Deck 1: Introduction: Issues and Themes in Child Development

Question 1

In this textbook, the feature that is designed to help you learn about how our understanding of how children grow and develop has changed over time is the

A) true/False questions.
B) Journey of Research feature.
C) Active Learning feature.
D) chapter summaries.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The physical, cognitive and social-emotional domains of development

A) continually interact with each other so that development in one domain impacts and influences development in the other domains.
B) develop in ways that are largely independent of each other.
C) are linked together in such a way that advances in one domain hold back development in other domains.
D) are so co-mingled that we cannot talk about development in the different domains separately.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

_____________ includes the influence of what we bring to development as a result of our genetic inheritance.
B) Nature
B) Nurture
C) Qualitative change
C) Quantitative change

Answer 3

B

Question 4

_____________ includes the experiences we have and the learning that occurs as we move through development.

A) Nurture
B) Nature
C) Qualitative change
D) Quantitative change

Question 5

Characteristics such as anxiety, shyness, and aggression tend to be

A) unstable over time, but often find the same form of expression.
B) stable over time, as reflected in the same expression of these traits.
C) stable over time, but how these characteristics are expressed changes.
D) unstable over time, and often takes different forms of expression.

Question 6

The quality of the caregiving that you received while growing up is an example of __________ and your potential ability to learn how to use language is an example of __________.

A) nature; nature
B) nurture; nurture
C) nature; nurture
D) nurture; nature

Question 7

The connection that Lewis Terman found between the characteristic of conscientiousness or social dependability in childhood and the reduced likelihood of an individual dying in any given year during adulthood can be partially explained by the

A) type of parenting style that the children's parents used.
B) fact that these children tended to come from smaller families.
C) children's ability to delay gratification.
D) fact that these individuals were less likely to smoke and drink to excess.

Question 8

The way that children can process information changes as they get older. This is a

A) quantitative change in development.
B) qualitative change in development.
C) accumulative change in development.
D) transactive change in development.

Question 9

The reason that each chapter in this text starts with a True/False quiz is that

A) most important questions in the field of child development have very simple answers.
B) information about child development changes so rapidly that textbooks cannot keep up with the changes.
C) many of the findings in the field of child development are not what people might intuitively believe.
D) if you do very well on the quiz, you know that you don't need to read the chapter.

Question 10

The emotional bond that develops between an infant and the infant's caregivers during the first year of life is called

A) affective regulation.
B) attachment.
C) active niche picking.
D) scaffolding.

Question 11

Stage theories describe

A) qualitative changes.
B) long-term changes.
C) significant changes.
D) physiological changes.

Question 12

Which of the following statements reflects the opinion expressed by the neuroscientist Charles Nelson about the importance of the early stages of development?

A) A person's character traits are pretty much fixed and determined by the age of 6.
B) While early childhood is relatively important, it is adolescence that is the most important developmental stage.
C) The first 3 years of life are important but it is the ongoing circumstances of children's lives that affect how they develop.
D) Each stage of development is more important than the ones that preceded it.

Question 13

Which of the following is the best example of a qualitative change in development?

A) Children grow taller but also become heavier as they get older.
B) Older children have larger vocabularies than younger children.
C) Children can run faster and farther as they get older.
D) Adolescents become more systematic in the way they go about solving problems.

Question 14

The conclusion drawn from the most recent longitudinal research on attachment conducted by Sroufe and his colleagues was that

A) there is a straight line in development from early attachment relationships to the nature of adult relationships.
B) there is a straight line in development from adolescent romantic relationships to adult relationships.
C) the nature of adult relationships was related to early attachment as well as the nature of early peer relationships.
D) there is no strong reliable relationship between early attachment and later social relationships.

Question 15

As researchers continued to study the children who were part of the Minnesota Parent-Child Project as they entered adulthood, the researchers realized that

A) they already had all the information that they needed to predict adult adjustment by the time the children were age 6.
B) to their surprise early attachment had little or no effect on children's later social development.
C) attachment predicted early social relationships, but was not related to any of the other development outcomes they studied.
D) attachment set the initial conditions for peer relationships, but other experiences played an important role in how the children developed.

Question 16

Which of the following is not a characteristic of a teenage parent?

A) Teen parents are less likely to talk to their infants.
B) Teen parents are less likely to use physical punishment to discipline their children.
C) Teen parents are more likely to have unrealistic expectations regarding their child's development.
D) Teen parents are more likely play with their infants.

Question 17

The Active Learning features in this book are intended to help you

A) develop a better understanding of how theory relates to practice.
B) correct any mistaken preconceptions you bring with you to the course.
C) engage with the material and relate it to your life experiences.
D) use the scientific method to test your own ideas about development.

Question 18

Research support for the idea that early traits, behaviors and experiences are related to a number of adult outcomes comes from

A) longitudinal studies.
B) idiosyncratic studies.
C) multi-method studies.
D) experimental studies.

Question 19

The rapid increase in height that adolescents experience when they go through the adolescent growth spurt is an example of a(n)

A) stage theory.
B) quantitative change.
C) qualitative change.
D) equifinality.

Question 20

If we say that there is no one right way to raise a child, we are endorsing the principle of

A) multilinearity.
B) longitudinality.
C) equifinality.
D) constructivism.

Question 21

It is important that scientific findings can be replicated. This means that

A) other scientists must review the research and agree that it was correctly done and that the conclusions are warranted.
B) others have been able to repeat the research with the same or similar results.
C) the results have been able published in a well-respected research journal.
D) the conclusions can be generalized to a large group of people.

Question 22

Cross-cultural research

A) has shown that there is nothing in development that is truly universal.
B) finds that stage theories apply equally well in any culture that we study.
C) has shown that early development is very similar across cultures, but that later development shows great diversity.
D) finds both universal processes that apply across cultures as well as important cultural differences.

Question 23

Among children who suffer early deprivation, we see a variety of developmental outcomes. Some children do quite well, but others are more negatively affected. This is the principle of

A) multifinality.
B) constructivism.
C) determinism.
D) functionality.

Question 24

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an important context for development because

A) it is related to the amount of resources that a family has to support their children's development.
B) it allows us to easily classify the families that we study.
C) it is a family characteristic that is stable and does not change over time.
D) it has different meanings depending upon the culture in which it occurs.

Question 25

The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky described learning as

A) a collaborative process between the child and more experienced adults or peers.
B) something that others impose upon the child through the use of rewards and punishments.
C) the optimal fit between the characteristics of the child and the demands of the environment.
D) a child-directed process that is motivated by the child's internal drives.

Question 26

You can become a critical thinker about research in child development if you

A) seek out divergent opinions from credible sources on topics that interest you.
B) rely upon your own life experiences because they are your best source of information.
C) reject ideas that are new or different from the way we have thought about a topic in the past.
D) agree with what most people think about a topic.

Question 27

Teen parents are particularly able to benefit from intervention programs that provide information on child development because they

A) are more open and receptive to new ideas than older parents.
B) usually have larger families than older parents.
C) are less likely to know what to expect of children than older parents.
D) are more impressionable than older parents.

Question 28

We tend to notice things that we expect to see and to disregard things that we aren't expecting. This tendency is called

A) a generalization fallacy.
B) a perceptual bias.
C) niche picking.
D) sample bias.

Question 29

What can you correctly conclude when you read that research has found that playing violent video games is associated with aggressive behavior in children?

A) As a group, children who play violent video games are more likely to behave aggressively than children who don't play violent video games.
B) Children should not be allowed to play violent video games.
C) Boys should not be allowed to play violent video games.
D) Children who play violent video games will behave aggressively.

Question 30

You can have confidence in information that you find in scientific journals because

A) all of the information is new.
B) a lot of people believe the information.
C) articles typically go through a peer review process before they are published.
D) the people who write scientific articles have university degrees.

Question 31

When we consider how a child's characteristics, such as their age, gender, or ethnicity, impact on their development, we are

A) searching for universal patterns of behavior.
B) examining the resiliency that children bring to their development.
C) looking at how individual differences modify general patterns of development.
D) identifying the predictable stages of development that children move through.

Question 32

The field of developmental psychopathology

A) searches for the genetic cause of the problems we see in development.
B) sees behavioral and emotional disorders as distortions of normal development.
C) identifies the source of problem behavior in children's early learning experiences.
D) focuses on the consequences of maladaptive behavior.

Question 33

The importance of the peer review process is that

A) everyone has an equal chance of getting their research published in a journal.
B) the research has been reviewed by professionals who are knowledgeable about the topic before the research is published.
C) research findings are published in multiple journals so that the results are widely disseminated.
D) only well-established ideas will appear in the research literature.

Question 34

A child who is very active and enjoys the challenge of competing with others will be more likely to join an athletic team at school than to join the chorus or the French Club. This is an example of

A) scaffolding.
B) cultural transmission.
C) multifinality.
D) active niche-picking.

Question 35

Because a science is an organized body of knowledge

A) there must be consensus about the accuracy of new information before it can be added to that body of knowledge.
B) we should only trust new information that comes from people who have a great deal of experience in the field.
C) all information that enters that body of knowledge must apply across the board to everyone.
D) it changes over time as new and more accurate information is added to our understanding.

Question 36

When incarcerated parents took part in the The Family Nurturing Program, a parent education program, they showed all of the following benefits except which of the following?

A) They spent more time with their infants upon release from prison.
B) They became more empathic.
C) They became less punitive.
D) They developed more realistic expectations for their children.

Question 37

We should not generalize the findings from a study to the general population unless

A) the research agrees with your personal experiences.
B) the findings apply to every individual who was in the study.
C) longitudinal research has tracked the individuals over time.
D) the sample is representative of the group we want to understand.

Question 38

When we talk about the impact of culture or socioeconomic status on child development, we are looking at the _________ of development.

A) contexts
B) domains
C) variables
D) content

Question 39

The theory of behaviorism views the child as

A) an active explorer of the environment who creates his or her own understanding of the world.
B) a passive recipient of the attempts of others to control the child's behavior.
C) an active participant in the process of producing his or her own development.
D) a force that actively shapes the behavior of the adults in the child's life.

Question 40

Most of your life you have heard people say that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. When you hear this you should remember that

A) you shouldn't expect too much from older people.
B) there are enough anecdotal stories to support this statement so we can believe it.
C) this is a bit of folk wisdom that needs to be tested scientifically before we accept it.
D) people would only say this if the idea had been supported by a substantial amount of scientific evidence.

Question 41

In order for information to be considered "scientific" information, it should be information that stays the same over time.

Question 42

Promoting the optimal development of children and adolescents is a primary goal of professionals who work in the field of education.

Question 43

Understanding that depression may result from biological and genetic processes, but also from early traumatic experiences means that you understand the concept of _____.

A) multifinality
B) equifinality
C) psychopathway
D) convergence

Question 44

In any stage theory, the quality of what happens at one stage is different from what happens at other stages.

Question 45

Although there is both stability and change in development, stability is the most prominent characteristic in development.

Question 46

Understanding that children who are victims of abuse can have many different long-term outcomes that can include depression but also resiliency and healing means that you understand the concept of _____.

A) multifinality
B) equifinality
C) psychopathway
D) convergence

Question 47

Teens are more likely than older parents to have a baby

A) to prove that they can take care of themselves without anyone else's help.
B) so they can pass along cultural traditions and values.
C) as a way to establishing their financial independence.
D) because they are looking for someone who will love them unconditionally.

Question 48

The RAND Corporation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, and The Future of Children are all

A) organizations that devote resources to informing legislators and the public about issues that affect children.
B) multi-national corporations that raise funds to support worthy causes related to children.
C) educational think tanks that work toward the implementation of educational reform.
D) organizations that oversee the publication and dissemination of research conducted by independent researchers.

Question 49

Once a problem that is having a negative effect on a child's development is identified, help often comes in the form of a(n)

A) associate's program.
B) intervention program.
C) educational program.
D) self-actualization program.

Question 50

The basic form of the brain is set down in the first years of life, but experiences throughout life continue to affect it.

Question 51

Changes in the way that we think, understand and reason about the world is the domain of social-emotional development.

Question 52

Early experiences are the ones that have the most important and long lasting effects on development.

Question 53

There is a straight line from the quality of infant attachment to adult developmental outcomes.

Question 54

Research conducted by Dr. Walter Gilliam resulted in an increase in the number of mental health consultants available to work with preschool children. Dr. Gilliam's research had this impact because

A) it used a large, representative sample of preschool children.
B) his research was published in a well-respected scientific journal.
C) his research convinced legislators to create social policy that provided these services.
D) everyone recognizes that early childhood is the most important period in development.

Question 55

In the Occupational Outlook Handbook, you can find all of the following information about careers EXCEPT

A) The training and qualifications need for a particular career
B) Information on average earnings
C) Information on other related careers
D) Where you can apply for jobs

Question 56

Which of the following would be the most helpful resource for a student who is looking for information on careers working with children and families?

A) Occupational Outlook Handbook prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics
B) The Consumer Price Index prepared by the Department of Labor
C) The Annual Report on the Well-Being of Children prepared by the Forum on Child and Family Statistics
D) The Dynamics of the American Workforce Report prepared by the Department of Labor

Question 57

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program is an example of:

A) Development in context
B) Social policy in action
C) Development intervention
D) Anti-bias programming

Question 58

Physical characteristics such as height or eye color are largely determined by the genes we inherit from our parents.

Question 59

Child therapy and family therapy are two ways to try to

A) prevent problems from developing.
B) address existing problems.
C) develop social policies that support children and families.
D) identify problems before they become serious.

Question 60

The mission of the Future of Children is "to advance research and solutions to overcome the barriers to success, help communities demonstrate what works and influence decision makers to invest in strategies based on solid evidence."

Question 61

The Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget said that we should see children as active participants in their own development.

Question 62

It is possible for the same pathways through development to lead to different outcomes.

Question 63

A family's socioeconomic status is important because it largely determines the amount of resources the family will have to support their children's development.

Question 64

Describe the difference between continuous and stage-like change in child development.

Question 65

Describe what is meant by nature and nurture.

Question 66

Compare and give an example of how both early and later development in childhood and adolescence are important for how we develop as adults.

Question 67

What is developmental psychopathology? How do the concepts of equifinality and multifinality relate to the study of developmental psychopathology?

Question 68

Children's lives are affected by those who interact directly with them. However, even more children are affected by laws, policies and programs established at a national or local level. Describe two programs that have had a major impact on children's lives.

Question 69

You should be careful about gathering information about child development from too many sources because it will only result in confusion.

Question 70

Many people believe that the study of child development is just "all common sense." Is this true? Why or why not?

Question 71

It is appropriate to generalize results from one study to other populations similar to the sample used in it.

Question 72

Development is a mixture of both nature and nurture.

Question 73

The socioeconomic status of a child's family plays an important role in children's development. Describe several factors related to socioeconomic status that affect a child's academic achievement.

Question 74

You should know something about the qualifications of people who present themselves as experts on child development before you accept what they are saying.

Question 75

Describe three domains of development and explain how they interact.

Question 76

It is easier to remember ideas that challenge your expectations than to remember those that fit your expectations.

Question 77

Describe how a child plays an active role in his or her own development.

Question 78

Mary tells you "I was spanked when I was a child and I turned out all right, so I plan to do the same with my children". How would you find and evaluate information to tell whether this is a good idea.