non-deaf infants, EXCEPT
a. deaf infants appear to babble, as do non-deaf infants.
b. mothers of deaf and non-deaf children both employ infant-directed speech.
c. deaf infants do not seem to overextend when acquiring language.
d. infant-directed speech with deaf infants includes slower tempo in signing and repeated signs.
Chapter 6 Quick Quiz Answers
- Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: a Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: Piaget’s first stage is the sensorimotor stage, which consists of six substages. This stage begins at birth with reflexive actions and continues through the achievement of mental representations.
- Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: In the Piagetian view, children’s understanding grows through assimilation of their experiences into their current way of thinking, or through accommodation of their current way of thinking to their experiences.
- Chapter Section: Information-Processing Approaches to Cognitive Development
Answer: d Page(s): 157 Type: Factual
Rationale: Information-processing approaches to the study of cognitive development seek to learn how individual receive, organize, store, and retrieve information. These are accomplished through encoding, storage, and retrieval processes.
- Chapter Section: Information-Processing Approaches to Cognitive Development
Answer: c Page(s): 159 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: Infantile amnesia refers to the lack of memory for experiences occurring prior to 3 years of age.
- Chapter Section: Information-Processing Approaches to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 161 Type: Factual
Rationale: The developmental quotient, Bayley Scales of Infant Development, and the visual-recognition memory measurement are all traditional measures used for infant intelligence. The MMPI is not used with infants.
- Chapter Section: The Roots of Language
Answer: d Page(s): 165, 166 Type: Applied
Rationale: This is an example of prelinguistic communication, communication through sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation, and other nonlinguistic means.
- Chapter Section: The Roots of Language
Answer: c Page(s): 167–169 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: All of these answers represent characterizations of early speech; however, the example best illustrates the use of overextension, or the broad application or overgeneralization of a word. Alfie applies the word “book” too broadly to include the diner’s menu.
- Chapter Section: The Roots of Language
Answer: a Page(s): 170 Type: Factual
Rationale: The nativist approach to language development is a theory that a genetically determined, innate mechanism directs language development. Linguist Noam Chomsky hypothesized that a language acquisition device or a neural system that permits the understanding of language provides a child with the strategies and techniques for learning the language to which the child is exposed.
- Chapter Section: The Roots of Language
Answer: a Page(s): 170, 171 Type: Applied
Rationale: Martha was using infant-directed speech. Infant-directed speech is a shift in your language to a style of speech that characterizes much of the verbal communication directed toward infants. The term infant-directed speech is a gender-free term used in place of the former motherese.
- Chapter Section: The Roots of Language
Answer: c Page(s): 166, 173 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: The process of language acquisition for deaf children through signing has some striking similarities with the process of language acquisition for non-deaf children. Consider the fact that deaf children babble, using signs much as non-deaf children babble. In addition, mothers of deaf children also employ the use of infant-directed speech, in this case using a slower tempo for signing and often repeating signs.
Chapter 6
Cognitive Development in Infancy
Multiple Choice Questions
6.1 Piaget’s stage theory is composed of a series of four universal stages that occur in a fixed order from birth through adolescence and are, in chronological order
a. formal operational; concrete operational; preoperational; and sensorimotor.
b. sensorimotor; preoperational; concrete operational; and formal operational.
c. sensorimotor; formal operational; preoperational; and concrete operational.
d. sensorimotor; formal operational; concrete operational; and preoperational.
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: Piaget’s theory is a stage-based theory that occurs in a fixed order from birth through adolescence. The four universal stages are, in order, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational.
6.2 Piaget’s views of the ways infants learn could be summed in which of the following equations?
a. action = knowledge c. perception = knowledge
b. facts = knowledge d. experience = perception
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: a Page(s): 148, 149 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: Piaget’s theory argues against knowledge from facts communicated by others, as well as through sensation or perception. Instead, Piaget espoused that action equals knowledge.
6.3 Piaget believed that the basic building blocks of the way we understand the world are mental structures called ______, organized patterns of functioning that adapt and change with mental development.
a. schemes c. accommodation
b. assimilation d. concepts
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: a Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: Schemes are mental structures that are organized patterns of functioning; they adapt and change with mental development.
6.4 According to Piaget, ______is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking.
a. scheme c. accommodation
b. assimilation d. concept
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: Assimilation is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking.
6.5 The first time Aiesha saw a flying squirrel, she called it a bird. Aiesha is ______the squirrel to her existing scheme of bird.
a. accommodating c. comparing
b. assimilating d. categorizing
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: Assimilation is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. In this example, Aiesha is relating the flying squirrel to her current scheme of a flying animal is a bird.
6.6 Twelve-month-old Mitchell loves to play with his kickball. One day his father came home with a new ball for him to enjoy. Mitchell jumped up and down and shouted gleefully, “Kickball!” His father said, “No, Mitchell, this is a soccer ball.” Mitchell is ______the soccer ball to his existing scheme of kickball.
a. accommodating c. comparing
b. assimilating d. categorizing
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: Assimilation is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. In this example, Mitchell is relating the soccer to his current scheme of a ball of a certain size as a kickball.
6.7 The first time Charlie saw a full moon he called it a ball. Charlie is most likely ______the full moon into his ball scheme.
a. organizing c. accommodating
b. assimilating d. transferring
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 149 Type: Applied
Rationale: Assimilation is the process in which people understand an experience in terms of their current stage of cognitive development and way of thinking. In this example, Charlie is relating the moon to his current scheme of a round object as a ball.
6.8 According to Piaget, ______is the result of making changes in our existing ways of thinking, and it occurs in response to encounters with new stimuli or events.
a. scheme c. accommodation
b. assimilation d. concept
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: c Page(s): 149 Type: Factual
Rationale: Accommodation is changes in ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli
or events.
6.9 The first time 10-month-old Daniel tried to use a cup and a straw, he tipped the whole cup up like a bottle and got very wet. His mother quickly intervened and put the cup in an upright position. Soon, Daniel learned that you may tip up your bottle, but cups and straws must remain in an upright position. Daniel’s modification to his drinking scheme is the result of a(n)
a. scheme. c. accommodation.
b. assimilation. d. concept.
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: c Page(s): 149 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: Accommodation is changes in ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli
or events. In this example, the new encounter is a cup and straw, as opposed to the familiar bottle. At first, Daniel treats the cup like a bottle, but he changes his way of thinking and therefore uses the cup and straw differently than the bottle.
6.10 During a visit to the dentist, 2-year-old Arya saw a mural with a mermaid in it. Arya said, “Hey, Mom, why is that fish woman swimming in the water?” Arya is most likely beginning the process of
a. schemation. c. accommodation.
b. assimilation. d. concept.
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: c Page(s): 149 Type: Applied
Rationale: Accommodation is changes in ways of thinking that occur in response to encounters with new stimuli or events. In this example, Arya is beginning to question the current way of her thinking and is beginning the process of changing her thinking to fit this new information.
6.11 According to Piaget, the earliest schemes are primarily limited to the ______with which we are all born, such as sucking and rooting.
a. reflexes c. ideas
b. concepts d. notions
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: a Page(s): 149, 150 Type: Factual
Rationale: Schemes are, at first, related to sensorimotor activity, and the earliest schemes are primarily limited to reflexes.
6.12 In Piaget’s theory, the ______stage is the initial major stage of cognitive development, which can be broken down into six substages.
a. preoperational c. formal operational
b. concrete operational d. sensorimotor
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: d Page(s): 150 Type: Factual
Rationale: The sensorimotor stage is the initial stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development.
6.13 The first substage of the sensorimotor period is ______, which encompasses the first month of life.
a. primary circular reactions c. secondary circular reactions
b. simple reflexes d. the sleep-wake cycle
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: b Page(s): 150 Type: Factual
Rationale: The earliest schemes are reflexes and these simple reflexes also represent the first substage of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.
6.14 Three-week-old Alex will suck on anything that touches his lips whether it was his hand, his father’s back, a cloth diaper, or a toy. This indiscriminate sucking is an example of a
a. simple reflex. c. primary circular reaction.
b. circular reaction. d. secondary circular reaction.
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: a Page(s): 150 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: The earliest schemes are reflexes, and these simple reflexes also represent the first substage of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. In this example, Alex is displaying the sucking reflex.
6.15 Nicholas was a breast-fed baby. However, when he was 3 weeks old, his mother introduced him to a bottle. Nicholas quickly learned to modify his ______scheme to the different sucking patterns required by the bottle.
a. circular reaction c. secondary circular reaction
b. primary circular reaction d. reflex
Chapter Section: Piaget’s Approach to Cognitive Development
Answer: d Page(s): 150 Type: Conceptual
Rationale: The earliest schemes are reflexes, and these simple reflexes also represent the first substage of the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development. In this example, Nicholas is modifying his sucking reflex.