Question 1

Sixteen-year-old Sebastian is determined to pursue a career in a medical field. However, he is struggling in his biochemistry class and is only earning a C+ grade. Instead of giving up, he continues to study earnestly, asks for extra help from the teacher, and is now looking for a tutor. A developmental psychologist would say that Sebastian

Accepted Answer

A)  has overly high expectations that do not match his ability. 
B)  lacks motivation. 
C)  has grit. 
D)  is underperforming. 
E)  is emotionally engaged but not cognitively engaged.

Question 2

Explain why the pendulum problem requires hypothetical-deductive reasoning.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain why the pendulum problem requires hypothetical-deductive...

Question 3

What do experiments such as the 1976 experiment on housing placement under the Chicago Housing Authority demonstrate about the neighborhood effect on academic achievement?

Accepted Answer

A)  Adolescents who move from less-resourced neighborhoods to more-resourced neighborhoods tend to fare the same academically as their peers who remain in low-resource neighborhoods. 
B)  Adolescents in less-resourced neighborhoods can perform just as well as their peers in more-resourced neighborhoods when parents are advocates for their children. 
C)  Parental involvement is critical to academic achievement regardless of the neighborhood context. 
D)  Adolescents who move from less-resourced neighborhoods to more-resourced neighborhoods, tend to perform better academically than their peers who remain in low-resource neighborhoods. 
E)  Individual or family influences are more important than neighborhood influences.

Question 4

Fifteen-year-old Tanisha is one of the top-performing students in her class in terms of homework and tests. She loves school and being involved in school activities. However, in class, she is often distracted, socializing with her friends, and inattentive. A developmental psychologist would say that she is

Accepted Answer

A)  emotionally and cognitively engaged but not behaviorally engaged. 
B)  emotionally and behaviorally engaged but not cognitively engaged. 
C)  cognitively engaged but not emotionally or behaviorally engaged. 
D)  behaviorally and cognitively engaged but not emotionally engaged. 
E)  not engaged behaviorally, emotionally, or cognitively.

Question 5

Use of _______ is an example of students developing proficiency in advanced grammar.

Accepted Answer

A)  prepositional phrases 
B)  sophisticated words 
C)  academic vocabulary 
D)  long sentences 
E)  embedded clauses

Question 6

Sixteen-year-old Malea asks her parents for advice about what classes to take and how she can achieve her academic and career goals. Her parents try to provide guidance where they can. This is an example of parents

Accepted Answer

A)  helping their child develop academic grit. 
B)  determining the direction of their child's academic trajectory. 
C)  helping their child maintain emotional engagement. 
D)  helping their child develop a mastery goal orientation. 
E)  helping their child navigate the educational process.

Question 7

Which statement about the cascading effects of academic motivation on life trajectories is most correct?

Accepted Answer

A)  Academic motivation in adolescence has little long-term effect. 
B)  Low academic motivation in adolescence has long-term negative effects, while high academic motivation in adolescence has few long-term effects. 
C)  Low academic motivation in adolescence has long-term negative effects, while high academic motivation in adolescence has long-term positive effects. 
D)  The long-term negative effects of poor academic motivation in adolescence are greater than the positive effects of high academic motivation in adolescence. 
E)  High academic motivation in adolescence has long-term positive effects, while low academic motivation in adolescence has few long-term effects.

Question 8

In a point-of-view task, 12-year-old Amira takes much longer answering third-person questions ("What do you think someone else would think if…?") compared to first-person questions ("What would you think if…?"). Joey, who is 18, also takes longer with third-person questions compared to first-person questions, but the gap between the two is not as great as it is for Amira. A researcher might conclude that Amira

Accepted Answer

A)  is incapable of considering someone else's perspective. 
B)  has greater difficulty understanding other people's perspectives than does Joey. 
C)  is exhibiting adolescent egocentrism, whereas Joey is not. 
D)  has developed cognitive theory of mind but not affective theory of mind, but Joey is well developed in both. 
E)  not yet capable of abstract thinking, whereas Joey is.

Question 9

When asked to memorize a list of seven words in order, Cameron repeats the words over and over. Cameron is applying a(n)

Accepted Answer

A)  deep memory strategy. 
B)  memory chunking strategy. 
C)  associative memory strategy. 
D)  shallow memory strategy. 
E)  metacognitive strategy.

Question 10

Seven-year-old Xavier is given the following pair of statements: "All of the balls in the tub are either red or blue. My ball is also in the tub." When asked, "What color is my ball?" he is able to answer correctly, "red or blue." A Piagetian researcher would say that Xavier is

Accepted Answer

A)  incapable of abstract thinking. 
B)  capable of propositional thinking. 
C)  incapable of formal operational thinking. 
D)  capable of hypothetical-deductive reasoning. 
E)  capable of metacognition.

Question 11

Which most accurately describes findings on adolescents' moral development?

Accepted Answer

A)  All adolescents progress through pre-conventional and conventional stages to reach the post-conventional stage by early adulthood. 
B)  Adolescents' moral development tends to parallel gains in cognitive development. 
C)  Most adolescents progress either through the pre-conventional stage or the conventional stage but not both. 
D)  Individuals who exhibit low moral reasoning in early adolescence tend to continue to exhibit low moral reasoning as they age. 
E)  Individuals go through all three stages (pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional), but not necessarily in that order.

Question 12

Which has not been identified as an effect of school dropout?

Accepted Answer

A)  Increased risk of incarceration 
B)  Increased risk of infertility 
C)  Increased mortality 
D)  Decreased labor force participation 
E)  Increased delinquency

Question 13

Overall, what does research on adolescent cognitive development say about individuals achieving their cognitive potential?

Accepted Answer

A)  All individuals have the same cognitive ability. Whether an individual reaches their potential or not depends on factors such as socio-economic status, neighborhood context, and social networks. 
B)  Cognitive performance is largely determined by neighborhood context and, therefore, the primary focus of interventions should be on improving neighborhoods. 
C)  Cognitive performance is determined by a combination of individual and contextual factors. 
D)  Cognitive performance can be nurtured best through the implementation of standardized educational instruction. 
E)  Individuals have fixed cognitive ability. Those with higher innate ability will do better in school and will likely exhibit greater cognitive performance as adults.

Question 14

Seventeen-year-old Soo-Young studies hard to maintain an A average in her required classes. However, she is much more passionate about her robotics club activities than any of her academic classes. Taking this example, explain the difference between grit and enjoyment using the concept of choice.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Seventeen-year-old Soo-Young studies hard to maintain an...

Question 15

Adolescents' behaviors in moral situations are _______ with their moral reasoning.

Accepted Answer

A)  always consistent 
B)  always inconsistent 
C)  never consistent 
D)  sometimes inconsistent 
E)  rarely inconsistent

Question 16

Thirteen-year-old Roman's parents are relatively hands-off when it comes to school. Roman likes school but has been struggling and falling behind with his schoolwork over the past year. Consequently, his motivation and interest in school is starting to wane. According to research, how can Roman's parents best support his academic success?

Accepted Answer

A)  Work with him to create a schedule for completing his homework and provide guidance and support as needed. 
B)  Restrict his extracurricular activities until he gets his grades back up. 
C)  Impose a schedule for completing his homework and implement a system of penalties if he does not follow the schedule. 
D)  Monitor his progress with the expectation that his motivation will eventually improve. 
E)  Sit with him everyday while he does his homework to make sure that it is completed.

Question 17

Which statement indicates a higher level of morality as classified in Kohlberg's moral development theory?

Accepted Answer

A)  "I shouldn't lie because I may get caught." 
B)  "I shouldn't cheat because cheating is against the rules." 
C)  "I shouldn't lie because lying is not good." 
D)  "I shouldn't steal because my mother said it's wrong to steal." 
E)  "I shouldn't cheat because I should honestly show what I have learned."

Question 18

Which would be a good way to test working memory span?

Accepted Answer

A)  Present a child with seven numbers and test to see if the child remembers the seven items after 30 minutes. 
B)  Have a child memorize a set of objects in a certain order and test to see if they can recall them in the opposite order after they succeed. 
C)  Have a child memorize different types of objects (e.g., animals, vehicles, or fruit) and test to see how the child chunks the items in memory. 
D)  Show a child sets of five objects for 20 seconds and test if they can recall all the objects. 
E)  Read off a list of objects and test to determine the largest set of objects the child can recall correctly.

Question 19

Which statement about school engagement is most correct?

Accepted Answer

A)  Students who excel in one area of school engagement are usually successful in school. 
B)  Cognitive and emotional engagement are the best predictors of school success. 
C)  Cognitive engagement is a consequence of behavioral and emotional engagement. 
D)  Cognitive engagement is more important than emotional engagement to school success. 
E)  Success in school usually involves multiple components of school engagement.

Question 20

Adolescents' feelings that their experiences are vastly different from and more significant than those of others is referred to as

Accepted Answer

A)  personal fable. 
B)  introspection. 
C)  egocentrism. 
D)  self-absorption. 
E)  distorted perception.

Exam 15: Cognitive Development in Adolescence