Deck 1: Basic Issues in the Study of Development

Question 1

Of the following, who thought that developmentalists should identify norms, or average ages, at which milestones happen?

A) Hall
B) Watson
C) Locke
D) Decartes
E) Rousseau

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Based on Spelke's research, we would expect that two-month-old Timmy would

A) pay special attention to objects that are stationary.
B) understand that objects will move downward when not supported.
C) believe that moving objects change direction randomly.
D) have no preexisting conception about the behavior of objects.
E) not be able to see a moving object.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

The belief that changes in behavior are caused by environmental influences is found in

A) rationalism.
B) psychoanalysis.
C) nativism.
D) behaviorism.
E) idealism.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Professor Chang considers herself to be an empiricist. Which of the following would she be most likely to believe?

A) All knowledge is inborn.
B) Developmental change is the result of genetic factors.
C) Capacity to respond is internally determined.
D) Plato and Descartes were correct.
E) At birth, the mind is tabula rasa.

Question 5

John Watson believed

A) children are born with an inborn developmental plan.
B) by manipulating the environment, a child could be trained to be or do anything.
C) in strong parental displays of affection.
D) the "Little Albert" experiment did not support his beliefs.
E) the interaction between a child's genetic makeup and environment creates who he or she becomes.

Question 6

According to the concept of inborn biases, infants

A) cannot be taught until after two years of age.
B) have a tabula rasa mind at birth.
C) imprint on parents by six months of age.
D) are biased toward people of their own gender.
E) are born with certain preexisting conceptions.

Question 7

Greenough's research indicated that one of the proteins needed for the development of the visual system is controlled by a gene whose action does not occur without visual experience. This finding leads to the conclusion that some maturational sequences

A) are purely automatic.
B) require programmed exercises from infancy on.
C) are actually the result of learning.
D) require some experience to trigger them.
E) are exclusively the result of genetics.

Question 8

"The first 18 months of life are the most important ones in development. Children who do not receive the proper stimulation or the proper loving attention then will be less likely to fully develop emotionally." What theoretical principle is reflected in this statement?

A) extinction
B) primary process
C) sensitive period
D) vulnerability
E) critical period

Question 9

Which of the following statements describes a qualitative developmental change?

A) Rob has grown five inches in the last year.
B) Lawanda has four new friends.
C) Chuck's IQ went up 10 points after a year in his new school.
D) Agatha has gained ten pounds.
E) Tamara gets along better with her peers now.

Question 10

The "Little Albert" experiment was conducted by

A) Watson.
B) Hall.
C) Rousseau.
D) Descartes.
E) Spock

Question 11

Whether a child's development is governed by inborn knowledge or whether it is shaped by environmental factors is the question of

A) maturation versus development.
B) idealism versus rationalism.
C) change versus continuity.
D) consistency versus continuity.
E) nature versus nurture.

Question 12

Of the following individuals, who advocated the empiricist side of the nature-nurture debate?

A) Descartes
B) Plato
C) Locke
D) Rousseau
E) Hall

Question 13

All of the following reflect the same debate EXCEPT

A) nature versus nurture.
B) nativism versus empiricism.
C) idealism versus empiricism.
D) heredity versus environment.
E) idealism versus rationalism.

Question 14

Dr. Hidalga is a behavior geneticist. The primary research techniques he will use are

A) studies of genetic experiments and cultural observations.
B) longitudinal studies of the elderly and infants.
C) studies of identical and fraternal twins, and of adopted children.
D) correlational studies of gender and race.
E) case studies and correlations.

Question 15

All of the following represent a similar point of view EXCEPT

A) empiricists.
B) Plato.
C) Descartes.
D) idealists.
E) rationalists.

Question 16

Of the following, the best example of a maturational change is

A) the increase in aerobic fitness from exercise between ages 20 and 30.
B) the gradual acquisition of underarm hair during puberty.
C) weight gain following improved diet in a deprived child.
D) decline in IQ due to impoverished prenatal environment.
E) improved job performance following disciplinary action.

Question 17

According to research, the critical period for imprinting in ducks is approximately

A) two years of age.
B) the first year of life.
C) between five and six months of age.
D) the sixth day after hatching.
E) 15 hours after hatching.

Question 18

Of the following theorists, who would be on the nature side of the nature-nurture debate?

A) Rousseau
B) Descartes
C) Locke
D) Watson
E) Freud

Question 19

All of the following are characteristic of maturation EXCEPT

A) it is universal.
B) it is sequential.
C) it is relatively impervious to environmental influence.
D) it cannot occur without practice.
E) it appears across cultural boundaries.

Question 20

The concept of stages is not needed if development

A) is strictly qualitative.
B) involves reorganization.
C) is made up of new strategies.
D) involves attainment of new skills.
E) consists only of additions.

Question 21

Deaf infants coo and babble at about the same time as hearing infants, but lacking the auditory input of spoken language, they do not naturally develop spoken language later. Which of Aslin's five types of environmental influence does this illustrate?

A) maintenance
B) facilitation
C) induction
D) attunement
E) maturation

Question 22

A set of five models of environmental influence was suggested by

A) Freud.
B) Watson.
C) Erikson.
D) Aslin.
E) Piaget.

Question 23

Which of the following terms is defined as a system of meanings and customs that is shared by an identifiable group and transmitted from one generation of that group to the next?

A) ecological perspective
B) society
C) internal model
D) external model
E) culture

Question 24

Werner and Smith's research has found that ________ of children who grew up in poverty level chaotic families turn out to be competent, confident, caring adults.

A) one-quarter
B) one-third
C) one-half
D) two-thirds
E) three-quarters

Question 25

An emphasis on individualism would most likely be found in which subculture?

A) Asian American
B) African American
C) Native American
D) Hispanic American
E) European American

Question 26

Four-year-old Harry has developed a set of assumptions about the world, about himself, and his relationships with others. Psychologists call this his

A) interactional continuity.
B) internal model.
C) heritability.
D) inborn biases.
E) environmental model.

Question 27

An experimenter randomly assigns half of a group of infants to a special enriched day care program. Within six months the infants in the enriched program have higher IQs. Two years later the difference between the two groups has declined, but the enriched group is still higher in IQ. This pattern would illustrate which of Aslin's five types of environmental influence?

A) attunement
B) maintenance
C) facilitation
D) induction
E) maturation

Question 28

In Aslin's model, a pure environmental effect is

A) facilitation.
B) maturation.
C) attunement.
D) induction.
E) maintenance.

Question 29

Which of Aslin's models describes a pattern with NO environmental effect?

A) attunement
B) facilitation
C) induction
D) maturation
E) maintenance

Question 30

Which of the following terms includes high intelligence, good coordination, and easy temperment?

A) vulnerabilities
B) internal models
C) personality types
D) cultural factors
E) protective factors

Question 31

Of the following, the psychoanalytic theorist is

A) Locke.
B) Piaget.
C) Freud.
D) Skinner.
E) Bronfenbrenner.

Question 32

Which of the following is characteristic of a culture which emphasizes individualism?

A) Group solidarity is the norm.
B) Group cohesiveness protects and nourishes the individual.
C) Responsibility is shared.
D) Achievement is collective.
E) Independence is valued.

Question 33

Alissa lives in an individualistic culture. We would expect that Alissa

A) readily shares possessions with others.
B) places her family's needs first.
C) will strive to achieve the best grades in her class.
D) feels obligated to carry out duties assigned to her.
E) derives her identity from her peer group.

Question 34

The ecological perspective in developmental psychology

A) uses evolutionary theory to explain inborn patterns of behaviors.
B) emphasizes teaching children about protection of the natural environment.
C) looks at the context in which the child grows up.
D) applies theories of animal behavior to understanding human behavior.
E) was first suggested by Hall.

Question 35

Which of the following pairs of terms and definitions of models of environmental influence are paired correctly?

A) Maintenance: a behavior appears with no input from the environment.
B) Facilitation: some environmental input is necessary to sustain a skill or behavior that has already developed maturationally.
C) Attunement: a skill or behavior develops earlier than it normally would because of some experience.
D) Induction: without some experience a particular behavior would not develop at all.
E) Maturation: a particular experience leads to a permanent gain in performance.

Question 36

What is the most accurate statement about the concept of internal models of experience?

A) Babies are born with built-in biases in the way they experience the world.
B) New experiences are filtered through a person's core ideas and assumptions.
C) People fantasize a "model" of their spouses and children.
D) The effect of an experience depends on the objective properties of the experience.
E) By adulthood, men can comprehend model diagrams better than women.

Question 37

Who proposed that the child's inborn vulnerability or resilience interacts in a particular way with the "facilitativeness" of the environment?

A) Bowlby
B) Garmezy
C) Horowitz
D) Rutter
E) Freud

Question 38

The name most associated with the ecological perspective in the study of human development is

A) John Bowlby.
B) Sigmund Freud.
C) Urie Bronfenbrenner.
D) Frances Horowitz.
E) John Watson.

Question 39

One of a pair of identical twins was given extra practice in pre-walking movements, and the other twin was not. If the twin with extra practice walked several months earlier, but the other twin caught up within four months, this would illustrate which of Aslin's five types of environmental influence?

A) facilitation
B) maturation
C) attunement
D) induction
E) maintenance

Question 40

Mariano lives in a collectivist culture. He will be encouraged to

A) become independent as soon as possible.
B) consult with others before making a decision.
C) assume responsibility for his actions.
D) be competitive.
E) develop his own individual identity.

Question 41

Which theory uses the computer as a model of human thinking?

A) information processing
B) psychosocial
C) learning
D) cognitive developmental
E) pychosexual

Question 42

Which of the following is the correct sequence of memory?

A) sensory - short term - long term
B) sensory - short term - working
C) encoding - retrieval - storage
D) short term - sensory - working
E) storage - encoding - long term

Question 43

Freud's term for the unconscious instinctual sexual drive is

A) instinct.
B) ego.
C) erogenous zone.
D) libido.
E) superego

Question 44

Ralph became ill with the flu after eating pizza. When his mother serves pizza again, he feels sick and refuses to eat it. This is an example of

A) classical conditioning.
B) observational learning.
C) extinction.
D) operant conditioning.
E) social cognition.

Question 45

The central figure in cognitive developmental theory is

A) Erik Erikson.
B) Jean Piaget.
C) Sigmund Freud.
D) Albert Bandura.
E) Urie Bronfenbrenner.

Question 46

Instrumental conditioning is another name for

A) classical conditioning.
B) backward conditioning.
C) observational learning.
D) operant conditioning.
E) partial learning.

Question 47

Watson's Little Albert experiment demonstrated that

A) children automatically fear small animals.
B) classical conditioning plays a role in the development of emotional responses.
C) operant conditioning is the only form of learning that works with infants.
D) conditioned stimuli are naturally occurring events.
E) unconditional stimuli rarely lead to long term conditioning.

Question 48

Seeing one's own behavior or beliefs in others whether they are actually present or not is the defense mechanism of

A) denial.
B) displacement.
C) rationalization.
D) repression.
E) projection.

Question 49

Freud proposed that the structure of personality has three parts, which he called

A) assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.
B) physiological needs, love and belongingness needs, and self-actualization.
C) id, ego, and superego.
D) anal, oral, and phallic.
E) libido, id, and instinct.

Question 50

How does Erikson's psychoanalytic theory differ from that of Freud?

A) It is described as psychosexual.
B) It focuses on psychosocial stages influenced by common cultural demands.
C) It is based on libidial energy and incorporates the concepts of id, ego, and superego.
D) It includes both a phallic and genital stage.
E) It states that a child's success depends on interaction with people and objects.

Question 51

Piaget believed that cognitive development is

A) characterized by great irregularities.
B) shaped by the environment.
C) an active process of exploration, manipulation, and examination.
D) random and unpredictable.
E) based on personality factors.

Question 52

A Freudian psychoanalyst would say that one-year-old Zachary's personality is made up of

A) only the ego.
B) the id and the superego.
C) the id and the ego.
D) only the superego.
E) only the id.

Question 53

Richard tries to make meaningful associations in order to remember information. He is trying to put the information into which type of memory?

A) sensory
B) short-term
C) working
D) encoding
E) long-term

Question 54

Which of the following is the most accurate statement based on Vygotsky's theory?

A) Complex forms of thinking originate in private explorations.
B) Children learn best when tasks are easy for them.
C) Learning is achieved in the zone of proximal development.
D) Children learn best on their own.
E) Children are not able to act as tutors.

Question 55

Five-year-old Janey started sucking her thumb again when her baby brother was born. This is an example of

A) regression.
B) rationalization.
C) projection.
D) displacement.
E) denial.

Question 56

When the large dog next door barked suddenly, six-month-old Lara was startled. Now when she sees the dog, she cries. The dog's barking was a(n)

A) conditioned stimulus.
B) unconditional stimulus.
C) conditioned response.
D) unconditioned response.
E) negative reinforcement.

Question 57

Freud believed that the norms and moral structures of the family and society are incorporated in the

A) ego.
B) id.
C) libido.
D) superego.
E) phallic stage.

Question 58

Which of the following components of the memory system is also called working memory?

A) sensory memory
B) short-term memory
C) long-term memory
D) encoding
E) retrieval

Question 59

In Piaget's theory, adaptation includes

A) accommodation, assimilation, and libido.
B) trust, identity, and integrity.
C) assimilation, sexuality, and ego.
D) equilibration, displacement, and regression.
E) accommodation, assimilation, and equilibration.

Question 60

A comparison of the theories of Freud and Erikson indicates that

A) Freud's theory was much more a psychosocial theory.
B) Erikson failed to consider adult stages.
C) Freud's concept of basic trust was the basis for Erikson's theory.
D) both emphasized the importance of interactions with other people.
E) both placed strong emphasis on libido.

Question 61

Which of the following would be an intrinsic reinforcement?

A) relief from pain
B) a trophy
C) affection
D) parental praise
E) pride of discovery

Question 62

A researcher has tested three different age groups at one time and then retested each group two and four years later. The researcher is using a(n)

A) sequential design.
B) analytic design.
C) cohort design.
D) time-lag design.
E) longitudinal design.

Question 63

Studies of partial reinforcement show that

A) it is the same thing as positive reinforcement.
B) behaviors are learned faster using partial reinforcement.
C) it works with children but not with adults.
D) it makes behaviors more resistant to extinction.
E) behaviors are weakened by partial reinforcement.

Question 64

A researcher is testing IQ in the same group of children at age 2, 6, 10, and 16 years of age. What type of study is he conducting?

A) experimental
B) cross-sectional
C) longitudinal
D) sequential
E) cross-cultural

Question 65

Food, praise, or attention all serve as what type of reinforcer?

A) negative
B) classical
C) intrinsic
D) extrinsic
E) positive

Question 66

Professor Robbs wants to eliminate cohort effects in his research. Which design should he avoid?

A) correlational
B) longitudinal
C) sequential
D) cross-sectional
E) case study

Question 67

Bandura added all of the following concepts to traditional learning theory EXCEPT

A) abstract modeling.
B) observational learning.
C) classical conditioning.
D) emphasis on cognitive elements.
E) intrinsic reinforcements.

Question 68

Which of the following is an accurate statement about developmental theories?

A) Cognitive developmental theory views development as active.
B) Operant conditioning takes a nature approach to development.
C) Psychoanalysis emphasizes stability in development.
D) No theory assumes that nature and nurture are equally important.
E) Sociocultural theory uses the computer as a model.

Question 69

Cross-sectional designs are

A) free of cohort problems.
B) a good measure of consistency of behavior over time.
C) less time-consuming than longitudinal designs.
D) a good source of information on sequence of development.
E) only useful for research on adults.

Question 70

Which of the following theorists proposed the least testable ideas?

A) Freud
B) Vygotsky
C) Piaget
D) Bandura
E) Pavlov

Question 71

In order to be defined as a punishment, an action must

A) weaken or stop a behavior.
B) deprive someone of something important.
C) be strong and immediate.
D) occur within two days of the behavior.
E) inflict something painful.

Question 72

Dr. Martinez is studying the development of math skills in children. She has assessed three separate groups of children (Age 6, Age 8, and Age 10) in the past month and is comparing their behavior to determine age effects. The research design she is using is

A) cross-sectional.
B) cohort.
C) longitudinal.
D) sequential.
E) correlational

Question 73

According to Bandura,

A) direct reinforcement is not always necessary for learning to occur.
B) observational learning occurs only if the observer is reinforced.
C) reinforcement is important in observational learning but not in modeling.
D) all learning can be explained using operant conditioning principles.
E) intrinsic reinforcements are external reinforcements.

Question 74

Which of the following is an accurate statement about longitudinal designs?

A) More than one cohort is studied repeatedly over some period of time.
B) Individuals of the same age are studied one time only.
C) The same individuals are studied several times over a period of time.
D) Separate age groups are studied in the same period of time.
E) Cohort groups at least five years apart are used.

Question 75

All of the following are goals of developmental psychology EXCEPT to

A) describe development.
B) explain development.
C) predict development.
D) influence development.
E) limit development.

Question 76

Mr. Montez has very specific rules for classroom behavior and homework and he uses reinforcement frequently. His approach to instruction is based on which theory?

A) cognitive-developmental
B) psychoanalytic
C) learning
D) ecological
E) information processing

Question 77

Which of the following is an example of negative reinforcement?

A) The audience applauds when Jim finishes his song.
B) Maurice is spanked for talking back to his parents.
C) Cathy stops telling lies when her parents spank her.
D) Lucas throws a temper tantrum when he is told he can't have some candy.
E) LaVera is no longer grounded since her grades have improved.

Question 78

Kanisha has learned to make her bed by watching her brother make his bed. She has been influenced by

A) intrinsic reinforcement.
B) classical conditioning.
C) observational learning.
D) operant conditioning.
E) partial reinforcement.

Question 79

Predictions that researchers can test are called

A) theories.
B) variables.
C) hypotheses.
D) events.
E) heuristics

Question 80

Behavior is strengthened by ________ and weakened by ________.

A) positive reinforcement; negative reinforcement
B) positive reinforcement; punishment
C) punishment; negative reinforcement
D) negative reinforcement; positive reinforcement
E) positive reinforcement; partial reinforcement