PSY 130 Exam 2 Questions solved 100%
Correct (latest update 2025).
Children have a number of biases or assumptions that they can use to learn the meanings of
new words. Describe two of these assumptions. For each, provide an example of a situation
where this assumption would help children learn a new word. - ✔✔• Whole object bias
Children assume words are for the entire object rather than object parts.
• Mutual Exclusivity Children presented with 2 objects. They know one of the objects is a cup
but don't know the name of the other object. Instructor calls the strange object a blicket.
Child assumes the name of the object is a blicket.
Johnson and Newport conducted a study that examined Chinese and Korean immigrants' ability
to detect errors in ungrammatical English sentences. Their participants differed in how long
they had been speaking English, as well as how old they were when they were first exposed to
English. What did their study find? What do these results tell us about why it is hard to learn
language later in life? - ✔✔• Results All speakers did well with vocabulary and basic
grammar rules. However, the older speakers arrived to the states did worse on the finer points
of grammar (ex: plural uses of S). Skill in the language was predicted by the age of exposure and
not length (ex: if a speaker was a between the ages of 0-7 their scores were higher on language
skills).
• Reasons why learning language later in life is harder is because as a child you might be
immersed in the new language whereas when you are learning a language later you might be
in a classroom setting= boring. Also during adolescence a shift happens in brain development
and those neurons for learning a language may disappear.
Results from the Sally/Anne task suggested that false-belief understanding did not emerge
until age 4. Describe the methods and results of a more recent task that suggests false-belief
understanding emerges earlier than previously thought. - ✔✔• Methods of new false belief
task instead of a series of images being presented and questions, 15mo infants were tasked
,with only watching an actor do the task. 2 events were presented where the false belief and
true belief would be in the yellow box or in the green box.
• Results of new false belief task 15-month-olds kept track of the actor's belief.
•True-belief: looked longer at green-box event
•False-belief: looked longer at yellow-box event
Infants know that people have mental states and people have beliefs different than their own.
Describe DeLoache's scale model task. How do children perform at different ages? How does
DeLoache explain these results? - ✔✔• Task Children are presented with a small replica of
a room. Instructor hides a toy in the small room while the child watches and hides a toy in the
real identical room in the exact same spot as the small room. Children are then asked to find
the toy.
• Results 3 year olds are successful and 2.5 year olds fail and search at random.
• Explanation Younger children do not understand dual representation. They don't
understand that the small replica is a representation of the larger room.
Most adults are incapable of remembering events that occurred before they were 3 years old -
a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. Describe 2 of possible causes of infantile amnesia
and provide evidence for each. - ✔✔• Brain maturation Memories that affect the things
that we do but we don't consciously remember it (implicit memory). Explicit memory is harder
to form b/c prefrontal cortex develops slowly.
• Lack of narrative Autobiographical memory is first seen at the ages of 2-3. Infants and young
children need help from their parents to give them a "narrative scaffold" to work with.
Some researchers have argued that infantile amnesia is related to the phenomenon of
"encoding specificity". What is "encoding specificity", and why might it be responsible for
infantile amnesia? What is the evidence for this claim? - ✔✔• Encoding specificity
Memories are better formed when they are retrieved in the same format and context from
when they
, were created. (going to the kitchen. You forget what you needed from the kitchen.
Retrace your steps to remember)
• It's responsible for infantile amnesia because autobiographical memories are
encoded verbally and most memories before 3yrs are nonverbal.
• Evidence Magic shrinking machine task. Children ranging from 27-39mo were presented a
magic shrinking machine and were given specific instructions on how to use it. Instructors came
back 6-12 months later and asked for the children to recall how to use the machine. The results
found that children that didn't have words to describe the event were not able to recall the
event verbally. *Nonverbal memories are hard to retrieve.
According to Carol Dweck, children can have different theories about how changeable ability is.
State the 2 different theories of ability that Dweck described. For each theory, explain how
children's beliefs affect the types of goals they form, as well as how they respond to
challenging situations. - ✔✔• Incremental Theory Ability can be increased by trying harder.
Most likely to make mastery goals. Are better when in the face of failure.
• Entity Theory Ability is fixed. You are either smart or you're not. Most likely to make
performance goals. Are helpless in the face of failure.
• *Ask about goals
Describe the two factors outlined in Cattell's two-factor theory of intelligence. For each factor,
describe its origins (e.g., innate or learned) and how it changes with age. - ✔✔• Crystalized
Intelligence Acquired knowledge (book smarts). Verbal and numerical ability, historical facts,
social conventions. This is mainly learned and lasts until old age.
• Fluid Intelligence On the spot reasoning ability (street smarts). Problem-solving, pattern
recognition, ability to acquire novel concepts. This is innate (biological) and peaks at 20
years old.
In class we discussed several studies examining the effects of television viewing on children.
Describe one of these studies. What did the study find? - ✔✔• Observation of
preschoolers 1/2 exposed to cartoon violence (Batman), 1/2 nonviolent programming (Mr.
Rogers' Neighborhood) for 1 month
Correct (latest update 2025).
Children have a number of biases or assumptions that they can use to learn the meanings of
new words. Describe two of these assumptions. For each, provide an example of a situation
where this assumption would help children learn a new word. - ✔✔• Whole object bias
Children assume words are for the entire object rather than object parts.
• Mutual Exclusivity Children presented with 2 objects. They know one of the objects is a cup
but don't know the name of the other object. Instructor calls the strange object a blicket.
Child assumes the name of the object is a blicket.
Johnson and Newport conducted a study that examined Chinese and Korean immigrants' ability
to detect errors in ungrammatical English sentences. Their participants differed in how long
they had been speaking English, as well as how old they were when they were first exposed to
English. What did their study find? What do these results tell us about why it is hard to learn
language later in life? - ✔✔• Results All speakers did well with vocabulary and basic
grammar rules. However, the older speakers arrived to the states did worse on the finer points
of grammar (ex: plural uses of S). Skill in the language was predicted by the age of exposure and
not length (ex: if a speaker was a between the ages of 0-7 their scores were higher on language
skills).
• Reasons why learning language later in life is harder is because as a child you might be
immersed in the new language whereas when you are learning a language later you might be
in a classroom setting= boring. Also during adolescence a shift happens in brain development
and those neurons for learning a language may disappear.
Results from the Sally/Anne task suggested that false-belief understanding did not emerge
until age 4. Describe the methods and results of a more recent task that suggests false-belief
understanding emerges earlier than previously thought. - ✔✔• Methods of new false belief
task instead of a series of images being presented and questions, 15mo infants were tasked
,with only watching an actor do the task. 2 events were presented where the false belief and
true belief would be in the yellow box or in the green box.
• Results of new false belief task 15-month-olds kept track of the actor's belief.
•True-belief: looked longer at green-box event
•False-belief: looked longer at yellow-box event
Infants know that people have mental states and people have beliefs different than their own.
Describe DeLoache's scale model task. How do children perform at different ages? How does
DeLoache explain these results? - ✔✔• Task Children are presented with a small replica of
a room. Instructor hides a toy in the small room while the child watches and hides a toy in the
real identical room in the exact same spot as the small room. Children are then asked to find
the toy.
• Results 3 year olds are successful and 2.5 year olds fail and search at random.
• Explanation Younger children do not understand dual representation. They don't
understand that the small replica is a representation of the larger room.
Most adults are incapable of remembering events that occurred before they were 3 years old -
a phenomenon known as infantile amnesia. Describe 2 of possible causes of infantile amnesia
and provide evidence for each. - ✔✔• Brain maturation Memories that affect the things
that we do but we don't consciously remember it (implicit memory). Explicit memory is harder
to form b/c prefrontal cortex develops slowly.
• Lack of narrative Autobiographical memory is first seen at the ages of 2-3. Infants and young
children need help from their parents to give them a "narrative scaffold" to work with.
Some researchers have argued that infantile amnesia is related to the phenomenon of
"encoding specificity". What is "encoding specificity", and why might it be responsible for
infantile amnesia? What is the evidence for this claim? - ✔✔• Encoding specificity
Memories are better formed when they are retrieved in the same format and context from
when they
, were created. (going to the kitchen. You forget what you needed from the kitchen.
Retrace your steps to remember)
• It's responsible for infantile amnesia because autobiographical memories are
encoded verbally and most memories before 3yrs are nonverbal.
• Evidence Magic shrinking machine task. Children ranging from 27-39mo were presented a
magic shrinking machine and were given specific instructions on how to use it. Instructors came
back 6-12 months later and asked for the children to recall how to use the machine. The results
found that children that didn't have words to describe the event were not able to recall the
event verbally. *Nonverbal memories are hard to retrieve.
According to Carol Dweck, children can have different theories about how changeable ability is.
State the 2 different theories of ability that Dweck described. For each theory, explain how
children's beliefs affect the types of goals they form, as well as how they respond to
challenging situations. - ✔✔• Incremental Theory Ability can be increased by trying harder.
Most likely to make mastery goals. Are better when in the face of failure.
• Entity Theory Ability is fixed. You are either smart or you're not. Most likely to make
performance goals. Are helpless in the face of failure.
• *Ask about goals
Describe the two factors outlined in Cattell's two-factor theory of intelligence. For each factor,
describe its origins (e.g., innate or learned) and how it changes with age. - ✔✔• Crystalized
Intelligence Acquired knowledge (book smarts). Verbal and numerical ability, historical facts,
social conventions. This is mainly learned and lasts until old age.
• Fluid Intelligence On the spot reasoning ability (street smarts). Problem-solving, pattern
recognition, ability to acquire novel concepts. This is innate (biological) and peaks at 20
years old.
In class we discussed several studies examining the effects of television viewing on children.
Describe one of these studies. What did the study find? - ✔✔• Observation of
preschoolers 1/2 exposed to cartoon violence (Batman), 1/2 nonviolent programming (Mr.
Rogers' Neighborhood) for 1 month
