Deck 14: Epilogue: Putting the Pieces Together

Question 1

Although no one pattern of parenting is "optimal" for all children in all cultures or subcultures, the parental style that seems to promote adaptive outcomes for most children in most contexts is

A) the authoritarian pattern
B) the authoritative pattern
C) one combining "no-nonsense" discipline with warmth and guidance
D) one combining love and guidance with sensible limits

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Because of the heavy influence of our species-wide maturational blueprints, infants are far more similar behaviorally than 5-year-olds are, who are more
similar than 10-year-olds. With age then, development seems less _____ and more _____

A) idiosyncratic; normative
B) normative; idiosyncratic
C) continuous; discontinuous
D) discontinuous; continuous

Answer 2

normative; idiosyncratic

Question 3

In line with the current status of the nature-nurture controversy, most contemporary developmentalists would probably agree with the statement(s) that

A) nature needs nurture to be expressed in complex behaviors
B) nurture always acts on nature
C) social and personality development reflects the continuing contributions of both nature and nurture
D) nature needs nurture to be expressed in complex behaviors and nurture always acts on nature
E) all of these

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Research attempting to resolve the continuity-discontinuity debate about the character of human development by looking at the stability of attributes (for
example, temperament; aggressiveness) over time favors the _____ position if
we examine population trends and the _____ position if we focus on the stability for individuals.

A) continuity; discontinuity
B) continuity; continuity
C) discontinuity; discontinuity
D) discontinuity; continuity

Question 5

Which of the following observations best illustrates that children are active contributors to their own development rather than passively molded by environmental influences?

A) tangible rewards given for prosocial behavior appear to undermine children's altruism
B) use of the incompatible-response technique by adults reduces children's aggression
C) the environments that children prefer and seek out are those most compatible with their own genetic predispositions
D) authoritative teachers are more successful at motivating their students than authoritarian instructors are

Question 6

With respect to the activity-passivity debate, the evidence reviewed in the text implies that human development _____ .

A) primarily reflects the impact of the environment on developing children and adolescents
B) is best described as a process by which children determine their own developmental outcomes by virtue of their behavior
C) is best described as a process by which children actively influence how they are treated by parents, siblings, teachers, and peers
D) represents an ongoing transaction between an active person and a changing environment, each influencing the other through patterns of reciprocal influence

Question 7

Which of the following outcomes argues most strongly for adopting a contextualist perspective on human development.

A) shyness is a social strength in China but a social liability in the U.S.
B) separation anxiety reflects both a wariness of being apart from loved ones in unfamiliar locales and an inability to explain where an absent caregiver may be
C) quality of parenting, facial attractiveness, and role-taking skills are all meaningful correlates of peer acceptance
D) toddlers begin to display such complex emotions as embarrassment after they develop a capacity to recognize their mirror images as "me"

Question 8

Which of the following observations clearly illustrates the holistic character of human development.

A) one's popularity with peers seems to depend, in part, on one's role-taking skills and the quality of one's attachments with caregivers
B) children who were highly aggressive as 2-year-olds tend to remain highly aggressive as 5-year-olds
C) boys and girls tend to express their hostile impulses in different ways, with boys displaying more overt aggression and girls displaying more relational aggression
D) none of these

Question 9

Which among the following observations might be taken as evidence of the remarkable plasticity of human development.

A) infants who fail to thrive can "catch up" if provided with adequate diets and ample stimulation from responsive caregivers
B) hostile children from coercive home environments can be deflected away from a delinquency pathway if they receive social skills training and academic remediation
C) normal, healthy infants who are unwanted by their parents are at risk of experiencing marital failures and psychological disorders once they reach adulthood
D) infants who fail to thrive can "catch up" if provided with adequate diets and ample stimulation from responsive caregivers and hostile children from coercive home environments can be deflected away from a delinquency pathway if they receive social skills training and academic remediation
E) all of these

Question 10

The contextualist perspective that is favored by many developmentalists emphasizes that

A) there are many, many cultural universals in development
B) there are no parenting practices that are optimal for all cultures and subcultures
C) adaptive patterns of development may vary dramatically across cultures and subcultures
D) there are many, many cultural universals in development and there are no parenting practices that are optimal for all cultures and subcultures
E) there are no parenting practices that are optimal for all cultures and subcultures and adaptive patterns of development may vary dramatically across cultures and subcultures

Question 11

Knowing that you are completing an upper-level human development course, a relative asks you "Do human beings all develop alike, or do they differ dramatically?" Adopting the position favored by developmentalists today, you might answer by stressing that

A) the most noteworthy and important aspects of human development are the normative patterns, or similarities, that humans display
B) the most noteworthy and important aspects of human development are the idiosyncratic developments that contribute to human diversity
C) human development always proceeds in both normative and idiosyncratic directions that developmentalists must seek to understand
D) infants are very dissimilar early in life and develop to become more alike and less diverse with age

Question 12

When behavioral geneticists argue that genotypes influence environments, they are claiming that

A) our genetically-influenced attributes affect the ways that other people respond to us
B) our genes influence the environments that we will prefer and seek out
C) both of these
D) none of these

Question 13

Recent evidence from the field of neuroscience implying that our early experiences influence the structure and functioning of the human brain which, in turn, affects our responsiveness to particular forms of stimulation has been taken as evidence for the proposition that

A) biological forces contribute more heavily than environment to the form development takes
B) environmental forces contribute more heavily than biology to the form development takes
C) biological and environmental influences on development are interwoven in a complex manner that is difficult to disentangle
D) biology provides the blueprint for development and environment determines what forms development takes

Question 14

The fact that rejected grade-school children can often be helped to achieve a more favorable sociometric status through academic remediation and social-skills training implies that human development is remarkably

A) idiosyncratic
B) plastic
C) normative
D) holistic

Question 15

The fact that emotional attachments do not occur until infants have developed cognitive schemes for the faces of caregivers and some awareness that departing companions continue to exist aptly illustrates the _____ character of social and personality development.

A) idiosyncratic
B) holistic
C) plastic
D) continuous

Question 16

The similarities in moral reasoning that Kohlberg and others have observed across cultures represent _____ patterns of development.

A) normative
B) idiosyncratic
C) holistic
D) continuous

Question 17

Researcher X argues that authoritative parenting and inductive discipline will almost always lead to more adaptive developmental outcomes for children than other forms of parenting/discipline. Researcher Y disagrees, arguing that the favorability of outcomes will depend upon the "goodness-of-fit" between the child's characteristics and the practices parents use. Researcher X apparently focuses heavily on _____ patterns of development, whereas Researcher Y sees development as more of a(n) _____ enterprise.

A) continuous; discontinuous
B) idiosyncratic; normative
C) discontinuous; continuous
D) normative; idiosyncratic

Question 18

Close inspection of established sequences of development, such as the cognitive stages proposed by Piaget, reveals that these developments are

A) discontinuous and stage-like, as Piaget (and others) have argued
B) continuous, reflecting many small, incremental changes that prepare a person for stage "transitions"
C) both continuous and discontinuous, depending on what aspects of development one focuses on
D) largely maturational and independent of environmental influence

Question 19

Most developmental norms and findings described in your textbook are

A) widely applicable across cultures
B) primarily applicable to modern Western societies
C) likely to be as applicable in the future as they are today
D) widely applicable across subcultures within Western societies

Question 20

Given the many, many biological, cognitive, familial, and other social-contextual influences on development that have been identified, many developmentalists have turned to _____ to construct a more complete understanding of human social and personality development.

A) contextual theories
B) cognitive-developmental and information-processing theories
C) an eclectic approach to theory-building
D) theories emphasizing idiosyncratic patterns of development

Question 21

Many developmentalists today view "good" parenting as that which

A) provides children with an "average expectable" home environment that falls within the broad range of environments typical of the human species
B) combines warmth and acceptance with granting of autonomy
C) fosters children's adaptation to cultural values and the culture's way of life
D) fosters individual autonomy and the successful pursuit of personal goals

Question 22

Cite at least one finding that you've encountered in this course to illustrate that human beings are resilient organisms and that there is much plasticity to human development.

Question 23

Cite at least one aspect of normative development that you found particularly interesting this term. How soon do we see development taking idiosyncratic paths, and cite an example of early idiosyncracies in development?

Question 24

If one hopes to truly understand child development in the 21st century, one simply must focus on

A) the roles families play in shaping developmental outcomes
B) the crucial influence of peers on child development
C) the many ways that schools and new technologies contribute to development
D) the impact of culture on developing children and adolescents
E) all of these

Question 25

Even though no one pattern of parenting behaviors is optimal for people in all cultures or subcultures, there are some general principles that can assist any parent to promote adaptive developmental outcomes. What might you tell a parent who asks you for some general guidelines for effective parenting?

Question 26

Describe the finding from this course which best illustrated for you that the form development takes can clearly vary, and very dramatically, across cultures (or subcultures).

Question 27

Drawing from anywhere in this course, describe a finding or set of findings that illustrate that children are truly "active" beings who contribute to their own developmental outcomes.

Question 28

As we enter the 21st century, the study of social and personality development

A) is a mature science for which new knowledge is hard to produce
B) offers fewer challenges and has fewer unanswered questions than was true only twenty years ago
C) is a thriving, dynamic discipline that is still generating more questions than answers
D) is a mature science for which new knowledge is hard to produce and offers fewer challenges and has fewer unanswered questions than was true only twenty years ago
E) none of these