What are some examples to show that children do or do not appear to understand a concept, depending on how we test it?
What will be an ideal response?
(1) Piaget concluded that 6-month-old infants did not understand object permanence, because they would not reach for an object they did not see. Later researchers found that infants the same age showed surprise when an unseen block failed to halt the progress of a toy car going down a track.
(2) To test theory of mind, researchers showed a figure representing a girl putting bananas in a toy refrigerator. Then the girl figure turned her back to the refrigerator and the researcher moved the bananas from one refrigerator to another. When the researcher asked the child to move the girl figure where she would try to get bananas, children moved it to where the bananas used to be. But when asked to say where the girl would look for bananas, children indicated the other refrigerator.
(3) A 3-year-old who encounters a sponge that looks like a rock will say either that it is a sponge and looks like a sponge, or that it is a rock and looks like a rock. However, if the child is asked either to bring a sponge to mop up spilled water, or to bring something that looks like a rock, the child fetches the object. So the child distinguishes appearance from reality, or fails to do so, depending on how we ask the question.
(4) A child less than 3 years old generally fails to find a toy hidden in a big room after seeing an experimenter hide a small version of the toy in "the same place" in a small version of the room. However, if the experimenter says it is "the same room, but blown up larger," the child is likely to succeed.
(5) A child who fails the conservation of number task with seven objects does show conservation of number with three objects.
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A. He believed in his ability and that became his reality. B. He was able to overcome unconscious forces of doubt. C. He became fixated in the anal stage, which led to his obsession with the law. D. His superego was able to control his id.
Which would not be found on a list of "normal grief reactions"?
a. Relief b. Lack of enthusiasm c. Confusion d. Euphoria
Which of the following is false regarding gender differences and illness?
a) Women are more likely than men to die from hospitalization for lung diseases caused by smoking. b) Men with lung disease from smoking get more seriously ill than do women. c) Lung diseases that are caused by smoking afflict men and women equally. d) There is a difference between the number of men and women who are hospitalized with a lung disease caused by smoking.
____________ are networks of nerve cells that persist even after stimulation has stopped.
A. Feature detectors B. Cell assemblies C. Olfactory neurons D. Glial cells