Certificate In Psychology (CPSY) Practice Exam

What central claim do both Piaget and Vygotsky share regarding child development?

1. The process is universal.

2. All children go through the same stages.

3. Children actively construct knowledge.

4. Development can't be separated from social context.

The correct answer is: Children actively construct knowledge.

Both Piaget and Vygotsky emphasize the active role of children in their own development, which aligns with the central claim that children actively construct knowledge. Piaget's theory underscores that children are not passive recipients of information; instead, they engage with their environment, form hypotheses, and test them through exploration and experience. This emphasis on active learning highlights that knowledge is constructed through interactions with one's surroundings rather than simply absorbed. Vygotsky also supports this notion but places more emphasis on the social context, asserting that social interactions play a crucial role in cognitive development. He argues that children learn through collaborative dialogue with more knowledgeable others, leading them to construct understanding within a social framework. While both theorists acknowledge the importance of social interactions (which is relevant to the fourth option regarding social context), their unified focus on the active construction of knowledge by the child is what distinctly underscores their theories of child development. They see children as eager learners who shape their understanding of the world rather than mere observers of it.