The Developing Person Through the Life Span 9th Edition By Kathleen Stassen Berger – Test Bank

The Developing Person Through the Life Span 9th Edition By Kathleen Stassen Berger – Test Bank

1.

Briefly describe the first three stages of sensorimotor intelligence, including each stage’s length. For each stage, give an example of an infant’s behavior.

2.

Briefly describe stages four through six of sensorimotor intelligence, including each stage’s length. For each stage, give an example of an infant’s behavior.

3.

Your friend has a 10-month-old infant. She’s considering buying an expensive set of infant learning software to train her baby’s cognitive ability. What advice would you give your friend about the wisdom of buying such a program? Give at least two reasons for your recommendation.

4.

Explain the nature and limitations of memory in infants aged 0 to 9 months.

5.

Define object permanence and when it begins. Describe how it is measured in laboratory settings and how it can be revealed in informal settings. Why is this concept considered a major milestone in cognitive development?

6.

Describe the five stages of spoken language development from birth until the first birthday.

7.

Describe the five stages of spoken language development from the first to second birthday.

8.

Explain the characteristics of child-directed speech. Why is it used all over the world?

9.

How do the views of B. F. Skinner and Noam Chomsky differ in their explanations of infant language acquisition? Explain each view, and then defend the one that seems more convincing to you.

10.

Explain two ways in which parents can help to ensure that their baby develops good language skills.

11.

Explain what the Gibsons meant by affordances and give an example.

12.

Identify the basic four theories of language learning and describe them.

Answer Key

1.

Stage One: Reflexes. These include all of the reflex actions apparent at birth (such as rooting, sucking, and grasping) and lasts for the first month of life. The infant gains information about the world through the repeated use of these reflexes.

Stage Two: Acquired Adaptations (or First Habits). This stage lasts from ages 1 to 4 months and includes behaviors such as thumb-sucking, through which the infant learns the limits of his or her own body.

Stage Three: Making Interesting Things Last. This stage covers 4 to 8 months of age. The behaviors include those through which the infant interacts with things in the environment, such as shaking a rattle, clapping hands, and kicking to make a crib mobile move.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Describe the first three stages of sensorimotor intelligence

Names the first three stages, gives the length, and describes what occurs in each stage

Describes two of the first three stages and gives their lengths without including the name of each stage

Does not describe at least two stages or name them.

Give an example of what an infant does in each stage (shown in boldface above)

Gives an example of what an infant does in each stage

Gives an example of what an infant does in two stages

Gives an example of what an infant does in one or no stages

2.

Stage Four: New Adaptation and Anticipation (Means to an End). This stage lasts from 8 to 12 months of age and includes goal-directed behaviors. This comes from an enhanced awareness of cause and effect and the emergence of the fine motor skills needed to achieve these goals, such as pointing, making gestures, and pulling someone’s hands into a clapping motion to encourage patty-cake. They keep their mouths shut if they don’t like the food they’re offered.

Stage Five: New Means Through Active Experimentation (Little Scientist). This stage lasts from 12 to 18 months of age. It includes trial-and-error learning behaviors such as squeezing toothpaste tubes, flushing things in the toilet, and taking something apart to see what’s inside.

Stage Six: New Means Through Mental Combinations. In this stage, lasting from 18 to 24 months of age, toddlers are able to think about the consequences of various actions mentally without actually having to perform them (such as recalling that they got in trouble the last time they flushed teddy down the toilet and thus refrain from flushing something else). At this stage toddlers can pretend, and engage in deferred imitation. This means they copy behavior they observed hours or even days earlier.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Describe stages 4-6 of sensorimotor intelligence

Names the three stages, gives the length, and describes what occurs in each stage

Describes two of the three stages and gives their lengths without including the name of each stage

Does not describe at least two stages or name them

Give an example of what an infant does in each stage (shown in boldface above)

Gives an example of what an infant does in each stage

Gives an example of what an infant does in two stages

Gives an example of what an infant does in one or no stages

3.

I would discourage her from making the software purchase. First of all, 1) the Association of Pediatricians recommends NO screen time for children prior to the age of 2. In addition, I would stress 2) the limitations of infant memory. I’d also emphasize that 3) infants learn the most and the fastest by interacting with a teacher. Plus, 4) time spent with the software would reduce the time the baby spends using his or her senses and motor skills to explore the environment. Such behaviors are necessary for normal developmental milestones to occur on schedule.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Offer advice

Offers at least two reasons why the software shouldn’t be purchased

Offers at least one reason why the software shouldn’t be purchased

Offers no valid reason why the software shouldn’t be purchased or recommends that the software be bought

4.

1) Infants have difficulty storing new memories in their first year. 2) One reason is linguistic: People use words to store memories, so preverbal children have difficulty with recall. 3) After about 6 months of age, infants retain information for a longer time than younger babies do. For example, if a 9-month-old watches someone playing with a toy he or she has never seen. 4) The next day, the 9-month-old will play with the toy in the same way as he or she had observed. Infant memory is fairly simple. 5) Repeated experiences are more likely to be remembered than single experiences. This is seen in language learning as well as in learning new behaviors. 6) When teaching a new activity, such as how to play with a new toy, several demonstrations will probably be necessary before the child remembers the sequence of activities. 7) Explicit memory emerges between 6 and 12 months of age.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Explain the nature and limitations of infant memory

States at least three of the seven points listed above

States at least two of the seven points listed above

States one or none of the seven points listed above

5.

Object permanence is a child’s awareness that an object or person continues to exist even when out of sight. It begins around the age of 8 months. In a laboratory, it is tested by showing a baby an object, and then covering it with a cloth. Babies who have achieved object permanence will remove the cloth to reveal the object. In more casual settings, it is revealed by a baby looking for an object or person who is not in the room. This understanding is vital to the future development of language, which allows one to refer to objects and things that are not necessarily present.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Define object permanence and when it starts

Defines object permanence and when it starts

Defines object permanence or when it starts

Does not define object permanence or when it starts

Describe how it is measured

Describes how it is measured in a lab and informal setting

Describes how it is measured in a lab or informal setting

Does not describe how it is measured in a lab or informal setting

Explain its importance

Explains its importance to language learning

Is vague about why object permanence is important

Does not explain its importance to language learning

6.

Newborn: Reflexive—cries, movements, facial expressions

2 mos: Meaningful noises—cooing, fussing, crying, laughing

3-6 mos: New sounds—squeals, growls, croons, trills, vowel sounds

6-10 mos: Babbling—consonant and vowel sounds in repeated syllables

10-12 mos: Comprehension of simple words; speech-like intonations; specific vocalizations that have meaning to those who know the infant well. (Deaf babies express their first signs; hearing babies also use specific gestures (e.g., pointing) to communicate.)

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Identify the five stages of spoken language 0-12 mos.

Identifies the five stages

Identifies four stages

Identifies three or fewer stages

Describe the five stages

Briefly describes each of the stages

Briefly describes four of the stages

Briefly describes three of the stages

7.

12 mos: First word

13-18 mos: Vocabulary reaches 50 words

18 mos: Naming explosion

21 mos: Two-word sentences

24 mos: Multiword sentences

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Identify the five stages of spoken language 12-24 mos.

Identifies the five stages

Identifies four stages

Identifies three or fewer stages

Describe the five stages

Briefly describes each of the stages

Briefly describes four of the stages

Briefly describes three of the stages

8.

All normal human infants are very similar in their capacity to perceive and respond to language. Child-directed speech is also known as baby talk or motherese. Its characteristics are adults speaking in 1) high-pitched sounds 2) using simple words and 3) short sentences. Since babies respond more to these sounds than normal adult speech, their language acquisition develops more rapidly when motherese is used. Child-directed speech is used worldwide because it features language adaptations best suited for communication with infants.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Explain the characteristics of child-directed speech

Explains at least two characteristics of motherese

Explains at least one characteristic of motherese

Does not give any characteristics of motherese

Tell why motherese is used worldwide

Tells why motherese is used worldwide

Is vague about why motherese is used worldwide

Does not express why motherese is used worldwide

9.

Noticing that an infant’s first babbles are reinforced with smiles, repetition of the sound, and other forms of attention, Skinner believed that parents’ responses reinforce the development of speech in their babies. In Skinner’s behavioral theory, parents and other caregivers are teachers of language. In contrast, Chomsky believed that infants are born with an innate language acquisition device (LAD) that equips them to learn language on their own. According to his view, language learning is the result of neurological maturity.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Contrast views of Skinner and Chomsky

Explains both researchers’ viewpoints

Explains one researcher’s viewpoint

Cannot explain either researcher’s viewpoint

Defends one of the viewpoints

Defends one of the viewpoints and gives a reason

Defends one of the viewpoints without giving a reason

Does not choose a viewpoint or fails to give a reason for choosing a viewpoint

10.

1) Parents must begin speaking to the baby early—long before the baby can reply. They must 2) give the baby plenty of exposure to language, through conversation, reading, and songs. Parents should 3) use proper grammar and vocabulary when speaking to the child, as the baby learns these things from their parents’ own language use.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Explain two ways in which parents help baby develop language skills

Explains two ways

Explains one way

Does not explain a way

11.

Affordances are opportunities within a child’s environment that allow for perception and interaction. Many situations afford the opportunity for a toddler to practice a skill, such as running. Some are more appropriate than others—e.g., an open field versus a parking lot. Both afford running, but one is a good place to run (the field) and one is not (the parking lot). How a particular affordance is perceived and acted on depends upon four factors: sensory awareness, immediate motivation, current level of development, and past experience.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Define affordance

Defines affordance (first sentence above) and lists the four factors (last sentence above)

Defines affordance without giving the four factors

Does not define affordance

Give an example

Gives an example such as the running one above

Gives a vague example

Does not give an example

12.

1) Skinner said that infants need to be taught language through association and reinforcement. Children associate the names of objects and events with their meaning, and caregivers provide reinforcement for utterances that are close to real language (e.g., babbling “ma-ma-ma-ma” is rewarded with smiles). Skinner assumed that children who use language better are those whose caregivers spoke to them the most.

2) Social-pragmatic learning proposes that social impulses foster infant language. Children master words and grammar to join the social world of the people around them. This theory emphasizes that language requires social give-and-take; children cannot learn language from educational programs alone.

3) Chomsky said that learning language is innate or inborn, and that adults do not need to directly teach it. Children’s innate drive to imitate, combined with a predisposition to derive the patterns in spoken language (thanks to a structure he referred to as a language acquisition device (LAD)), enable children to acquire the language to which they are exposed.

4) A hybrid theory proposed by Hollich et al. suggests that there is an emergent coalition of aspects of several of the theories. This theory contends that each of the three theories accounts for certain aspects of language acquisition, but to fully understand language acquisition, all three theories must be combined.

Good (5 pts)

Fair (3 pts)

Weak (1-0 pts)

Identify the basic four theories of language learning

Identifies the four theories

Identifies three of the theories

Identifies two or fewer theories

Describe each theory

Describes all four theories

Describes three theories

Describes two of fewer theories