Unit 3

Rik, who is an adolescent, was always studious and quiet throughout childhood. His parents are concerned because he suddenly dyed his hair, pierced his tongue, and started hanging out with a different crowd. A few months later, he tried out for the football team and became so active in sports that he neglected his schoolwork. According to psychologists, which of the following would best explain Rik's changes in behavior?

He is going through the process of exploring his identity that many adolescents experience.

Shamir wants to be a doctor like both of his parents when he gets older. He never thought of doing anything else. Which of the following best explains Shamir's decision?

He is identity foreclosed

What cognitive development concept is presented in the image?

Zone of proximal development

To determine if different parenting styles influence social development from childhood to adulthood, a developmental researcher would likely want to use which type of study?

A longitudonal study

Dr. Lloyd wanted to demonstrate the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on later health outcomes for residents of a local retirement community. He surveyed each of the 205 residents about their childhood experiences. Later, he obtained permission from the residents to look at their health records from the physicians at the community medical center. He then calculated the odds (by percentage) of having certain health conditions. The results are presented in the table. Why would Dr. Lloyd be interested in studying the social and cultural backgrounds of the residents with kidney disease, heart disease, and stroke?

Because sociocultural background can influence individuals' perceptions of ACEs.

Dr. Lloyd wanted to demonstrate the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on later health outcomes for residents of a local retirement community. He surveyed each of the 205 residents about their childhood experiences. Later, he obtained permission from the residents to look at their health records from the physicians at the community medical center. He then calculated the odds (by percentage) of having certain health conditions. The results are presented in the table. Which of the following best describes the type of research conducted by Dr. Lloyd?

Correlational

Mr. Theodore, a high school math teacher, believes that the use of cell phones in class causes distractions while learning. He conducted a study on his students. Over the course of eight weeks, he noted how many students put their devices in a locked bin each class period. At the end of each week, he gave the students a quiz on the class content to see if removal of the device increased focused learning. The results are presented in the table.Which of the following describes the method of research conducted by Mr. Theodore?

Correlational

In studies of stages of development, why is it important to include participants that represent a diverse range of cultural backgrounds?

Culture can influence when and how individuals experience developmental changes in their lives.

Researchers are interested in the relationship between the classical conditioning of an eyeblink response and aging. While taking an intelligence test, elderly subjects wore special goggles that administered a puff of air into their eyes after a tone sounded. Although participants were told the purpose of the experiment was to see if intelligence declined as people aged, the real purpose of the study was to measure the length of time it took for elderly participants to learn the association between the sound of the tone and the puff of air. Which of the following ethical procedures must be used to account for the deception used in this study?

Debriefing

When a person behaves in ways that conform to commonly accepted social roles for males or females, which of the following is the person displaying?

Gender Identity

Dr. Abrams treats patients with anxiety by using a form of counterconditioning called exposure therapy. To test the effectiveness of this technique, Dr. Abrams had each patient report their level of anxiety while repeatedly exposing each person to an anxiety-inducing situation for one hour using a virtual reality headset. Patients rated their anxiety from 0-8, with 0 being no anxiety to 8 being extreme anxiety. The results are presented in the graph.

Habituation

A team of sports psychologists is investigating the effects of different reinforcement schedules on athletes' performance and motivation. They plan to recruit high school athletes from various teams to participate in the study. Which ethical consideration should researchers prioritize when recruiting high school athletes for their research?

Obtain informed assent from the athletes and informed consent from their parents

Which of the following best explains why most research about the effects of teratogens during pregnancy is correlational rather than experimental?

It would be unethical to manipulate the exposure to teratogens during a pregnancy due to the potential harm to individuals

Dr. Abrams treats patients with anxiety by using a form of counterconditioning called exposure therapy. To test the effectiveness of this technique, Dr. Abrams had each patient report their level of anxiety while repeatedly exposing each person to an anxiety-inducing situation for one hour using a virtual reality headset. Patients rated their anxiety from 0-8, with 0 being no anxiety to 8 being extreme anxiety. The results are presented in the graph. Which of the following describes the measurement instrument that Dr. Abrams' patients used to report their anxiety? Responses

Likert scale

Researchers are interested in studying gender development across the lifespan. Researchers recruited 500 children to participate in a study. All of the children were seven years old when the study began, and researchers plan on studying these 500 children for a period of 20 years. This study would be an example of what type of research design?

Longitudonal

Mr. Theodore, a high school math teacher, believes that the use of cell phones in class causes distractions while learning. He conducted a study on his students. Over the course of eight weeks, he noted how many students put their devices in a locked bin each class period. At the end of each week, he gave the students a quiz on the class content to see if removal of the device increased focused learning. The results are presented in the table. How did Mr. Theodore operationally define focused learning for his study?

Mean quiz scores

Mr. Gregg wants to help his second-grade students improve their reading skills. He tests the students with 20 reading comprehension questions at the beginning of the year. Every week throughout the year he gives the students 30 minutes of reading comprehension tips. He tests the students at the end of the year with 20 reading comprehension questions that are similar in difficulty to those on the original test. He finds that the students' reading comprehension has increased and concludes that his tips worked. Which of the following describes the most significant problem with Mr. Gregg's study?

Mr. Gregg failed to account for changes in the students' maturity.

Four-year-old Caleb declares, "For breakfast, I eated pancakes and eggs." Which of the following best accounts for this language error?

Overgeneralization

Michael has recently begun to demonstrate egocentrism. Although egocentrism exists at all ages, Jean Piaget found that children are most egocentric during which stage of cognitive development?

Preoperational stage

Dr. Abrams treats patients with anxiety by using a form of counterconditioning called exposure therapy. To test the effectiveness of this technique, Dr. Abrams had each patient report their level of anxiety while repeatedly exposing each person to an anxiety-inducing situation for one hour using a virtual reality headset. Patients rated their anxiety from 0-8, with 0 being no anxiety to 8 being extreme anxiety. The results are presented in the graph. Which of the following is a conclusion that Dr. Abrams can make about exposure therapy and anxiety based on the data?

Repeated exposure to anxiety-inducing stimuli reduces anxiety

Dr. Lloyd wanted to demonstrate the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on later health outcomes for residents of a local retirement community. He surveyed each of the 205 residents about their childhood experiences. Later, he obtained permission from the residents to look at their health records from the physicians at the community medical center. He then calculated the odds (by percentage) of having certain health conditions. The results are presented in the table. Which of the following explains why Dr. Lloyd might be unable to generalize his findings to all elderly people?

The sample of subjects is from only one retirement community and may not be representative of all elderly people.

The information presented in the graph best represents which of the following aspects of developmental psychology research?

The progression of cognitive and physical abilities throughout the lifespan

Researchers analyzed all-day recordings of caregiver-infant interactions at home in a random and representative sample of 100 families. Babies whose caregivers spent the most time speaking directly to them had a larger vocabulary at age two. However, the amount of speech that the babies indirectly heard, for example, by others in the home talking to one another was not related to increased vocabulary. Researchers concluded that the use of more speech directed at babies by caregivers created a larger vocabulary. Which of the following is an accurate statement about this study?

The researchers cannot make a cause-and-effect conclusion using this research method.

Dr. Picard performs a study of children's perceptions of gender roles. Children are randomly assigned to one of two groups. Children in Group A are shown simplified drawings of people (stick figures) wearing different types of clothing and are asked to sort these based on gender. Children in Group B are shown stick figure drawings of people performing various household tasks such as washing dishes, cooking, mowing a lawn, or fixing a leaky faucet. They are then asked to sort these drawings based on gender.

The type of drawing the children saw - either people wearing different clothing or people doing different tasks

A research study compares the performance of typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) on a test of social development. All children are 4 years old, and researchers want to determine if they have a theory of mind. The effect size for the difference in performance between the two groups is presented in the graph. What does this effect size indicate about the difference in performance?

There is a large difference in performance between typically developing children and children with ASD.

In an experiment, a researcher showed children a video of a person interacting with a doll. Half of the children watched a video of a person behaving violently toward a doll, and the other half saw a video of a person playing nicely with a doll. The researcher also looked at whether the gender and age of the child made a difference in how they interacted with the doll. In this study, the dependent variable was

the way children interact with the doll