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JMU Psych 160 Exam 2 Questions with Correct
Answers | Updated (100% Correct Answers)
How did Piaget gain his information to form his theory? Answer: He
observed and questioned his own children
What did Piaget find through his observations? Answer: Children
construct their own knowledge and they are intrinsically motivated
to learn
What is cognitive development? Answer: focusing on a child's
development in terms of information processing, conceptual
resources, perceptual skills, language learning, and other aspects of
cognitive psychology
How did Piaget revolutionize the study of cognitive development?
Answer: He was the first to say that infants get knowledge as a
product of direct motor behavior
What type of theory is Piaget's and what type of change does it
focus on ? Answer: stage theory, focuses on qualitative changes
What is a schema? Answer: organized patterns of functioning that
adapt and change with mental development, they direct and
determine how data from the world, such as new events or objects
are considered and dealt with
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,2
What is assimilation? Answer: the process by which people
understand an experience in terms of their current stage of
cognitive development and way of thinking
this occurs when a stimulus or an event is acted upon, perceived,
and understood in accordance with existing patterns of thought
What is accommodation? Answer: changing in existing ways of
thinking, understanding, or behaving in response to encounters with
new stimuli or events
What are Piagets stages of cognitive development? Answer: -
Sensorimotor: sensory exploration
-Preoperational: symbolic thinking
-Concrete operational: logical reasoning
-Formal operational: abstract thinking
What occurs during the first substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: simple reflexes: various inborn reflexes are at the center of
infants physical and cognitive lives, reflexes are the basis for babies
to learn and adapt
What occurs during the second substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Primary circular reactions: An original accident occurs by
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, 3
accident and then the child repeats the actions that are related to
their own bodies and that they feel good about
What are primary circular reactions? Answer: Schemes reflecting an
infant's repetition of interesting or enjoyable actions, just for the
enjoyment of doing them, these focus on the infant's own body
What occurs during the third substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Secondary circular reactions: the infant repeats actions that
revolve around objects, these actions are more purposeful
What are secondary circular reactions? Answer: schemes regarding
repeated actions that bring about a desirable consequences
What occurs during the fourth substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Coordination of secondary circular reactions: infants begin
to employ goal-directed behavior where they combine senses
intentionally to generate a single act
What occurs during the fifth substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Tertiary circular reactions: infants develop an understanding
of actions that bring desirable consequences, they actively explore
and do actions to see what will happen
They are "little scientists"
© 2025 All rights reserved
JMU Psych 160 Exam 2 Questions with Correct
Answers | Updated (100% Correct Answers)
How did Piaget gain his information to form his theory? Answer: He
observed and questioned his own children
What did Piaget find through his observations? Answer: Children
construct their own knowledge and they are intrinsically motivated
to learn
What is cognitive development? Answer: focusing on a child's
development in terms of information processing, conceptual
resources, perceptual skills, language learning, and other aspects of
cognitive psychology
How did Piaget revolutionize the study of cognitive development?
Answer: He was the first to say that infants get knowledge as a
product of direct motor behavior
What type of theory is Piaget's and what type of change does it
focus on ? Answer: stage theory, focuses on qualitative changes
What is a schema? Answer: organized patterns of functioning that
adapt and change with mental development, they direct and
determine how data from the world, such as new events or objects
are considered and dealt with
© 2025 All rights reserved
,2
What is assimilation? Answer: the process by which people
understand an experience in terms of their current stage of
cognitive development and way of thinking
this occurs when a stimulus or an event is acted upon, perceived,
and understood in accordance with existing patterns of thought
What is accommodation? Answer: changing in existing ways of
thinking, understanding, or behaving in response to encounters with
new stimuli or events
What are Piagets stages of cognitive development? Answer: -
Sensorimotor: sensory exploration
-Preoperational: symbolic thinking
-Concrete operational: logical reasoning
-Formal operational: abstract thinking
What occurs during the first substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: simple reflexes: various inborn reflexes are at the center of
infants physical and cognitive lives, reflexes are the basis for babies
to learn and adapt
What occurs during the second substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Primary circular reactions: An original accident occurs by
© 2025 All rights reserved
, 3
accident and then the child repeats the actions that are related to
their own bodies and that they feel good about
What are primary circular reactions? Answer: Schemes reflecting an
infant's repetition of interesting or enjoyable actions, just for the
enjoyment of doing them, these focus on the infant's own body
What occurs during the third substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Secondary circular reactions: the infant repeats actions that
revolve around objects, these actions are more purposeful
What are secondary circular reactions? Answer: schemes regarding
repeated actions that bring about a desirable consequences
What occurs during the fourth substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Coordination of secondary circular reactions: infants begin
to employ goal-directed behavior where they combine senses
intentionally to generate a single act
What occurs during the fifth substage in the sensorimotor stage?
Answer: Tertiary circular reactions: infants develop an understanding
of actions that bring desirable consequences, they actively explore
and do actions to see what will happen
They are "little scientists"
© 2025 All rights reserved
