Deck 10: Assessing Behavior and Social Competence

Question 1

According to Bowlby, what three features of social interaction do infants learn during the "discriminant sociability" phase of parent-child attachment?

Answer 1

Response should include reciprocity (turn-taking and reacting to the other's behavior); effectance (affecting the behavior of others in a consistent and predictable fashion); and trust (that the caretaker can be counted on to respond when signaled).

Question 2

Summarize the general findings linking maternal parenting behaviors to children's patterns of attachment.

Answer 2

Response should include the following: sensitive or responsive parenting and synchronous infant-mother interactions are associated with secure patterns of attachment; insecure-avoidant attachments are associated with intrusive, overstimulating, rejecting parenting; insecure-resistant attachments are linked to inconsistent, unresponsive parenting.

Question 3

How have false-belief tasks been used to examine preschool children's understanding of social relationships? Please provide an example of such a task.

Answer 3

Response should focus on the importance of false-belief tasks for demonstrating the ability (or inability) of children to ascribe beliefs, desires, and intentions to the behavior of others. Example should indicate the structuring of a task that provides the opportunity for a child to distinguish between his or her own beliefs and those of another person that are likely to be different.

Question 4

Compared to early childhood, how do parents adjust their behavior to influence school-age children?

Question 5

What is the general consensus among developmental psychologists regarding the impact of divorce on child and adolescent outcomes?

Question 6

Bowlby's attachment theory emphasized which of the following two types of thinking?

A) Evolutionary, psychoanalytic
B) Psychoanalytic, cognitive
C) Evolutionary, behavioral
D) Cognitive, behavioral

Question 7

Which of the following developmental phases of parent-child attachment is most closely linked to parental responsiveness to infant crying?

A) Indiscriminant social responsiveness
B) Discriminating sociability
C) Discriminant proximity maintenance
D) Goal-corrected partnership

Question 8

According to Bowlby, infant crying and smiling are examples of:

A) Potent attachment behaviors
B) Aversive attachment stimuli
C) Regressive attachment mechanisms
D) Discriminating attachment patterns

Question 9

According to Bowlby, separation protest appears during which phase of parent-child attachment?

A) Phase 3
B) Phase 1
C) Phase 2
D) Phase 4

Question 10

Which of the following phases of attachment typically appears after 24 months of age?

A) Phase 4
B) Phase 1
C) Phase 2
D) Phase 3

Question 11

According to Ainsworth, infants should be able to use _____ as secure bases from which to explore _____:

A) Attachment figures; novel environments
B) Strangers; novel environments
C) Attachment figures; familiar situations
D) Strangers; familiar situations

Question 12

Which attachment pattern has been shown to account for about 20% of American research samples using the Strange Situation?

A) Type A
B) Type B
C) Type C
D) Type D

Question 13

Which of the following has NOT been found to be typical of infants with secure attachment patterns?

A) They tend to score higher on tests of cognitive ability in middle childhood
B) They play more cooperatively when interacting with friendly strangers or peers
C) They have superior problem-solving abilities in stressful and challenging contexts as preschoolers
D) They tend to be appear more socially competent and independent when they enter preschool

Question 14

Studies suggest that infant-mother attachments have _____ predictive power than infant-father attachments:

A) Greater and more consistent
B) Greater but less consistent
C) The same
D) Less

Question 15

One-year-old children who are securely attached have been found to be more likely to:

A) Pass false belief tasks at age four
B) Rely upon siblings to solve false belief tasks
C) Treat peers as equals
D) Engage in joint-attention behaviors with adults

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT one of Baumrind's parenting styles?

A) Neglectful
B) Authoritative
C) Permissive
D) Nonconformist

Question 17

According to Baumrind, _____ parents strive to inculcate a value system characterized by conformity to cultural and societal norms by balancing the use of both reasoning and punishment:

A) Authoritative
B) Authoritarian
C) Nonconformist
D) Overbearing

Question 18

Children's conceptions of attachment figures reflected in their interactions and in the feedback they receive from their parents are known as:

A) Internal working models
B) Superego
C) Object relations
D) Secure bases

Question 19

Large-scale surveys show that the vast majority of adolescents:

A) Rely on their parents for advice, support, and emotional intimacy
B) Experience significant conflict with one or both parents during the teenage years
C) Tend to seek advice from peers concerning how to deal with family conflict
D) Discuss their worries with a grandparent rather than their parents

Question 20

Describe the structure and rationale of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure as a measure of parent-child attachment. In addition, summarize the general findings regarding the relative frequency of attachment patterns found cross-culturally and between mothers and fathers.