Family life survey findings reveal that considering U.S. families as a whole,
__________ time with children has __________ over the past three decades.
A) mothers’; increased
B) fathers’; remained fairly stable
C) mothers’; remained fairly stable
D) fathers’; increased
Reaching is largely controlled by
A) vision.
B) proprioception.
C) gross-motor development.
D) depth perception.
For healthy women who are assisted by a well-trained doctor or midwife,
A) complications rarely occur during home birth.
B) the rate of infant death is high during home birth.
C) home birth continues to be less safe than hospital birth.
D) water birth increases the likelihood of the use of pain-relieving medication.
Research conducted with Kanzi, a bonobo chimp,
A) shows that bonobos are capable of conversation that includes asking questions and
sharing information.
B) produced no definitive results about Kanzi’s linguistic achievements.
C) proves that chimps are capable of communicating basic needs, but nothing else.
D) indicates that chimps are better at communicating through the use of written, rather
than visual, symbols.
In __________, infants act on the environment, and stimuli that follow their behavior
change the probability that the behavior will occur again.
A) classical conditioning
B) operant conditioning
C) habituation
D) recovery
In the store model, input in the information-processing system
A) enters the sensory register and is stored momentarily.
B) simply flows on its own through the various stores.
C) is automatically transferred into long-term memory.
D) enters the sensory register and is stored for days or weeks.
When responding to a peer’s distress, children __________ rarely express concern and
frequently display fear, anger, or engage in physical attacks.
A) of permissive parents
B) of divorced parents
C) who have been physically abused
D) of authoritative parents
Which of the following statements is true about learning capacities?
A) Newborns are capable of classical, but not operant, conditioning.
B) Infants do not yet learn by observing others.
C) Newborns have built-in learning capacities that permit them to profit from
experience immediately.
D) Infants’ natural preference for novel stimulation often interferes with learning.
In the Head Start REDI enrichment program, which of the following activities would
foster children’s social skills?
A) teachers reinforcing new vocabulary words with pictures
B) parents receiving one-on-one mentoring from coaches
C) teachers using puppet characters and role-play demonstrations
D) specially designed learning centers promoting phonological awareness
Kareem is a high risk taker, engages in unprotected sex, and claims that he will “do
anything on a dare.” Kareem is most likely a member of which of the following groups?
A) nonconformists
B) jocks
C) partyers
D) normals
Evaluators, using the componential approach, have found that Maisie is exceptionally
intelligent. Which of the following statements best describes how they would explain
her high level of intelligence?
A) The role of culture and schooling are primary factors in Maisie’s intellectual
development.
B) Neurological evidence is only slightly correlated to Maisie’s intelligence.
C) Maisie’s high level of intelligence is entirely due to causes within her.
D) Maisie is highly unusual, and evaluators are at a loss to explain why.
If there are any risks to the safety and welfare of participants that the research does not
justify, then preferences is always given to the
A) investigator.
B) research committee.
C) research participants.
D) institutional review board.
Core knowledge theorists view development as
A) simply refining already advanced knowledge systems.
B) following a strict, stagewise progression.
C) a sociocultural phenomenon.
D) domain-specific and uneven.
Dr. Thompson uses an EEG to record the frequency and amplitude of brain waves in
response to music in multiple areas of the cerebral cortex. Dr. Thompson is using
A) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
B) positron emission tomography (PET).
C) near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
D) event-related potentials (ERPs).
Melissa and Anjay are both 12 years old. Melissa is from the United States, and Anjay
is from India. When asked to draw a map of their neighborhood, Melissa’s map will
show __________ than Anjay’s map.
A) a richer array of landmarks and aspects of social life
B) a smaller area surrounding her home
C) a more formal, extended space, highlighting main streets and key directions
D) fewer features that are actually helpful in providing directions for other people
If Natalie and Jenna are in the Friendship as Mutual Trust and Assistance stage of
friendship, which of the following descriptions would apply?
A) Their relationship has become more complex and psychologically based.
B) Their friendship does not have any type of enduring quality.
C) A rift in their friendship would not require an apology or explanation.
D) Only an extreme falling out can terminate their friendship.
Which of the following features did Baumrind find that consistently differentiated
effective child-rearing styles from less effective ones?
A) type of discipline, rewards and punishment, and parental warmth
B) parental age, child age, and parental income
C) parent educational level, parent literacy level, and presence of extended family
D) acceptance and involvement, behavioral control, and autonomy granting
In watching two children, Wiley, who is in the concrete operational stage, and Abby,
who is in the formal operational stage, solve Piaget’s pendulum problem, what
difference would be evident?
A) Both Wiley and Abby will use similar strategies to solve the problem.
B) Wiley will systematically test alternative hypotheses.
C) Abby will intuitively solve the problem without experimentation.
D) Abby will systematically test alternative hypotheses.
Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory focuses on
A) how the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group are transmitted to the
next generation.
B) the child as a developing organism within a complex system of relationships affected
by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.
C) the child’s mind, body, and physical and social worlds, which form an integrated
system that guides mastery of new skills.
D) the ways in which evolution and heredity influence behavior and development.
Veda is an out-of-work parent whose child-care needs must be addressed before she can
job hunt. She is in need of
A) parental self-worth.
B) parental access to valuable information and services.
C) child-rearing controls and role models.
D) direct assistance with child rearing.
Which of the following statements is true about learning using habituation versus
operant conditioning?
A) In operant conditioning studies, infants retain certain information over much longer
time spans than they do in habituation research.
B) Although habituation research tells us more about infant perceptual and cognitive
capacities than operant conditioning, its findings are not clear-cut.
C) Operant conditioning studies reveals more about infant perceptual and cognitive
capacities than habituation research.
D) Operant conditioning studies are a more reliable predictor of later intelligence than
habituation and recovery.
In one study, an experimenter hid a poker chip in her hand and asked adolescents to
evaluate the truthfulness of the following statement: “The chip in my hand is green and
it is not green.” An adolescent who is capable of propositional thought would most
likely answer that this statement is
A) always false, regardless of the color of the poker chip.
B) false only if the poker chip is not green.
C) true if the poker chip is green.
D) always true, regardless of the color of the poker chip.
The fluid reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working-memory factors of the
Stanford-Binet
A) emphasize culturally loaded, fact-oriented information.
B) measure crystallized abilities, such as pattern analysis and matrices.
C) are assumed to be less culturally biased than the other factors.
D) are assumed to be more culturally biased than the other factors.
More seriously than other perspectives, core knowledge theorists have addressed which
of the following questions?
A) “Why is experience essential for children and the knowledge they are born with?”
B) “Why does speed of learning differ in children?”
C) “What allows learning to get off the ground?”
D) “Do all aspects of cognition develop uniformly, or do some develop at faster rates
than others?”
Longitudinal research reveals that the IQ scores of most children __________ during
childhood and adolescence.
A) fluctuate 10 to 20 points
B) increase by about 35 points
C) vary by about 50 points
D) remain stable
Which of the following statements is true regarding IQ and practical intelligence?
A) Unlike IQ, practical intelligence does not vary with ethnicity.
B) IQ predicts on-the-job performance better than practical intelligence.
C) Both IQ and practical intelligence are moderately correlated with emotional and
social adjustment.
D) Current evidence indicates that having practical intelligence is a strong predictor of
having a high IQ.
In the Strange Situation, Marcus is not distressed when his father leaves. He reacts to
the stranger in much the same way as to his father. During reunion, Marcus is slow to
greet his father. Marcus is displaying characteristics of __________ attachment.
A) secure
B) avoidant
C) resistant
D) disorganized/disoriented
The information-processing approach is being used to
A) clarify the processing of social information.
B) identify differences between innate and learned behaviors.
C) facilitate bilingual speech recognition.
D) predict school achievement and career success.
Mario sees a familiar face at the mall, but he cannot recall the person’s name. Mario is
having problems with
A) storage.
B) categorization.
C) encoding.
D) retrieval.
In comparisons of children who are the same age but in different grades,
A) black and white children score the same when verbal, fact-oriented items are
eliminated from tests.
B) performance on crystallized test items, but not on fluid test items, depends on prior
learning opportunities.
C) those who play video games perform poorly on fluid test items.
D) those who have been in school longer score higher on intelligence tests.
Which of the following statements is supported by research on babbling?
A) Babies only begin babbling if they consistently hear human speech.
B) Females typically begin babbling before males.
C) Babies have a limited repertoire of babbled sounds, depending on their IQ.
D) Deaf infants not exposed to sign language will stop babbling entirely.
During the preschool years, both fathers and mothers attend more to
A) girls’ than boys’ sadness and anxiety.
B) boys’ than girls’ excitement and curiosity.
C) reinforcing gender-stereotypical emotions with boys than with girls.
D) being affectionate and nurturing with boys than with girls.