DEP 3305 Exam 2 Review Questions and
Answers
What is Cognitive Development? - Answer-Changes over time in how:
- people think
- they solve problems
- their capacities for memory and attention change
What is Piaget's theory of cognitive development? - Answer-Proposed series of stages:
- the way that children think and reason changes with each stage
- invariant sequence: you must move through the stages in that specific order
- they are driven to learn different aspects of information in each stage
- studied and observed his own children (naturalistic observation)
Why is Piaget's theory important? - Answer-- important foundational theory
- important for our understanding of cognitive development
Difference between concrete and formal operation stages - Answer-- The main difference between the
two is that in the concrete operational stage a child is able to think rationally about objects they can
work with or see the objects.
,- In the formal operations stage they are able to think rationally and do not need the objects being
thought about to be present
The Pendulum problem - Answer-- A problem used to test hypothetico-deductive reasoning. The
pendulum problem requires one to discover which of several factors determines how long it takes for a
pendulum to swing out and back
- Children in the formal operational stage approached the task systematically, testing one variable (such
as varying the length of the string) at a time to see its effect. However, younger children typically tried
out these variations randomly or changed two things at the same time.
-Piaget concluded that the systematic approach indicated the children were thinking logically, in the
abstract, and could see the relationships between things. These are the characteristics of the formal
operational stage.
- length makes it swing faster
Abstract thinking - Answer-- capacity to understand hypothetical concepts
- things you cannot:
*see
*hear
*touch
*experience
- being able to reason and debate abstract ideas and concepts
*time
*faith
*good vs evil
*identity
, Complex thinking types - Answer-- Metaphors
- Sarcasm
- Metacognition
Metaphor - Answer-- begin to understand that metaphors have multiple meanings
ex: one bad apple spoils the whole bunch
*Concrete operational: one worm can mess up the whole bunch of apples
*Formal operational: one bad student can cause the whole class to be bad
Sarcasm - Answer-- can begin to understand, pick up on, and appreciate sarcastic humor during
adolescence
*understand that the context and tone with which something is said impacts the meaning
- Evidence suggests they may even use this as a coping strategy.
(a)To make sense of social worlds
(b)Cope with difficult situations
(c)To diffuse difficult topics of conversation with humor
(d)To joke and laugh with friends
Metacognition - Answer-- Thinking about thinking
- Get better at this type of reasoning across adulthood
•Example:
(a)An adolescent may be better than a child at knowing what study strategies work best for them.
Problems with Piaget's theory - Answer-- Did not rely on scientific evidence
Answers
What is Cognitive Development? - Answer-Changes over time in how:
- people think
- they solve problems
- their capacities for memory and attention change
What is Piaget's theory of cognitive development? - Answer-Proposed series of stages:
- the way that children think and reason changes with each stage
- invariant sequence: you must move through the stages in that specific order
- they are driven to learn different aspects of information in each stage
- studied and observed his own children (naturalistic observation)
Why is Piaget's theory important? - Answer-- important foundational theory
- important for our understanding of cognitive development
Difference between concrete and formal operation stages - Answer-- The main difference between the
two is that in the concrete operational stage a child is able to think rationally about objects they can
work with or see the objects.
,- In the formal operations stage they are able to think rationally and do not need the objects being
thought about to be present
The Pendulum problem - Answer-- A problem used to test hypothetico-deductive reasoning. The
pendulum problem requires one to discover which of several factors determines how long it takes for a
pendulum to swing out and back
- Children in the formal operational stage approached the task systematically, testing one variable (such
as varying the length of the string) at a time to see its effect. However, younger children typically tried
out these variations randomly or changed two things at the same time.
-Piaget concluded that the systematic approach indicated the children were thinking logically, in the
abstract, and could see the relationships between things. These are the characteristics of the formal
operational stage.
- length makes it swing faster
Abstract thinking - Answer-- capacity to understand hypothetical concepts
- things you cannot:
*see
*hear
*touch
*experience
- being able to reason and debate abstract ideas and concepts
*time
*faith
*good vs evil
*identity
, Complex thinking types - Answer-- Metaphors
- Sarcasm
- Metacognition
Metaphor - Answer-- begin to understand that metaphors have multiple meanings
ex: one bad apple spoils the whole bunch
*Concrete operational: one worm can mess up the whole bunch of apples
*Formal operational: one bad student can cause the whole class to be bad
Sarcasm - Answer-- can begin to understand, pick up on, and appreciate sarcastic humor during
adolescence
*understand that the context and tone with which something is said impacts the meaning
- Evidence suggests they may even use this as a coping strategy.
(a)To make sense of social worlds
(b)Cope with difficult situations
(c)To diffuse difficult topics of conversation with humor
(d)To joke and laugh with friends
Metacognition - Answer-- Thinking about thinking
- Get better at this type of reasoning across adulthood
•Example:
(a)An adolescent may be better than a child at knowing what study strategies work best for them.
Problems with Piaget's theory - Answer-- Did not rely on scientific evidence
