CDC Piaget & Erikson Developmental Stages 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A daycare teacher lets toddlers choose between two shirt colors each morning. According to Erikson, this practice best supports which developmental stage?
- Trust vs. Mistrust
- Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (Correct answer)
- Initiative vs. Guilt
- Industry vs. Inferiority
Correct answer: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Offering choices supports Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (ages 1–3) by giving toddlers safe opportunities for self-direction.
Question 2: Piaget argued that children in the concrete operational stage can solve problems involving physical objects but struggle with:
- Symbolic play
- Abstract hypothetical reasoning (Correct answer)
- Classification tasks
- Conservation of number
Correct answer: Abstract hypothetical reasoning
Abstract and hypothetical reasoning does not emerge until the formal operational stage (age 11+).
Question 3: A 5-year-old tells her teacher that the sun goes to sleep because it is tired. This is an example of:
- Conservation
- Animism (Correct answer)
- Reversibility
- Seriation
Correct answer: Animism
Animism is attributing human characteristics such as feelings or intentions to non-living things like the sun.
Question 4: Which theorist emphasized that social interaction and culture are central drivers of cognitive development, contrasting with Piaget's more individual-focused view?
- Erik Erikson
- Lev Vygotsky (Correct answer)
- B.F. Skinner
- John Bowlby
Correct answer: Lev Vygotsky
Vygotsky stressed the zone of proximal development and the role of social/cultural context, unlike Piaget's child-as-scientist model.
Question 5: According to Erikson, a preschooler who is frequently criticized for messy art projects may develop:
- Role confusion
- Guilt rather than initiative (Correct answer)
- Inferiority rather than industry
- Shame rather than autonomy
Correct answer: Guilt rather than initiative
Excessive criticism during the Initiative vs. Guilt stage (ages 3–6) can cause guilt to overshadow the child's natural drive to plan and create.
Question 6: Piaget's term for a mental category used to organize knowledge and experience is:
- Equilibration
- Schema (Correct answer)
- Centration
- Accommodation
Correct answer: Schema
A schema is a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information.
Question 7: A 9-year-old understands that 5 + 3 = 8 also means 8 – 3 = 5. This demonstrates which Piagetian concept?
- Conservation
- Reversibility (Correct answer)
- Egocentrism
- Object permanence
Correct answer: Reversibility
Reversibility is the concrete operational understanding that mental operations can be undone or reversed.
CDC Piaget & Erikson Developmental Stages 3
A daycare teacher lets toddlers choose between two shirt colors each morning.
According to Erikson, this practice best supports which developmental stage?