Introducing Lifespan Development
A researcher conducted an in-depth study of a child who was raised in isolation and had no contact with same-age peers until age 10. This researcher detailed the child's development in a number of spheres: physical/motor, language/cognitive, social and emotional. What kind of research method is this?
Case study
In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of a child who was raised in isolation without contact with same-age peers until age 10, a researcher would be likely to use which research method?
Case study
In a study of children, let's suppose that researchers found a positive correlation (r= .63) between creativity and resilience. How is this finding interpreted?
Children who score higher on measures of creativity also score higher on measures of resilience.
College students are often recruited for research studies of young adult development, but this is often discussed as a limitation of those studies. How do you explain this?
College students are not randomly selected from the larger population, and they may not represent all young adults in our society.
A graduate student research team is giving an oral presentation of their research on resilience in young adults. They note that a downside of their study is that participants were recruited from the university that they attend. What makes this a study limitation?
College students are samples of convenience that are not randomly selected from the wider population and may not represent all young adults in our society.
To examine the effectiveness of two types of interventions for depression, researchers randomly assigned participants to a 12-week course of cognitive-behavioral therapy, a 12-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program, or a waitlist control group. In this experiment, what is the dependent variable?
Depression
Childcare practices differ across cultures, and different practices have been found to influence when and how children reach certain developmental milestones, such as sitting, crawling, and walking. Which approach to human development is conveyed by this finding?
Development can follow a different course for each child.
Brain training programs, which are used to reverse cognitive decline seen in aging, capitalize on the brain's lifelong capacity to reorganize cortical tissue, which aligns with Baltes' key principle of lifespan development that ________.
Development is Plastic
A professor tells students, "In order to understand human development, you can't just study infants, children, or teenagers. You need to study people over the course of their entire lives." Which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development is this professor supporting?
Development is lifelong
A talk show host likes to interview guests who thought their course in life was set and determined by challenges they experienced as children and teens, but who later encountered situations and opportunities that transformed their lives into something they could not have envisioned earlier in life. This talk show host's approach is aligned with Baltes' key principle of lifespan development that ________.
Development is lifelong
In a health class for middle schoolers, the instructor discusses puberty, to the embarrassment of the students, and reviews the biological factors involved in how their bodies are changing, the cognitive factors involved in more advanced thinking skills, the emotional factors involved in regulating feelings, and the social factors involved in navigating relationships. This illustrates which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?
Development is multidimensional.
In a prenatal education class, an instructor informs parents that their child's development will be influenced by many factors, including biological, cognitive, social, and emotional factors. This instructor is addressing which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?
Development is multidimensional.
Parents concerned about their middle schooler tell the child's pediatrician, "So much is going on for our child right now. His body is changing, he's trying to sort through so many feelings, and he's trying to find where he fits in with other kids." The pediatrician normalizes their concerns about puberty and the biological, cognitive, emotional, and social factors involved in this stage of development. This illustrates which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?
Development is multidimensional.
A teenager bemoans, "My life is a roller coaster. I've got all this new stuff to think about and I'm not as good at things I used to do well. I think I'm making progress in one area, but I'm losing ground in another." This statement about alternating between gains and losses reflects which of Baltes' key principles of lifespan development?
Development is multidirectional.
Parents exclaim, "One day my baby was crawling around on the floor, and the next day my toddler was wobbling around the house on two feet! It all happened so suddenly." Which approach to describing how developmental changes occur does the parents' statement reflect
Discontinuous Development
Researchers conducted an experiment to study the effects of sleep training on sleep duration and quality. They randomly assigned some participants to a treatment condition where they received eight sessions of sleep enhancement training and some participants to a control condition where they did not receive the training. If the participants who received sleep enhancement training had better sleep duration and quality than the people who did not receive the training, then the researcher can conclude that the training works. What advantage of experimental research does this demonstrate?
Experimental research helps establish cause and effect relationships.
Suppose a group of researchers wants to investigate the relationship between daily mindfulness meditation and cortisol (stress hormone) levels in the body over a 20-year time period. Which research design would allow them to measure changes with age and within individuals over time, even though it would be expensive, limited to one cohort, take a long time, and they might have people drop out of the study?
Longitudinal research design
A local community center advertises a meet-up for people who are seeking support as part of the "sandwiched generation," sandwiched between caring for young kids and aging parents. This meet-up is geared toward people in which period of human development?
Middle Adulthood
In a psychotherapy session, Adrienne talks with her therapist about the stress of raising two young children who are involved in competitive sports and preparing for standardized tests, while caring for her parents who are experiencing ill health, including early signs of dementia. Adrienne's therapist normalizes her experience as part of the "sandwiched generation," sandwiched between caring for young kids and aging parents. Adrienne is in the ________ period of human development.
Middle adulthood
A theorist proposes that children learn language by observing and imitating their parents, who in turn reinforce the sounds and words their children produce. In the nature versus nurture debate, where does this theorist's proposal fit?
Nurture
A theorist proposes that children learn language by observing and imitating their parents, who in turn reinforce the sounds and words their children produce. In the nature versus nurture debate, where does this theorist's proposal fit? Responses
Nurture
On the first day of school, parents proudly tell their child's kindergarten teacher, "Logan has excellent verbal skills and is a great communicator because we talked to Logan as a baby all the time!" These parents are attributing their child's language skills to ________.
Nurture
In a study of empathy across young adulthood to older adulthood, researchers found a negative correlation (r= -.75) between empathy and age. How is this finding interpreted?
Older adults tended to have lower empathy scores than younger adults.
In a psychotherapy session, a client describes how her feelings, identity, and relationships changed from adolescence to adulthood. This client is sharing information about which domain of human development?
Psychosocial
Research indicates that family education, income, and occupation strongly influence the academic achievement gap across racial/ethnic groups. Which contextual influence on development does this exemplify?
Socioeconomic status
When researchers select participants for their studies in a random way to ensure that all members have an equal chance of being selected, they are demonstrating which aspect of the scientific method?
The scientific method offers a systematic way to make comparisons and guard against bias.
Dr. Petersen designed a correlational study to determine if time spent playing video games is related to obesity. What was the objective of this research?
To formally test whether a relationship exists between two or more variables.
Dr. Carlton conducts evaluation research of language enrichment programs for preschool children from low-income families. The objective of this research is to ________.
assess the effectiveness of an academic enrichment program
DeShawn has a hunch that people eat more pizza during football season. He and his friends want to test this theory, so they ask everyone they know about their pizza consumption and determine that, yes, pizza consumption does increase during the fall. DeShawn first wrote down his hypothesis, then surveyed his friends, and drew conclusions. DeShawn's research is
biased because he only asked his friends and family.
Claire feels certain that people exercise more during the spring than during the rest of the year. She surveys 30 people at her gym and concludes that her observation was correct. Claire's research is:
biased because she only asked people she knew at the gym.
Using the scientific method, researchers should
build upon earlier research to enhance understanding of a topic.
Parents track the number of new words their toddler learns each day and are surprised by how many new words their child has learned at the end of one month. By charting their child's language development, these parents are showing an interest in the ________ of human development.
cognitive domain
A team of researchers is interested in studying changes in parenting style over time, as children and parents grow older. One researcher states, "If we choose a ________, then it would be less time consuming and expensive. Another researcher comments, "If we choose that design, then we have measurements of parenting style for one point in time, and we can't be sure about changes with age over time."
cross-sectional research design
Dr. Thompson uses observation and surveys to study how much time children spend playing outside. The objective of this research is to
describe the occurrence of time spent playing outside.
In order to minimize attrition in studies with infants and children, researchers are advised to ________.
design the study to be as short as possible
While most human development theorists and researchers have focused on infancy and childhood, and some on adolescence, others have explored development over the course of one's entire life, which aligns with Baltes' key principle of lifespan development that ________.
development is lifelong
A group of friends gets together and their conversation revolves around love and work: relationships, planning for future marriage and children, finishing formal education and establishing their careers, developing independence, and feeling like an adult. This group of friends is in the ________ period of human development.
early adulthood
Teresa believes her cultural practices are the best and right ones, and it is difficult for her to understand the cultural practices of other societies. Tanya expresses an appreciation for cultural differences and a willingness to consider the perspectives of people in other cultures. Teresa's view demonstrates ________, while Tanya's view demonstrates ________.
ethnocentrism; cultural relativity
A researcher is interested in studying the relationship between sensitivity to negative information over positive (i.e., negativity bias) and hours of sleep at night (i.e., average total sleep time). Correlational research would allow this researcher to ________.
identify patterns of relationships between two variables, negativity bias and average total sleep time
Correlational research would be the preferred method for studying the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety because it would allow researchers to ________.
identify patterns of relationships between two variables, perfectionism and anxiety
In a study of the effect of playing video games on sleep quality, researchers randomly assigned some participants to play an up-tempo video game for either one or three hours before bed. Other participants had no engagement with electronics in the time before bed. Then, the researchers assessed all the participants' sleep quality (e.g., number of awakenings, percentage of time in deep sleep) during an overnight sleep study. In this experiment, the time spent playing video games (e.g., one or three hours) is the ________.
independent variable
A couple arrives at a research lab to participate in a research study of psychosocial factors related to relationship satisfaction. After they learn about the study, they are asked to review a(n) ________, which reviews the procedures to be used in the research, any expected risks or benefits, and serves as a contract stating that they agree to participate in research.
informed consent statement
As an elementary school student, Hayden's life revolves around learning and testing new academic skills, refining motor skills, and developing social relationships with friends and students outside of the family. Hayden is in the ________ period of human development.
middle childhood
Millennials, those born between 1982 and 2000, are considered tech-savvy because they grew up with technology and rely on it for daily activities. Millennials are defined by characteristics that were formed while growing up with advancements in technology as part of their world and culture. Which of Baltes' contextual influences does this represent?
normative history-graded influences
A pediatrician provides parents with a chart that plots changes in their child's height and weight over time. This growth chart represents a ________ in human development.
physical domain
A counselor is conducting an initial evaluation with a client and asks questions to better understand the client's feelings, relationships, identity, and personality. This counselor is exploring the ________ of human development.
psychosocial domain
The National Institutes of Health released a large dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, or the ABCD Study. Now researchers from around the world have access to this data and can conduct ________ on various factors related to brain, cognitive, social, and emotional development. Responses
secondary content analysis
Researchers studied frequency and amount of marijuana use in three groups of students (grades 6 to 8, grades 9 to 10, and grades 11 to 12) over five years. With this ________, researchers can examine age-related changes and changes within the same individuals as they age. In addition, researchers can account for the possibility of cohort and/or time of measurement effects.
sequential research design
A researcher wants to understand parents' attitudes and opinions toward residential school programs for academically gifted students. This researcher would likely choose a ________ research method.
survey
