Deck 1: An Introduction to Child Development

Question 1

A method for combining the results from independent studies to determine a general conclusion on the topic is known as:

A) meta-analysis.
B) factor analysis.
C) longitudinal design.
D) cross-sectional design.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Considering the research on preschoolers' ability to provide accurate testimony about past events, which piece of advice would be the MOST important for an interviewer to be told prior to interviewing a young child?

A) Bring a doll to aid the child in answering your questions.
B) Make sure you know the answers to the questions before asking the child.
C) If you do not think the child has answered a question accurately, ask the question again.
D) Ask questions that will help children to testify accurately.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Who developed the "baby biography"?

A) Darwin
B) Locke
C) Freud
D) Watson

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which statement BEST characterizes the results of research on children from Romanian orphanages?

A) Positive experiences in later childhood cannot counteract the effect of negative early childhood experiences.
B) Positive experiences in later childhood counteract the effect of negative early childhood experiences.
C) The impact of positive experiences on children's resiliency depends on the timing and extent of the neglect.
D) Neglect in infancy always has severe and lasting consequences.

Question 5

The emergence of theories such as those of Freud and Watson in the early twentieth century reflected the:

A) increasing influence of early philosophical views of childhood.
B) incorporation of research findings into the study of child development.
C) desire of editors at universities to find suitable articles to print in professional journals.
D) rise of young children as paid laborers in factories and mines.

Question 6

Recent research conducted by Ferguson (2015) and Furuya-Kanamori and Doi (2016) concluded what regarding the impact of playing violent video games on childhood and adolescent aggression?

A) Their results indicated a direct link between the two.
B) They found that those who play less violent video games demonstrated increased prosocial behaviours.
C) Their results were inconclusive.
D) They concluded that the effect of playing violent video games on childhood and adolescent aggression were minimal.

Question 7

Research has determined that this brain area is involved in emotional reactions.

A) the amygdala
B) the hippocampus
C) the hypothalamus
D) the pons

Question 8

Freud based his theory of child development in large part on:

A) analysis of dreams and childhood memories.
B) a systematic daily diary of a single child's growth.
C) experiments of the effects of reward and punishment on rats and other animals.
D) study of children working in coal mines.

Question 9

The study of stable changes in gene expression that are mediated by the environment is referred to as:

A) epigenetics.
B) evolutionary psychology.
C) neuroscience.
D) genometrics.

Question 10

Which factor is NOT an enduring theme in the study of child development?

A) nature and nurture
B) continuity and discontinuity
C) stress and adaptation
D) individual differences in development

Question 11

This major group of philosophers and psychologists has argued that infants possess general learning mechanisms that allow them to learn a great deal quite quickly but that infants and young children lack the specialized capabilities that nativists attribute to them.

A) nativists
B) evolutionary psychologists
C) empiricists
D) Freudians

Question 12

Which statement is NOT a general reason to learn about child development, as outlined in the text?

A) Knowledge regarding child development can help caregivers raise children.
B) Research on child development can aid social policy development and adoption.
C) Knowledge of child development can provide a more thorough understand of human nature.
D) Research on child development can assist court orders regarding child custody.

Question 13

One of the earliest examples of research conducted for the benefit of children was:

A) Watson's experiments on the effects of reward and punishment.
B) the Earl of Shaftesbury's effort to reform child labor practices.
C) Freud's dream analysis.
D) Locke's advocacy of early discipline and later freedom.

Question 14

Which person is MOST likely to develop schizophrenia, based on current research findings?

A) Stacey, whose first cousin suffers from the disorder
B) Margaret, whose grandfather suffers from the disorder
C) Brandon, whose father suffers from the disorder
D) Michael, whose sister suffers from the disorder

Question 15

This major group of contemporary philosophers and psychologists argues that evolution has created many remarkable capabilities that are present, even in early infancy, particularly in areas of special importance, such as understanding basic properties of physical objects, plants and animals, and other people.

A) nativists
B) evolutionary psychologists
C) empiricists
D) Freudians

Question 16

Of Aristotle, Locke, and Plato, which philosopher(s) believed that all knowledge comes from experience, meaning that infants are born without innate knowledge?

A) Locke only
B) Plato only
C) Aristotle and Locke only
D) Plato and Aristotle only

Question 17

One main conclusion based on the Romanian adoption study is that:

A) development is a direct result of sociocultural experiences.
B) there is no impact of social experiences on the developmental process.
C) the timing of experiences influences their effect on development.
D) development is a general result of biological influences.

Question 18

Evidence for the enduring epigenetic impact of early experiences and behaviours on development comes from what type of research?

A) research on methylation
B) meta-analysis
C) longitudinal studies
D) cross-sectional designs

Question 19

Which philosopher offered the argument that children should be provided with maximum freedom and no formal education prior to the age of reason at approximately age 12?

A) Rousseau
B) Plato
C) Aristotle
D) Locke

Question 20

Romanian-born children who were adopted by British families _____ fared BEST in weight gain after adoption.

A) before age 6 months
B) between the ages of 6 and 24 months
C) between the ages of 24 and 42 months
D) after 42 months

Question 21

In which country are infants expected to sleep in their own bed, separate from their parents, by 6 months of age?

A) Japan
B) South Korea
C) Canada
D) Mexico

Question 22

Rachel is a 6-month-old who has recently learned to sit up on her own. Her mother places two toys in front of her: a soft, yellow, stuffed animal within her reach and a colorful rattle slightly out of her reach. Seeing both toys, Rachel chooses the one she finds more appealing to play with. Over time, choices such as these do NOT influence:

A) the development of her personality.
B) her development of crawling.
C) the development of her understanding of cause and effect.
D) the development of gross motor skills.

Question 23

This theory posits that two interconnected brain areas, the hippocampus and the cortex, simultaneously encode new information during learning.

A) Childcare outside of the home is a relatively new phenomenon.
B) Childcare outside of the home does not harm children.
C) Childcare outside of the home diminishes the bond between mother and child.
D) Childcare outside of the home was rare even 50 years ago.

Question 24

Which scenario provides the BEST example of how children actively contribute to their own development?

A) Joshua's bright blue eyes cause strangers to shower him with attention, which influences his wariness around strangers.
B) Analisa's mother's anxiety about her daughter's academic success causes Analisa to panic whenever she takes an exam.
C) Manny's quiet nature influences him to seek out other quiet children, with whom he plays quiet games, and to stay away from the more rambunctious children in his class.
D) Bree's parents are both highly educated and surround her with books and puzzles, leading Bree to be an intellectually curious child.

Question 25

Which statement about epigenetics is TRUE?

A) One's hereditary information stays constant throughout life.
B) One's DNA can be altered by experience.
C) Early experiences can alter the expression of one's genes.
D) All of these statements are true.

Question 26

Which factor is an example of how children shape their own development?

A) play style
B) socioeconomic status
C) number of siblings
D) all of these

Question 27

Which statement BEST answers to the question of whether development is fundamentally continuous or discontinuous?

A) Development is fundamentally continuous.
B) Development is fundamentally discontinuous.
C) Some domains of development, such as cognitive development, are fundamentally discontinuous, whereas other domains, such as social development, are fundamentally continuous.
D) Whether development is fundamentally continuous or discontinuous depends on perspective-how development is examined as well as how often it is examined.

Question 28

Crib speech is a(n):

A) demonstration of the importance of nature on development.
B) early indication of schizophrenia.
C) phenomenon Freud observed and used as a partial basis for his theory.
D) example of individuals' contributions to their own development.

Question 29

Which example illustrates discontinuity in development?

A) the transition from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly
B) trees growing taller each year
C) the blooming of flowers.
D) the cultivation of crops each fall

Question 30

Which view of changes in height would lead to a view that height development is smooth and continuous?

A) View A: measuring the height of a boy at yearly intervals from birth to age 18
B) View B: examining changes in height from one year to the next from birth to age 18
C) Both view A and view B make changes in height look continuous.
D) Both view A and view B make changes in height look discontinuous.

Question 31

Which child in Canada is MOST likely to live below the poverty line?

A) Brice, who is White and whose parents are currently divorced
B) Tracey, who is Asian-Canadian and whose parents have recently remarried
C) Suan, who is indigenous and lives on reserve
D) Chris, who is indigenous and lives off reserve

Question 32

Stage theories regard development as:

A) active.
B) passive.
C) continuous.
D) discontinuous.

Question 33

This is a biochemical process that reduces expression of a variety of genes that is involved in regulating reactions to stress.

A) methylation
B) meta-analysis
C) genome
D) nurture

Question 34

Which statement about individuals' contributions to their own development is TRUE?

A) Most individuals rarely actively contribute to their own development.
B) Infants are incapable of actively contributing to their own development.
C) Individuals' active contributions to their own development strengthen as they age.
D) Individuals' active contributions to their own development weaken as they age.

Question 35

With which statement would stage theorists NOT agree?

A) Behaviours of children at different ages differ sharply.
B) A child's entry into a new stage involves a gradual shift from one way of experiencing the world to a different way of experiencing it.
C) Children of a particular age show wide-ranging similarities across a variety of situations.
D) When children enter a new cognitive stage, they demonstrate their new way of thinking across a broad spectrum of tasks.

Question 36

The relationship between nature and nurture on developmental outcomes can BEST be described by which statement?

A) Nature is more influential on developmental outcomes than nurture.
B) Nurture is more influential on developmental outcomes than nature.
C) There is a bidirectional interaction between nature and nurture that influences developmental outcomes.
D) There is no relationship between nature nor nurture on developmental outcomes.

Question 37

Which theorist developed one of the best known stage theories of cognitive development?

A) Piaget
B) Scarr
C) Freud
D) Erikson

Question 38

Research studies engaging in _____ designs often reveal that practices that are rare or nonexistent in one's own culture are common in other cultures.

A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) cross-cultural
D) experimental

Question 39

To examine whether or not children's cognitive development occurs in stages, Professor Blue observes four groups of children. Each child's performance on cognitive tasks is observed two or more times over a period of 2 years. Which group is MOST likely to lead Professor Blue to conclude that development occurs continuously?

A) group A, whose performance on a single task is observed twice each year
B) group B, whose performance on multiple tasks is observed twice each year
C) group C, whose performance on a single task is observed every week
D) group D, whose performance on multiple tasks is observed every week

Question 40

Which factor is NOT one identified by Scarr (1992) that can lead children from the same family to turn out very different from each other?

A) genetic similarities
B) differences in treatment by family members
C) different environmental conditions
D) differences in reactions to similar experiences

Question 41

Which statement qualifies as a hypothesis?

A) Children whose parents argue in their presence are more likely than other children to try illegal drugs.
B) Which parental behaviours are associated with an increased likelihood of teenage illegal drug use?
C) What are the differences between children whose parents argue in their presence and those whose parents do not argue in their presence?
D) There are many differences between children whose parents argue in their presence and those whose parents do not argue in their presence.

Question 42

Which family group in Canada has the HIGHEST percentage of the population below the poverty line?

A) married-couple Asian families
B) married-couple White families
C) First Nations families off reserve
D) First Nations families on reserve

Question 43

Which item is NOT one of the four factors Scarr identified as involved in the differences among siblings?

A) sociocultural context
B) genes
C) children's choice of environments
D) treatment by parents and others

Question 44

Which activity is NOT a core component of effortful attention?

A) exerting effort on tasks
B) controlling emotions
C) focusing attention
D) inhibiting impulses

Question 45

One study discussed in the text demonstrated that infants with a particular form of one of the genes influencing production of neurotransmitters associated with effortful attention had lower effortful attention than other infants when they also were exposed to poor parenting. What principle is demonstrated by this study?

A) Environment plays a crucial role in the expression of genes.
B) The expression of genes plays a crucial role in one's environment.
C) Some genetic influences operate regardless of environment.
D) Current research methods often do not allow researchers to separate the influences of genetics and environment.

Question 46

The term used for the social class measure based on income and education is:

A) race.
B) socioeconomic status.
C) culture.
D) sociocultural context.

Question 47

Which of Scarr's factors is BEST related to the theme of the "active" child?

A) genetic differences
B) different choices of environment
C) differences in treatment by parents and others
D) different reactions to similar experiences

Question 48

Which item would NOT be considered part of the sociocultural context involved in a Canadian child's language development?

A) number of words in a child's vocabulary
B) town budget for speech therapy
C) parental knowledge of child development
D) modern Canadian value for education

Question 49

In the research by Blackwell, Trzeniewski, and Dweck described in the text, researchers created an educational program for low-income middle school students. The children who showed the MOST substantial improvement in math grades were those children who initially believed that intelligence _____ and who were provided with information about how _____.

A) is an unchanging quantity; memory works
B) is an unchanging quantity; learning alters the brain
C) improves through learning; memory works
D) improves through learning; learning alters the brain

Question 50

Which factor is NOT considered part of the sociocultural context?

A) neighbourhood
B) societal values
C) historical era
D) genes

Question 51

Which premise is at the foundation of the scientific method?

A) If a hypothesis is repeatedly tested and found incorrect, it must be abandoned.
B) Some hypotheses cannot be tested scientifically.
C) Beliefs that are plausible to many experts are assumed to be accurate.
D) The scientific method is founded on all of these.

Question 52

Neurotransmitters can BEST be described as:

A) electrical impulses in the brain.
B) chemicals involved in communication between brain cells.
C) gene defects that produce schizophrenia.
D) what early philosophers theorized reflected children's core nature at birth.

Question 53

The term reliability does NOT refer to the:

A) consistency of measurements.
B) similarity in results when a variable is measured at two different time points.
C) ability to generalize measurements.
D) level of agreement in observations by different observers.

Question 54

One study discussed in the text demonstrated that the grades of children who were highly engaged in school changed in more positive directions than would have been predicted by genetic background or family environment alone. This finding is MOST supportive of the theory of:

A) Watson.
B) Johnson.
C) Dweck.
D) Piaget.

Question 55

Which basic step of the scientific method is unique to that method?

A) Form a hypothesis.
B) Develop a method to test the hypothesis.
C) Ask a question.
D) Draw a conclusion.

Question 56

Which factor is the GREATEST obstacle to poor children's chances of successful development?

A) accumulation of various disadvantages
B) growing up in a single-parent home or without biological parents
C) lack of parental involvement in their schooling
D) genetic disadvantages

Question 57

According to the text, differences between U.S. and Mayan childhood sleeping patterns are due to differences in:

A) laws.
B) financial circumstances.
C) cultural values.
D) family structure.

Question 58

The study in which 6-year-old children were presented with a 5-day training program designed to improve effortful attention demonstrated that experience can:

A) improve intelligence test scores but not brain processes.
B) change brain processes but not intelligence test scores.
C) improve both intelligence test scores and brain processes.
D) change neither intelligence test scores nor brain processes.

Question 59

Which statement describes the results of research by Dweck on children's beliefs about intelligence?

A) Children who believe that intelligence is a fixed entity are more likely than are other children to persist in the face of difficulty.
B) Children who believe that intelligence can be increased by learning are more likely than are other children to say they are dumb when faced with a challenge.
C) Children who believe that intelligence is a fixed entity are more likely than are other children to think that a very challenging problem is too hard for them.
D) Children who believe that intelligence can be decreased are more likely than are other children to quit trying at challenging tasks.

Question 60

What is a hypothesis?

A) a research question
B) a conclusion yielded by research
C) a method used to answer a question
D) a testable prediction

Question 61

A researcher is interested in thoroughly exploring 8-year-old Jane's thoughts and feelings about living in poverty. The researcher's BEST option for obtaining this information would be:

A) a clinical interview.
B) a structured interview.
C) naturalistic observation.
D) structured observation.

Question 62

Which statement describes a potential disadvantage of the interview method?

A) The interview method has limited value for studying infrequent behaviours.
B) Individuals may distort the way that events happened.
C) It is difficult to gather information about participants' subjective experiences.
D) It does not enable the researcher to examine the subject in an in-depth manner.

Question 63

In which data-gathering method do researchers try to remain unobtrusive?

A) a naturalistic interview
B) a structured interview
C) naturalistic observation
D) structured observation

Question 64

A researcher is interested in examining the association between how humorous children are and their school achievement. Two observers go to children's homes and judge children as "not funny at all," "slightly funny," or "very funny." Upon comparison of the observers' judgments, it is apparent that the observers have a high level of disagreement as to children's humour level. This measure of humour level has poor:

A) test-retest reliability.
B) interrater reliability.
C) internal validity.
D) interrater validity.

Question 65

Which statement expresses a disadvantage of naturalistic observation?

A) Memory of participants for past events is often inaccurate and incomplete.
B) It can feel artificial to the participants.
C) Reports are often biased to reflect favourably on the participants.
D) It has a limited value for studying infrequent behaviours.

Question 66

Which item is a potential source of internal invalidity?

A) passage of time
B) inconsistent findings across different groups of participants
C) observer disagreement
D) conflicting scores on multiple test days

Question 67

Which statement about the troubled homes in Patterson's study is NOT true?

A) Children responded to parents' punishment by behaving less aggressively.
B) Children often acted in an angry manner.
C) Children responded to their parents' anger with hostility.
D) Parents reacted to children's hostility with increased anger.

Question 68

Kochanska and her colleagues probably chose to study toddlers' compliance with their mothers' requests with the methodology they used because:

A) children tend to feel most comfortable in their own homes.
B) they wanted all children to be exposed to the identical situation.
C) they were interested in children's subjective experience of the event.
D) of all of these factors.

Question 69

To examine how children interact with their elementary school teachers on a daily basis, a researcher would probably use the _____ method.

A) naturalistic interview
B) structured interview
C) naturalistic observation
D) structured observation

Question 70

Which statement about naturalistic observation is NOT true?

A) Researchers try not to influence the behaviours of the individuals they are observing.
B) Researchers must ensure that the effects they observe are due to the variables they intentionally manipulated.
C) Obtaining sufficient interrater reliability is important.
D) The principal objective is to observe how people act in their usual surroundings.

Question 71

The external validity of a measure involves the extent to which:

A) the effects of an experiment are truly due to conditions the researcher intended to manipulate.
B) different observers of the same behaviour agree.
C) the results of a study will hold when studies are conducted with different participants and methods.
D) independent measurements of a given behaviour are consistent.

Question 72

The internal validity of a measure involves the extent to which:

A) the effects of an experiment are truly due to conditions the researcher intended to manipulate.
B) different observers of the same behaviour agree.
C) the results of a study hold when studies are conducted with different participants and different methods.
D) a participant's performance is similar on two or more occasions.

Question 73

The validity of a test refers to the:

A) consistency of the test.
B) extent to which two raters agree on its result.
C) degree to which it measures what it is intended to measure.
D) level of agreement between different observers of the same behaviour.

Question 74

A psychologist is interested in 4-year-old Jacob's knowledge of the differences between animals and vehicles. The psychologist gives Jacob a multiple-choice picture test in which he must write the letter of the correct answer on a separate answer sheet. However, Jacob has trouble identifying and writing some letters. On two separate occasions, Jacob receives the same score on the test. This method has _____ validity and _____ reliability.

A) good; good
B) good; poor
C) poor; good
D) poor; poor

Question 75

Structured observation would probably be the method of choice for a researcher interested in which topic?

A) how toddlers respond to their parents' encouragement to touch a dangerous object
B) frequency of bullying behaviour among school children
C) beliefs of the children in an elementary school class about how smart their classmates are
D) a single child's feelings about his friendships

Question 76

To examine his hypothesis that children's creativity levels decrease with age, Dr. Leno asks children how many imaginary friends they have and considers their answers to be a measure of their creativity. A second researcher, Dr. Letterman, disagrees that the answers are a measure of creativity and instead believes that the number of imaginary friends a child has is an indicator of level of mental disturbance. Dr. Letterman believes Dr. Leno's measure of creativity has a problem with its:

A) external validity.
B) relevance to the hypothesis.
C) reliability.
D) interrater agreement.

Question 77

Test-retest reliability refers to the:

A) level of agreement between different observers of the same behaviour.
B) improvement of children over time in abilities such as mathematics.
C) degree to which a test measures what it is intended to test.
D) degree of similarity in the results of the same measure when it is given at two different times.

Question 78

Naturalistic observation would probably be the method of choice for a researcher interested in which topic?

A) toddlers' responses to their parents' encouragement to touch a dangerous object
B) frequency of bullying behaviour among schoolchildren
C) beliefs of children in an elementary school class about how smart their classmates are
D) a single child's feelings about his friendships

Question 79

A researcher asks children a series of predetermined questions about how much they like to play with their siblings. The researcher is using:

A) naturalistic observation.
B) structured observation.
C) a clinical interview.
D) a structured interview.

Question 80

To examine the effectiveness of empathy training on children's sharing behaviour, 2 months of training are provided to 3-year-old children living in rural Saskatchewan. Six months later, the children's sharing behaviours are measured and compared to their pre-training sharing behaviour. Improvements are considered the result of the empathy training. Which factor is a potential source of internal invalidity?

A) All the children were from rural Saskatchewan.
B) Children's sharing behaviour may improve with the simple passage of time.
C) The observers of the sharing behaviour may disagree.
D) Children who were the best sharers before the training were not necessarily the best after the training.