chapter 2 practice questions

1) The growth of _____________ during adolescence is directly related to an improved ability to think abstractly. a. long-term memory b. social thinking c. automatization d. short-term memory

b

13) You are a Psychologist. Your patient, Diana, had a long period of neural plasticity and a greater-than-usual amount of synaptic pruning. Based on this information, which of the following conclusions about Diana makes the most sense? a. She is likely to need help interacting socially with her peers. b. She will probably score high on intelligence tests. c. Diana will have difficulty focusing her attention in a typical classroom situation. d. Diana is likely to begin producing abnormally high numbers of synapses.

b

14) One aspect of brain maturation that is associated with increases in the speed of neural impulses and improvements in information transmission is a. formal operational thought b. myelination c. metacognition d. information-processing gains

b

10) Changes in the "social brain" may help explain why adolescents tend to become a. less prone to embarrassment. b. less capable of abstract thought. c. more susceptible to peer pressure. d. more likely to ignore others' facial expressions

c

12) In recent years, which of these scientific techniques has taught us the most about how the brain changes during adolescence? a. studies of brain development in other animals b. postmortem dissections of adolescent brains c. studies that use imaging techniques d. studies that contrast male and female adolescent brains

c

17) What emotional characteristic makes an individual more likely to engage in risk-taking behavior? a. illogical thought b. moodiness c. sensation seeking d. anxiety

c

20) According to the textbook, which of the following methods is most likely to reduce adolescent risk taking? a. classroom-based education programs designed to teach adolescents to make better decisions and resist peer pressure b. classroom-based education program designed to teach adolescents to make better decisions and resist peer pressure c. making more severe penalties for engaging in certain risky behaviors d. encouraging adolescents to perform a cost-benefit analysis in a risky situation

c

11) Which of the following are ways that scientists study brain development? a. using DTI technology technology to see the ways in which various Regions of the brain are connected b. using fMRI equipment to measure electrical activity on different portions of the scalp c. using electroencephalography (EEG) technology to prove that most human males have smaller brains than most human females do d. Using fMRI technology to measure differences in tissue density in the brains of deceased donors

a

18) Which of the following is one of the results of improvements in social cognition? a. Adolescents become better able to interpret the feelings of others. b. Adolescents become less able to recognize that others may view situations differently. c. Adolescents are less capable of formulating arguments. d. Adolescents are less likely to challenge their parents' and teachers' authority

a

19) Which theory helps researchers understand risk taking? a. behavioral decision theory b. alternative choices theory c. desirability theory d. cognitive decision theory

a

2) Which of the following is one of the five chief changes in cognition during adolescence? a. multidimensional thought b. rules-based thought c. concrete reasoning d. limited imagination

a

8) The improvements in organizational strategies seen in adolescence include a. increasing use of mnemonic devices b. thinking concretely instead of abstractly c. focusing on the here and now instead of on many possibilities d. considering issues from one side instead of many sides

a

9) Adolescents whose scores on a conventional IQ test rise higher than those of their peers will probably a. have undergone more synaptic pruning than their peers have. b. have performed better, though not necessarily faster, than peers on memory tests. c. outperform their peers on verbal tests but lag behind them on mathematical tests. d. experience increased synapse production in early childhood

a

15) You have been invited to be a research assistant on a study of adolescent brain function. Based on what you have read in the chapter, which of these questions would your team try to answer? a. Which parts of the brain become physically larger in the teen years? b. Do teens and younger children use different parts of their brains to perform the same tasks? c. Do adolescents pass through any of Piaget's cognitive development stages? d. Are adolescents capable of thinking in multiple dimensions?

b

16) Most research on adolescents' beliefs about rights and civil liberties comes from a. studies of ethnic minority samples b. studies of Western, middle-class youth c. diverse socioeconomic samples of the population d. adolescent girls

b

3) Which of the following supports adolescents' improved ability to use deductive reasoning, as described in the text? a. the ability to respond instinctively to a simple question b. the ability to stop oneself from acting automatically c. the ability to make an inference that rejects accumulated evidence d. increasing comfort with concrete, logical situations

b

5.) Jesse is in the seventh grade at a school that has open classrooms with multiple teachers instructing their classes in one large area. Which of the following cognitive processes will help Jesse focus on his teacher? a. working memory b. selective attention c. long-term memory d. divided attention

b

6) Dr. Brown argues that adolescents can solve problems better than younger children because they can store more information in memory and because they have more effective strategies. Dr. Brown's view is most consistent with which of the following perspectives? a. triarchic theory of intelligence b. information-processing perspective c. psychometric theory d. Piagetian perspective

b

7) The ability to remember something from several years ago is called a. working memory b. long-term memory c. autobiographical memory d. reminiscence bump

b

4) Who of the following is probably an adolescent (and not a child)? a. Angela, who accepts her parents' rules about room cleaning and bedtimes as matters of right and wrong b. Jim, who believes that it is possible to go for a long period of time without thinking about anything c. Pam, whose thinking is bound to observable events d. Oscar, who appraises his reading comprehension before starting the next chapter

d