Deck 11: A: Human Development Across the Life Span

Question 1

At approximately age 50,most women can expect the diminishing or cessation of menstruation and ovulation.Which term best characterizes this phenomenon?

A)infertility.
B)midlife crisis.
C)menarche.
D)menopause.

Answer 1

menopause.

Question 2

Which area of the brain undergoes the greatest change from puberty into young adulthood?

A)the frontal lobes
B)the hippocampus
C)the left hemisphere
D)the cerebellum

Answer 2

the frontal lobes

Question 3

A woman has been a participant in an ongoing study of intelligence for the past twenty years.Every few years,a researcher tests her intelligence and asks her questions about her achievements.What type of research design is being implemented?

A)cross-sectional
B)chronological
C)lifespan
D)longitudinal

Answer 3

longitudinal

Question 4

Studies of the perceptual capabilities of infants have been done using the visual cliff.What have these studies illustrated?

A)Infants are reluctant to crawl across either the shallow or deep ends of the apparatus.
B)Infants are equally likely to crawl across the shallow and deep ends of the apparatus.
C)Infants will only venture out on the deep end if they can crawl.
D)Infants will avoid the deep end if they have experienced crawling.

Question 5

A professor conducted a developmental study using a cross-sectional design.What type of comparisons would most likely have been made?

A)participants of the same age at the same time
B)participants of different ages at the same time
C)participants of the same age at different times
D)participants of different ages at different times

Question 6

What have researchers investigating the auditory abilities of the fetus discovered?

A)4-month-old infants show preference for listening to their fathers' voices over other voices.
B)the presence of in utero auditory ability is controversial.
C)infants demonstrate a consistent preference for hearing novel voices.
D)infants prefer to listen to their mothers' voices over other voices.

Question 7

What is one advantage of the longitudinal design?

A)the results can be generalized widely to various cohorts.
B)data are not likely to be lost due to participant attrition.
C)all participants have lived through the same socioeconomic period.
D)demand characteristics can be minimized

Question 8

Vance is using a cross-sectional design to conduct a study on attitudes toward gender equity in the work place.Vance finds that 40-year-old participants are much more resistant to gender equity than are 20-year-old participants.Which factor may make the interpretation of these findings difficult?

A)results may be confounded by differences in the experiences of different birth cohorts.
B)all of the participants were tested for their attitudes at approximately the same time.
C)substantial data may be lost due to participant attrition.
D)results may be due to the fact that attitudinal differences are related to differences in age.

Question 9

A baby is carried around by his mother in a tightly bound back cradle,common in his Native American culture.What effect will this experience likely have on the baby?

A)It will change the sequence of locomotion that the baby goes through.
B)It will delay walking,but not the sequence of locomotion that the baby goes through.
C)It will delay walking and change the sequence of locomotion that the baby goes through.
D)It will have no impact on walking,but will affect the baby's emotional response to exploring his environment.

Question 10

Technically,the eighth week following conception marks the beginning of which stage?

A)prenatal.
B)embryonic.
C)fetal.
D)neonatal.

Question 11

Robert Fantz and others have observed babies as young as 4 months old to determine if they prefer plain objects or objects with contours,complex or simple objects,viewing whole faces or those in disarray,and human faces or other similar visual stimuli.What did these studies conclude about infant preferences?

A)They prefer objects with contours,simple objects,whole faces,and non-human visual stimuli.
B)They prefer objects with contours,complex objects,whole faces,and human faces.
C)They prefer plain objects,simple objects,faces in disarray,and non-human visual stimuli.
D)They prefer plain objects,simple objects,whole faces,and human faces.

Question 12

As a man ages,what is most likely to happen to his ability to hear?

A)High-frequency sounds will be the most difficult to hear.
B)Low-frequency sounds will be the most difficult to hear.
C)Hearing will deteriorate more rapidly than for a female of the same age.
D)Hearing will deteriorate less rapidly than for a female of the same age.

Question 13

Baby Timmy has just developed the ability to combine information from each eye to perceive depth.Most likely,what age is Baby Timmy?

A)2 months
B)4 months
C)6 months
D)a newborn

Question 14

Which statement about the capacity of newborns is accurate?

A)They are helpless and confused.
B)They are capable of making a few simple responses.
C)They have heightened visual and auditory acuity.
D)They are able to respond to and influence the environment.

Question 15

In pregnant women,cocaine restricts placental blood flow and oxygen supply to the fetus.Which fetal brain function is most damaged by cocaine?

A)motor movement.
B)speech.
C)attention.
D)vision.

Question 16

Which finding would most likely be the product of a normative investigation?

A)Shyness is a personality trait that is relatively stable over time.
B)Children must have a rudimentary understanding of symbolism before they can learn to read.
C)The average child can build a tower of three blocks at the age of 18 months.
D)Attempts at toilet training are futile until the child has voluntary control of the necessary muscles.

Question 17

What is the first body part to reach adult size?

A)the brain
B)the body
C)the eye
D)the hand

Question 18

A youngster can't wait to be a "grown-up." What is the first concrete indicator that this youngster's childhood is ending?

A)the pubescent growth spurt.
B)the onset of puberty.
C)menarche.
D)a concern with body image.

Question 19

When a male sperm cell fertilizes a female's egg cell,what is the result?

A)fetus.
B)embryo.
C)neonate.
D)single-celled zygote.

Question 20

Priscilla is pregnant for the first time and is visiting her doctor.The doctor reports that the heartbeat is now detectable,and that her baby is a few centimetres in length.Which stage of development is being described?

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

Question 21

With respect to theories of mind,which statement most directly captures the viewpoint of contemporary researchers who suggest that children develop foundational theories to explain their experiences of the world?

A)Children begin to develop a general theory with respect to some aspect of the world,then use new experiences to refine their theory.
B)The dynamic interplay of assimilation and accommodation results in the movement of children through successive stages of cognitive functioning.
C)Older children are fundamentally different from younger children with respect to their cognitive abilities.
D)Children can differentiate mental and physical worlds if the proper foundation for drawing such distinctions is established.

Question 22

Piaget suggested that the most important cognitive acquisition of the infancy period of cognitive development is the ability to form mental representations of absent objects-those objects with which the infant is not in direct sensorimotor contact.Which term refers to this ability?

A)centration.
B)object permanence.
C)assimilation.
D)accommodation.

Question 23

James loves to read science fiction.He particularly likes works in which alternative worlds are described and he has begun writing his own story set in a world where good triumphs over evil,and cunning wins out over treachery.What stage of cognitive development is being described?

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

Question 24

What would one expect a 3- or 4-year-old to say if asked the question,"What will happen if you removed everything that is inside a cat?"

A)"The cat is still a cat."
B)"Cats don't have insides."
C)"It won't be a cat anymore."
D)"Like its heart and stomach?"

Question 25

Preoperational children tend to be captivated by the more perceptually striking features of objects.Which Piagetian concept is being described?

A)centration.
B)assimilation.
C)accommodation.
D)object permanence.

Question 26

Which scenario is likely the result of egocentrism?

A)A child tells her grandmother that her teddy bear likes to take a bath.
B)A child believes that rain comes from holes in the clouds.
C)A child does not understand why his father is too tired to play tag.
D)A child realizes that everyone has different dreams.

Question 27

A child has two favourite glasses: a tall,skinny one with a picture of a giraffe on it and a short,fat one with a picture of a hippopotamus on it.When her mother pours her some milk using the "hippo" glass,the girls asks that the milk be moved into the "giraffe" glass because she is really thirsty.If the girl believes that simply transferring the milk into the taller glass increases the amount,what can be concluded about her cognitive development?

A)She is in the stage of formal operations.
B)She has not yet reached the concrete operational stage.
C)She is incapable of accommodation.
D)She is capable of mental operations.

Question 28

A child is in the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.If Piaget's model is correct,which stage will the child experience next?

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

Question 29

A great deal of research supports the conclusion that the brain works differently as one ages.What do the changes in function reflect with respect to day-to-day cognitive activities?

A)compensation
B)substitution
C)accommodation
D)sublimation

Question 30

According to Piaget,which process restructures existing schemes so that new information is accounted for more completely?

A)accommodation
B)assimilation
C)centration
D)egocentrism

Question 31

Much of a child's behaviour is based on inborn schemes,but,as her parents can attest,she is learning that her actions have an effect on external events.According to Piaget's theory,which stage of cognitive development is being described?

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

Question 32

A child is 4 years old.According to Piaget,what should the child be capable of doing?

A)take the perspective of another person.
B)distinguish the mental world from the physical world.
C)ignore perceptually striking features of objects.
D)mentally represent objects that are not physically present.

Question 33

A group of adults is asked to learn a new set of postal codes for different areas of the country within a limited period of time.What type of intelligence does this type of learning require?

A)logical-mathematical
B)crystallized
C)fluid
D)spatial

Question 34

A 3-year-old loves sports.Her mom recently taught her how to catch a big beach ball and her dad is now teaching her how to catch a small tennis ball.At first,she tries to "surround" the tennis ball with her arms,the way she did the beach ball.Slowly,she learns to use just her hands.Which Piagetian concept best captures the girl's attempt to restructure her scheme?

A)egocentrism.
B)centration.
C)assimilation.
D)accommodation.

Question 35

A boy can provide directions from home to the neighbourhood store and,if asked,he can also state how to return home.Which Piagetian term best captures this ability?

A)conservation.
B)egocentrism.
C)reversibility.
D)centration.

Question 36

According to the view of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky,children absorb knowledge from their social context.Which term refers to this process?

A)assimilation.
B)internalization.
C)accommodation.
D)socialization.

Question 37

On which of the following types of memory tests would elderly individuals be most likely to show the greatest performance deficits?

A)accessing the storage of general knowledge
B)acquiring new information
C)remembering personal information about events that occurred long ago
D)recognizing faces of previous friends

Question 38

In a study that is described in the textbook,researcher Renée Baillargeon showed 3-month-old infants a possible physical event and an impossible physical event.How did the infants respond?

A)They showed surprise when witnessing both types of events.
B)They showed more surprise when witnessing the impossible event.
C)They showed more surprise when witnessing the possible event.
D)They could not understand the difference between a possible and an impossible event.

Question 39

A baby is learning about his world.He already knows about the value of sucking and grasping in helping him to adapt to his world and he is now working on understanding pushing and pulling.Which Piagetian term best characterizes these mental structures?

A)schemes.
B)assimilations.
C)competencies.
D)utterances.

Question 40

Steve is role-playing the part of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau in a debate with a classmate who is playing the role of British philosopher John Locke.Which view of development should Steve promote?

A)environmental
B)empirical
C)tabula rasa
D)nativist

Question 41

In the context of a child's acquisition of particular meanings for words,which scenario exemplifies the principle of contrast?

A)A child says "white" when a parent says "black."
B)A child gets confused when his mother calls his teddy bear "Theodore" instead of "Teddy."
C)When a child says that he "runned home," a parent says "you ran home."
D)One child has no difficulty learning word meanings while a child just one year younger struggles.

Question 42

In a study of speech perception described in the textbook,Janet Werker showed that infants under 8 months of age performed better than English-speaking adults on a task.What did this task involve?

A)distinguishing between Hindi phonemes.
B)localizing the source of a sound.
C)associating speakers with samples of speech.
D)producing phonemes that occur in Japanese but not in English.

Question 43

According to John Bowlby,which statement about attachment in infants and adults is true?

A)They will form attachments of some kind to everyone in their social environment.
B)Attachments are due to biological predispositions.
C)Attachment occurs despite biological predispositions to remain independent.
D)Attachment is based on a one-directional process of conveying emotion from infant to caregiver.

Question 44

While riding through the countryside one day,Ian happens to come upon a curious sight,a chick following a group of ducklings and a mother duck.What likely happened to produce this strange sight?

A)The mother hen was unable to provide for her chick.
B)The mother duck was the first moving object the chick saw after being hatched.
C)Instinctive drift.
D)The mother hen rejected her chick.

Question 45

Kyle is in the "naming explosion" phase of language acquisition.On average,how many words is he most likely to learn in a day?

A)three
B)six
C)nine
D)twelve

Question 46

Maggie and Mark's new baby boy is very bold and uninhibited.He is rarely fearful of new situations and people,and he is very sociable with everyone.How will this child most likely behave as an adult?

A)bold and uninhibited.
B)as sociable as the average person.
C)more shy than bold.
D)unpredictably.

Question 47

Accordiing to Noam Chomsky,how is grammar acquired?

A)children are born with mental structures that facilitate language acquisition.
B)the role of parents in the explicit instruction of grammatical rules has been underestimated.
C)motherese is an essential ingredient in the acquisition of grammar.
D)children acquire complete grammatical structure due to well-formed input.

Question 48

An infant lives in an orphanage where he receives little attention when he is hungry and thirsty,is rarely picked up and cuddled,and has no particular adult who is in charge of meeting his needs.According to Erik Erikson,what would this infant develop?

A)self-doubt.
B)isolation.
C)mistrust.
D)role confusion.

Question 49

An acquaintance does not seem to have the capacity to make commitments to others.He never compromises,has no sense of responsibility,and seems to have few close friends.According to Erikson's lifespan theory,which crisis has not been adequately resolved?

A)intimacy vs.isolation.
B)generativity vs.stagnation.
C)ego-integrity vs.despair.
D)initiative vs.guilt.

Question 50

Developmental psychologists use the term "attachment".To what does this term refer?

A)the child's need for a favourite toy or object,usually a stuffed animal or blanket.
B)the reflexive grasping an infant exhibits when an object,such as a finger,is put in the infant's hand.
C)the enduring emotional relationship that develops between child and caregiver.
D)the tendency of all living creatures to follow the first moving object that is seen or heard.

Question 51

According to Erikson's theory of life span development,which crisis would a 14-year-old girl most likely face?

A)competence vs.inferiority.
B)intimacy vs.isolation.
C)identity vs.role confusion.
D)autonomy vs.self-doubt.

Question 52

A little girl says,"Daddy door." To understand the meaning of this two-word utterance,what must the listener possess?

A)knowledge of the little girl herself.
B)knowledge of the context in which the words were spoken.
C)knowledge of Slobin's theory of language-making capacity.
D)knowledge of the little girl's immediate family.

Question 53

Research has shown that infants are likely to pay attention when adults use exaggerated and high-pitched intonation.Which term best characterizes this type of vocalization?

A)telegraphic language.
B)child-directed speech.
C)infantile dialect.
D)holophrastic phrases.

Question 54

What did research findings on the early perception of language-relevant speech sounds indicate?

A)adults have sensitivities to sounds that infants do not have.
B)adults lose their sensitivities to language-relevant speech sounds as part of the natural aging process.
C)there are no differences between infants and adults with respect to their sensitivities to language-relevant speech sounds.
D)infants start out with sensitivities to sounds that they lose if these contrasts are not used in their language.

Question 55

Many theorists believe that important aspects of the acquisition of grammar are biologically predetermined.To determine what knowledge is innate,what type of cross-linguistic studies have been done?

A)Those that assess how quickly children enter the naming explosion phase.
B)Those that assess if children are referential or expressive in their language usage.
C)Those that assess what is hard and what is easy for children to acquire.
D)Those that assess the match between adults' and children's styles across many languages.

Question 56

Dan Slobin has defined a set of operating principles that together constitute children's language-making capacity.Which statement about these principles is accurate?

A)They are more difficult for adults to acquire than they are for children to acquire.
B)They are more difficult for children to acquire than they are for adults to acquire.
C)They are written in simplified form,so that children can easily understand them.
D)They are in the form of directives to the child.

Question 57

What makes over-regularization an interesting error?

A)adults make comparable errors when they are excited or in a hurry.
B)it suggests that language does not have a consistent structure or grammar.
C)it suggests that children have neglected to internalize the extension operating principle.
D)it often appears after children have learned the correct forms of verbs and nouns.

Question 58

A babysitter works for a couple who have a 2-year-old boy.Whenever she arrives for work,she notices that the parents and child always seem to be involved in a confrontation,with the child demanding to do something and the parents typically restrictive or critical of the child's efforts.Based on Erikson's theory,what may the child be developing?

A)mistrust.
B)inferiority.
C)feelings of despair.
D)self-doubt.

Question 59

Which of the following illustrates an error of over-regularization?

A)Allgone milk.
B)Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.
C)I eated my breakfast.
D)Nice kitty (pointing to skunk).

Question 60

According to the textbook,how do children learn word meanings?

A)The way in which children acquire word meanings is a topic of current debate.
B)The absence of errors in children's language usage facilitates the acquisition of word meanings.
C)Children develop hypotheses about what each new word might mean.
D)The ability to acquire word meanings is genetically predetermined.

Question 61

What type of parenting style is most likely to produce an effective parent-child bond?

A)One that places primary emphasis on the importance of discipline and the setting of limits.
B)One that makes demands on a child,but also keeps channels of communication open.
C)One that encourages a child to control and modify his or her own behaviour,with little parental intervention.
D)One that encourages a child to view parental interactions as a model for future behaviour.

Question 62

According to Harry Harlow,what is the basis for the attachment of infants to their mothers?

A)eye contact
B)proximity
C)oral stimulation
D)contact comfort

Question 63

What is one of the most widely-used research procedures for assessing infant attachment?

A)Attachment Inventory.
B)"Ties that Bind" technique.
C)Mother-Infant Union Form.
D)Strange Situation Test.

Question 64

What did the research by Smetana and colleagues (2006)indicate about most adolescents?

A)They are able to use their parents as ready sources of practical and emotional support.
B)They are reluctant to use their parents as sources of practical and emotional support.
C)They feel that their parents are indifferent to them.
D)They feel that their parents do not understand them.

Question 65

Harry Harlow used artificial "mothers" in his studies of the attachment behaviour of monkeys.Which group best characterizes the artificial mothers?

A)adult female monkeys who were not related to the infants.
B)wire and cloth constructions that were placed in the monkey cages.
C)human adults who acted as mothers.
D)older siblings of the experimental participants.

Question 66

What does recent research on adolescence in Western society indicate?

A)feelings of a lack of control are nearly universal among adolescents.
B)few adolescents report enjoying life or feeling happy most of the time.
C)adolescence is a time of elevated stress for most young people.
D)few adolescents experience inner turmoil,although they experience more extreme emotions.

Question 67

In the Strange Situation Test,a 15-month-old child is upset and anxious when her mother leaves the room.When her mother returns,she cannot be comforted and shows anger,but also a desire for contact with her mother.How would this child most likely be categorized?

A)insecurely attached-avoidant.
B)insecurely attached-ambivalent/resistant.
C)insecurely attached-disorganized.
D)securely attached.

Question 68

A child has parents who require him to conform to appropriate rules of behaviour that they have established,but they are also willing to talk with him about his concerns.What type of parenting is being characterized?

A)demanding.
B)authoritative.
C)authoritarian.
D)indulgent.

Question 69

Tammy has finished her first year of college and is thinking about moving out of the family home.As the youngest child,however,she is concerned about how her parents are likely to react.What should Tammy expect?

A)her parents will be reluctant to allow her to move out.
B)her parents will not view her departure as a traumatic experience.
C)her mother will react positively,but her father will react negatively.
D)her father will react positively,but her mother will react negatively.

Question 70

Studies have been done to compare the intellectual and social development of children who stay at home versus those who attend day care.What did the results indicate about children in day care?

A)They form more secure attachments than children who do not attend day care.
B)There is an advantage socially but not intellectually.
C)There is an advantage both socially and intellectually.
D)There is an intellectual advantage,but they may have social problems.

Question 71

The teacher of Jake's developmental psychology class has decided to show the class the procedure developed by Mary Ainsworth to study the attachment of infants.Due to the fact that no infants are available,Jake has been asked to play the part of a child and his friend will be the "mother." Jake is led into a room filled with toys.After Jake begins playing with the toys,what will happen next?

A)A stranger will tell Jake to leave the room,so that she can talk to his mother.
B)Jake's mother will go off with a stranger,leaving him alone in the room.
C)A stranger will enter and Jake's mother will temporarily leave the room.
D)The toys will break and Jake's reaction will be judged.

Question 72

In Harry Harlow's research,how did the monkeys respond when scared by toys that made loud noises?

A)They ran to the wire mother for protection.
B)They ventured out to explore the fear stimulus and then returned to the terry cloth mother before exploring further.
C)They were just as likely to run to a cloth mother as a wire mother.
D)They ran to the cloth mother.

Question 73

A happily-married modern couple expects to be parents soon.According to recent research,what should this couple consider about the impact of parenthood on their relationship?

A)It is likely to make their marriage even happier.
B)It may be a threat to the overall happiness of a marriage.
C)It should minimize the number of conflicts that their marriage will face.
D)It is likely to move them in the direction of less traditional sex roles.

Question 74

Alison Clarke-Stewart,an expert on daycare,has summarized the literature to provide a series of guidelines for quality day care.Which of the following is among her recommendations?

A)There should be at least one caregiver for every three children.
B)There should be at least one caregiver for every ten children.
C)Caregivers should be actively involved in the children's activities.
D)Children should have free choice of activities with limited structured lessons.

Question 75

What did a longitudinal study conclude about couples who divorce?

A)only high-distress relationships ended.
B)couples who were married in their early twenties were the most likely to separate or divorce.
C)couples with high levels of negative affect stayed married for a longer time prior to divorcing than those who showed low levels of positive affect.
D)couples in both high-distress and low-distress relationships were represented in the group who separated or divorced.

Question 76

In the Strange Situation Test,how will a securely attached child typically appear when the parent leaves the room?

A)somewhat unconcerned
B)somewhat distressed
C)considerably anxious
D)considerably pleased

Question 77

Which parenting style is characterized by parents who apply discipline with little concern for their child's autonomy?

A)authoritarian
B)abusive
C)authoritative
D)rigid

Question 78

In Harlow's research,the monkeys became attached to a "cloth mother".What deficits did these monkeys display in adulthood?

A)an inability to perform simple tasks.
B)an inability to defend themselves.
C)an inability to form normal sexual relationships.
D)an inability to retain information about the environment.

Question 79

Tasha's parents notice that she is very susceptible to her close friends' influence.These friends enjoy drinking beer and smoking marijuanA)According to the findings of a longitudinal study,how will Tasha most likely behave in one year's time?

A)She will have problems with drugs and alcohol.
B)She will be well adjusted.
C)She will be more dependent.
D)She will be more independent.

Question 80

According to a recent study,how did children who spent their earliest days in orphanages differ from those who had been raised by their biological parents?

A)They failed to show a normal pattern of brain response.
B)They failed to show any enthusiasm.
C)They failed to recognize their caregivers.
D)They became easily attached to strangers.