 |
| | | | |
Child Development - A Thematic Approach
, Fifth Edition
Danuta Bukatko - College of the Holy Cross
Marvin W. Daehler - University of Massachusetts, Amherst
| | |
| | Glossary Terms
A | B |
C | D | E |
F | G | H |
I | J | K |
L | M | N |
O | P | Q |
R | S | T |
U | V | W |
X | Y | Z
Animism
Attribution of lifelike qualities to inanimate objects.
Artificialism
Belief that naturally occurring events are caused by people.
Cardinality
Principle that the last number in a set of counted numbers refers to the number of items in that set.
Centration
In Piagetian theory, tendency of the child to focus on only one aspect of a problem.
Cognition
Processes involved in thinking and mental activity, such as attention, memory, and problem solving.
Concept
Definition of a set of information on the basis of some general or abstract principle.
Concrete operational stage
In Piagetian theory, the third stage of development, from approximately seven to eleven years of age, in which thought is logical when stimuli are physically present.
Conservation tasks
Problems that require the child to make judgments about the equivalence of two displays; used to assess stage of cognitive development.
Core knowledge hypothesis
The idea that infants possess innate knowledge of certain properties of objects.
Egocentrism
Preoperational child’s inability to separate his or her own perspective from those of others.
Elicited imitation
A way of assessing memory in which children must reconstruct a unique sequence of actions that they have seen in the past; usually used with preverbal children.
Focus on states
Preoperational child’s tendency to treat two or more connected events as unrelated.
Formal operational stage
In Piagetian theory, the last stage of development, from approximately eleven to fifteen years of age, in which thought is abstract and hypothetical.
Hypothetical reasoning
Ability to systematically generate and evaluate potential solutions to a problem.
Imaginary audience
Individual’s belief that others are examining and evaluating him or her.
Intersubjectivity
Mutual attention and shared communication that take place between the child and caregiver or learner and expert.
Landmark
Distinctive location or cue that the child uses to negotiate or represent a spatial environment.
Means-ends behavior
Deliberate behavior employed to attain a goal.
Natural domains
Concepts or categories that children acquire especially rapidly and effortlessly.
Object concept
Realization that objects exist even when they are not within view. Also called object permanence.
One-to-one correspondence
Understanding that two sets are equivalent in number if each element in one set can be mapped onto a unique element in the second set with none left over.
Operation
In Piagetian theory, a mental action such as reversibility.
Ordinality
Principle that a number refers to an item’s order within a set.
Personal fable
Belief that one is unique and perhaps even invulnerable.
Perspective taking
Ability to take the role of another person and understand what that person is thinking, is feeling, or knows.
Preoperational stage
In Piagetian theory, the second stage of development, from approximately two to seven years of age in which thought becomes symbolic in form
Primacy effect
Tendency for individuals to display good recall for early items in a list.
Protodeclarative communication
Use of a gesture to call attention to an object or event.
Protoimperative communication
Use of a gesture to issue a command or request.
Realism
Inability to distinguish between mental and physical entities.
Recency effect
Tendency for individuals to show good recall for the last few items in a list.
Rehearsal
Memory strategy that involves repetition of items to be remembered.
Reversibility
In Piagetian theory, the ability to mentally reverse or negate an action or a transformation.
Scaffolding
Temporary aid provided by one person to encourage, support, and assist a lesser-skilled person in carrying out a task or completing a problem. The model provides knowledge and skills that are learned and gradually transferred to the learner.
Sensorimotor stage
In Piagetian theory, the first stage of cognitive development, from birth to approximately two years of age, in which thought is based primarily on action.
Theory of mind
Awareness of the concept of mental states, both one’s own and those of others
| |
| |
|
|
|
