Deck 8: Human Development

Question 1

Developmental psychologists use the term _____ to refer to a person's genes or biological inheritance.

A) accommodation
B) nurture
C) assimilation
D) nature

Answer 1

nature

Question 2

Which of the following situations indicates resilience that characterizes development in adulthood?

A) Jonathan, who did not get good grades in middle school, studies hard in high school and gets a scholarship at an Ivy League university
B) Joshua gets low SAT scores after his parents file for a divorce
C) Ryle, whose parents fund his university education to Cornell, fails in his end-term examinations
D) Cathy is not allowed to write the examinations because she misses school to take care of her mother, who is not well

Answer 2

Jonathan, who did not get good grades in middle school, studies hard in high school and gets a scholarship at an Ivy League university

Question 3

Which of the following is the correct sequence of the stages of prenatal development?

A) Conception, zygote, embryonic period, fetal period
B) Conception, embryonic period, zygote, fetal period
C) Conception, fetal period, embryonic period, zygote
D) Conception, fetal period, zygote, embryonic period

Answer 3

Conception, zygote, embryonic period, fetal period

Question 4

Which of the following is true with regard to development?

A) Development requires that we take into account the contributions of a person's biological inheritance without considering the environment.
B) Development is the product of nature, nurture, and the complex interaction of the two.
C) All development involves growth, not decline.
D) Understanding development requires that we take into account the contributions of the environment alone.

Question 5

In the _____ week,the neural tube,which eventually becomes the spinal cord,starts to take shape.

A) first
B) third
C) sixth
D) ninth

Question 6

_____ refers to the pattern of continuity and change in human capabilities that occurs throughout the course of life.

A) Development
B) Nurture
C) Status quo
D) Inertia

Question 7

A(n)_____ is any agent that causes a birth defect.

A) androgen
B) teratogen
C) proestrogen
D) estrogen

Question 8

_____ refers to a person's ability to recover from or adapt to difficult times.

A) Rigidity
B) Assimilation
C) Resilience
D) Innatism

Question 9

Andrea is a preterm infant who was born 37 weeks after conception.Which of the following characteristics will decrease the probability of Andrea experiencing developmental problems?

A) Andrea is from a very low-income family.
B) Andrea's parents are chain smokers.
C) Andrea's mother is an alcoholic.
D) Andrea's parents massage her at least 3-4 times per day.

Question 10

Nathan is a happy and healthy 3-month-old baby.Based on preferential looking and habituation research,what can you predict about Nathan's perceptual abilities?

A) Nathan will not be able to distinguish between scrambled faces and real faces.
B) Nathan will prefer a stranger's face to his mother's face.
C) Nathan will prefer real faces to scrambled faces and he will also prefer his mother's face to a stranger's face.
D) Nathan will prefer real to scrambled faces but will not be able to distinguish his mother's face from a stranger's face.

Question 11

Research shows that during infancy,motor skills and perceptual skills _____.

A) are independent of one another
B) are coupled and depend on each other
C) undergo very little change
D) are influenced almost entirely by biological maturation

Question 12

Four-month-old baby Oscar is a participant in a preferential looking experiment.Researchers show Oscar two photos,one of which is of his mother's face,and the other which is of a female stranger's face.The photos are presented repeatedly in differing locations,and the amount of time Oscar spends looking at the photos is recorded.What will researchers conclude if Oscar shows a reliable preference for his mother's face over the stranger's face?

A) Oscar can discriminate his mother's face from a stranger's face.
B) Oscar is afraid of strangers.
C) Oscar likes strangers as much as his mothers.
D) Oscar can't see very well.

Question 13

Which of the following statements about brain development is false?

A) At birth, the infant brain has about 100 billion neurons, but only minimal neural connections.
B) During the first two years of life, the dendrites of the neurons branch out and the neurons become far more interconnected.
C) Aside from growing larger, the brain does not undergo any anatomical change after birth.
D) Synaptic connections increase dramatically during childhood. Connections that are made become stronger and will survive. Unused synaptic connections will be pruned (replaced or eliminated).

Question 14

By the end of the _____ period,the heart begins to beat,the arms and legs become more differentiated,the face starts to form,and the intestinal tract appears in human beings.

A) germinal
B) fetal
C) conception
D) embryonic

Question 15

Leonard,a 30 year-old Princeton University graduate,gives up his corporate job to teach children and seniors of Lubango village.He has decided that all his future endeavors will be focused on eradication of illiteracy in Lubango.In his efforts to experience life in optimal ways,Leonard has developed _____.

A) a socioemotional process
B) assimilation
C) resilience
D) a life theme

Question 16

_____ refers to the individual's environmental and social experiences.

A) Nature
B) Nurture
C) Genetics
D) Genealogy

Question 17

Which of the following is an example of a cognitive process?

A) Amy, an 11 year old girl, whose height and weight increase during adolescence
B) Cindy, a 20 year old student, who imagines herself as the Governor of Florida
C) Kevin, an infant, who smiles in response to his mother's touch
D) Jacob, a 22 year old athlete, who is aggressive while playing any sport

Question 18

What infant perception research technique involves giving an infant a choice at what to look at and then looking for a reliable preference for one stimulus over the other?

A) Habituation
B) Preferential looking
C) Aphasia
D) Object permanence

Question 19

What is the biggest challenge faced by psychologists who study infant perception?

A) Infants are already studied by pediatricians, so it isn't considered appropriate for psychologists to also study them.
B) Infant perception is a topic that is of little theoretical interest to psychologists.
C) Because infants can't speak, psychologists who study infants rely on what infants can do to understand what they know.
D) Infants spend too much time eating and sleeping to be good research subjects.

Question 20

Developmental psychologists study physical,cognitive,and _____ changes throughout the human life cycle.

A) cross-sectional
B) socioemotional
C) genetic
D) embryonic

Question 21

If children cannot grasp the concept of conservation,they are unable to _____.

A) accommodate in later life
B) see things from the point of view of another person
C) recognize that the quantity of a substance remains the same despite changes in its shape
D) retain earlier schemas when confronted with new experiences

Question 22

Which of the following characterizes pubertal change in adolescents?

A) Hormones are alone responsible for adolescent behavior.
B) Estradiol, an estrogen, is associated in boys with the development of genitals, an increase in height, and voice change.
C) There is no dramatic change in the concentration of certain hormones because they decrease gradually during puberty.
D) The peak of pubertal change occurs at an average age of 11½ for girls and 13½ for boys.

Question 23

Adolescents often have difficulty controlling their emotions and making sound decisions about risky behavior.Brain research suggests that this is due to the fact that during adolescence _____.

A) the amygdala is developed earlier than the prefrontal cortex
B) the prefrontal cortex is developed earlier than the amygdala
C) growth in the hippocampus is halted
D) the corpus callosum becomes severed

Question 24

You arrange two rows of pennies so they are equal in length.A child views the rows and states that they have the same amount of pennies.You spread out the pennies in the bottom row so it is longer than the top row.The child now states that the bottom row has more pennies.This child is in which of Piaget's stages?

A) Sensorimotor
B) Preoperational
C) Formal operations
D) Concrete operations

Question 25

Most adults reach their peak physical development during their _____.

A) 20s
B) 30s
C) 40s
D) 50s

Question 26

According to Piaget,egocentrism refers to young children's _____.

A) self-centered arrogance
B) exaggerated interest in pleasure
C) inability to take another person's mental state into account
D) difficulty in realizing that things continue to exist even when they are not visible

Question 27

The free-radical theory states that aging is caused by _____.

A) damage to DNA
B) the body's lowered resistance to stress and disease
C) biological constraints on cell division
D) nutritional deficiencies

Question 28

Which of the following refers to a period of rapid skeletal and sexual maturation that occurs mainly in early adolescence?

A) Sensorimotor stage
B) Preoperational stage
C) Puberty
D) Menopause

Question 29

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development,the first stage of cognitive development that lasts from birth to about 2 years of age is the _____ stage.

A) preoperational
B) concrete operational
C) sensorimotor
D) formal operational

Question 30

According to _____,as we age our cells become less capable of dividing.

A) hormonal stress theory
B) free-radical theory
C) cellular-clock theory
D) Erikson's theory of socioemotional development

Question 31

Which theory of aging has focused on the role of chronic stress in reducing immune system functioning?

A) Erikson's theory of socioemotional development
B) Free-radical theory
C) Cellular-clock theory
D) Hormonal stress theory

Question 32

"Out of sight,out of mind" can describe the behavior of a child who lacks the concept of _____.

A) conservation
B) separation anxiety
C) attachment
D) object permanence

Question 33

According to Piaget,accommodation occurs when individuals _____.

A) adjust their schemas to new information
B) incorporate new information into existing schemas
C) are deprived of parental warmth and sensitivity
D) are insecurely attached to their caregivers

Question 34

Samantha gives both her 3-year-old and her 4-year-old children identically shaped glasses of juice in order to avoid conflict over who has the most.Samantha is showing her awareness of what limitation in her children's thinking skills?

A) Problems with equilibrium
B) Problems with object permanence
C) Problems with conservation
D) Problems with symbolism

Question 35

You tried to play peek-a-boo with your 6-month-old nephew,but whenever you hid your face,he would cry.You try it again three months later,and now he laughs and enjoys the game,trying to uncover your face with his hands.Your nephew has begun to develop _____.

A) egocentrism
B) object permanence
C) hindsight bias
D) conservation

Question 36

_____ is the specialization of function in one hemisphere of the brain or the other.

A) Habituation
B) Lateralization
C) Assimilation
D) Accommodation

Question 37

Research on adolescent brain development has shown that the _____ is involved with emotional reactions,whereas the _____ is involved with reasoning and decision making.

A) prefrontal cortex/amygdala
B) amygdala/prefrontal cortex
C) hippocampus/amygdala
D) brain stem/amygdala

Question 38

In a female embryo,what allows for the development of female sex organs?

A) High levels of estrogens
B) Low levels of androgens
C) The presence of teratogens
D) The absence of teratogens

Question 39

Which of Piaget's stages of cognitive development is characterized by egocentric thought?

A) Sensorimotor
B) Preoperational
C) Concrete operational
D) Post-conventional

Question 40

Most children successfully acquire conservation skills during the _____ stage of cognitive development.

A) sensorimotor
B) preoperational
C) concrete operational
D) formal operational

Question 41

A 13-year-old breaks up with his first girlfriend and he is very upset.No one can console him,because he believes that no one else has ever been hurt as badly as he has.The boy's beliefs are consistent with _____.

A) prepubertal romance
B) adolescent egocentrism
C) transductive reasoning
D) separation anxiety

Question 42

An adolescent who hypothesizes and speaks in terms of possibilities may well be functioning in Piaget's cognitive stage of _____.

A) formal operational thought
B) concrete operational thought
C) moral realistic thought
D) transductive thought

Question 43

Four-year-old Jennifer mistakenly believes that her mother would like to receive an Elmo doll for Christmas.This best illustrates Piaget's concept of _____.

A) accommodation
B) object permanence
C) conservation
D) egocentrism

Question 44

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development,formal operational thought is _____.

A) logical, systematic, abstract, and idealistic
B) simplistic and systematic
C) intuitive and concrete
D) based on trial and error

Question 45

According to the textbook,one of the most important criticisms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that _____.

A) his theory had very little impact on psychologists' understanding of how children's minds develop
B) the popularity of his theory was been very short-lived
C) his theory was never scientifically tested
D) many cognitive abilities emerge earlier in children than Piaget thought

Question 46

_____ is expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life.

A) Assimilation
B) Temperament
C) Habituation
D) Wisdom

Question 47

Which of the following statements about Piaget's theory of cognitive development is false?

A) Piaget believed that we go through four stages in understanding the world and that each stage involves a qualitatively different way of making sense of the world.
B) Piaget believed that children do not play an active role in constructing their own understanding of the world but rather are passively reacting to environmental influences.
C) Piaget believed that children use schemas to make sense of their experience.
D) Piaget's theory suggests that over the course of the four developmental stages, a person progresses from sensorimotor cognition to abstract, idealistic, and logical thought.

Question 48

The sense of _____ is the most dangerous aspect of adolescent egocentrism.

A) invincibility
B) underestimation
C) vulnerability
D) assimilation

Question 49

Which of the following indicates cognition in early adulthood?

A) Becoming less skeptical
B) Crystallized intelligence
C) Being more realistic
D) Fluid intelligence

Question 50

Which of the following is true about the concrete operational stage of reasoning?

A) Adolescents can conceive of hypothetical possibilities in this stage.
B) This stage denotes ability of an adolescent to systematically deduce, or come to a conclusion about, the best path for solving the problem.
C) A kind of abstract, logical reasoning occurs in this cognitive stage.
D) One important skill at this stage of reasoning is the ability to classify or divide things into different sets or subsets and to consider their interrelations.

Question 51

Schaie's longitudinal study of intellectual abilities showed that _____ is the period when most people reach their peak for many intellectual skills.

A) adolescence
B) early adulthood
C) middle adulthood
D) late adulthood

Question 52

Juliet refuses to go to the dance because she has just developed a pimple on her chin,and she is sure everyone will talk about it behind her back.Her behavior illustrates _____.

A) preoperational thought
B) the adolescent identity crisis
C) peer influence
D) adolescent egocentrism

Question 53

_____ are differences between individuals that stem not necessarily from their ages but from the historical period and society in which they were born and developed.

A) Butterfly effects
B) Longitudinal effects
C) Cohort effects
D) Hawthorne effects

Question 54

Benjamin loves putting together puzzles.He has recently mastered putting together a 10-piece Sesame Street puzzle.His mother claps at his accomplishment but wants to continue challenging Benjamin just beyond his current abilities.The next time they play,she gives Benjamin a 15-piece puzzle and offers some guidance on how to sort the pieces out.According to Vygotsky,Benjamin's mother provides _____ that allows Benjamin's cognitive abilities to be built higher and higher.

A) accommodating
B) assimilation
C) scaffolding
D) conservation

Question 55

Which stage of cognitive development involves replacing intuitive reasoning with logical reasoning?

A) Sensorimotor
B) Preoperational
C) Concrete operational
D) Egocentric

Question 56

Although _____ did not believe that culture and education play important roles in children's cognitive development,_____ believed that cognitive development is very much an interpersonal process that happens in a cultural context.

A) Jean Piaget/Lev Vygotsky
B) Lev Vygostsky/Jean Piaget
C) Erik Erikson/Jean Piaget
D) Lev Vygostsky/Erik Erikson

Question 57

Which of the following represents the correct chronological sequence of Piaget's stages of cognitive development?

A) Sensorimotor, preoperations, concrete operations, formal operations
B) Sensorimotor, concrete operations, preoperations, formal operations
C) Preoperations, concrete operations, formal operations, sensorimotor
D) Concrete operations, formal operations, sensorimotor, preoperations

Question 58

According to Piaget's theory of cognitive development,the ability to utilize logical thought to assess abstract social problems and situations is attained during the _____ stage.

A) preoperational
B) concrete operational
C) formal operational
D) sensorimotor

Question 59

According to the textbook,one of the most important criticisms of Piaget's theory of cognitive development is that _____.

A) his theory had very little impact on psychologists' understanding of how children's minds develop
B) the popularity of his theory was been very short-lived
C) his theory was never scientifically tested
D) recent research suggests his theory has underestimated the abilities of infants and overestimated the abilities of adults

Question 60

Accumulated information and verbal skills are components of _____,whereas the ability to reason abstractly is a component of _____.

A) crystallized intelligence/fluid intelligence
B) fluid intelligence/crystallized intelligence
C) generativity/wisdom
D) integrity/generativity

Question 61

Sammy is in third grade.When he won the spelling bee,he felt proud of his accomplishment.But when he could not complete his arithmetic assignment on time,he felt incompetent.Which of Erikson's developmental stages does this reflect?

A) Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
B) Initiative vs. guilt
C) Industry vs. inferiority
D) Trust vs. mistrust

Question 62

The work of Harry Harlow established that _____.

A) early social experience in humans is essential to normal functioning in adulthood.
B) humans are less dependent on contact comfort than rhesus monkeys
C) human behavior is hardly more complex than that of rhesus monkeys
D) contact comfort is more important than feeding in the attachment process

Question 63

Chloe is a baby who cries a lot.She does not eat or sleep on a regular schedule and she often has difficulty adapting to new experiences.Psychologists would say that Chloe's temperament can be described as _____.

A) difficult
B) easy
C) slow-to-warm-up
D) defiant

Question 64

Cooper's father is a corporate executive who works long hours.He travels several days throughout the month and spends very little time with Cooper.He has never been to any of Cooper's soccer games or met any of his friends.Cooper's father believes that his career is more important than raising his son.As such,he does not get involved in Cooper's life.Psychologists would describe Cooper's father's style of parenting as _____.

A) authoritarian
B) authoritative
C) neglectful
D) permissive

Question 65

According to Erikson's theory of socioemotional development,establishing _____ is the central task of adolescence.

A) an identity
B) intimacy with a partner
C) generativity
D) integrity

Question 66

Which of the following accurately represents the correct sequence of Erikson's first four stages of socioemotional development?

A) Industry vs. inferiority; initiative vs. guilt; autonomy vs. shame; trust vs. mistrust
B) Autonomy vs. shame; industry vs. inferiority; trust vs. mistrust; initiative vs. guilt
C) Trust vs. mistrust; autonomy vs. shame; initiative vs. guilt; industry vs. inferiority
D) Initiative vs. guilt; industry vs. inferiority; trust vs. mistrust; autonomy vs. shame

Question 67

Parents who use the _____ parenting style give strict rules to their children with little discussion of the reasons for the rules.

A) authoritarian
B) permissive
C) authoritative
D) eclectic

Question 68

Children of _____ parents tend to be socially competent,self-reliant,and socially responsible.

A) authoritarian
B) authoritative
C) neglectful
D) permissive

Question 69

What did Harry Harlow demonstrate in his classic study of attachment amongst baby monkeys?

A) The monkeys were more attached to the artificial mothers that gave milk.
B) The monkeys were more attached to the artificial mothers that were warm and soft.
C) The monkeys displayed no preference for either cloth or wire artificial mothers.
D) The monkeys unexpectedly preferred wire artificial mothers over cloth ones.

Question 70

According to James Marcia,identity is a product of _____.

A) temperament and attachment
B) exploration and commitment
C) parenting style and attachment
D) accommodation and assimilation

Question 71

Juan is a child with low activity level and tends to withdraw from new situations.He is inflexible,and displays low mood intensity.Juan is said to have what type of temperament?

A) Easy
B) Difficult
C) Slow-to-warm-up
D) Aversive

Question 72

According to the text,some researchers disagree with the notion that the labels "easy," "difficult," and "slow-to-warm-up" are the best way to conceptualize temperament.These psychologists argue that _____ are the core dimensions of temperament.

A) object permanence and egocentrism
B) self-regulation, inhibition, and negative affectivity
C) parenting style and conservation
D) morality, identity, and prosocial behavior

Question 73

Gabriela's mother practices the authoritative style of parenting.This suggests that Gabriela's mother _____.

A) encourages her to be independent but still places limits and controls on behavior
B) is uninvolved in Gabriela's life
C) is restrictive, punitive, and engages in little verbal exchange with Gabriela when they have a differences of opinion
D) sets very strict rules and limitations for Gabriela's behavior

Question 74

According to Erikson's theory of socioemotional development,_____ is the best way to build an infant's sense of trust.

A) engaging in establishing a sense that the world is a predictable and safe place
B) encouraging object permanence
C) discouraging egocentrism
D) engaging in authoritarian parenting and placing limits and controls on behavior

Question 75

Infants who display secure attachment _____.

A) never cry when their caregiver leaves the room
B) use their caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment
C) get very upset when their caregiver leaves and usually continue to show anger and distress when the caregiver returns
D) do not pay much attention to what their caregiver is doing as they know that they are secure

Question 76

The term _____ refers to an individual's behavioral style and characteristic way of responding.

A) schema
B) temperament
C) generativity
D) assimilation

Question 77

According to Erikson's theory of socioemotional development,the first 18 months of life are devoted to mastering which developmental task?

A) Autonomy vs. shame
B) Initiative vs. guilt
C) Trust vs. mistrust
D) Industry vs. inferiority

Question 78

Children of permissive parents tend to _____.

A) be socially competent, self-reliant, and socially responsible
B) expect to get their own way and often show difficulties respecting others and controlling their behavior
C) use their caregiver as a secure base from which to explore
D) handle independence poorly and often show a defiant personality style

Question 79

The strange situation test is used to assess an infant's _____.

A) level of cognitive development
B) level of moral development
C) style of attachment
D) resilience

Question 80

Richie's parents let him do whatever he wants.They place no demands on him,and they place no rules or restrictions on his behavior.Richie's parents have a(n)_____ parenting style.

A) permissive
B) authoritarian
C) authoritative
D) neglectful