Deck 1: Understanding Life-Span Human Development

Question 1

The three broad domains explored by developmental psychologists are

A) motor, interpersonal, and cognitive.
B) physical, cognitive, and psychosocial.
C) personality, motor, and learning.
D) interpersonal, maturational, and learning.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which characteristic does NOT belong on a list of key aspects of physical development?

A) Change in motor ability
B) Change in body organ efficiency
C) Change in short-term memory
D) Change in skin tone (e.g., wrinkling)

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Albert, a developmental psychologist, conducts research on children's emotional reactions to studying math in school. Albert is concerned with children's _____ development.

A) cognitive
B) maturational
C) physical
D) psychosocial

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The term age grade refers to a

A) group of individuals who are all the same mental age.
B) socially defined age group, with culture-specific assigned roles, privileges, and responsibilities.
C) universally defined age group, with universal roles, privileges, and responsibilities.
D) group of children assigned at a specific age to a specific grade in school.

Question 5

A quinceañeara

A) impacts only males.
B) is a Jewish rite of passage.
C) occurs at age 15.
D) defines parenthood.

Question 6

The fact that development often involves continuities speaks to the fact that over time, humans tend to

A) remain the same.
B) become more intelligent.
C) become less active.
D) undergo orderly patterns of change.

Question 7

A rite of passage marks a transition from one _____ to another.

A) culture
B) gender
C) sex
D) status

Question 8

_____ aspects of development follow the "gain-stability-loss" model.

A) All
B) Some
C) No
D) Only physical

Question 9

Traditionally, growth has been defined as

A) physical changes that occur from conception to maturity.
B) the biological unfolding of genetic potential.
C) positive changes across the lifespan.
D) gains, changes, and losses at each stage of the lifecycle.

Question 10

The term _____ concerns an individual's sense of the age at which he or she should experience certain events.

A) age norms
B) age stratification
C) social clock
D) age grade

Question 11

Development is best defined as

A) individual differences in human behavior.
B) systematic changes and continuities from conception to death.
C) way in which people change in positive ways across time.
D) systematic unfolding of genetic potential.

Question 12

A company requires employees to retire at the age of 65. This policy is an example of

A) age norms.
B) age stratification.
C) the young-old principle.
D) growth norms.

Question 13

"Senior" discounts on meals available only to individuals over age 55 provide an excellent example of a(n)

A) age norm.
B) social clock.
C) age grade.
D) social convoy.

Question 14

Male social age grades for the Arusha people of East Africa include

A) only boys or men.
B) junior warriors and retired elders.
C) the helpful and helpless.
D) the boyish and girlish

Question 15

The category of "teenager" best exemplifies an age

A) effect.
B) coefficient.
C) analysis.
D) grade.

Question 16

_____ aging involves the deterioration of an organism that eventually results in death.

A) Cognitive
B) Psychosocial
C) Behavioral
D) Biological

Question 17

What characteristic belongs most in the cognitive domain of development?

A) Physical maturation of the body
B) A changing personality
C) Poor interpersonal skills
D) Language acquisition

Question 18

John Tatum

A) generated the first comprehensive theory of lifespan development.
B) was the first African-American psychologist.
C) won three gold medals at the 2009 National Senior Games.
D) was the first black soldier to serve in an all-white unit in World War II.

Question 19

When 60-year-old Madonna wore a miniskirt to a wedding, one of her friends commented, "I sure wish Madonna would act her age." This comment best illustrates the concept of

A) age norms.
B) age grade.
C) cohort effects.
D) maturation.

Question 20

Aging is most accurately defined as involving _____ in the maturing organism.

A) only negative changes
B) only positive changes
C) both negative and positive changes
D) neither positive nor negative changes

Question 21

Hermes is currently in the "emerging adulthood" stage of development. As such, he would most likely

A) be leading a very stable life.
B) feel adultlike in all ways.
C) be focused on others rather than himself.
D) believe in a life of limitless possibilities.

Question 22

Environmental impacts include all _____ that influence our development.

A) external physical and social conditions
B) external genetic and social conditions
C) internal physical and social conditions
D) internal genetic and social conditions

Question 23

The question of how biological and environmental forces impact development is referred to as the _____ issue.

A) continuity-discontinuity
B) passive-active
C) nature-nurture
D) proximal-distal

Question 24

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

A) Young people who are adolescents but not adults
B) Young people who are neither adolescents nor adults
C) Old people who are adults but not elderly
D) Old people who are neither adults nor elderly

Question 25

Nature is to nurture as

A) maturation is to learning.
B) experience is to genetics.
C) psychology is to biology.
D) positive is to negative.

Question 26

Which best describes the relationship between maturation and genes?

A) Maturation is driven by a plan contained in the genes.
B) Maturation is the nature side of development, and genes are the nurture side of development.
C) Maturation is the process by which genes learn.
D) Genes and maturation are unrelated concepts.

Question 27

The average life expectancy for a newborn in the United States is _____ years.

A) 73
B) 78
C) 83
D) 88

Question 28

By 2030, when most members of the baby boom generation will have retired, adults 65 and older will represent approximately what percentage of the U.S. population?

A) 10%
B) 20%
C) 30%
D) 40%

Question 29

The term emerging adulthood refers to individuals from about age

A) 11 to 17.
B) 18 to 29.
C) 29 to 37.
D) 38 to 46.

Question 30

Manuel hoped to graduate from college by age 22 but finds himself enrolling for the first time at age 52. The anxiety Manuel feels because of this situation may be best explained by the concept of

A) biological maturation.
B) a social clock.
C) plasticity.
D) historical change.

Question 31

When compared to those from middle- or upper-income families, individuals from lower-income families tend to

A) reach milestones of adulthood earlier.
B) reach milestones of adulthood later.
C) never reach milestones of adulthood.
D) reach milestones of adulthood at the same time.

Question 32

Which of the following is true of the average life expectancy in the United States?

A) It is higher for black females than for white males.
B) It has more than doubled since 1900.
C) It is higher for black males than white males.
D) It is 18 years greater for females than for males.

Question 33

Diversity can be based on

A) race or ethnicity, but not socioeconomic status.
B) race or socioeconomic status, but not ethnicity.
C) ethnicity or socioeconomic status, but not race.
D) race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.

Question 34

Which of the following represents a maturational process?

A) Being taught how to pay attention
B) Changing one's violent ways as the result of spending time in prison
C) Learning to tie your shoes
D) The development of pubic hair during puberty

Question 35

Maturation is to learning as

A) genes are to social experience.
B) knowing is to doing.
C) the environment is to heredity.
D) practice is to instinct.

Question 36

Which distinct period of development was the first to be recognized?

A) Childhood
B) Adolescence
C) Middle age
D) Old age

Question 37

Maturation is best defined as

A) any physical changes that occur from conception to maturity.
B) the biological unfolding of genetic potential.
C) the physical gains, changes, and losses across the lifespan.
D) the effects of experience on thoughts, feelings, and behavior.

Question 38

Which statement concerning the pre-seventeenth century conception of childhood is most accurate?

A) Pre-seventeenth century adults believed that children were simply miniature adults.
B) Pre-seventeenth century adults did not discipline their children because infants were thought to be morally pure.
C) Pre-seventeenth century adults forced children to grow up at a very slow pace.
D) Pre-seventeenth century adults held views toward childhood that are different from most modern parents.

Question 39

Which United States-born newborn would currently have the longest life expectancy?

A) Donny, who is a white male
B) Marie, who is a white female
C) Michael, who is an African-American male
D) Janet, who is an African-American female

Question 40

Learning is defined as the process through which _____ brings about relatively permanent changes in actions, thoughts, or feelings.

A) maturation
B) genetics
C) instincts
D) experience

Question 41

In the nineteenth century, scholars began to systematically record the growth and development of their own children. The published versions of these observations were known as

A) quasi-experiments.
B) time of measurement papers.
C) meta-analyses.
D) baby biographies.

Question 42

What term best describes the physical changes that occur from conception to maturity?

A) growth
B) individuation
C) development
D) maturation

Question 43

The psychologist associated with the idea of emerging adulthood is

A) Cruikshank
B) Arnett
C) Neugarten
D) Burton

Question 44

The twentieth century's unique addition to the definition of old age is the idea of

A) dementia.
B) ageism.
C) inevitable decline.
D) retirement.

Question 45

In his book Adolescence (1904), G. Stanley Hall described the period between childhood and adulthood as a time of

A) senescence.
B) plasticity.
C) storm and stress.
D) fun and exploration.

Question 46

Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote a popular book for parents, providing information on what behaviors can be expected of typical infants at specific ages. This sort of publication primarily reflects which goal of developmental psychology?

A) Prediction
B) Optimization
C) Explanation
D) Description

Question 47

The deterioration of organisms (including humans) that leads inevitably to their death is best called

A) biological aging
B) maturation
C) aging
D) decline

Question 48

The construct of middle-age emerged when

A) a more educated workforce continued working longer.
B) increased consumerism in the early 20th Century created a desire for greater wealth.
C) the loss of healthy young men during World Wars I and II created an excess of healthy, marriageable young women.
D) 20th-century parents began to bear fewer children and live long enough to see their children grow up and leave home.

Question 49

Who is most often cited as the founder of developmental psychology?

A) G. Stanley Hall
B) Charles Darwin
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Jean Piaget

Question 50

The fact that sex differences in aggression are greatest in patrilineal cultures suggests that

A) genes for aggression most likely come from fathers.
B) cultural standards play a significant role in determining aggression.
C) boys are naturally more aggressive than girls.
D) primitive societies were likely less aggressive than modern societies.

Question 51

_____ is often cited as the most influential of the baby biographers.

A) G. Stanley Hall
B) Charles Darwin
C) Sigmund Freud
D) Jean Piaget

Question 52

When making a decision on whether or not to follow the latest diet trend, Jillian focuses on what the best scientific research has to say about the topic of nutrition. This indicates that Jillian believes in engaging in _____ practice.

A) speculative
B) ethnocentric
C) evidence-based
D) emerging

Question 53

Which of the following is inconsistent with the gain-stability-loss model?

A) Physical strength increases until early adulthood and then decreases.
B) The ages at which children and adolescents become sexually mature varies across cultures.
C) Adults aged 60 and older score higher on vocabulary tests than adults aged 18 to 30.
D) There is no universally-recognized indicator of "adulthood."

Question 54

Development of the idea of adolescence occurred as

A) more industrialization and an educated labor force required laws that restricted child labor and made schooling compulsory.
B) recognition of the risks associated with early childbearing led to increases in the age at which females could be married.
C) the criminal justice system recognized that teenagers, while different from children, did not possess the reasoning capabilities of adults.
D) the westward expansion of the United States created a need for a young, strong, healthy workforce.

Question 55

If all you know is that men commit more violent crimes than women, you can most?accurately conclude that

A) genes alone cause aggression.
B) women elicit violent behavior in men.
C) gender roles alone cause aggression.
D) a difference in the level of a behavior exists, but the cause may involve hereditary and/or environmental factors.

Question 56

The observation that children gain many cognitive abilities as they get older but also lose self-esteem and become more prone to depression is

A) consistent with the gain-stability loss model.
B) inconsistent with a "nature" approach to development.
C) inconsistent with the gain-stability-loss model.
D) consistent with a "nurture" approach to development.

Question 57

Dorian is a strong supporter of the "gain-stability-loss" model.  This means that she most likely 

A) rejects the inevitably of age-associated declines in cognition.
B) believes all children develop at about the same rates.
C) recognizes that there are age-associated losses in function.
D) focuses on early development rather than aging.

Question 58

Living near a noisy airport can interfere with a child's learning how to read.This is an example of the effects of

A) maturation.
B) physical environment.
C) gene-environment interaction.
D) socioeconomic environment.

Question 59

Vue is a developmental psychologist who is concerned with helping adolescents learn to deal constructively with divorce. Her work focuses primarily on which goal of developmental psychology?

A) Prediction
B) Optimization
C) Explanation
D) Description

Question 60

The title of Dr. Doublemint's latest bestseller is Why Identical Twins Differ from Each Other. Given this title, it is safe to assume that Dr. Doublemint's primary interest is in the _____ goal of psychology.

A) prediction
B) optimization
C) explanation
D) description

Question 61

Which is NOT a major shortcoming of self-reports?

A) Standardizing the self-report measure results in difficulty in comparing the responses of two different individuals who have completed the self-report.
B) Respondents may give socially desirable answers so the researchers think more positively of them.
C) These types of reports are difficult to use with very young children.
D) Language abilities between people of different ages can make interpretation of results difficult.

Question 62

According to the lifespan perspective, development is

A) singularly influenced and involves a single discipline.
B) multiply influenced and involves a single discipline.
C) singularly influenced and involves multiple disciplines.
D) multiply influenced and involves multiple disciplines.

Question 63

Dr. Vandepolder is conducting a study on American Midwest college students' radio-listening habits. He doesn't have the resources to survey all college students in the Midwest, so he uses census data to randomly select a group of several thousand students from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota to participate in the study. In this study, the group of all American Midwest college students is called the _____, while the group randomly selected from Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota is called the _____.

A) sample; control group
B) sample; population
C) control group; population
D) population; sample

Question 64

After observing the interaction between rival street gangs, Jet predicts that fighting between the gangs would decrease significantly if the existing "colors" (clothing) of the two gangs (one black and one red) were changed to pink and yellow. This prediction is most accurately thought of as a

A) fact.
B) hypothesis.
C) theory.
D) correlation.

Question 65

Reba wants to examine the TV-viewing habits of 18- to 25-year-old males in the United States. As it is quite impossible to include all males of this age group in her study, she selects a smaller group of 18- to 25-year old males to survey. The males included in her study are called a(n)

A) population.
B) sample.
C) control group.
D) age grade.

Question 66

Trojan interviews a group of 50 teen mothers to determine what sort of knowledge they hold regarding use of contraceptives prior to the time they became pregnant. He then writes an article where he speaks in broad terms about what teen mothers know about the use of contraceptives prior to becoming pregnant. In this study, the group of 50 teen mothers is called the _____, while all teen mothers are collectively called the _____.

A) control group; population
B) population; sample
C) sample; control group
D) sample; population

Question 67

If asked to list the characteristics of a good theory, you should AVOID saying

A) speculative.
B) supported by data.
C) internally consistent.
D) falsifiable.

Question 68

A theory is best defined as a

A) set of concepts and propositions used to control developmental outcomes.
B) set of concepts and propositions intended to describe and explain some aspect of experience.
C) factual description of developmental phenomena.
D) series of systematic tests of all available hypotheses.

Question 69

The fact that many adult males who lived through the Great Depression later had erratic careers and unstable marriages exemplifies

A) the impact of historical context on development.
B) the multidirectional nature of development.
C) maturation.
D) the baby boom generation.

Question 70

Dr. Wells has proposed that the center of the Earth consists of large open areas that contain air and water and may be inhabited by some life form. This proposition is best described as a

A) fact.
B) hypothesis.
C) theory.
D) correlation.

Question 71

Dr. Johnson exclusively researches how people adapt to economic, psychological, and physical changes in old age. Given this emphasis, Dr. Johnson appears to be a(n)

A) lifespan developmentalist.
B) anthropologist.
C) pubescence specialist.
D) gerontologist.

Question 72

Based on an observation at a local fast-food restaurant, Dr. Colby predicts that more people will buy a hamburger if it is covered with cheese. This prediction is most accurately thought of as a

A) fact.
B) hypothesis.
C) theory.
D) correlation.

Question 73

The scientific method is best characterized as

A) neither a method nor an attitude.
B) a method but not an attitude .
C) an attitude but not a method.
D) both a method and an attitude.

Question 74

A specific prediction about what will hold true if we observe a phenomenon is called a

A) fact.
B) hypothesis.
C) theory.
D) correlation.

Question 75

Which best exemplifies the concept of neuroplasticity?

A) The ability to use your arm to draw after the arm was severely broken
B) The development of thicker heart muscles in old age after undertaking an aerobic exercise class
C) The production of large amounts of testosterone during puberty
D) The formation of new brain cell connections as the result of reading a book

Question 76

Sixty-year-old Kwan has led a life filled with ups (a prosperous career) and downs (a battle with breast cancer) and continues to maintain the capacity to change in response to such experiences. A lifespan developmental psychologist would likely say that Kwan has

A) a flawed social clock.
B) great plasticity.
C) minimal longevity.
D) maturational grief.

Question 77

Which statement is NOT an assumption of the lifespan perspective?

A) Development is shaped by historical context.
B) Development can take multiple directions.
C) Development focuses on gains not losses.
D) Understanding development requires multiple disciplines.

Question 78

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

A) systematic observation
B) logic
C) debate
D) intuition

Question 79

The major goal behind random sampling is to ensure that the

A) data is falsifiable.
B) sample is representative of the population.
C) project will not be costly.
D) population is large.

Question 80

Francine has just purchased a copy of G. Stanley Hall's 1922 book Senescence for herself. This indicates that she is likely very interested in the topic of

A) mental illness.
B) language.
C) bioecology.
D) old age.