Summary & exam questions
School Psychology
56 open-ended examen questions to test your knowledge
, Lecture 1 Conceptual Development & Causal Reasoning
Concepts are mental ideas or categories we use to think about things in the world. They help us
group different objects, experiences, or situations under a single label, even if they aren’t exactly
the same. Example: You understand that a dog, a cat, and an elephant all belong to the category
"animals," even though they look very different.
1. Concrete/physical concepts: dog vs. sock;
2. Abstract concepts: time, love, numbers.
Categorisation refers to the ability to treat a set of things as somehow equivalent.
● Put them in the same file
● Call them by the same name
● Respond to them in the same way
Measuring categorisation
● Looking tasks → longer looking time for new things
● Sequential touching tasks (mixed results)
● Sorting and matching-to-sample tasks → put things in the same file
Prototypical object: performance on a prototypical object set was greater than on a
non-prototypical object set. There is a bias towards prototypical objects in children.
A prototypical object is the most typical or representative example of a category. It is the object
that comes to mind first when you think of that category because it has many of the common
features associated with it.
Example: Fruit
🍎🍌
➔ An apple or banana is prototypical because they are sweet, edible, and commonly
recognized.
, 🫒
➔ An olive is less prototypical because they don’t immediately fit the typical idea of "fruit."
Analogy is a form of inductive reasoning (specific to general). Syllogism is a form of deductive
reasoning (general to specific).
- Syllogisms are more difficult for children, but playgroups help them.
Hume’s causality theory
● Priority: X occurs before Y in time
● Covariation: If X occurs, Y also occurs
● Temporal contiguity: X and Y are close in time
● Similarity: X and Y are similar in nature
-
, Practice Test Lecture 1
1. Categorization
a. What does categorization mean?
b. Explain the three levels of inclusiveness in categorization, providing an
example for each level.
c. What does it mean for an object to be prototypical? Provide an example.
d. Design a test to measure how children categorize objects based on
prototypicality. What specific results would indicate a bias toward
prototypical objects?
2. Reasoning
a. Explain the difference between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
b. Provide an example of an analogy and a syllogism.
c. Design a task to test a child's ability to use both forms of reasoning. How
would you interpret the results to assess which type of reasoning the child
finds more challenging?
3. Hume’s Causality Theory
a. What are the four principles of causality according to Hume’s theory?
b. Provide an example of each of the principles.
School Psychology
56 open-ended examen questions to test your knowledge
, Lecture 1 Conceptual Development & Causal Reasoning
Concepts are mental ideas or categories we use to think about things in the world. They help us
group different objects, experiences, or situations under a single label, even if they aren’t exactly
the same. Example: You understand that a dog, a cat, and an elephant all belong to the category
"animals," even though they look very different.
1. Concrete/physical concepts: dog vs. sock;
2. Abstract concepts: time, love, numbers.
Categorisation refers to the ability to treat a set of things as somehow equivalent.
● Put them in the same file
● Call them by the same name
● Respond to them in the same way
Measuring categorisation
● Looking tasks → longer looking time for new things
● Sequential touching tasks (mixed results)
● Sorting and matching-to-sample tasks → put things in the same file
Prototypical object: performance on a prototypical object set was greater than on a
non-prototypical object set. There is a bias towards prototypical objects in children.
A prototypical object is the most typical or representative example of a category. It is the object
that comes to mind first when you think of that category because it has many of the common
features associated with it.
Example: Fruit
🍎🍌
➔ An apple or banana is prototypical because they are sweet, edible, and commonly
recognized.
, 🫒
➔ An olive is less prototypical because they don’t immediately fit the typical idea of "fruit."
Analogy is a form of inductive reasoning (specific to general). Syllogism is a form of deductive
reasoning (general to specific).
- Syllogisms are more difficult for children, but playgroups help them.
Hume’s causality theory
● Priority: X occurs before Y in time
● Covariation: If X occurs, Y also occurs
● Temporal contiguity: X and Y are close in time
● Similarity: X and Y are similar in nature
-
, Practice Test Lecture 1
1. Categorization
a. What does categorization mean?
b. Explain the three levels of inclusiveness in categorization, providing an
example for each level.
c. What does it mean for an object to be prototypical? Provide an example.
d. Design a test to measure how children categorize objects based on
prototypicality. What specific results would indicate a bias toward
prototypical objects?
2. Reasoning
a. Explain the difference between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.
b. Provide an example of an analogy and a syllogism.
c. Design a task to test a child's ability to use both forms of reasoning. How
would you interpret the results to assess which type of reasoning the child
finds more challenging?
3. Hume’s Causality Theory
a. What are the four principles of causality according to Hume’s theory?
b. Provide an example of each of the principles.
