Exam 1: Understanding Life-Span Human Development

Developmental psychologist Dr. Wiggles is interested in preschool children's helping behavior. He spends hours watching children at the campus preschool, taking great care not to interfere with the children or to influence their behavior in any way. What data collection technique is Dr. Wiggles using?

In a _____ observation study, the researcher creates a special condition designed to elicit the behavior of interest.

What are the concepts of age grade, age norms, and a social clock, and how could they be applied to you and your life?

Dr. Hu is interested in children's affective responses to studying science. She spends many hours sitting quietly and observing in elementary school classrooms during science instruction, and makes careful notes on all she observes. While observing, Dr. Hu is careful not to interact with the children or to interfere with their behavior in any way. This form of data collection is known as

Plasticity involves the capacity to change in response to both positive and negative events.

Dr. Fill wants to study the relationship between drug addiction and being the victim of child abuse. As Dr. Fill is an ethical researcher, he would have to conduct a(n) _____ study.

Which is NOT a major shortcoming of self-reports?

A correlation of +.2 indicates a stronger relationship between two variables than would a correlation of -.9.

In Western Societies, it took until the beginning of the eighteenth century for "adolescence" to be viewed as a distinct period of the lifespan.

In a _____, the results from multiple studies are synthesized to produce some overall conclusion.

Ethnocentrism is the belief that

A random sample is always smaller than the population from which it is drawn.

In the Friedrich and Stein study on the influence of television on aggression, the type of television show watched (aggressive, prosocial, or neutral) represented the ______ variable in the experiment.

Random assignment helps ensure

The key element of the scientific method is the belief that _____ should determine the merits of an idea.

Which statement best characterizes individuals in the "emerging adulthood" period of development?

The fact that individuals who were born in 1980 will develop differently than individuals born in 1880 is best explained using the concept of _____ effects.

In a psychological experiment, a researcher always

Which of the following has had the most significant impact on lengthening the average lifespan in the United States?

A meta-analysis is best described as