Developmental Psychology
Chapter Objectives
Chapter 7
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Students should be able to define, identify, and give an example of a cognitive scheme.
Further, students should be able to describe how schemes change (in general, not specific
schemes) from infancy to adulthood.
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Students should be able to define adaptation (i.e., assimilation and accommodation) and
generate a unique (i.e., not from the text or lecture) example of this process.
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Students should be able to describe how the processes of adaptation and organization
work together to further cognitive development.
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Students should be able to describe the basic characteristics of each of the stages
(including any substages) of Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory. This description
should include any cognitive limitations (e.g., object permanence, egocentrism,
centration, and so on) and cognitive capacities (e.g., conservation, hypothetical-deductive
reasoning, and so on) inherent in the stages.
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Students should be able to define what theory of mind is and describe how the false belief
task is used to examine theory of mind in children. Further, students should be able to
identify the ages at which children acquire a more sophisticated theory of mind and
should be able to outline Harris’ beliefs about the development of a theory of mind.
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Students should be able to identify to which stage a child belongs when given a
description of that child’s behavior.
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Students should be able to list several limitations of/challenges to each of Piaget’s stages
and to briefly outline the research that demonstrates these limitations/challenges.
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Students should be able to describe, identify, and generate unique examples of the two
types of adolescent egocentrism.
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Students should be able to compare and contrast the role that language plays in Piaget’s
and Vygotsky’s theories. Further, students should be able to identify which theory seems
to be more accurate in describing the relationship between language and cognition and
briefly outline the research that supports this.
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Students should be able to define the terms zone of proximal development,
intersubjectivity, and scaffolding and describe how these concepts work together to
further cognitive development in Vygotsky’s theory. Further, students should be able to
identify and generate unique examples of each of these concepts.