Deck 9: Physical and Cognitive Development in Middle Childhood

Question 1

Research on nutrition indicates that __________.

A) the percentage of children who eat dinner with their families increases slightly between ages 9 and 14
B) eating dinner with parents leads to a diet higher in fast foods and soft drinks than eating alone
C) mild nutritional deficits rarely affect growth or cognitive functioning in middle childhood
D) insufficient dietary iron and folate are related to poorer concentration and mental test performance

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which statement about the consequences of obesity is true?

A) Obese children and adolescents report fewer school difficulties.
B) In most cases, obese children are not at risk for health problems.
C) In Western societies, obese children are stereotyped as lazy, self-doubting, and deceitful.
D) Persistent obesity has no relationship to serious psychological disorders.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

__________ play(s) a larger role in accounting for boys' gross-motor superiority.

A) Boys' greater muscle mass
B) Social experiences
C) Girls' higher fat-to-muscle ratio
D) Girls' lack of coordination

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Children from economically advantaged homes are at their healthiest in __________.

A) infancy
B) early childhood
C) middle childhood
D) adolescence

Question 5

Gains in perspective taking permit the transition to __________.

A) parallel play
B) solitary play
C) rule-oriented games
D) informal outdoor play

Question 6

During middle childhood, child-invented games usually involve __________.

A) a sizable element of luck
B) analytical intelligence
C) competition and adult control
D) aggressive behavior

Question 7

Which statement about the causes of childhood obesity is true?

A) All children are equally at risk for excessive weight gain.
B) Genetic rather than environmental factors put children at risk for obesity.
C) Obese children's maladaptive eating habits result in them being less responsive to internal hunger cues.
D) Children whose parents restrict when, what, and how much they eat are not at risk for weight gain.

Question 8

Between ages 6 and 12, __________.

A) all 20 primary teeth are lost and replaced by permanent ones
B) boys lose their primary teeth slightly earlier than girls
C) the bones of the body shorten and narrow
D) children are unusually inflexible because their ligaments are tight

Question 9

Ten-year-old Nadia enjoys making up games and playing them with her friends. Playing these child-invented games allows Nadia to __________.

A) play without any rules and increase her popularity
B) make sure her friends notice her physical superiority
C) compete against her friends and establish a dominance hierarchy
D) try out different styles of cooperating and competing with little personal risk

Question 10

Obesity has caused a dramatic rise in cases of __________ in children.

A) asthma
B) diabetes
C) tuberculosis
D) allergies

Question 11

By far, the most common chronic disease or condition of children in the United States is __________.

A) sickle cell anemia
B) asthma
C) cystic fibrosis
D) diabetes

Question 12

__________ disrupts the brain's regulation of hunger and metabolism.

A) Self-regulation
B) Frequent eating out
C) Reduced sleep
D) Using screen media

Question 13

Which statement about gross-motor development in middle childhood is accurate?

A) Compared with preschoolers, school-age children are physically less pliable and elastic.
B) Preschoolers can propel themselves farther off the ground when running than school-age children.
C) During middle childhood, the capacity to react only to relevant information decreases.
D) Compared with preschoolers, school-age children are more agile and have better balance.

Question 14

Paul is concerned because his 6-year-old son, Bobby, prints using large letters and numbers. Bobby's writing is large because he __________.

A) cannot yet visually distinguish fine details
B) has not yet developed adequate depth perception
C) makes strokes with his entire arm rather than just the wrist and fingers
D) can only use his wrist and fingers to form the letters and numbers

Question 15

A body mass index (BMI) above the __________ percentile for a child's age and sex is considered overweight, a BMI above the __________ percentile obese.

A) 50th; 75th
B) 75th; 85th
C) 75th; 95th
D) 85th; 95th

Question 16

Which child is at the greatest risk for overweight?

A) Cecilia, who watches 1 hour of TV in the family room each day
B) Travis, who uses an ad blocker to screen out ads during his 1½ hours of screen time each day
C) Marcella, who watches 1½ hours of TV in the living room each day
D) Leo, who watches 2 hours of TV and Internet with ads in his bedroom each day

Question 17

In middle childhood, as in early childhood, boys__________ than girls.

A) have more body fat
B) have more muscle
C) are shorter
D) are lighter

Question 18

After age 8, girls __________ than boys.

A) grow slower
B) have slightly more muscle
C) have slightly less body fat
D) begin accumulating fat at a faster rate

Question 19

As muscles adapt to an enlarging skeleton, children often experience __________.

A) a decrease in flexibility
B) nighttime "growing pains"
C) a decreasing desire for physical exercise
D) faster growth in the upper portions of the body

Question 20

Which intervention for treating childhood obesity is regarded as the most effective?

A) a weight loss camp
B) a strict diet and exercise regimen
C) rewards for weight-loss and punishment for daily inactivity
D) a family-based approach focused on changing behaviors

Question 21

Which statement about the impact of culture and schooling on concrete operational thought is accurate?

A) Children with no formal schooling master Piagetian tasks only as adults.
B) When children of the same age are tested, those who have been in school longer score lower on transitive inference problems.
C) Brain development combined with experience lead children everywhere to reach the concrete operational stage at about the same time.
D) Evidence indicates that specific cultural and school practices have much to do with mastery of Piagetian tasks.

Question 22

Some investigators have concluded that the forms of logic required by Piagetian tasks do not emerge spontaneously but, rather, are __________.

A) heavily influenced by training, context, and cultural conditions
B) primarily developed through interaction with more expert peers
C) part of a slow but steady stagewise transition to logical thought
D) influenced by biological age and mastered all at once

Question 23

School-age children master concrete operational tasks __________.

A) all at once
B) gradually, in a continuum of acquisition
C) much later than Piaget believed
D) after they master abstract thinking

Question 24

For most children, joining community athletic teams is associated with __________.

A) decreased self-esteem
B) increased impulsivity
C) increased social skills
D) decreased physical fitness

Question 25

Children in middle childhood are in Piaget's __________ stage, which extends from about 7 to 11 years.

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

Question 26

Children who fail at school assignments that require following complex instructions and tasks with multiple steps often have limited __________.

A) long-term memory
B) gross-motor development
C) creative expression
D) working memory

Question 27

The information-processing perspective __________.

A) examines separate aspects of thinking
B) fails to consider biological influences on cognitive development
C) applies only to children in cultures having formal schooling
D) focuses on overall cognitive change

Question 28

Dr. Goldberg introduces irrelevant stimuli into a task and records how well children attend to its central elements. Dr. Goldberg is probably studying __________.

A) planning
B) selectivity of attention
C) memory strategies
D) elaboration

Question 29

Many experts believe that schools should not only offer more frequent physical education classes but also reduce the emphasis placed on __________ and instead emphasize __________.

A) individual effort; grades
B) individual exercise; diet and nutritional information
C) competitive sports; informal games and individual exercise
D) informal games and individual exercise; competitive sports

Question 30

A concrete operational child can __________ mentally, an ability called __________.

A) conserve; seriation
B) seriate; transitive inference
C) classify; decentration
D) reverse; class inclusion

Question 31

Compared with Piaget's theory, neo-Piagetian approaches better account for __________.

A) the abrupt mastery of logical concepts in middle childhood
B) the similar timing of the mastery of abstract thinking across cultures
C) the discontinuous restructuring of children's thinking
D) unevenness in cognitive development

Question 32

Heritability evidence suggests __________ genetic contribution to executive function.

A) little or no
B) only minor
C) moderate
D) considerable

Question 33

To test for __________, Piaget asked children to arrange sticks of different lengths from shortest to longest.

A) classification
B) decentration
C) reversibility
D) seriation

Question 34

When presented with Piaget's conservation tasks, 9-year-old Ramon demonstrates reversibility. This means that Ramon can __________.

A) focus on several aspects of a problem and then center on just one
B) think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction
C) order items along a quantitative dimension, such as length or weight
D) focus on relations between a general and two specific categories at the same time

Question 35

Which statement about children's map-making abilities is true?

A) Preschool children do not yet include landmarks on maps they draw.
B) By age 6, most children can accurately place stickers on a map to indicate landmarks.
C) By age 7, most children can give clear, well-organized instructions for getting from one place to another.
D) By age 12, most children can grasp the notion of scale.

Question 36

Margerite passed Piaget's class inclusion problem. This indicates that Margerite can __________.

A) think through a series of steps and then mentally reverse direction
B) focus on relations between a general and two specific categories at the same time
C) solve problems using abstract reasoning
D) order items along a quantitative dimension

Question 37

During a conservation-of-water experiment, 8-year-old Emme can focus on several aspects of the problem and relate them, rather than centering on just one aspect. Therefore, Emme is capable of __________.

A) seriation
B) class inclusion
C) reversibility
D) decentration

Question 38

One valid criticism of youth sports is that __________.

A) participation in organized sports often results in psychological damage to children
B) they substitute adult control for children's natural experimentation with rules and strategies
C) participation in community athletic teams is the leading cause of childhood injury
D) they often interfere with schoolwork and can cause a sharp decline in academic achievement

Question 39

The school years are a time __________.

A) when myelination of neural fibers steadily decreases
B) of continued development of the prefrontal cortex
C) of slowed working-memory capacity
D) when executive function steadily declines

Question 40

Children's cognitive maps show that school-age children's understanding of __________ is more accurate than that of preschoolers.

A) space
B) time
C) quantity
D) categories

Question 41

Which statement is true about the difference between the United States and Asian countries with regard to math education?

A) Chinese parents provide their preschoolers with extensive practice in counting and computation.
B) Asian schools emphasize drill in computational skills more than U.S. schools.
C) In Asian classrooms, much less time is spent on underlying math concepts than in U.S. classrooms.
D) Compared to U.S. schools, multidigit problems are introduced later in Asian schools.

Question 42

Ten-year-old Cora has attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Cora's __________ than her unaffected agemates.

A) brain is probably larger in overall volume
B) executive function is probably more advanced
C) brain is probably growing more slowly
D) cerebral cortex is probably thicker

Question 43

With regard to teaching mathematics, most experts agree that __________.

A) a blend of drill in computing and "number sense" is most beneficial
B) complex skills can be learned only by drill in computation and rote memorization
C) reasoning about number concepts should replace drill in computation in elementary school
D) children need to retrieve mathematical answers automatically and should be exclusively taught by rote

Question 44

Ms. Dockery believes that from the beginning, children should be exposed to text in its complete form-stories, poems, letters, posters, and lists. Ms. Dockery supports the __________ approach to teaching beginning reading.

A) phonics
B) look and say
C) basal
D) whole-language

Question 45

Nine-year-old Lela states, "Juana thinks that Barry thinks that his cell phone is under his pillow, but that's not really what Barry thinks; he knows his cell phone is in his dresser drawer." Lela is demonstrating __________.

A) elaboration
B) recursive thought
C) cognitive self-regulation
D) rehearsal

Question 46

As children make the transition from emergent literacy to conventional reading, __________ continues to facilitate their progress.

A) phonological awareness
B) metacognitive awareness
C) practical intelligence
D) transitive inference

Question 47

Which statement about planning is true?

A) Six- and seven-year-olds can project ahead, predicting how early steps in their plan will affect success at later steps.
B) Planning on multistep tasks declines over the school years.
C) The demands of school tasks contribute to declines in school-age children's planning.
D) Children learn much about planning from collaborating with more expert planners.

Question 48

Children who are expert in an area __________.

A) are usually highly motivated
B) do not find memory strategies useful
C) acquire new information at a slow and steady pace
D) rarely ask how previously stored information can clarify new material

Question 49

To help himself learn the words dog and hat, Roman generated a mental image of a dog wearing a hat. Which memory strategy did Roman use?

A) elaboration
B) organization
C) rehearsal
D) taxonomical grouping

Question 50

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) __________.

A) is usually a lifelong disorder
B) does not respond to drug treatment
C) is most effectively treated by medication alone
D) has little to no impact on the affected child's family

Question 51

Many studies confirm that __________.

A) the whole-language approach places too much emphasis on basic skills
B) children do not benefit from reading strategies until they have fully mastered phonics
C) fluent readers tend to use ineffective reading strategies and have difficulty with comprehension
D) combining phonics with the whole-language approach is the best method for teaching beginning reading

Question 52

In Enrique's fourth-grade class, the teacher asks the children to attend to their own breathing or to manipulate an object held behind their backs while noticing how it feels. Enrique's teacher is using __________ training to promote children's __________.

A) elaboration; working memory
B) organization; flexible shifting
C) mindfulness; executive function
D) theory of the mind; metacognition

Question 53

Which statement about attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is true?

A) All children with ADHD are hyperactive.
B) Fraternal twins are more likely than identical twins to share ADHD.
C) Boys are diagnosed with ADHD two to three times as often as girls.
D) For a child to be diagnosed with ADHD, symptoms must appear before age 5.

Question 54

Eight-year-old Miles has confidence in his own ability. When he faces a spelling test, he believes that he can practice spelling the words and that he will do well on the test. Miles has developed __________.

A) learned helplessness
B) academic self-efficacy
C) inflated self-esteem
D) interpersonal intelligence

Question 55

Educators who advocate a phonics approach argue that __________.

A) reading should be taught in a way that parallels natural language learning
B) from the beginning, children should be exposed to text in its complete form
C) children should first learn the basic rules for translating written symbols into sounds
D) as long as reading is kept meaningful, children will be motivated to discover the skills they need

Question 56

Parents who patiently point out important features of a task and suggest strategies have children who __________.

A) more often passively approach new tasks
B) less often use cognitive self-regulation skills
C) more often monitor their own performance
D) less often discuss ways to approach problems

Question 57

Research on metacognition shows that preschoolers __________.

A) use elaboration and organization more than rehearsal
B) use memory strategies as effectively as school-age children
C) view the mind as a passive container of information
D) view the mind as an active, constructive agent that selects and transforms information

Question 58

When Maia had to learn the state capitals, she grouped the states by region to assist her memory. Which memory strategy did Maia use?

A) elaboration
B) organization
C) rehearsal
D) taxonomical grouping

Question 59

Which statement about culture, schooling, and memory strategies is accurate?

A) People in village cultures who lack formal schooling use and benefit from instruction in memory strategies.
B) In all cultures, effective use of memory strategies is required for day-to-day problem solving.
C) Societal modernization is broadly associated with performance on cognitive tasks typical in industrialized nations.
D) The development of memory strategies is merely a product of a more competent information-processing system.

Question 60

Quinn knows that she should group items when memorizing lists, but she does not always do so. Quinn is not yet good at __________.

A) metacognition
B) selective attention
C) cognitive self-regulation
D) flexibility of attention

Question 61

Gardner believes that __________.

A) emotional intelligence is highly correlated with general intelligence
B) traditional intelligence tests accurately assess the complexity of human behavior
C) all forms of intelligence follow the same course of development
D) each intelligence has a unique neurological basis and a distinct course of development

Question 62

Madison is strong in executive function, strategic thinking, knowledge acquisition, and cognitive self-regulation. According to Sternberg's theory, Madison is high in __________ intelligence.

A) analytical
B) creative
C) practical
D) emotional

Question 63

The Stanford-Binet and Wechsler intelligence tests __________.

A) are used mainly for instruction planning
B) require very little training of teachers who give them
C) are often used to identify highly intelligent children and to diagnose children with learning problems
D) do not take into account the child's behavior during the administration of the test

Question 64

The nonverbal subtests of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, __________.

A) emphasize culturally loaded, fact-oriented information
B) emphasize crystallized knowledge
C) provide separate scores for analytical, creative, and practical intelligence
D) are useful when assessing individuals with limited English

Question 65

Psychologist Arthur Jensen claimed that __________.

A) test bias largely accounts for ethnic variations in intelligence
B) heredity is largely responsible for individual, ethnic, and SES variations in intelligence
C) the environment is largely responsible for individual, ethnic, and SES variations in intelligence
D) there are no significant individual, ethnic, or SES variations in intelligence

Question 66

Which intellectual factor of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales, Fifth Edition, is the most likely to contain culturally biased problems?

A) visual-spatial processing
B) quantitative reasoning
C) working memory
D) basic information processing

Question 67

According to the Flynn effect, __________.

A) societal modernization has no impact on IQ scores
B) IQs increase steadily from one generation to the next
C) heredity plays a sizable role in the black-white IQ gap
D) IQ shows significant fluctuations over the lifespan

Question 68

In Sternberg's triarchic theory of successful intelligence, intelligent behavior involves balancing __________ intelligences.

A) linguistic, emotional, and practical
B) spatial, kinesthetic, and interpersonal
C) creative, intrapersonal, and emotional
D) analytical, creative, and practical

Question 69

On the basis of twin studies and other kinship evidence, researchers estimate that about __________ of the differences in IQ among children can be traced to their genetic makeup.

A) a quarter
B) a third
C) half
D) two-thirds

Question 70

Among the Yup'ik Eskimo people of central Alaska, intelligent youths are those __________.

A) who do well in school, score high on IQ tests, and have strong athletic abilities
B) who know how to use herbal medicines to treat disease
C) with expert hunting, gathering, navigating, and fishing skills
D) with motivation, self-management, and social skills

Question 71

Which statement is supported by research on group differences in IQ?

A) On average, Hispanic children score slightly lower than African-American children on measures of IQ.
B) Heredity is largely responsible for individual, ethnic, and SES variations in intelligence.
C) Minority top performers are typically indistinguishable from top performers in the white majority.
D) Differences in SES are primarily responsible for the IQ gap between black and white American children.

Question 72

Dr. Whittier believes that many intelligence tests sample knowledge and skills that not all groups of children have had equal opportunity to learn. Dr. Whittier's belief reflects the controversial question about whether ethnic differences in IQ have to do with __________.

A) heritability
B) multiple intelligences
C) test bias
D) SES

Question 73

According to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, __________.

A) all intelligences have a common expert, or end-state, performance
B) cultural values and learning opportunities affect the extent to which a child's intellectual strengths are realized
C) education often interferes with the transformation of raw potential into a mature social role
D) intelligence tests are a reliable measure of mental ability

Question 74

Luis tells detailed stories, interacts skillfully with other people, and engages in complex artistic activities. According to Sternberg's theory, Luis displays __________ intelligence.

A) emotional
B) analytical
C) creative
D) practical

Question 75

In two investigations, African-American children adopted into economically well-off white homes during the first year of life __________.

A) scored low on intelligence tests during middle childhood
B) attained mean IQs of 110 and 117 by middle childhood
C) scored mean IQs of below 95 in middle childhood
D) showed gains in IQ in early childhood, which dropped by adolescence

Question 76

On the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V), which intellectual factor emphasizes culture-dependent information?

A) verbal comprehension
B) visual-spatial reasoning
C) fluid reasoning
D) working memory

Question 77

According to Sternberg's triarchic theory, the ability to solve novel problems involves __________ intelligence.

A) analytical
B) creative
C) practical
D) emotional

Question 78

Among school-age children and adolescents, measures of emotional intelligence are positively associated with __________.

A) internalizing problems
B) externalizing problems
C) leadership skills and empathy
D) logico-mathematical ability

Question 79

Which American would be the most likely to mention cognitive traits when asked to describe an intelligent first grader?

A) Barbara, a European-American
B) Lupe, a Mexican-American
C) Kiri, a Cambodian immigrant
D) Danilo, a Filipino immigrant

Question 80

Adoption studies reveal that __________.

A) adopted children show a significant decline in IQ across middle childhood and adolescence, regardless of rearing conditions
B) children of low-IQ biological mothers adopted at birth by parents who are well above average in income and education do as well as children of high-IQ biological mothers placed in similar adoptive homes
C) genetic factors play a much greater role in IQ than environmental factors but have been overlooked in heritabilities, which typically underestimate genetic influences
D) children of low-IQ biological mothers adopted at birth by parents who are well above average in income and education score above average in IQ during the school years