Cognitive Development in Infancy and Early Childhood

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What are schemes according to Piaget?

Back

Psychological structures that organize experiences into mental categories of related events, objects, and knowledge.

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What is assimilation in Piaget's theory?

Back

The process where experiences are readily incorporated into existing schemes.

Front

What is accommodation in Piaget's theory?

Back

The process where schemes have to be modified to incorporate new experiences.

Front

What is equilibration in Piaget's theory?

Back

The process of reestablishing balance when assimilation and accommodation are used to resolve disequilibrium.

Front

What are the four stages of cognitive development according to Piaget?

Back

Sensorimotor period, preoperational period, concrete operational period, and formal operational period.

Front

What characterizes the sensorimotor stage?

Back

Schemes developed through changes in perceptual and motor skills.

Front

What is object permanence?

Back

The understanding that objects exist independently of one's self, actions, and thoughts toward them.

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What characterizes preoperational thinking?

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Use of mental symbols, egocentrism, animism, centration, and inability to reverse mental operations.

Front

What is egocentrism in preoperational thinking?

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The inability to see the world from another's point of view.

Front

What is animism in preoperational thinking?

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Attributing life and lifelike properties to inanimate objects.