alleryA child hears a dog bark, then a balloon pops, and decides the bark popped it. This is:
ATransductive reasoning
BDeductive reasoning
CInductive reasoning
DHypothetical reasoning
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: A. Transductive reasoning
1. Note the structure of the child's logic: one specific event (bark) is linked to another specific event (pop).
2. Deductive reasoning goes from a general rule to a specific case.
3. Inductive reasoning goes from specific cases to a general rule.
4. Reasoning from one specific to another specific, joining unrelated events, is **transductive reasoning**.
5. Piaget listed it, with animism and artificialism, as a form of preoperational precausal thinking.
6. So the child shows transductive reasoning.
**Why the other options fail:**
- Deductive: no general rule is applied.
- Inductive: no generalisation is formed.
- Hypothetical reasoning belongs to formal operations and is far beyond this child.
_Source: Wikipedia, "Piaget's theory of cognitive development", section "Symbolic function substage" (revision 1379038101)_
Keep practising Unit 3A1: Prenatal, Infancy and Childhood Development
Browse all Unit 3A1: Prenatal, Infancy and Childhood Development questions for AP Psychology, or explore more Psychology topics.
Related questions
A 7-year-old teaches her 9-year-old cousin a game she knows well. For Vygotsky, she is:In Vygotsky's theory, someone with more skill who guides a learner is called the:In Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, the lower limit is set by what the child can dVygotsky's term for the gap that help can bridge:Vygotsky held that a child's mental abilities are shaped mainly by:Piaget saw which relationships as the key source of moral ideas such as equality and recipChildren agree to change a game's rules so everyone gets a turn. Which Piaget stage of morIn Piaget's heteronomous stage of morality, children see rules as: