PSY - Module 1

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

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 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

Parenting advice from researchers has changed over time. Consider changes in recommendations for safe sleeping positions for infants. This demonstrates which value of the scientific method?

The scientific method allows for continuous updating of information to support best practices.

When researchers select participants for their studies in a random way to insure that all members have an equal chance of being selected, they are demonstrating which value of the scientific method?

The scientific method offers a systematic way to make comparisons and guard against bias.

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 are 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." They are discussing the advantages and disadvantages of which research design?

cross-sectional research design

In order to minimize attrition in studies with infants and children, researchers are advised to____

design the study to be as short as possible

To examine the effectiveness of two types of interventions for anxiety, 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. The researchers administered a standardized measure of anxiety to participants before and after the interventions or waitlist period. In this experiment, what is the dependent variable?

Anxiety

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.

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 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

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

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

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