Piaget: Let's Review!

One of the basic principles in Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that

• the mistakes that children make in their reasoning are meaningful because they indicate the nature of the child's current thought processes.

• a child's surprise when one of their expectations is violated is the best measure of their level of cognitive development.

• the strongest influence on the way we think about and understand the world is the social world in which we live.

• children must develop metacognitive functions before they can reason accurately about the world.

In Piaget's theory, a schema is

• an understanding of memory, how it works, and how to use it effectively.

• a memory strategy for increasing the number of associations that ties individual pieces of information together.

• a cognitive framework that allows us to place concepts, objects, and experiences into categories or groups.

• a way to coordinate attention and memory and control behavioral responses in order to attain a goal.

In Piaget's theory, fitting new information into an existing cognitive scheme is the process of

• information processing.

• centration.

• assimilation.

• accommodation.

A child put the clothespins into the milk jug. They then tried to reach their hand inside the jug to get them out. They did this over and over again. They could not get the clothespins out. This sounds like a child in which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operattions

A child is given a cardboard box and pretends that it is a train. At which stage does a child begin pretending, according to Piaget?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations

A child tells his friend, “I’ve got the best joke. What can leap higher than a tall building?” “Anything! Tall buildings can’t leap!” The child’s understanding of the two interpretations of the question indicates that he has reached which of Piaget’s stages?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations

Upon overhearing his mother mention that “it is difficult for a woman to make it to the top of a large corporation,” the child asks, “why she can’t just take the elevator”? The child’s literal understanding of the this statement indicates that he in which of Piaget’s stages?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations

A girl whose boyfriend has broken up with her thinks, “My mother could never understand what I’m going through. She could never have felt a love like I felt.” Which of Piaget’s stages might this girl be in?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations

A child is given a cardboard box and she explores it by opening and closing the flaps. This sounds like a child in which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations

A child doesn’t sneak a cookie when his mom is outside because he thinks that she can see what he sees. This sounds like a child in which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?

• sensorimotor

• preoperational

• concrete operations

• formal operations