Chapter 6 Cognitive Development: Piagetian, Core Knowledge, and Vygotskian Perspectives
CHAPTER 6
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT: PIAGETIAN, CORE KNOWLEDGE, AND VYGOTSKIAN PERSPECTIVES
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1)Research indicates that children’s cognitive immaturity
A)results from overstimulation during infancy and toddlerhood.
B)results from a lack of stimulation.
C)hinders their mastery of basic academic skills.
D)may be adaptive.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 226
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.1
2)Piaget’s theory is described as a constructivist approach because he
A)stressed the social and cultural contributions to children’s thinking.
B)viewed children as discovering virtually all knowledge about their world through their own activity.
C)emphasized how genetic and environmental factors combine to yield more complex ways of thinking.
D)believed that children construct knowledge through adult training and modeling.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 226
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.1
3)In Piaget’s theory, children move through four stages
A)during which their exploratory behaviors transform into logical and abstract intelligence.
B)not always in a sequential manner, depending on the children’s innate intelligence.
C)sequentially at a rate observed in children everywhere.
D)in which different cognitive skills follow unique courses of development.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 226
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.1
4)In Piaget’s theory, the most powerful ______are ______and ______.
A)schemes; categorization; hierarchical classification
B)mental representations; images; concepts
C)operations; hypothetico-deductive reasoning; logical necessity
D)cognitive skills; private speech; propositional thought
Answer: B
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
5)According to Piaget’s theory,
A)the disappearance of schemes marks the transition from sensorimotor to preoperational thought.
B)environmental, but not genetic, factors can affect the speed with which children move through cognitive stages.
C)schemes are built through interaction with adults or more skilled peers.
D)two processes account for the change from sensorimotor to representational schemes.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.1
6)In Piaget’s theory, adaptation refers to
A)the back-and-forth movement between equilibration and disequilibration.
B)the process of building schemes through direct interaction with the environment.
C)a rearrangement and linking together of schemes.
D)a steady, comfortable cognitive state.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
7)Children use current schemes to interpret their world in the process of ______, whereas ______allows them to create new schemes or adjust old ones after noticing that their current way of thinking does not capture the environment completely.
A)assimilation; accommodation
B)adaptation; organization
C)adaptation; assimilation
D)equilibration; organization
Answer: A
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
8)When 18-month-old James is given peas for the first time, he picks one up, throws it, and says “ball.” According to Piaget’s theory, James is most likely ______the pea into his ball scheme.
A)accommodating
B)organizing
C)equilibrating
D)assimilating
Answer: D
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.1
9)Two-year-old Viola calls her father’s swimming goggles “water glasses.” According to Piaget’s theory, Viola is most likely
A)accommodating.
B)assimilating.
C)organizing.
D)equilibrating.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.1
10)In Piaget’s theory, when children are in a state of disequilibrium,
A)their schemes become disorganized and development is temporarily stalled.
B)they realize that new information does not match their current schemes.
C)they are likely to construct inefficient schemes.
D)their existing schemes are not likely to change very much.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
11)According to Piaget’s theory, during periods of rapid cognitive change, children
A)shift from accommodation to assimilation.
B)shift from assimilation to accommodation.
C)equally balance assimilation and accommodation.
D)are in a state of cognitive equilibrium.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
12)In Piaget’s theory, children use organization to
A)build schemes through direct interaction with the environment.
B)adjust old schemes and create new ones to fit with the environment.
C)accommodate the back-and-forth movement between cognitive equilibration and disequilibration.
D)internally rearrange and link schemes to create a strongly interconnected cognitive system.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.1
13)Baby Pedro has combined his reaching, grasping, and sucking schemes into one higher-order scheme that allows him to reach for his pacifier and put it into his mouth to suck. In Piaget’s theory, this achievement is an example of
A)accommodation.
B)assimilation.
C)organization.
D)adaptation.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 227
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.1
14)Which of the following behaviors is characteristic of infants in Piaget’s sensorimotor Substage 2?
A)a baby who drops toys down the steps in varying ways
B)a baby who accidentally makes a smacking noise while eating and later tries to reproduce the sound
C)a baby who can push aside a cover to retrieve a hidden toy
D)a baby who accidentally hits a toy hung in front of her and then tries to repeat this effect
Answer: B
Page Ref: 228
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
15)In Piaget’s theory, primary circular reactions are oriented toward ______, whereas secondary circular reactions are oriented toward ______.
A)the infant’s own body; the surrounding world
B)involuntary actions; voluntary actions
C)external actions; internal representations
D)concrete thought; abstract thought
Answer: A
Page Ref: 228
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.2
16)According to Piaget, tertiary circular reactions include
A)the ability to find a hidden object that has been moved while out of sight.
B)deferred imitation and private speech.
C)the ability to search in several locations for a hidden object.
D)make-believe play and social speech.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 228
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.2
17)Piaget divided the sensorimotor stage into six substages based on
A)anecdotal evidence provided by hundreds of parents.
B)rigorous laboratory experiments with young children.
C)observations of his three children.
D)his research with children in French orphanages.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 228
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.2
18)When Baby Carissa “stumbles” onto a new experience, such as making a mobile hanging over her crib move by kicking her feet, engaging in that activity repeatedly will
A)strengthen Carissa’s response and create a new scheme.
B)provide Carissa with entertainment until she is better able to explore her world.
C)lead to the refinement of reflexive schemes.
D)facilitate cognitive equilibrium.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 228
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
19)Baby Raja accidentally pushes over a tower of blocks. Each time his sister rebuilds the tower, Raja tries to push it over. In Piaget’s theory, this is an example of a ______circular reaction.
A)reflexive
B)primary
C)secondary
D)tertiary
Answer: C
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
20)Baby Henry enters Piaget’s Substage 4 of the sensorimotor period when his schemes
A)are directed toward his body.
B)are repeated with variation to produce new outcomes.
C)are coordinated deliberately to solve simple problems.
D)represent sudden solutions rather than trial-and-error solutions.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
21)______and ______are the two landmark cognitive changes that take place in sensorimotor Substage 4 of Piaget’s theory.
A)Deferred imitation; make-believe play
B)Conservation; centration
C)Dual representation; analogical problem solving
D)Intentional behavior; object permanence
Answer: D
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.2
22)Baby Lakota is shown a ball that is then hidden under a cover. What must Lakota do to retrieve the ball?
A)Lakota will need to recall the location of the ball.
B)Lakota must coordinate “pushing aside” and “grasping” schemes to retrieve the ball.
C)Lakota will not be able to retrieve the ball until she is in Substage 6 of the sensorimotor period.
D)Lakota will have trouble retrieving the ball until she no longer makes the A-not-B error.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
23)Each time Mr. Chow hides 7-month-old Jana’s doll under her blanket, she retrieves the toy. When Mr. Chow then hides the doll under a pillow near the blanket, Jana continues to look under the blanket for the doll. Jana is demonstrating
A)the secondary circular reaction.
B)habituation and recovery.
C)displaced reference.
D)the A-not-B search error.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
24)Infants in Substage 5
A)repeat behaviors with variations.
B)become skilled at reaching for and manipulating objects.
C)use their capacity for intentional behavior to try to change events.
D)arrive at solutions to problems suddenly rather than through trial-and-error behavior.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.2
25)Baby Waldo is twisting and turning triangles, circles, and squares to fit them into his shape-sorter toy. According to Piaget, this behavior is best described as a ______circular reaction.
A)reflexive
B)primary
C)secondary
D)tertiary
Answer: D
Page Ref: 229
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.2
26)Toddlers in Substage 6 of the sensorimotor period can solve object-permanence problems involving invisible displacement because they have developed the capacity to
A)engage in goal-directed behavior.
B)construct mental representations.
C)carry out means–end action sequences.
D)understand dual representation.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 230
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.2
27)In the violation-of-expectation method, ______suggests that Baby Will is “surprised” by a deviation from physical reality.
A)a lack of attention and unfocused behavior
B)heightened attention to the unexpected event
C)smiling rather than crying
D)quick recovery to a familiar event
Answer: B
Page Ref: 230
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
28)Some critics of the violation-of-expectation method
A)believe that it indicates a conscious awareness of physical events rather than a limited understanding.
B)argue that wide individual differences in recovery times exist.
C)believe that it indicates limited, implicit awareness of physical events rather than conscious understanding.
D)argue that it is an inappropriate task to use with very young infants.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 230
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.3
29)Baillargeon’s violation-of-expectation studies provided evidence that infants have some knowledge of object permanence
A)between 1½ and 2½ months.
B)between 2½ and 3½ months.
C)no earlier than 6 months.
D)after 12 months.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 231
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
30)When infants are tested to discover whether they understand the concept of object permanence and are shown two events—one expected and one unexpected—the infants
A)show no awareness that the events differ from one another.
B)ignore the unexpected event.
C)look longer at the unexpected event than the expected event.
D)show a preference for the expected event.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 231
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
31)Baby Rina, who is still developing the expertise at motor skills necessary for the search task, is more likely to make the A-not-B search error because
A)she does not yet understand object permanence.
B)her short attention span prevents her from thinking beyond A.
C)her reaching scheme is limited to reflexive actions.
D)she has little attention left to focus on inhibiting her habitual reach toward A in favor of B.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 232
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
32)In Piaget’s theory, infants are unable to mentally represent experience until about _____ months of age.
A)3
B)9
C)12
D)18
Answer: D
Page Ref: 232
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
33)Laboratory research suggests that deferred imitation is present at ______of age.
A)6 weeks
B)12 weeks
C)6 months
D)14 months
Answer: A
Page Ref: 232
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
34)Toddlers’ ability to represent others’ intentions
A)occurs later than Piaget predicted.
B)requires the refinement of reflexive schemes.
C)seems to have rootsin earlier sensorimotor activity.
D)leads to gains in categorization.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 233
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
35)Categorization helps infants learn and remember by
A)teaching them how to group abstract stimuli.
B)enhancing their symbolic understanding.
C)reducing the enormous amount of new information they encounter every day.
D)pairing objects with word associations.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 233
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.3
36)Based on habituation and recovery research, Dahlia’s parents know that between 6 and 12 months old, Dahlia will be able to
A)only sort items into one or two basic categories, such as animals and people.
B)group objects into an impressive array of categories like food items, furniture, birds, animals, kitchen utensils, and spatial location.
C)organize her physical world but not yet categorize her emotional and social worlds.
D)sort familiar and novel items based on color, size, shape, and function.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 234
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
37)Some researchers believe that before the end of the first year, babies undergo a fundamental shift from a(n) ______basis to a(n) ______basis for constructing categories
A)logical; abstract
B)perceptual; abstract
C)logical; conceptual
D)perceptual; conceptual
Answer: D
Page Ref: 234–235
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
38)Jae-Sun is a toddler growing up in Korea where children learn a language in which object names are often omitted from sentences. For that reason, he will most likely develop object-grouping skills ______-speaking counterparts.
A)later than his English
B)earlier than his English
C)at about the same time as his English
D)earlier than his Spanish
Answer: A
Page Ref: 235
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
39)Mara is 10months of age. Research suggests that Mara can
A)engage in sociodramatic play.
B)imitate novel behaviors.
C)engage in analogical problem solving.
D)appreciate the symbolic nature of pictures.
Answer: C
Page Ref: 235
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
40)By the end of the first year, infants
A)use language to acquire new information about an absent object.
B)use pictures as vehicles for communicating with others and acquiring new knowledge.
C)begin to use an object that already has an obvious use as a symbol for another object.
D)form flexible mental representations of how to use tools to get objects.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 235
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.3
41)Around the first birthday, the symbolic capacity called “displaced reference” emerges, which allows toddlers to
A)use abstract thought to solve problems.
B)form initialmental representations that can be used to evaluate further information.
C)categorize objects on the basis of their physical attributes.
D)recognize that words can be used to cue mental images of things not physically present.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 235
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
42)The capacity to use ______as a flexible symbolic tool improves from the end of the second into the third year.
A)make-believe
B)language
C)deferred imitation
D)the circular reaction
Answer: B
Page Ref: 236
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
43)Before about 9 months of age, how are babies likely to treat a picture of a person or an object?
A)They touch or manipulate the picture in ways that reveal confusion about the picture’s real nature.
B)They do not seem to have difficulty distinguishing between the symbol and the referent.
C)They use it as a tool to modify an existing mental representation.
D)They treat it as a symbol.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 236
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.3
44)Initially, infants respond to videos of people
A)as make-believe characters.
B)in a fearful manner.
C)with indifference, paying little attention to the characters.
D)as if viewing people directly.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 237Box: SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION: Baby Learning from TV and Video: The Video Deficit Effect
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.3
45)Gregor just turned 2½. By this age, the video deficit effect
A)declines.
B)increases.
C)peaks.
D)stabilizes.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 237 Box: SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION: Baby Learning from TV and Video: The Video Deficit Effect
Skill: Apply
Objective: 6.3
46)Research indicates that amount of TV viewing is negatively related to 8- to 18-month-olds’
A)motor development.
B)language process.
C)analogical problem solving.
D)visual development.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 237 Box: SOCIAL ISSUES: EDUCATION: Baby Learning from TV and Video: The Video Deficit Effect
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.3
47)Piaget believed that the major benefit of make-believe play during the preoperational stage is to
A)strengthen representational schemes.
B)exercise logical reasoning skills.
C)build creativity and imagination.
D)facilitate perspective-taking ability.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 239
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.4
48)By the time children reach age 4 or 5, they combine their play schemes with those of peersby creating and coordinating roles in
A)sociodramatic play.
B)adult-directed play acting.
C)secondary circular reactions.
D)categorization of others’ intentions.
Answer: A
Page Ref: 240
Skill: Remember
Objective: 6.4
49)Research on the development of make-believe play indicates that
A)girls spend more time in sociodramatic play than boys.
B)preschoolers who devote more time to sociodramatic play are seen as more socially competent by their teachers.
C)school-age children are more self-centered in their pretend play than preschoolers.
D)preschoolers who create imaginary companions are at risk for maladjustment.
Answer: B
Page Ref: 240
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.4
50)Between 25 and 45 percent of preschoolers and young school-age children spend much time in solitary make-believe,
A)avoiding contact with adults or peers.
B)which interferes in their ability to form friendships.
C)which is a sign of maladjustment.
D)creating imaginary companions.
Answer: D
Page Ref: 240
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.4
51)Because of ______, preschoolers are only able to draw figures in their simplest forms.
A)limited adult instruction
B)a lack of motivation
C)an inability to form detailed mental representations
D)fine-motor and cognitive limitations
Answer: D
Page Ref: 242
Skill: Understand
Objective: 6.4
52)Research conducted on schooled and nonschooled children in the Jimi Valley of Papua New Guinea indicates that
A)nonrepresentational scribbles seem to be a universal beginning in drawing.
B)schooled children include fewer details in their drawings than nonschooled children.
C)early drawings of the human figure produced by nonschooled children emphasize the head and face over the hands and feet.
D)schooling has minimal impact on children’s first representational shapes and forms.