Child & Adolescent Psychology - Chapter 9: Early Childhood, Cognitive Development

PSYC 3370

preoperational stage

2-7, the second stage of piaget’s scheme characterized by inflexible and irreversible mental manipulation of symbols

symbolic/pretend play

children make believe that objects and toy are other than what they are

parasocial interactions

one-sided conversations between a person and a imaginary friend

operations

flexible, reversible mental manipulations of objects in which objects can be mentally transformed and returned to their original states

egocentrism

putting yourself at the center of things and being unable to consider other perspectives

precausal

type of thought where cause-and-effect relationships are instead attributed to will and other preoperational concepts

transductive reasoning

reasoning from the specific to the specific

animism

attribution of life and intentionality to inanimate objects

artificialism

the belief that environmental features were made by people

conservation

principle that properties of substances remain the same when superficial characteristics are changed

centration

focusing on one dimension of a situation while ignoring others

irreversibility

lack of recognition that actions can be reversed

class inclusion

the principle that one category/class can have multiple subclasses

essentialist

the position that differences between racial groups are fixed due to an inborn nature that defines members of various racial groups

theory of mind

common-sense understanding of how the mind works

appearance-reality distinction

the difference between real events and mental events, fantasies, and misleading appearances

mental representations

the mental forms that a real object/event can take

scripts

abstract generalized accounts of familiar repeated events

autobiographical memory

the memory of specific episodes or events

rehearsal

repetition of mental/behavioral/both

fast-mapping

a process of quickly determining a word’s meaning, which facilitates children’s vocabulary development

whole-object assumption

the assumption that words refer to whole objects and not to their components/characteristics

contrast/mutual exclusivity assumption

the assumption that objects have only one label or that if a word means one thing, it cannot mean another

overregularization

the application of regular rules to irregular verbs and nouns

pragmatics

the practical aspects of communication like the adaptation of language to fit the social situation

private speech

vygotsky’s concept of the ultimate binding of language and thought

originates in vocalizations that may regulate the child’s behavior and become internalized by 6-7

is having imaginary playmates a sign of loneliness or psychological problems?

false, it points to positive traits like less aggression and more creativity

do 2 year olds assume that their caregivers are aware of everything that happens to them, even when they are not present?

true, because they are egocentric

is “because mommy wants me to” a good explanation for a 3 year old?

true, because they are egocentric

are children’s levels of intelligence (beyond knowledge and skills) influenced by early learning experiences?

true, especially stimulating home environments

does an academic preschool education provide children with advantages in school later on?

true, they increase IQ scores as well

are 1-2 year olds too young to remember past events?

false, they can remember things even at 11.5 months

would a 3 year old explain that she and her mother had finished singing a song by saying “we singed it all up”?

true, they do not understand irregular verbs or nouns yet

when 3 year olds say “daddy goed away” instead of “daddy went away”, is it because they don’t understand grammar?

false, they do understand grammar which is why they are adding the past tense of a regular verb

according to piaget, what kind of play is based on the use of symbols?

symbolic or pretend play

what are mental acts in which objects are changed and can be returned to their original states?

operations

piaget used the three-mountains task to show that preoperational children are what?

egocentric

what kind of thinking do children use to attribute will to inanimate objects?

animistic

in what kind of reasoning do children reason from one specific event to another?

transductive reasoning

what law holds that properties of substances stay the same even when their shape changes?

conservation

preoperational children focus on how many dimensions of a problem at once?

one

cognitive what is temporary support provided by a parent/teacher to a child learning to perform a task?

scaffolding

children of parents who are emotionally and verbally what show advanced social and language development?

responsive and stimulating

headstart programs can or cannot significantly enhance the cognitive development of low income children?

can

during elementary and high school, are graduates of preschool programs more or less likely to have been held back or placed in classes for slow learners?

less likely

do american children spend more or less time watching TV than they do in school?

more

moses and flavell used crayons and a clown to learn whether preschoolers can understand what beliefs?

false beliefs

by 3, most children begin to realize that people gain knowledge about things through what?

senses

are children capable of simple recognition or recall during infancy?

recognition

memory for events in your life is referred to as what kind of memory?

autobiographical/episodic memory

are preschoolers’ memories for activities better or worse than their memories for objects?

better

is interest level positively or negatively connected with ability to remember?

positively

using mental representation to remember is termed what?

rehearsal/rote rehearsal/maintenance rehearsal/rote learning

word learning does not occur gradually but is rather a fast what process?

mapping process

the what object assumption refers to the fact that young children assume that words refer to whole objects and not to their components?

whole object assumption

young children tend to assume that objects have how many labels?

one

young children have what assumption, which holds that novel terms must refer to unfamiliar objects and not familiar, already labeled objects?

contrast assumption

vygotsky concept of what speech refers to the fact that what was spoken aloud at 4-5 becomes an internal dialogue by 6-7

inner speech

according to piaget, a 3 year old’s general structuring of cause and effect is considered to be what?

precausal

a preoperational child may believe that dreams are real, this is an example of what?

confusion of mental and physical events

according to lev vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, scaffolding is what?

a temporary cognitive support provided by a paent or teacher to a learning child

what is the best predictor of IQ scores for preschool and school-age children?

the home environment

preschool programs like headstart have been shown to what?

reduce food insecurity

the development of autobiographical/episodic memory is linked to what?

the development of language language skills

what is the process in which children may quickly attach a new word to its appropriate concept?

fast-mapping