Chapter 8: Cognitive Development, Piaget, and Vygotsky

Q122-144 (23 total)

122. What is a constructivist view of cognitive development?

B. Children actively build and revise knowledge through interactions with their environments.

123. What is a schema in Piaget's theory?

A. An organized mental framework used to interpret and respond to information.

124. Which sequence correctly lists Piaget's four stages of cognitive development?

B. Sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational.

125. Which ability is most characteristic of the sensorimotor stage?

B. Learning through sensory experiences and actions, with developing object permanence.

126. Which ability is most characteristic of Piaget's preoperational stage?

A. Symbolic thought and language, alongside limitations such as egocentrism and difficulty with conservation tasks.

127. Which ability is characteristic of the concrete operational stage?

A. Logical reasoning about concrete situations, including conservation.

128. Which ability is characteristic of the formal operational stage?

C. Abstract and hypothetical reasoning, although performance varies across tasks and contexts.

129. What is conservation?

A. Understanding that an amount remains the same despite a change in appearance or arrangement, provided nothing is added or removed.

130. A child believes that a tall, narrow glass contains more water than a short, wide glass, even though the same amount was poured into each.

This most directly demonstrates difficulty with:

B. Conservation.

131. What is egocentrism in Piaget's theory?

B. Difficulty taking another person's perspective.

132. What is egocentric speech?

A. Speech directed toward oneself that can accompany thinking and activity, rather than being primarily intended for another listener.

133. What is theory of mind?

A. Understanding that other people have their own beliefs, desires, intentions, and knowledge, which may differ from one's own.

134. In a classic false-belief task, a child must predict where a character will look for an object that was moved without the character seeing it.

What ability is being assessed?

B. Theory of mind.

135. Which finding challenges a strict interpretation of Piaget's stage theory?

A. Children's performance can improve when tasks are simplified or made familiar, suggesting abilities may emerge earlier or vary across contexts.

136. What is an important difference between Piaget and Vygotsky?

A. Piaget emphasized children's active construction of knowledge and stage-like changes; Vygotsky emphasized social interaction, cultural tools, and guided learning.

137. In Vygotsky's theory, what does interpsychological development refer to?

A. Processes occurring between people through social interaction.

138. What does intrapsychological development refer to?

B. Processes that become part of an individual's internal psychological functioning.

139. What is internalization?

A. Transforming socially mediated activities and strategies into internal psychological processes.

140. What is the zone of proximal development (ZPD)?

C. The range of tasks a learner can accomplish with appropriate guidance but cannot yet reliably complete independently.

141. What is scaffolding?

A. Providing temporary, adjusted support that enables a learner to perform a task and gradually withdrawing that support as competence grows.

142. What role do cultural tools play in Vygotsky's theory?

B. Tools such as language, writing, number systems, and symbolic systems mediate thinking and learning.

143. What is the ratchet effect in cultural evolution?

B. Cultural innovations can be preserved and built upon across generations, enabling cumulative cultural development.

144. A teacher models a difficult problem, offers hints, and gradually reduces help as a student gains independence.

Which concepts does this best illustrate?

A. Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development.