Chapter 6

Question 1

During Piaget’s sensorimotor period, infant’s repetition of interesting actions on objects

Answer 1

secondary circular reaction

Question 2

concept that new knowledge is created through changes in neural structures in response to experience

Answer 2

neuroconstructivism theory

Question 3

understanding that items continue to exist when they are no longer detectable to the senses

Answer 3

object permanence

Question 4

process of modifying existing schemes to incorporate or adapt to new experiences

Answer 4

accommodation

Question 5

verbal communication for the self, commonly used by preschoolers to guide their activities

Answer 5

private speech

Question 6

during Piaget’s sensorimotor period, infant’s experimenting with actions to find new ways to solve problems

Answer 6

tertiary circular reaction

Question 7

postformal operational thought in which knowledge depends on context and the subjective perspective of the knower

Answer 7

relativistic thinking

Question 8

ability to conceptualize processes of change from one state to another

Answer 8

transformational thought

Question 9

difference between what a learner can accomplish independently versus with help

Answer 9

zone of proximal development

Question 10

problem solving in which a person starts with general ideas and traces to their specific implications

Answer 10

hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Question 11

tendency to view the world from one’s own perspective and have difficulty recognizing other viewpoints

Answer 11

egocentrism

Question 12

cognitive structure of organized pattern of action or thought used to deal with experiences

Answer 12

scheme (pl: schema)

Question 13

tendency to seek and interpret new information that confirms our existing beliefs about something

Answer 13

confirmation bias

Question 14

concept that people’s abilities vary depending on context

Answer 14

developmental range

Question 15

process of providing structure to a less skilled learner to encourage advancement

Answer 15

scaffolding

Question 16

phenomenon in which obvious features of a situation have disproportionate influence on perceptions of young children

Answer 16

perceptual salience

Question 17

deliberation fixed on end states rather than on changes that transform one state into another

Answer 17

static thought

Question 18

person’s inborn tendency to adjust to the demands of the environment

Answer 18

adaptation

Question 19

phenomenon that involves thinking that oneself and one’s thoughts and feelings are unique

Answer 19

personal fable

Question 20

ability to use words, images, or actions to represent or stand for objects and experiences

Answer 20

symbolic capacity

Question 21

ability to negate an action by mentally performing the opposite action

Answer 21

reversibility

Question 22

ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at one time

Answer 22

decentration

Question 23

tendency of infants to search for an object where they last found it versus its new hiding place

Answer 23

A-not-B error

Question 24

logical operation allowing a person to mentally order a set of stimuli along a quantifiable dimension

Answer 24

seriation

Question 25

friend invented by a child in the preoperational stage who has developed capacity for symbolic thought

Answer 25

imaginary companion

Question 26

Simple forms of pretend play, such as using a shoe for a telephone or a cooking pot for a hat, illustrate actions seen in which substage?

Answer 26

beginning of thought

Question 27

The most important cognitive achievement of infancy is the emergence of…

Answer 27

symbolic capacity

Question 28

According to Mareschal’s neuroconstructivism theory, new knowledge is constructed through changes in the neural structure of the brain in response to…

Answer 28

experience

Question 29

What is learning through active involvement in culturally relevant activities with the aid of knowledgable individuals called?

Answer 29

guided participation

Question 30

What does Piaget call cognitive conflict that stimulates cognitive growth?

Answer 30

disequilibrium

Question 31

Piaget states that formal operations thinkers gain the ability to…

Answer 31

think systemically about abstract concepts

Question 32

What is common about the infants who performed best on the object permanence tasks?

Answer 32

They had lower activity levels.

Question 33

“Pete is older than Jill, and Jill is older than Pat. Who is older, Pete or Pat?”
The ability to solve problems such as this demonstrates competence in what?

Answer 33

transitivity

Question 34

Glenn can look at photos of aquatic animals and classify them as mammals or fish, and he is able to order them from smallest to largest. However, he is unable to handle abstract ideas and hypothetical situations. Glenn is most likely in which stage of cognitive development?

Answer 34

concrete operations

Question 35

Which cognitive skill would a formal operations thinker possess that a concrete operations thinker would lack?

Answer 35

hypothetical-deductive reasoning