Piaget's theory of cognitive development - basics

The primary focus of Piaget's theory is __________ development.

• emotional

• social

• cognitive

• biological

When children incorporate new information into their existing schemes, it is called __________.

• cognition

• equilibrium

• disequilibrium

• assimilation

when children adjust their schemes to fit new information, it is called __________.

• accommodation

• assimilation

• conservation

• conversation

The term sensorimotor refers to infants’

• decreasing reliance on sensation for thought.

• decreasing reliance on motor abilities.

• increasing abilities to coordinate their senses with one another.

• increasing abilities to coordinate sensations with physical movements and actions.

The development of object permanence is important because it means that infants are able to

• maintain an image of an object in their minds

• coordinate sensory stimuli with physical actions

• physically manipulate objects in their environment.

• physically explore the varying properties of objects in their environment

A young child might be heard saying, "The moon is smiling at me." The child's belief that the moon has "human" qualities and is capable of action is referred to as

• Humanism

• Conservation

• Animism

• Centration

   _______ is clearly evidenced in young children's lack of conservation when they focus their attention on one characteristic (such as height or length) to the exclusion of other characteristics

• Egocentrism

• Equilibrium

• Centration

• Animism

One major accomplishments of concrete operational stage is

• object permanence

• animistic thinking

• ability to conserve

• ability to think abstractly

In Piaget's theory, at which stage do children develop the ability to think logically about concrete objects and events, but they struggle with abstract concepts?

• sensorimotor stage

• preoperational stage

• concrete operational stage

• formal operational stage

According to Piaget, what is the term for the process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas?

• equilibration

• adaptation

• conservation

• operations