Chapter 5: Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood
Critical-Thinking Multiple-Choice Questions
1. This chapter makes many claims about diverse aspects of the cognitive functioning of
preschool children. Although the picture of their cognitive skills is fairly consistently
presented, some of the studies contradict one another. Which of the following
statements is contradicted by information elsewhere in the chapter? Circle the letter of
the best answer, and explain why it is the best answer and why the other answers are
not as good. Hint: Cite the specific finding (or findings) that confirms or contradicts
the claim in question.
a. As indicated by their performance on the three mountains task, young children cannot
take the perspective of others.
b. Young children find it difficult to pay attention to more than one feature,
characteristic, or dimension of a task at the same time.
c. An aspect of preoperational thought is that nonliving things are thought to have the
characteristics of living things.
d. Memory span increases rapidly between the ages of 2 and 7 years.
e. Around 3 years of age, children are able to talk about things that are not physically
present.
2. Santrock devotes much effort in this chapter to describing the nature of cognition in early
childhood and to identifying the experiences presumed to promote cognition; however,
he seldom directly shows the relationship between ideas and observations. On the
contrary, the job of synthesizing this information is left to the reader. According to your
synthesis of information in the chapter, which of the following statements makes the
most sense? Circle the letter of the best answer, and explain why it is the best answer
and why the other answers are not as good.
a. Piaget’s and Vygotsky’s theories contradict one another.
b. The Montessori approach is the most effective early education program.
c. The development of language is very different from, and unrelated to, the
development of thought.
d. The concept of a child-centered kindergarten is clearly based on Piaget’s theory of
cognitive development.
e. Both Piagetian tests and information-processing tasks reveal that the preschooler’s
mind is qualitative.
3. Tremendous research has examined physical development in early childhood, including
research on height differences, second-hand smoke, and brain development. Which of the
following statements best represents an assumption by researchers, rather than an
inference or an observation? Circle the letter of the best answer, and explain why it is
the best answer and why the other answers are not as good.
a. Differences in physical activity, basal metabolism, and efficiency with which children
use energy, help explain the varying energy needs of individual children of the same
age, sex, and size.
b. The two most important contributors to height differences around the world are ethnic
origins and nutrition.
c. Exposure to tobacco smoke increases children’s risk for developing a number of
medical problems.
d. Children’s brains experience rapid, distinct spurts of growth.
e. Myelination is important in the maturation of a number of children’s abilities.