UVA PSYC 2700 EXAM 2 STUDY GUIDE
Piaget - Answers - Most influential cog dev theorist, observed own children, framed
many methods used today
ALTHOUGH DETAILS NOT COMPLETE RIGHT, EXCELLENT SOURCE OF HOW
DEV PROGRESSES
Theories of Cog Dev - Answers - 1. Piagetian
2. Information processing
3. Sociocultural
4. Dynamic systems
Piagetian - Answers - nature-nurture, continuity/discontinuity, the active child
Information processing - Answers - Nature-nurture, how change occurs
Sociocultural - Answers - nature-nurture, influence of the sociocultural context, how
change occurs
Dynamic systems - Answers - nature-nurture, the active child, how change occurs
Piaget fundamental question - Answers - What makes a human intellect?
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Basic Assumptions - Answers - - Children naturally curious LIKE A SCIENTIST
- Actively construct knowledge (intrinsic motivation)
- Child learns on own, not just from others
Piaget's Theory - Answers - - Convey texture of children's thinking at diff ages
- Infancy through adolescence
- Offers explanation of nature & nurture
Constructivist - Answers - depicts children as constructing knowledge for themselves in
response to experiences
1. Form hypoth
2. Perform exper
3. Draw conclusions
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Processes - Answers - - Child understands world w/ schemas
(psych struct that organize experience, events, objects, knowledge)
- Schemas change constantly
3 processes that propel dev (Sources of Continuity) - Answers - 1. Assimilation
,2. Accommodation
3. Equilibration
Assimilation - Answers - Taking in information compatible w/ what is already known,
incorporating into existing schemas
Accommodation - Answers - Changing existing knowledge based on new knowledge;
modifying schemas based on experience
ex: grasping w/ 1 hand and must now grasp w/ 2
Equilibration - Answers - Balancing assimilation & accommodation to create stable
understanding; reorganizing schemas to achieve balance
Steps of equilibration - Answers - 1. Children are satisfied with understanding
(equilibrium)
2. New info makes children knowledge seem inadequate (disequilibrium)
3. Dev sophisticated understanding that gets rid of shortcomings
ex: learning animals aren't the only living things
Sources of Discontinuity (Piaget) - Answers - 1. Qualitative change
2. Broad applicability
3. Brief transitions
4. Invariant sequence
Qualitative change - Answers - Children of different ages think in qualitatively different
ways
*early stage -> cog dev conceives morality in terms of conseq rather than intent
Broad applicability - Answers - the type of thinking characteristic of each stage
influences children's thinking across diverse topics and contexts
Brief transitions - Answers - Before entering a new stage, children pass through a brief
transitional period in which they fluctuate between the type of thinking characteristic of
the new, more advanced stage and the type of thinking characteristic of the old, less
advanced one.
Invariant sequence - Answers - everyone progresses through the stages in the same
order without skipping any of them
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Stages of Cog Dev - Answers - 1. Sensorimotor (0 to 2 yr -> infancy) *most rapid
2. Preoperational (2-7 yr)
3. Concrete operational (7-12 yr)
4. Formal operational (12 yr & up)
Stages of Cog Dev
, Characteristics of stage theories - Answers - - Discontinuous
- Invariant sequence (won't go to stage 1 to stage 3 w/o going through stage 2)
- Hierarchical (each stage builds on previous stage)
- Domain-general (broad applicability)
Sensorimotor Stage - Answers - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2
years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory
impressions and motor activities
Six Substages of the Sensorimotor Stage - Answers - 1. Modification of reflexes (0-1
mon) -> modify to make adaptive
2. Organize separate reflexes into larger behav - centered on own body, repetitive (1-4
mon)
3. Environ is included (4-8 mon)
*Infants lack object permanence
4. Intentional, coordinated behav (8-12 mon)
*Means & end, have obj perm, fragile A-not-B error
5. Actively explore how obj can be used (12-18 mon)
*Trial & error experimentation emerges
6. Mental representations & combinations (18-24 mon)
*Deferred imitation
Object permanence - Answers - the knowledge that an object exists even when it is not
in sight
Deferred imitation - Answers - the repetition of other people's behavior a substantial
time after it originally occurred
A-not-B error - Answers - the tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last
found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden; mens and end are not
adjusted
RESEARCH SUGGESTS MAY NOT BE TRUE
- Fixed by age 1
Notable trends of Sensorimotor - Answers - - Infants center activities on their own
bodies & later on
- Early goals are concrete and then abstract
- Infants become more able to form mental rep & go out of sight to remembering days
later
Preoperational Stage - Answers - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 7 years
of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the
mental operations of concrete logic
Preoperational Characteristics - Answers - Major advance: Symbolic representation
Major weakness: Egocentrism, centration
Piaget - Answers - Most influential cog dev theorist, observed own children, framed
many methods used today
ALTHOUGH DETAILS NOT COMPLETE RIGHT, EXCELLENT SOURCE OF HOW
DEV PROGRESSES
Theories of Cog Dev - Answers - 1. Piagetian
2. Information processing
3. Sociocultural
4. Dynamic systems
Piagetian - Answers - nature-nurture, continuity/discontinuity, the active child
Information processing - Answers - Nature-nurture, how change occurs
Sociocultural - Answers - nature-nurture, influence of the sociocultural context, how
change occurs
Dynamic systems - Answers - nature-nurture, the active child, how change occurs
Piaget fundamental question - Answers - What makes a human intellect?
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Basic Assumptions - Answers - - Children naturally curious LIKE A SCIENTIST
- Actively construct knowledge (intrinsic motivation)
- Child learns on own, not just from others
Piaget's Theory - Answers - - Convey texture of children's thinking at diff ages
- Infancy through adolescence
- Offers explanation of nature & nurture
Constructivist - Answers - depicts children as constructing knowledge for themselves in
response to experiences
1. Form hypoth
2. Perform exper
3. Draw conclusions
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Processes - Answers - - Child understands world w/ schemas
(psych struct that organize experience, events, objects, knowledge)
- Schemas change constantly
3 processes that propel dev (Sources of Continuity) - Answers - 1. Assimilation
,2. Accommodation
3. Equilibration
Assimilation - Answers - Taking in information compatible w/ what is already known,
incorporating into existing schemas
Accommodation - Answers - Changing existing knowledge based on new knowledge;
modifying schemas based on experience
ex: grasping w/ 1 hand and must now grasp w/ 2
Equilibration - Answers - Balancing assimilation & accommodation to create stable
understanding; reorganizing schemas to achieve balance
Steps of equilibration - Answers - 1. Children are satisfied with understanding
(equilibrium)
2. New info makes children knowledge seem inadequate (disequilibrium)
3. Dev sophisticated understanding that gets rid of shortcomings
ex: learning animals aren't the only living things
Sources of Discontinuity (Piaget) - Answers - 1. Qualitative change
2. Broad applicability
3. Brief transitions
4. Invariant sequence
Qualitative change - Answers - Children of different ages think in qualitatively different
ways
*early stage -> cog dev conceives morality in terms of conseq rather than intent
Broad applicability - Answers - the type of thinking characteristic of each stage
influences children's thinking across diverse topics and contexts
Brief transitions - Answers - Before entering a new stage, children pass through a brief
transitional period in which they fluctuate between the type of thinking characteristic of
the new, more advanced stage and the type of thinking characteristic of the old, less
advanced one.
Invariant sequence - Answers - everyone progresses through the stages in the same
order without skipping any of them
Piaget's theory of Cog Dev
Stages of Cog Dev - Answers - 1. Sensorimotor (0 to 2 yr -> infancy) *most rapid
2. Preoperational (2-7 yr)
3. Concrete operational (7-12 yr)
4. Formal operational (12 yr & up)
Stages of Cog Dev
, Characteristics of stage theories - Answers - - Discontinuous
- Invariant sequence (won't go to stage 1 to stage 3 w/o going through stage 2)
- Hierarchical (each stage builds on previous stage)
- Domain-general (broad applicability)
Sensorimotor Stage - Answers - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from birth to about 2
years of age) during which infants know the world mostly in terms of their sensory
impressions and motor activities
Six Substages of the Sensorimotor Stage - Answers - 1. Modification of reflexes (0-1
mon) -> modify to make adaptive
2. Organize separate reflexes into larger behav - centered on own body, repetitive (1-4
mon)
3. Environ is included (4-8 mon)
*Infants lack object permanence
4. Intentional, coordinated behav (8-12 mon)
*Means & end, have obj perm, fragile A-not-B error
5. Actively explore how obj can be used (12-18 mon)
*Trial & error experimentation emerges
6. Mental representations & combinations (18-24 mon)
*Deferred imitation
Object permanence - Answers - the knowledge that an object exists even when it is not
in sight
Deferred imitation - Answers - the repetition of other people's behavior a substantial
time after it originally occurred
A-not-B error - Answers - the tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last
found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden; mens and end are not
adjusted
RESEARCH SUGGESTS MAY NOT BE TRUE
- Fixed by age 1
Notable trends of Sensorimotor - Answers - - Infants center activities on their own
bodies & later on
- Early goals are concrete and then abstract
- Infants become more able to form mental rep & go out of sight to remembering days
later
Preoperational Stage - Answers - in Piaget's theory, the stage (from about 2 to 7 years
of age) during which a child learns to use language but does not yet comprehend the
mental operations of concrete logic
Preoperational Characteristics - Answers - Major advance: Symbolic representation
Major weakness: Egocentrism, centration
