Chapter 7 - Cognitive Development

Question 1

What is a concept?

Answer 1

general ideas or understandings used to group together obejects, events, qualities, or abstractions that are similar in some way

Question 2

What are the 3 general categories of things in nature?

Answer 2

people, other animals, and inanimate objects

Question 3

What are the three main levels in the category hierarchy? Which one is learned first?

Answer 3

1) Basic level- one in-between
2) superordinate level - general
3) subordinate level - very specific

• the basic level is learned first

Question 4

By what age are children able to categorize animals in similar environments?

Answer 4

5 months

Question 5

Describe the Wugs and Gilly Case Study

Answer 5

Two groups of children were read two stores about “Wigs and Gillys” which are monsters with weird features
- one group was told why the wugs and gillys had their features while the other was not
- the group who was told why they had their features were able to better distinguish the Wug from the Gillys
- shows children are able to better categorize new items when told why objects are the way they are

Question 6

What are naive psychology concepts?

Answer 6

• invisible mental states
• linked to each other in cause-effect relations

Question 7

What are the 3 naive psychology concept cause-effect relations?

Answer 7

Desires create beliefs which drive actions
(desires, beliefs, actions)

Question 8

When is the understanding of naive psychology concepts fully developed?

Answer 8

at 4-5 years old

Question 9

What is theory of mind? When is it done developing?

Answer 9

the ability to have different feelings about the same concepts
- dev’t by 4-5 years old

Question 10

What is the development of theory of mind important for?

Answer 10

peer relationships and storybook comprehension

Question 11

What are some cognitive development factors?

Answer 11

• SES: lack of language development, lower SES = later dev’t (dev’t timeline similar to deaf kids)
• Older siblings: (quicker dev’t) must think ahead and predict sibling behavior
• Maternal input and conversations: use of mental state verbs from mother (think, want, know)

Question 12

What is the false belief task?
what is it used to measure?
what does it force kids to do?
when can kids pass this task by?

Answer 12

• task where children are asked what they think is in a box od candy, revealed that their is an goldfish in box, then asked what someone else may think is in the box
• used to measure theory of mind
• forces kids to hold conflicting ideas at once (self belief and false belief)
• pass after 4-5 years old

Question 13

How do theory of mind abilities differ in different children (deaf vs hearing)?

Answer 13

• hearing kids and deaf kids with deaf parents have similar high scoring TOM
• deaf kids with hearing parents, and oral deaf children have similar and lower TOM

Question 14

What is the difference of environment of kids who perform well vs poor on Theory of Mind tasks?

Answer 14

kids who perform well are in linguistically rich environments, and children who perform poorly are in linguistically deprived environments

Question 15

In what order (earliest to latest) do children understand the theory of mind mental states?

Answer 15

diverse desires (earliest)
diverse beliefs
social pretend
knowledge access
false beliefs (latest)

Question 16

describe the diverse desires theory of mind mental state. Give an example of a task that tests it.

Answer 16

• people can want different things
• the cookie vs carrot task

Question 17

describe the diverse beliefs theory of mind mental state. Give an example of a task that tests it.

Answer 17

• people can have different beliefs
• cat in bush vs tree task

Question 18

describe the social pretend theory of mind mental state. Give an example of a task that tests it.

Answer 18

• understanding pretense in a socially shared situation
• pretending paint cup task

Question 19

describe the knowledge access theory of mind mental state.

Answer 19

• if you see it, then you know it

Question 20

describe the false belief theory of mind mental state. Give an example of a task that tests it.

Answer 20

• people act depending on their beliefs
• m&m and goldfish task

Question 21

Describe the development of children’s play behavior

Answer 21

• Play (12 m/o): helps kids learn what works and what doesn’t work
• Pretend play (18 m/o): still mostly isolated play
• sociodramatic play (30 m/o): start engaging in play with others, helps kids gain knowledge on other people

Question 22

What category of things do kids prefer after humans?

Answer 22

animals

Question 23

Describe the living vs non-living things task used in Poulins-Dubois (1999) case study.

Answer 23

• the reaction of kids when observing a human vs robot engaging in the same action
• a women would show prefernce to one object over another, then a lego robot would do the same
• kids understand that humans and inanimate objects are supposed to behave different from humans

Question 24

• What category of things do kids have trouble categorizing as living or nonliving? - Why?
• When do they finally understand their category?

Answer 24

• plants
• it’s hard to categorize as living because of how slow they move, grow
• usually understand plants are living by 5-7 y/o

Question 25

How/ does culture shape understanding?

Answer 25

• One’s experiences determine what they have been exposed to and learn
• with the knowledge that comes with different experiences and cultures, comes different lessons learned

Question 26

What do preschools and older preschoolers understand about biological processes?

Answer 26

• preschoolers: know that physical characteristics tend to be passed down from parents to children
• older preschoolers - recognize that certain aspects of development are controlled by heredity rather than environment (essentialism)

Question 27

When does the understanding of why, where, when, and how occur?

Answer 27

starts within the first year of life and continues on into adolescence

Question 28

When do children start mirroring actions to cause desired effects

Answer 28

at 9 to 11 months