assimilation
the process by which people translate incoming information into a form that fits concepts they already understand
accommodation
the process by which people adapt current knowledge structures in response to new experiences
equilibration
the process by which children (or other people) balance assimilation and accommodation to create stable understanding
sensorimotor stage
the period (birth to 2 years) within Piaget's theory in which intelligence is expressed through sensory and motor abilities
preoperational stage
the period (2 to 7 years) within Piaget's theory in which children become able to represent their experiences in language, mental imagery, and symbiotic thought
concrete operational stage
the period (7 to 12 years) within Piaget's theory in which children become able to reason logically about concrete objects and events
formal operational stage
the period (12 years and beyond) within Piaget's theory in which people become able to think about abstractions and hypothetical situations
object permanence
the knowledge that objects continue to exist even when they are out of view
A-not-B error
the tendency to reach for a hidden object where it was last found rather than in the new location where it was last hidden
deferred imitation
the repetition of other people's behavior a substantial time after it originally occurred
symbolic representation
the use of one object to stand for another
egocentrism
the tendency to perceive the world solely from one's own point of view
centration
the tendency to focus on a single, perceptually striking feature of an object or event
conservation concept
the idea that merely changing the appearance of objects does not necessarily change other key properties
information-processing theories
a class of theories that focus on the structure of the cognitive system and the mental activities used to deploy attention and memory to solve problems
task analysis
the research technique of identifying goals, relevant information in the environment, and potential processing strategies for a problem
problem solving
the process of attaining a goal by using a strategy to overcome an obstacle
working memory
memory system that involves actively attending to, gathering, maintaining, storing, and processing information
long-term memory
information retained on an enduring basis
basic processes
the simplest and most frequently used mental activities
encoding
the process of representing in memory information that draws attention or is considered important
rehearsal
the process of repeating information multiple times to aid memory of it
selective attention
the process of intentionally focusing on the information that is most relevant to the current goal
overlapping-waves theory
an information-processing approach that emphasizes the variability of children's thinking
sociocultural theories
approaches that emphasize that other people and the surrounding culture contribute greatly to children's development
guided participation
a process in which more knowledgeable individuals organize activities in ways that allow less knowledgeable people to learn
cultural tools
the innumerable products of human ingenuity that enhance thinking
private speech
the second phase of Vygotsky's internalization-of-thought process, in which children develop their self-regulation and problem-solving abilities by telling themselves aloud what to do, much as their parents did in the first stage
intersubjectivity
the mutual understanding that people share during communication
joint attention
a process in which social partners intentionally focus on a common referent in the external environment
social scaffolding
a process in which more competent people provide a temporary framework that supports children's thinking at a higher level than children could manage on their own
autobiographical memories
memories of one's own experiences, including one's thoughts and emotions
dynamic-systems theories
a class of theories that focus on how change occurs over time in complex systems
pretend play
make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relations, acting as if they were in a situation different from their actual one
object substitution
a form of pretense in which an object is used as something other than itself, for example, using a broom to represent a horse
sociodramatic play
activities in which children enact miniature dramas with other children or adults, such as "mother comforting baby:
dual representation
the idea that a symbolic artifact must be represented mentally in two ways at the same time - both as a real object and as a symbol for something other than itself
connectionism
a type of information-processing approach that emphasizes the simultaneous activity of numerous interconnected processing units
problem solving
The attempt to overcome obstacles and attain goals is referred to as
goal, obstacle, strategy
Which problem-solving sequence is typical according to information-processing theories?
At any given time, children might possess several different strategies for solving a particular problem
Which statement correctly characterizes the overlapping waves theory of problem-solving?
planning requires inhibiting the desire to solve the problem
According to information-processing theories, one reason that young children have particular difficulty with planning is:
6-year-old Elijah, who is working on a challenging task
Which individual would be MOST likely to engage in overt private speech?
culturally specific content
The study involving American and Chinese college students who were asked to solve two problems, one that required a solution similar to the strategy in the Hansel and Gretel story and one that required a solution similar to a strategy in a Chinese fairy t
make learning a cooperative activity
Sociocultural theories suggest that in order to help their students learn, teachers should:
sociocultural
According to ______ theorists, an important function of social scaffolding is to help children form autobiographical memories
failure to connect action and thought
The dynamic systems approach is intended to counter which disadvantage of other theories of cognitive development?
during development, reaching is constantly changing and sometimes regresses
Thelen and Smith's study of reaching demonstrated that
naive psychology
A commonsense level of understanding of other people and onself is known as
Certain areas of the brain are selectively dedicated to representing beliefs
Which statement supports the nativist claim that children are born with a theory of mind module?
object substitution, sociodramatic play, rule-based play
Which list places the types of play in a typical developmental progression?
engaging in object substitution
Jane, an 18-month-old, is pretending to put on makeup using a small block as her lipstick. Jane is:
are correlated with higher levels of social understanding
Research has suggested that pretend play and sociodramatic play
essence
According to Gelman, children's basis for understanding heredity in living things is that each type of animal has a(n) ____ that makes it unique
grown-up turtle
Kathryn, a 4-year-old child, is told a story about a baby turtle who is raised by a mommy and a daddy giraffe. When asked what the turtle will grow up to be, Kathryn is MOST likely to say a
plants
When it comes to learning about living things, children have the most trouble when it comes to reasoning about
plants move toward sunlight
Telling children ____, is likely to influence that age at which children understand that plants are alive
living things, not inanimate objects, can heal
On the subject of healing, preschoolers believe that
rational learning
Infants' use of prior experience to make inferences about the future is referred to as
forming associations between stimuli that occur in a predictable pattern
Statistical learning involves
differentiation
The process of extracting information in the environment that does not change (for example, extracting the features of a face that do not change, despite changes in expression) is known as
conditioned stimulus
An infant's older brother always jumps off his bed with a loud bang when he wakes up from his nap. He then comes downstairs and greets the infant with a tickle, making the infant laugh and cough reflexively. Eventually, the infant begins to laugh and coug
concepts
General ideas or understandings that can be used to group together objects are referred to as
daisy/flower/plant
Which group lists the three objects in subordinate/basic/superordinate order?
basic
Children typically learn _____ level categories first
Many phenomena are explained in terms of a few basic principles
Children's informal theories have which property?
early visual experience is important for full development of the ability to mentally represent space.
Cases where adults who were born blind and have surgery to restore sight have provided evidence that
perceptual
Subitizing is a ______ process