Chapter 6

Imagine that you are counseling a 6th grader on how to improve her study skills so that she will remember more information on tests. Not only do you teach her some memory strategies, you also encourage her to engage in self-testing so that she will begin self- monitoring, that is, keeping track of how well she is remembering new material. What kind of skill is this kind of self-monitoring?

A metacognitive skill.

For counselors who work with abused and maltreated children, which of the following statements draws an appropriate conclusion from research on social cognition and friendships?

Counselors should pay attention to the social world of these maltreated children, because those who can make a best friend have a good chance of improving their self-esteem.

Mrs. Brown has tried to explain to her 3-year-old daughter, Maya, that Maya must stay at the babysitter's house while her mother goes to work. Maya cries each day during leave-taking. Mrs. Brown is embarrassed by this, especially because the babysitter seems to disapprove. The babysitter thinks that Maya should be more considerate toward her mother. Which is the most developmentally appropriate course of action?

Explain to the babysitter that Maya can't understand yet why her mother has to leave her and ask that the babysitter be patient with her.

Jeremy, a 2nd grader, is in the counselor's office because he hit another boy on the playground. He tells the counselor that he knew the other boy was about to hit him first. He was just "getting back" at the other student. The counselor tries to help Jeremy control his aggressive behavior by explaining that the other boy didn't intend to hurt him. Given what you have learned about social development, which of the following is your best recommendation for the counselor?

Jeremy probably doesn't have a good understanding of another person's intentions at this age. The counselor should assess the quality of Jeremy's perspective-taking and structure the intervention accordingly

Before using cognitive therapies with children, which of the following is an important area of cognitive skill that clinicians should assess in their young clients?

Metacognitive skill.

Which of the following therapeutic approaches is designed to help children develop their perspective taking and friendship skills?

The self-monitoring approach

Counselors who work to improve children's social relationships are concerned with developing friendship skills. According to Selman, friendship skills can be defined as

a child's changing knowledge about what friendship implies.

Stanley is 7 years old. His parents are quite concerned about his school progress. Although he has begun to learn to read, he reverses some letters when he writes. Based on research, Stanley's school counselor should tell his parents that

brain development can be quite uneven in childhood and as a result, it is not unusual for children to show poor performance in isolated skills.

Friendship, according to Selman, requires balancing

intimacy and autonomy

Both Sam and Suzanna, age 11, are having trouble making friends. A counselor assesses each of them for social interactive skills and discovers that Sam has poor perspective-taking skills for his age. Suzanna actually has good perspective-taking skills, but she fails to use these skills effectively when interacting with others. In Selman's terms, these two children show different levels of ____________ but similar levels of ____________.

competence / performance

Carla, a bright, energetic 8-year-old, has lost four gloves during the past few weeks. Her mother is annoyed at the need to keep replacing gloves. Carla notices that her little brother is amused that Carla is in trouble, and she formulates the theory that her brother is stealing the gloves just to get her into trouble. Carla is convinced that she is right. She refuses to entertain her mother's suggestion that Carla is often so distracted that she does not keep track of her possessions. Carla is displaying a form of

egocentrism

Memory is to some degree reconstructed. This accounts for the phenomenon of

false memories.

The more you know about a particular domain of knowledge,

the more easily you can learn new information in that domain.