Cognition & Development

In Piaget's theory, the process of altering an existing schema to deal with new information that does not fit is called:

• AAssimilation
• BAccommodation✓
• CEquilibration
• DConservation

Answer: Accommodation occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas, so the schemas must be changed or new ones created. Assimilation, by contrast, is fitting new information into an existing schema without altering it.

A child who fails a conservation-of-liquid task, claiming a tall thin glass holds 'more' than a short wide glass after water is poured across, is most likely in which of Piaget's stages?

• ASensorimotor stage
• BPre-operational stage✓
• CConcrete operational stage
• DFormal operational stage

Answer: Failure to conserve is characteristic of the pre-operational stage (roughly 2 to 7 years), where children are misled by appearance (here, the height of the liquid) and cannot mentally reverse the operation. Conservation is typically mastered in the concrete operational stage.

Piaget and Inhelder's 'three mountains' task was designed to demonstrate that pre-operational children show:

• AObject permanence, the sense that objects, people and places go on existing when out of sight
• BClass inclusion, the ability to see that a subclass is contained within a larger class
• CEgocentrism, an inability to appreciate a scene from another person's viewpoint✓
• DHypothetico-deductive reasoning, in which hypotheses are tested one by one during the formal operational stage

Answer: In the three mountains task, young children typically chose the photograph showing their OWN view rather than the doll's, indicating egocentrism: difficulty in decentring and seeing a situation from another's perspective.

In Vygotsky's theory, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is best defined as the gap between:

• AThe sensorimotor stage and the stage that comes after it in Piaget's account
• BAssimilation, the way a child fits a new event into a schema, and accommodation of the schema
• CEgocentric speech said out loud and the silent inner speech it later turns into
• DWhat a learner can do alone and what they can achieve with guidance from a more knowledgeable other✓

Answer: The ZPD is the region between a child's current level of independent performance and the higher level they can reach with help from a more knowledgeable other. Learning is most effective when it targets this zone.

Gradually withdrawing support as a learner becomes more competent, so that they take on more of the task themselves, is the essence of which concept associated with Vygotsky's approach?

• AScaffolding✓
• BEquilibration
• CConservation
• DDecentration

Answer: Scaffolding (a term developed by Wood, Bruner and Ross from Vygotsky's ideas) refers to the support a more knowledgeable other provides within the ZPD, which is progressively reduced as the learner's competence grows.

Baillargeon's research using the violation of expectation (VOE) method typically infers infant understanding of the physical world from the fact that infants:

• AReach for a hidden object under a cloth
• BLook reliably LONGER at an 'impossible' event than at a 'possible' one✓
• CImitate an adult's facial expressions, such as tongue protrusion, within hours of birth
• DPass a false-belief task, such as the Sally-Anne test, well before their second birthday

Answer: In VOE studies, infants are shown possible and impossible events; longer looking at the impossible event is taken to mean it violated their expectations, implying they possess the relevant physical knowledge. Baillargeon used this to argue object permanence appears earlier than Piaget claimed.

Baillargeon's 'drawbridge' and occlusion studies are frequently cited as a challenge to Piaget because they suggest that:

• AObject permanence develops considerably later than Piaget proposed, emerging at around two years of age rather than in infancy
• BInfants begin to understand the physical world at the point when they can crawl about and handle objects for themselves
• CInfants only a few months old show object permanence and physical reasoning, earlier than Piaget's account allowed✓
• DConservation of number is present from birth, so even newborn infants understand that quantity stays constant when the appearance changes

Answer: Baillargeon's findings indicate that infants only a few months old appear surprised by physically impossible events, implying an early-developing understanding of object permanence and physical principles. This challenges Piaget's claim that such understanding emerges late in the sensorimotor stage.

In Selman's levels of perspective-taking, a child who can step outside a two-person interaction to take a third-party 'spectator' view, considering both viewpoints at once, has reached which level?

• ALevel 0: socially egocentric
• BLevel 1: social-informational role-taking
• CLevel 2: self-reflective role-taking
• DLevel 3: mutual role-taking✓

Answer: Selman's Level 3 (mutual role-taking, around 10 to 12 years) is when a child can take a third-party perspective, simultaneously considering their own and another's viewpoint as an outside observer. Level 4 extends this to a wider social-system perspective.

In the Sally-Anne false-belief task (Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985), a child who correctly says Sally will look for her marble where SHE left it, not where Anne moved it, demonstrates that the child:

• ALacks object permanence
• BPossesses a theory of mind, understanding that Sally holds a false belief✓
• CHas failed to conserve number, a Piagetian skill (concrete operations)
• DCannot yet use language well enough to describe what someone else is thinking, even when prompted

Answer: Correctly saying Sally will look where she last saw the marble shows the child understands Sally holds a false belief that differs from reality, evidence of a theory of mind. The study found most children with autism, unlike controls, failed this task.

The mirror neuron system is most strongly associated in developmental psychology with which proposed function?

• AEncoding new long-term episodic memories in the hippocampus before they are slowly moved across to the neocortex to be stored there
• BRegulating circadian rhythms of sleep, temperature and hormone release through the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and pineal gland
• CFiring both when an action is performed and when it is observed, supporting imitation, intention-reading and possibly empathy✓
• DProducing fluent speech through Broca's area of the left frontal lobe, damage to which leaves language comprehension largely intact

Answer: Mirror neurons, first identified in macaques by Rizzolatti and colleagues, fire both when an animal performs an action and when it observes the same action in another. They are proposed to underlie imitation, understanding others' intentions, and aspects of empathy and social cognition.

What are Piaget's four stages of cognitive development?

• ASensorimotor, preoperational, concrete and formal operational✓
• BSensorimotor, preoperational, conventional and postconventional
• COral, anal, phallic and genital in that fixed sequence
• DTrust, autonomy, initiative and industry in that sequence

Answer: Piaget proposed invariant stages from birth to about eleven, driven by assimilation, accommodation and equilibration. The other options are Kohlberg's moral stages, Freud's psychosexual stages and Erikson's psychosocial stages.

What is object permanence and when does Piaget say it develops?

• AKnowing objects exist unseen, developing around eight months✓
• BKnowing objects exist unseen, developing around three years
• CKnowing objects keep their quantity, developing around seven
• DKnowing others hold different views, developing around four

Answer: Before it develops, an infant behaves as though a hidden object has ceased to exist. Baillargeon's violation-of-expectation studies suggest a rudimentary understanding much earlier, so Piaget may have underestimated infants.

What is conservation?

• AUnderstanding that objects continue to exist when they are out of sight
• BUnderstanding quantity stays the same despite appearance changes✓
• CUnderstanding that other people may hold beliefs which are false
• DUnderstanding that actions can be mentally reversed

Answer: Piaget's classic tasks used liquid in different beakers and rows of counters, with children succeeding around seven. McGarrigle and Donaldson's naughty teddy study suggests the question being asked twice misled children.

What did Vygotsky mean by the zone of proximal development?

• AThe gap between current ability and potential with guidance✓
• BThe gap between a child's chronological age and mental age
• CThe stage at which a child can first make use of symbolic thought
• DThe period during which language must be acquired

Answer: Vygotsky emphasised what a child can achieve with expert help, and scaffolding is the support gradually withdrawn as competence grows. He placed social interaction at the centre where Piaget placed individual discovery.

What is egocentrism in Piaget's theory?

• AExcessive concern with one's own needs above those of others
• BInability to understand that quantity remains constant despite change
• CInability to see a situation from another person's viewpoint✓
• DThe tendency to imitate the behaviour of older children

Answer: The three mountains task showed preoperational children choosing their own view as the doll's. Hughes's policeman doll task found much younger children succeeding when the scenario made human sense to them.

What does theory of mind refer to?

• AUnderstanding that objects exist when they are not visible
• BUnderstanding that others hold beliefs which may be false✓
• CUnderstanding how one's own memory system operates
• DUnderstanding the rules governing social conventions

Answer: The Sally-Anne task tests whether a child can attribute a false belief to another, typically passed around four. Baron-Cohen linked difficulty here to autism, though the account does not explain all its features.

What is the mirror neuron system associated with?

• AUnderstanding intention and experiencing empathy✓
• BStoring the long-term memories of learned motor sequences
• CRegulating the sleep-wake circadian rhythm across the day
• DControlling the production of fluent speech

Answer: Mirror neurons fire both when performing an action and when observing it, offering a mechanism for understanding others' intentions. Much of the evidence is from macaques, and claims about human social cognition remain contested.

What are Kohlberg's three levels of moral development?

• APreoperational, concrete operational and formal operational
• BSensorimotor, symbolic and abstract moral reasoning
• CObedience, reciprocity and social contract as separate stages
• DPreconventional, conventional and postconventional reasoning✓

Answer: Each level has two stages, moving from avoiding punishment to abstract universal principles. Gilligan argued the theory reflects a male justice orientation and undervalues an ethic of care.

What is scaffolding?

• ASupport from peers who are of exactly the same ability level
• BThe internal structure of a child's developing cognitive schemas
• CSupport from a more knowledgeable other, reduced over time✓
• DThe sequence of stages every child passes through

Answer: Wood, Bruner and Ross described techniques from demonstration through to verbal hints, withdrawn as the learner takes over. It follows directly from Vygotsky's zone of proximal development.