Lifespan Developmental Psychology

Explain the concept of animism. Give two examples of how children demonstrate this concept.

Animism: the belief that natural objects and phenomena are alive in the way that humans are. Examples are children believing a rock has emotions and a cloud is alive.

Because the amygdala responds to comfort but not logic, which of the following is the best strategy for a parent to adopt when their preschooler has had a scary dream?

Ask them what was scary about the dream, and then convincingly pretend to scare off that content.

Why are breast-fed babies less likely to contract infectious diseases than bottle-fed babies?

Breast milk contains antibodies.

Define cohort, explain its effects, and give an example of one.

Cohort: People born within the same historical period. They experience historical events (such as wars), technologies (such as the smartphone), and cultural shifts (such as women's liberation) at the same ages. Effects are sometimes profound, being intense as in the case of marijuana use. Example is popular first names given to babies in each decade.

Social networking may lead to _____, which happens when there are too many people available to meet and evaluate as potential life partners.

choice overload

Nine-year-old Pete sorted screws, bolts, and nails into three piles by type. He is able to correctly sort the objects into separate piles because of the logical principle of _____.

classification

The signs of REM sleep include flickering of the infant's ______.

closed eyes and rapid brain waves

A child is shown a large box and a small box. The large box contains a 5-pound weight and the small box contains a 10-pound weight. The child picks up the boxes and looks at them closely, and then is asked which weighs more. The child is no longer focused only on appearances, so he answers that the small box weighs more. Piaget would say that this child is in the_____ stage of cognitive development.

concrete operational

A woman in Honduras worked in a field treated with pesticides during her pregnancy. When her son was born, she was horrified to find that he had no limbs. Her pesticide exposure must have occurred during a(n) _____ period of prenatal development.

critical

In the Strange Situation, a sign of insecure attachment might be _______.

crying and being unable to be comforted when her mother returns

In general, as children experience puberty, their self-esteem ______.

declines

Physical activity within schools has _____ over the years.

decreased

Later high school start times have been associated with all of the following EXCEPT _____.

decreased college attendance

Within Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, each of the developmental stages is characterized by a particular challenge or _______.

developmental crisis

A person who supports a mother through the birth process from early labor at home through delivery at home or in a hospital is called a ________.

doula

Blake just learned that she is 6 weeks pregnant. Her developing baby is in the _____ period of prenatal development.

embryonic

The amygdala is a brain structure that registers _____.

emotions

In development, nurture refers to ________.

environmental influences

Genes and environmental forces both shape development, which has led to the understanding that many human characteristics are _______.

epigenetic

Terrance is asked to list all the people in his family. He is being asked to report his _____.

family structure

The longest period of prenatal development is the _____ period.

fetal

Small movements made by fingers and toes are known as _____ motor skills.

fine

Four-year-old Amelia wants to play with her brother Garth's trucks. Garth is 6, and he tells her she can't play with them because she's a girl. Garth's refusal is based on his _____.

gender schema

An individual's genetic inheritance is called a(n) ________.

genotype

Which family function is especially crucial in middle childhood?

harmony and stability

Compared with single-parent homes, two-parent homes usually have _____.

higher income

The belief that children's immune systems need to be exposed to viruses and bacteria in order to strengthen them, but that children are overprotected from this exposure, is called the _____.

hygiene hypothesis

A child's achievement seems more influenced by _____ in the United States than in other nations.

income and ethnicity

More than people of any other age, children between the ages of 6 and 11 are _____.

industrious, practicing the skills valued by their culture

Two-year-old Julia repeatedly exclaims, "Me do it!" when her mother tries to help her. Although this behavior is frustrating, her mother understands that doing things independently will develop Julia's sense of _____.

initiative

Erikson called the psychosocial developmental stage that occurs between 3 and 6 years of age _____.

initiative versus guilt

Prosocial behavior is characterized by behavior that is _____.

intended to help another without any benefit for oneself

According to Vygotsky, guided participation requires that a child _____.

interacts with a mentor to accomplish a task

Tyrell's father takes him to the barber for his first real haircut. At first, Tyrell is excited, but when the barber makes the first cut, he becomes very upset and tells his father to make the barber stop. Despite his father's efforts to assure him that his hair will grow back, Tyrell is exhibiting the characteristic known as _____.

irreversibility

In 1975, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act stipulated that children with special needs must be educated in the _____.

least restrictive environment

During adolescence, the _____ matures before the _____ in the brain.

limbic system; prefrontal cortex

Research has found that a person's temperament is _______.

linked to biological patterns that appear in infancy

Preoperational thinking is all of the following EXCEPT _____.

logical

Caitlin, age 4, visited the city zoo, pointed to a zebra, and exclaimed, "Look at the horse with stripes!" In describing the zebra, she used _____.

logical extension

Piaget believed that until about age 6, it is difficult for children to think _____.

logically

The recent effort by countries around the world to increase the number of young people attending college is prompted by national governments' belief in _____.

massification

Most bullies pick on _____.

members of their own sex

Daryl has a ball of Silly Putty. His 6-year-old son, Mason, watches as Daryl flattens the Silly Putty into a thin "pancake." When Daryl asks Mason if there is now more Silly Putty, Mason replies "Yes" because he has _____.

not mastered the concept of conservation

Baby Hugh enjoys playing with his father's keys, but when his father takes them away, Hugh does not search for them. Piaget would say that is because Hugh does not understand _____.

object permanence

One reason that the teenage pregnancy rate in most European nations is less than half of that in the United States may be because _____.

of the European sex-education curriculum

Juan and Joaquin are identical twins. They are the result of ________.

one ovum fertilized by one sperm that splits into two zygotes

Young adults rarely experience serious illness because which three systems of body functioning tend to work in harmony?

organ reserve, homeostasis, allostasis

Vivian is less than a day old. Which of the following emotions is already apparent?

pain

Gregory, age 11, noticed that he has some pubic hair. According to the usual sequence of puberty, his next pubertal event will probably be _____.

penis growth

The mental processing of sensory information is called ______.

perception

Jose demonstrates warmth and nurturance toward his children. He does not believe in punishment of any sort and does not have any rules for his children. His parenting style is _____.

permissive

In the third stage of labor, the _______.

placenta is delivered

Which is a stage of moral reasoning in Kohlberg's theory?

postconventional

A possible fifth stage of cognitive development that characterizes adult thinking is _____.

postformal thought

Plasticity refers to the ________.

potential for human traits to be molded during development but also to remain durable

According to Sternberg, intelligence used in everyday problem solving is considered to be _____.

practical intelligence

A teratogen is any agent or condition that increases the risk for _____.

prenatal abnormalities

Piaget called the stage of human cognitive development between the ages of 2 and 6 _____ intelligence.

preoperational

Johnny is 12 years old and has been aggressive toward his siblings and peers, hitting, kicking, and calling them names. Johnny's parents are worried about these new aggressive behaviors and consult with a psychologist. After some meetings, they suggest that this behavior could be a result of watching too many violent movies and playing too many violent video games. This explanation for the aggression is consistent with _____.

psychoanalytic theory

The period in which children's bodies become adult in terms of size, shape, and sexuality is called _____.

puberty

Based on research about SIDS, caregivers are advised that babies should be _______.

put to sleep on their backs

Transient exuberance is the ________.

rapid growth of dendrites during the first few years of life.

The usual order of the development of spoken language in an infant is ________.

reflexes, cooing, babbling, and spoken words

The preeminent psychosocial accomplishment between the ages of 2 and 6 is learning when and how to _____.

regulate emotions

To explain a child's development of gender attitudes and roles, behaviorists stress _____.

reinforcement and punishment

The child who weathers severe family problems, even abuse, and yet emerges from those experiences unscathed is said to be _____.

resilient

According to Vygotsky, a teacher who carefully plans each child's participation in the learning process within the zone of proximal development uses _____.

scaffolding

When a baby acts upset because a caregiver is about to leave, the baby is exhibiting _____.

separation anxiety

The first visible signs of senescence are usually observed in a person's _____.

skin

On average, which of these skills does an infant develop last?

standing alone without holding on

In Bronfenbrenner's ecological-systems model, a school in the community is an example of which system?

the exosystem

Some teenagers seem able to skate, play basketball, or dance for hours without rest. This increased endurance is best explained by _____.

the growth of the heart and lungs

Marcy says, "There is no way I am going to school today with this bruise on my cheek. Everybody is going to laugh at me." Marcy is demonstrating _____.

the imaginary audience

Each U.S. state selects and educates gifted and talented students. Across the country _____.

the selection and education processes can be different

Skills that the child can accomplish with assistance but can't yet perform independently are part of _____.

the zone of proximal development

Malcolm is a 2-year-old boy who loves his "lellow-lee" (yellow blanket) and won't take a nap without it. Malcolm's yellow blanket would be considered a(n) _____.

transitional object

_______ is the best example of a sensitive period.

A child learning to speak a second language

Adulthood covers the four decades of life between ages _____ and _____.

25; 65

Each human body cell contains ________.

46 chromosomes

The average age of menopause is about _____ years.

51

Define gross and fine motor skills, providing at least two examples of each.

Gross motor skills: Physical abilities involving large body movements. Examples are walking and jumping. Fine motor skills: Physical abilities involving small body movements, especially of the hands and fingers. Examples are drawing and picking up a coin.

Alma brought her 6-month-old son to the doctor for a well-baby visit. The doctor says that her son's weight is in the 20th percentile. What does this mean?

He is small compared with other 6-month-olds.

George, who is 60, couldn't understand why he was slowly gaining weight. He was eating the same amount of food that he had each day since he was 20 and he exercised regularly. What could explain his weight gain?

His metabolism has slowed down.

The worldwide effort to map the complete human genetic code was called the ______.

Human Genome Project

Define nature and nurture, and give an example of each. Also describe the nature-nurture debate.

Nature: refers to the influence of the genes that people inherit. Example is physical appearance of traits inherited such as blue eyes and blonde hair. Nurture: refers to environmental influences, beginning with the health and diet of the embryo's mother and continuing lifelong, including family, school, community, culture, and society. Example is a parent who excessively drinks around their child causing their child to maybe do the same later on and follow in the parents footsteps. The nature-nurture debate questions how much of any characteristic, behavior, or emotion, is the result of genes and how much is the result of experience. Both genes and experience affect every characteristic, nature always affects nurture.

Child-centered programs are often influenced by the theories of _____ and _____.

Piaget; Vygotsky

Francesca is frustrated trying to learn to tie her shoelaces. According to Vygotsky, should the parents get involved, or should they let her try to master this task on her own? If they decide to get involved, what should her parents do?

The parents should get involved. They should positively encourage Francesca when she is trying to tie her shoelaces. The parents should also explain the steps step by step to allow Francesca to master each one at a time. The parents should demonstrate a few times but allow Francesca to practice on her own with their guidance.

Beth is a 3-year-old who is working on a craft project at preschool. She has to be repeatedly reminded to sit still, to continue working on the craft, and to stop interfering with her classmate's work. What is the most likely explanation for Beth's behavior?

She is displaying normal lack of impulse control.

Who was the most influential researcher on parenting styles? When and with whom did this researcher conduct research? Explain the limitations of this research.

The most influential researcher on parenting styles was Diana Baumrind. In 1967 and 1971 she studied 100 European preschool children from California in middle class families. She found the parents differed on expressions of warmth, strategies for discipline, communication, and expectations for maturity while identifying the 3 parenting styles of authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Limitations of her research included that she didn't consider socioeconomic differences, was unaware of cultural differences, focused more on parent attitudes than on parent actions, overlooked children's temperamental differences, and more.

Which was not an essential characteristic of high-quality day care?

a ratio of one adult to two infants

Bettie and Zahara belong to different cohorts. The only DEFINITE difference between these two women is ________.

age

An individual's phenotype is dependent upon _______.

an individual's genes and the environment

A couple has been trying to conceive a child for 12 months. They decide to consult a doctor about their inability to conceive. After several tests, the doctor suggests that perhaps they will need to use _____ because of a low sperm count.

assisted reproductive technology

When parents expect unquestioning obedience from their children, their parenting style is labeled _____.

authoritarian

Annelle's usual bedtime is 8:30 P.M., and her parents enforce this rule. One evening, Annelle is watching an educational program that ends at 9 P.M. She asks her parents if she can stay up to watch the end of the show. Her parents agree to let her stay up as long as she gets up in time for school in the morning. Which parenting style are Annelle's parents demonstrating?

authoritative

Newborns' sense of touch allows them to ______.

be comforted by their caregiver

Longitudinal research finds that children who are physically punished are more likely to _____.

bully

Nine-year-old Amanda has no problem understanding that the 20-year-old woman who sometimes stays with her is both a student and a babysitter. According to Piaget, this is because Amanda's thinking has moved beyond _____.

centration

According to Chomsky's theory of language acquisition, __________.

children have an inborn ability to learn language

The single cell formed from the union of two gametes, a sperm and ovum, is called a _____.

zygote