Deck 9: Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Question 1

As muscles adapt to an enlarging skeleton,children often experience

A)a decrease in flexibility.
B)nighttime "growing pains."
C)a decreasing desire for physical exercise.
D)faster growth in the upper portions of the body.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Inactivity is ____________ excessive weight gain in children.

A)unrelated to
B)both a cause and consequence of
C)more important than nutrition in predicting
D)caused by serious hormonal imbalances and predicts

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Paul is concerned because his 6-year-old son prints using large letters and numbers.You can tell Paul that his son's writing is large because he

A)cannot yet visually distinguish fine details.
B)has not yet developed adequate depth perception.
C)makes strokes with his entire arm rather than just the wrist and fingers.
D)can only use his wrist and fingers to form the letters and numbers.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Research on weight gain reveals that children who get less nightly sleep are

A)more likely to be overweight five years later.
B)more likely to be significantly underweight than well-rested children.
C)less likely to be overweight five years later.
D)too fatigued to respond to hunger cues and,therefore,are less likely to become overweight.

Question 5

After age 8,girls

A)are slightly shorter and lighter than boys.
B)have slightly more muscle than boys.
C)begin accumulating fat at a faster rate than boys.
D)have slightly less body fat than boys.

Question 6

Research on nutrition in middle childhood indicates that

A)the percentage of children who eat dinner with their families increases slightly between ages 9 and 14.
B)eating dinner with parents leads to a diet higher in fried foods and soft drinks than eating alone.
C)school-age children often become picky eaters,so mild nutritional deficits rarely affect growth or cognitive functioning.
D)malnutrition that persists from infancy or early childhood into the school years usually leads to permanent physical and mental damage.

Question 7

Which of the following children is at the greatest risk for asthma?

A)Steffi,a normal-weight,Asian-American girl who lives in a small town
B)Thomas,an overweight African-American boy who lives in an inner-city area
C)Pam,a normal-weight,Caucasian-American girl who lives in a rural area
D)Taylor,a slightly underweight Caucasian-American girl who lives in a mid-sized city

Question 8

Which of the following is supported by research on childhood obesity?

A)All children are equally at risk for excessive weight gain.
B)Overweight children tend to have overweight parents.
C)Genetic factors are the primary determinant of obesity.
D)Most obese children "grow out of it" by adolescence.

Question 9

Along with body growth,_____________ plays a vital role in improved motor performance in middle childhood.

A)abstract thinking
B)more efficient information processing
C)elaboration
D)metacognition

Question 10

In middle childhood,children grow an average of _____ inches in height and ______ pounds in weight each year.

A)2 to 3;5
B)2 to 3;10
C)4 to 5;5
D)4 to 5;10

Question 11

A BMI above the ______ percentile for a child's age and sex is considered overweight;a BMI above the _______ percentile is considered obese.

A)50th;75th
B)75th;85th
C)75th;95th
D)85th;95th

Question 12

Gains in __________ contribute to a child's ability to play games with rules.

A)phonological awareness
B)cognitive self-regulation
C)perspective taking
D)muscle mass

Question 13

Research confirms that _________ plays a large role in accounting for boys' gross motor superiority.

A)boys' greater muscle mass
B)the social environment
C)girls' higher fat-to-muscle ratio
D)girls' lack of coordination

Question 14

Which of the following is regarded as one of the most effective interventions for treating childhood obesity?

A)a weight loss camp
B)a strict diet and exercise regimen
C)punishment for daily inactivity
D)a family-based approach focused on changing behaviors

Question 15

The most frequent cause of school absence and childhood hospitalization is

A)asthma.
B)bacterial infection.
C)viral infection.
D)influenza.

Question 16

___________ contribute greatly to emotional and social development and are rarely contests of individual ability.

A)Child-invented games
B)Organized sports
C)Community athletics
D)Mandatory physical education classes

Question 17

Between the ages of 6 and 12,________ primary teeth are lost and replaced by permanent ones.

A)12
B)14 to 18
C)20
D)24

Question 18

Which of the following is true about the consequences of obesity?

A)Obese boys are viewed more negatively by adults and peers than obese girls.
B)In most cases,obese children slim down by adolescence.
C)Obese children are stereotyped as lazy,self-doubting,and deceitful.
D)Due to growing public awareness,childhood obesity in the United States has declined by 30 percent in the last decade.

Question 19

Obese children tend to

A)be less responsive than normal-weight children to external stimuli associated with food.
B)chew their food more thoroughly than normal-weight children.
C)be less responsive than normal-weight children to internal hunger cues.
D)eat slower than normal-weight children.

Question 20

Research on sex differences in motor skills during middle childhood indicates that

A)boys are ahead of girls on gross-motor skills,such as jumping,hopping,and skipping.
B)boys are more advanced than girls in fine-motor skills.
C)boys' genetic advantage in muscle mass is large enough to account for their gross-motor superiority.
D)girls outperform boys on skills that depend on agility and balance.

Question 21

One valid criticism of adult-organized youth sports is that

A)participation in organized sports often results in psychological damage to children.
B)they overemphasize competition and substitute children's natural experimentation with rules and strategies.
C)participation in youth sports is the leading cause of childhood injury.
D)they often interfere with school work and can cause a sharp decline in academic achievement.

Question 22

A concrete operational child can _________ mentally,an ability called _________________.

A)conserve;seriation
B)seriate;transitive inference
C)classify;decentration
D)reverse;class inclusion

Question 23

According to Piaget,one limitation of concrete operational thought is that children's mental operations work poorly with

A)everyday decision making.
B)logical constructs.
C)abstract ideas.
D)organized thoughts.

Question 24

Kim Lee is able to mentally represent her neighborhood and describe it to others.Kim Lee's representation is known as a

A)class inclusion.
B)large-scale route of travel.
C)transitive inference.
D)cognitive map.

Question 25

During a conservation-of-water task,Emme can focus on several aspects of the problem and relate them,rather than centering on just one aspect.Therefore,Emme is capable of

A)seriation.
B)class inclusion.
C)reversibility.
D)decentration.

Question 26

Which of the following is true about children's rough-and-tumble play?

A)It helps children establish a dominance hierarchy.
B)It predicts aggressive behavior during adolescence.
C)It is equally common among boys and girls.
D)It is a uniquely human social behavior.

Question 27

Margerite passed Piaget's class inclusions task.This indicates that Margerite can

A)think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction.
B)focus on relations between a general and two specific categories at the same time.
C)solve problems using abstract reasoning.
D)order items along a quantitative dimension.

Question 28

Which of the following is supported by research on recess?

A)Over half of U.S.schools no longer provide recess to students as young as second grade.
B)Elementary school students are more attentive in the classroom after recess than before it.
C)Elementary school students are less attentive in the classroom after recess than before it.
D)In more than half of U.S.elementary schools,recess is scheduled several times each day.

Question 29

Ten-year-old Nadia enjoys making up games and playing them with her friends.Playing these child-invented games probably allows Nadia to

A)play without rules and increase her popularity.
B)compete against her friends and establish a dominance hierarchy.
C)develop challenging physical skills,both gross and fine motor.
D)try out different styles of cooperating and competing with little personal risk.

Question 30

Which of the following is supported by research on physical education in the United States?

A)Over 75 percent of U.S.elementary schools require physical education.
B)More than half of U.S.school-age girls engage in moderate-intensity exercise for at least an hour per day.
C)Over half of U.S.high schools require physical education in order to graduate.
D)Only 42 percent of boys and 11 percent of girls are active enough for good health.

Question 31

Jamal is able to think through a series of steps and then mentally return to the starting point.Therefore,Jamal is capable of

A)reversibility.
B)decentration.
C)transitive interference.
D)class inclusion.

Question 32

Piaget regarded __________ as an important achievement of the concrete operational stage because it provides clear evidence of __________.

A)seriation;reversibility
B)classification;hypothetico-deductive reasoning
C)conservation;operations
D)transitive inference;class inclusion

Question 33

Some investigators have concluded that the forms of logic required by Piagetian tasks do not emerge spontaneously but,rather,are

A)heavily influenced by training,context,and cultural conditions.
B)primarily developed through interaction with more expert peers.
C)part of a slow but steady stagewise transition to logical thought.
D)influenced by biological age and are mastered all at once.

Question 34

Many experts believe that schools should not only offer more frequent physical education classes but should put less emphasis on __________ and more emphasis on __________ in their physical education programs.

A)individual effort;grades
B)individual exercise;diet and nutritional information
C)competitive sports;informal games and individual exercise
D)informal games and individual exercise;competitive sports

Question 35

School-age children master concrete operational tasks

A)all at once.
B)gradually,in a continuum of acquisition.
C)much later than Piaget believed.
D)after they master abstract thinking.

Question 36

In Case's neo-Piagetian theory,children acquire central conceptual structures

A)in an abrupt stagewise transition to logical thought.
B)once cognitive schemes are sufficiently automatic.
C)spontaneously in a systematic transition.
D)at about the same time,regardless of experience,culture,and schooling.

Question 37

To test for ________,Piaget asked children to arrange sticks of different lengths from shortest to longest.

A)classification
B)spatial reasoning
C)seriation
D)decentration

Question 38

The very experience of ____________ seems to promote mastery of Piagetian tasks.

A)aging
B)learning to read
C)going to school
D)brain lateralization

Question 39

In Robbie Case's neo-Piagetian theory,repeated practice of cognitive schemes

A)requires abstract reasoning skills.
B)interferes with the acquisition of central conceptual structures.
C)decreases processing efficiency.
D)leads them to become more automatic.

Question 40

During middle childhood,child-invented games usually involve

A)simple physical skills and a sizable element of luck.
B)analytical intelligence.
C)competition and adult control.
D)contests of individual ability.

Question 41

When Taylor was given a list of ingredients to memorize,she immediately repeated the list to herself over and over.Which memory strategy did Taylor use?

A)elaboration
B)organization
C)rehearsal
D)metacognition

Question 42

Cross-cultural research on memory indicates that

A)people in non-Western cultures who lack formal schooling do not use or benefit from instruction in memory strategies.
B)in all cultures,effective use of memory strategies is required for day-to-day problem solving.
C)people in non-Western cultures who lack formal schooling have a more difficult time than formally schooled people using memory cues that are available in everyday life.
D)memory strategies develop in a universal sequence among all cultures studied.

Question 43

The information-processing perspective

A)examines separate aspects of thinking.
B)fails to consider biological influences on cognitive development.
C)applies only to children in cultures having formal schooling.
D)focuses on overall cognitive change.

Question 44

According to one view of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),

A)all children with ADHD are hyperactive.
B)environmental factors usually cause ADHD.
C)girls are diagnosed with ADHD about four times as often as boys.
D)deficient executive processing underlies ADHD symptoms.

Question 45

Research on the origins of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)indicates that

A)ADHD is highly heritable.
B)symptoms of ADHD usually appear in infancy.
C)the disorder is usually inherited from the mother's side of the family.
D)a stressful home life usually causes ADHD.

Question 46

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

A)typically diminishes by early adulthood.
B)is usually a lifelong disorder.
C)cannot be effectively treated with medication.
D)is more difficult to treat in girls than boys.

Question 47

When Mike had to learn the state capitals,he grouped the states by region to assist his memory.Which memory strategy did Mike use?

A)elaboration
B)organization
C)rehearsal
D)metacognition

Question 48

Research on metacognitive development shows that preschoolers

A)use elaboration and organization more than rehearsal.
B)use memory strategies as effectively as school-age children.
C)view the mind as a passive container of information.
D)view the mind as an active agent.

Question 49

Quinn knows that he should group items when memorizing lists,but he does not always do so.Quinn is not yet good at

A)selective attention.
B)flexibility of attention.
C)metacognition.
D)cognitive self-regulation.

Question 50

Research on reading proficiency in middle childhood shows that improvements in __________ releases working memory for higher-level activities.

A)memory strategies
B)visual scanning and discrimination
C)practical intelligence
D)transitive inference

Question 51

Children who acquire effective self-regulatory skills develop

A)learned helplessness.
B)advanced linguistic intelligence.
C)academic self-efficacy.
D)practical intelligence.

Question 52

Educators who advocate a whole-language approach argue that

A)from the beginning,children should be exposed to text in its complete form so that they can appreciate the communicative function of written language.
B)before exposing them to written text,children should be coached on the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds.
C)reading aloud in the classroom helps children acquire effective reading strategies and enhances comprehension.
D)young children should be given simplified text materials to facilitate beginning reading.

Question 53

To help herself remember that she needed cat food and gloves at the store,Cheryl imagined a cat wearing gloves.Which memory strategy did Cheryl use?

A)elaboration
B)organization
C)rehearsal
D)long-term retrieval

Question 54

Hannah listens to and tells stories but rarely draws pictures.According to Case's neo-Piagetian theory,Hannah probably displays

A)more advanced central conceptual structures in drawing.
B)less advanced central conceptual structures in storytelling.
C)more advanced central conceptual structures in storytelling.
D)egocentric thinking in both drawing and storytelling.

Question 55

By adolescence,_________ is a strong predictor of academic success.

A)learned helplessness
B)self-regulation
C)false-belief understanding
D)interpersonal intelligence

Question 56

Luke has a science test on Friday and knows that he needs to focus his attention during class and apply memory strategies when studying.Luke is demonstrating

A)long-term retrieval.
B)metacognitive awareness.
C)cognitive inhibition.
D)false-belief understanding.

Question 57

Research on __________ reveals that school-age children view the mind as an active and constructive agent.

A)selectivity of attention
B)theory of mind
C)mental strategy use
D)cognitive self-regulation

Question 58

Individuals skilled at ___________ can prevent their minds from straying to irrelevant thoughts.

A)organization
B)inhibition
C)metacognition
D)elaboration

Question 59

Research on metacognitive development shows that by middle childhood,children know that

A)rehearsal is a more effective memory strategy than elaboration.
B)use of private speech hinders task performance.
C)doing well on a task depends on focusing attention.
D)mental interferences are often incorrect.

Question 60

Children who are expert in an area

A)acquire new information at a slow and steady pace.
B)rarely ask how previously stored information can clarify new material.
C)do not find memory strategies useful.
D)are usually highly motivated.

Question 61

The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children

A)is more culturally biased than the Stanford-Binet.
B)fails to account for a child's behavior during the administration of the test.
C)was the first test designed to measure intelligence from infancy through late adulthood.
D)was the first test to be standardized on children representing the total population of the United States.

Question 62

Most reading experts believe that

A)a whole-language approach is the best method for teaching beginning reading.
B)children do not benefit from reading strategies until they have fully mastered phonics.
C)fluent readers tend to use ineffective reading strategies and have difficulty with comprehension.
D)combining phonics with whole language is the best approach for teaching beginning reading.

Question 63

A major shortcoming of the componential approach is that it

A)overemphasizes the role of situational factors in intelligence.
B)regards intelligence as entirely due to causes within the child.
C)regards intelligence as entirely due to external forces.
D)overemphasizes the role of cultural and educational experiences in intellectual development.

Question 64

Which of the following contributes to the superiority of Chinese over U.S.children's math knowledge?

A)Chinese parents provide their preschoolers with extensive practice in counting and adding.
B)Chinese schools emphasize drill in computational skills more than U.S.schools.
C)In Chinese classrooms,much less time is spent on underlying math concepts than in U.S.classrooms.
D)Compared to U.S.schools,multidigit problems are introduced later in Chinese schools,when children are more cognitively sophisticated.

Question 65

Componential analysis involves

A)examining relationships between aspects of information processing and children's intelligence test scores.
B)determining the extent to which intelligence test scores are accurate predictors of future academic success.
C)comparing a child's performance on an intelligence test with the performance of a specific group of children.
D)identifying cultural and educational experiences that contribute to intelligence test scores.

Question 66

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales,Fifth Edition,

A)contains nonverbal subtests that do not require spoken language.
B)emphasizes crystallized knowledge.
C)provides separate scores for analytical,creative,and practical intelligence.
D)offers only a measure of general intelligence.

Question 67

Why do IQ scores often enter into educational decisions?

A)They help to identify strategies for teaching poorly performing students.
B)They assess a child's ability to profit from instruction in the general education classroom.
C)They predict school performance and educational attainment.
D)They provide an accurate measure of practical intelligence.

Question 68

In Sternberg's triarchic theory,intelligent behavior involves balancing

A)linguistic,emotional,and practical intelligences.
B)spatial,kinesthetic,and interpersonal intelligences.
C)creative,intrapersonal,and emotional intelligences.
D)analytical,creative,and practical intelligences.

Question 69

Educators who advocate a phonics approach argue that

A)as long as reading is kept whole and meaningful,children will be motivated to discover the specific skills they need.
B)from the beginning,children should be exposed to text in its complete form.
C)reading should be taught in a way that parallels natural language learning.
D)children should learn the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds before being given reading material.

Question 70

In learning basic math facts,poorly performing children

A)tend to experiment with too many strategies.
B)use cumbersome techniques or try to retrieve answers from memory too soon.
C)use the principle of cardinality instead of ordinality.
D)blend drill with number sense.

Question 71

Arthur Jensen's 1969 monograph,"How Much Can We Boost IQ and Scholastic Achievement?" was controversial because he argued that

A)test bias largely accounts for ethnic differences in IQ.
B)heredity is largely responsible for individual,ethnic,and SES differences in IQ.
C)the environment is largely responsible for individual,ethnic,and SES differences in IQ.
D)there are no significant individual,ethnic,or SES differences in IQ.

Question 72

According to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences,

A)all intelligences have a common "end-state" or expert performance.
B)cultural values and learning opportunities affect the extent to which a child's intellectual strengths are realized.
C)education often interferes with the transformation of raw potential into a mature social role.
D)intelligence tests are a reliable measure of mental ability.

Question 73

The Stanford-Binet and the Wechsler intelligence tests

A)are used mainly for instruction planning.
B)require very little training of teachers who give them.
C)are most often used to identify students who are highly intelligent or have learning problems.
D)do not take into account the child's behavior during the administration of the test.

Question 74

The basic information-processing,visual-spatial processing,and working memory factors of the Stanford-Binet

A)have only been tested on white,middle-class students.
B)measure crystallized abilities,such as pattern analysis and matrices.
C)are thought to be less culturally biased than the other factors.
D)emphasize culturally loaded,fact-oriented information.

Question 75

Componential research shows that

A)measures of basic working-memory capacity do not correlate well with mental test scores.
B)cultural and educational experiences contribute significantly to IQ.
C)individuals whose nervous systems function efficiently appear to have an edge in intellectual skills.
D)flexible attention and memory are not as important as efficient thinking in predicting IQ.

Question 76

Sternberg's triarchic theory helps explain why

A)even vastly different cultures are surprising similar in the behaviors they regard as intelligent.
B)traditional intelligence tests accurately assess the complexity of human behavior.
C)out-of-school practical forms of intelligence are vital for life success.
D)a lengthy process of education is required to transform inborn abilities into mature intelligence.

Question 77

Which of the following is supported by research on group differences in IQ?

A)On average,Hispanic children score slightly lower than African-American children on measures of IQ.
B)Heredity is largely responsible for individual,ethnic,and SES variations in intelligence.
C)Differences in SES do not fully explain the black-white IQ gap.
D)Differences in SES are primarily responsible for the black-white IQ gap.

Question 78

In his triarchic theory of intelligence,Sternberg argues that

A)people who are creative think more skillfully than others when faced with novelty.
B)practical intelligence reminds us that intelligent behavior is culture-free.
C)traditional mental tests overestimate the intellectual strengths of most children.
D)intelligence is entirely due to causes within the child.

Question 79

Howard Gardner argues that

A)emotional intelligence is highly correlated with general intelligence.
B)traditional intelligence tests accurately assess the complexity of human behavior.
C)all forms of intelligence follow the same course of development.
D)each intelligence has a unique biological basis and a distinct course of development.

Question 80

A major shortcoming of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is that

A)neurological evidence for the independence of his abilities is weak.
B)it virtually ignores the role of cultural and learning opportunities in intellectual development.
C)it overemphasizes the idea of general intelligence.
D)it fails to account for biological contributions to intelligence.