Adolescence - Chapter 2

Overall, mental abilities increase at least until around age _____, when they may level off and remain high throughout early and middle adulthood

a. 14 b. 16 c. 18 d. 20 D

Which of the following statements about dual systems model is true?

a. Adolescent behavior is a result of the interaction between two different thinking systems. b. Adolescents have two different thinking systems—one that is intuitive and gut-level and one that is deliberative and logical. c. The risk-taking peak in adolescence cannot be entirely due to logical reasoning deficiencies because adults do not always act logical. d. All of the statements are true. D

The researcher who argued that the main reason adolescents think at a higher level than children is that adolescents' thinking has become automatized is

a. Howard Gardner b. Rovert Selman c. Jean Piaget d. Robbie Case D

Which of the following is generally true regarding IQ scores during adolescence?

a. IQ increases as adolescents get smarter b. IQ decreases as adolescents get distracted by extracurricular activities c. IQ remains about the same because while adolescents process information more efficiently, they do not learn significant amount of truly new information d. IQ remains about the same even though adolescents' cognitive abilities improve dramatically (i.e., they are getting smarter) D

All of the following may result from advancements in adolescent thinking capacities, except:

a. adolescents become better at lying b. adolescents become more argumentative c. adolescents become more likely o challenge authority d. adolescents become more likely to believe that exclusion is wrong D

All of the following statements about changes in social cognition between childhood and adolescence are false, except:

a. adolescents become less able to see things from other vantage points b. adolescents are less able to view social rules as subjective c. adolescents develop a less differentiated understanding of social norms d. all of these statements are false D

Compared with children, all of the following are true for adolescents, except:

a. adolescents' conceptions of interpersonal relationships are more mature b. adolescents' theory of mind is more sophisticated c. adolescents' have more complex ideas about social institutions and organizations d. adolescents' feel more entitled to nurturance rights D

How does the cognition of adolescents compare to that of children

a. adolescents' thinking becomes multidimensional, rather than unidimensional b. adolescents are more likely to see things as absolute, rather than as relative c. adolescents spend less of their time thinking about the process of thinking itself d. adolescents limit their thoughts to what is real, rather than possible A

Individuals who have higher needs for _____ may be likely to engage in risky behaviors compared to their peers.

a. approval b. engagement c. sensation-seeking d. helping others C

Some theorists point out that in context of the classroom, most American adolescents

a. are not capable of abstract and analytical thinking in the educational context b. prefer educational tasks that stress rote memory of concrete facts c. are rarely asked to think in analytical and relativistic ways in the classroom d. do not profit from hands-on learning experiences that are designed to teach fundamental principles C

Which of the following is not an accurate description of the differences between child and adolescent thinking skills, from the perspective of information-processing theory?

a. children have higher abilities in divided attention b. adolescents have better working memory c. adolescents have better long-term memory d. adolescents outperform children in information processing speed A

According to the textbook, scientists believe that much of the synaptic pruning that takes place in the frontal lobe during the mid-adolescent years is affected by:

a. dopamine b. serotonin c. experience d. inadequate sleep C

Which of the following is not a common brain imaging technique used to study adolescent brain changes?

a. electroencephalography (EEG) b. diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) c. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) d. computed tomography (CT) D

According to Sternber's Triarchic Theory of Intelligence, individuals possess intelligence that involves our ability to acquire, store, and process information, known as

a. experiential intelligence b. contextual intelligence c. componential intelligence d. neuronal C

Lev Vygotsky is well known for his concept of the zone of proximal development, which states that individuals learn best when new information is

a. extremely challenging, beyond the student's present ability level b. extremely easy to master below the student's present ability level c. taught by another person who live-in close proximity to the student d. of moderate difficulty, but still within the individual's intellectual reach D

Culture-fair intelligence testing involves the development of tests

a. for different cultural groups b. that assess a core set of verbal skills c. that focous on nonverbal skills d. that do not contain stereotypic representations of members of ethnic minorities C

Adolescents' egocentric and erroneous belief that their feelings and experiences are unique is known as the

a. imaginary audience b. interpersonal vanity c. personal fable d. hypothetical thinking C

A heightened sense of self-consciousness, which can lead a young person to believe that he or she is the focus of everyone's attention, is known as

a. imaginary audience b. interpersonal vanity c. personal fable d. adolescent egocentrism A

Adolescent develop the ability to draw logical conclusions based on a set of facts or premises, known as

a. inductive reasoning b. abstract reasoning c. relational reasoning d. deductive reasoning D

Piagetian theorists believe that the foundation of formal-operational thinking that clearly differentiates adolescents' thought form that of children is

a. introspection b. intellectualization c. prepositional logic d. self-consciousness C

With age, adolescents increasingly distinguish between:

a. issues that authority figures have the right to regulate and issues that are their own personal choice b. nurturance and independence rights c. independence and self-determination rights d. issues that are potentially rewarding and issues that are potentially "boring" A

The ability to understand that others have beliefs, intentions, and knowledge that may be different from one's own is:

a. known as theory of mind b. a result of improvements in ventromedial prefrontal cortex development c. the zone of proximal development d. due to changes in neurotransmitters A

In their investigation of the competence-perforamce distinction, Ward and Overton (1990) found that task _____ tended to effect adolescents' performance on deductive reasoning tasks.

a. length b. relevance c. difficulty d. sequence B

Full maturation of the _____ is not complete until sometime between adolescence and early adulthood. This part of the brain is in control of planning, decision-making, goal-setting, and metacognition.

a. limbic system b. prefrontal cortex c. neurons d. neurotransmitters B

Which of the following techniques is not likely to reduce adolescent risk taking in the real world?

a. limiting adolescents' opportunities to engage in risky behaviors b. changing laws that affect adolescent behavior c. raising the price of risky behaviors (e.g., alcohol and cigarettes) d. classroom-based lessons that teach adolescents how to make better decisions D

Adolescents' thought processes, unlike those of children, are not necessarily tied to

a. logic b. abstract ideas c. fantasy d. concrete events D

The difference in cognitive abilities currently believed to exist between genders it that males have a slightly higher ability, on average, in

a. mathematical reasoning b. spatial reasoning c. verbal reasoning d. memory B

The adolescent's ability to understand sarcasm in comparison to a child is indicative of the advanced ability to engage in

a. metacognition b. hypothetical thinking c. multidimensional thinking d. relativistic thinking C

The monitoring of one's own cognitive activity during the process of thinking is

a. multidimensional thinking b. automatization c. propositional logic d. metacognition D

When adolescents become extremely skeptical, and begin doubting the certainty of things that they had previously believed, they are demonstrating

a. multiple dimensions b. adolescent relativism c. metacognition b. abstract reasoning B

During adolescence, the brain may lose many of its redundant neuronal connections that actually improve information processing, a process known as

a. myelination b. fMRI c. synaptic pruning d. neocortex C

The fatty substance that acts as insulation around brain cells allowing them to function faster and more efficiently is known as

a. myelination b. limbic system c. synaptic pruning d. neocortex A

Changes in the levels of dopamine and serotonin, which alter the way in which neurons communicate with one another, are examples of

a. neurotransmitters b. synapses c. limbic system d. pruning A

The large part of the brain that processes emotions, and may make individuals more emotional, more responsive to stress, and less responsive to rewards, is known as the

a. neurotransmitters b. synapses c. limbic system d. synaptic pruning C

SAT scores are used to predict

a. performance on the job b. success in college c. success in graduate school d. creative and artistic potential B

The development of an individual's understanding of the norms that guide day-to-day behavior changes over time such that are no longer absolutes but social expectations and insufficient reasons for compliance

a. perspective-taking b. mutual role-taking c. risk-taking d. social conventions D

Improvements in all of the following domains during adolescence have been linked with the information processing perspective expect

a. processing speed b. metacognitive abilities c. attention d. propositional logic D

Which type of attention involves the ability to pay attention to two sets of stimuli at the same time?

a. selective attention b. divided attention c. adapted attention d. bi-directed attention B

Piaget described the stage of cognitive development that emerges from adolescence to adulthood as

a. sensorimotor period b. formal operations period c. proportional period d. concrete operations period B

According to Robert Selman, adolescents are better at social perspective-taking than children are because they can engage in _____ role taking

a. subjective b. bidirectional c. mutual d. advanced C

The adolescent's ability to provide more sophisticated answers to complex questions is due to the development of thought conducted on

a. systematic ways b. abstractions c. metacognitive ways d. multidimensional levels D

Paige's theory of cognitive development would support which one of the following conclusions regarding achievement of formal-operational thinking?

a. that insecure children are more likely to achieve formal-operational thought compared to their more secure peers b. that all adolescents employ formal-operational thought in a variety of situations d. that not all adolescents, or adults, develop formal operational thinking D

Given the choice, the fact that people are more likely to pull a lucky lottery ticket from an envelope of 100 tickets, of which 10 are lucky, compared to pulling a ticket from an envelope of 10 tickets, of which 1 is lucky - despite the fact that they know that the mathematical odds of pulling a lucky ticket are identical in the two scenarios - is an example of:

a. the gap between competence and performance b. cognitive incompetence c. mathematical incongruence d. formal-operational thinking deficits A

Which of the following is not one of the regions of the prefrontal cortex that undergoes significant maturation during adolescence?

a. the orbitofrontal cortex b. the sensorimotor cortex c. the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex d. the ventromedial prefrontal cortex B

Which of the following best represents Keaton's (2004) conclusions regarding differences in cognitive processes between children and adolescents?

a. there is general consensus about differences in these processes b. there are no substantial differences in cognitive processes c. it is unlikely a single factor distinguishes thinking in childhood from adolescence d. researchers from differing theoretical perspectives agree about these processes C

In regard to adolescent risk taking behavior, researchers working from a behavioral decision framework have proposed that adolescents

a. use different cognitive processes than adults to make decisions b. are more likely than adults to feel invulnerable and untouchable c. evaluate the desirability of consequences differently than adults d. are more irrational and logical than adults in social decision making situations C