Which of the following would signal to Christie, a toddler, that her mother is engaging
in make-believe play with her?
A) She smiles less and is more serious with Christie.
B) She uses more “we” talk than she would during the same real-life event.
C) She always waits for the cues to come from Christie before participating in
make-believe play with Christie.
D) She rarely offers any cues, and so Christie has to learn on her own when her mother
is pretending and when she is not.
Some experts have concluded that grammar is a product of general cognitive
development and
A) is modeled by experiential passives in everyday conversation.
B) is learned primarily through semantic bootstrapping and syntax.
C) occurs when regular verb forms are acquired before irregular forms.
D) is explained by children’s tendency to search for consistencies and patterns of all
sorts.
In field experiments, researchers
A) make no effort to alter participants’ experiences.
B) use treatment conditions that already exist naturally.
C) avoid confounding variables by exposing the same participants to all treatments.
D) randomly assign participants to treatment conditions in natural settings.
The store model of information processing focuses on __________ as information
flows __________.
A) general units of cognitive functioning; sequentially
B) mechanisms of cognitive change; arithmetically
C) Piaget’s stages; in an evolutionary manner
D) the evolutionary perspective; sequentially
Information-processing researchers
A) record stimulus”response pathways in the brain.
B) build computers with humanlike circuitry.
C) focus on the evolutionary significance of human behavior.
D) seek to clarify how both task characteristics and cognitive limitations influence
performance.
Longitudinal research shows that by second grade, children with the highest IQs are
more likely to
A) score higher in fluid intelligence than crystallized intelligence.
B) experience gradual but steady declines.
C) enter prestigious professions in adulthood.
D) demonstrate significant IQ fluctuations from middle childhood to late adolescence.
“Masculine” and androgynous children and adults __________ than “feminine”
individuals.
A) are less self-confident
B) tend to be more affectionate and cheerful
C) experience more emotional difficulties
D) have higher self-esteem
Water birth is associated with
A) longer labor.
B) higher rates of infection.
C) higher rates of birth complications.
D) reduced maternal stress.
A six-month follow-up of children who received active intervention in teaching them to
challenge peer sexist comments showed that girls were more likely to
A) confront boy peers who made comments than their girl peers.
B) use physical force against a peer who made a sexist remark than girls who had not
received active intervention.
C) attain a gender-stereotype flexibility that extended beyond behavior to their attitudes.
D) fail to confront peers who made sexist remarks.
The children in Ramon’s preschool class perform considerably better in situations in
which they must follow some commands but not others, as in the game “Simon Says.”
This is an example of
A) analytical problem solving.
B) deficiencies in frontal lobe functioning.
C) age-related gains in inhibition.
D) Sigeler’s model of strategy choice.
Five-year-old Fabiano is allowed to stay up late watching television, has poor manners,
and is overly demanding with his parents. Fabiano displays characteristics of a child
raised by __________ parents.
A) permissive
B) uninvolved
C) authoritative
D) authoritarian
In Dr. Jeffers’ study, he discovered that many of the participants had a special
appreciation for the scientific value of research. Dr. Jeffers should be concerned with
A) practice effects.
B) selective attrition.
C) cohort effects.
D) biased sampling.
Between 1932 and 2002, IQ
A) decreased by a total of 14 points.
B) increased by a total of 22 points.
C) showed little fluctuation.
D) increased for black children and decreased for white children.
Schneider’s and Bjorklund’s study of children soccer experts versus soccer novices
demonstrated that compared to novices, expert children are more likely to
A) rely on gist rather than verbatim memories.
B) have better organized lists during recall.
C) rehearse the test items during encoding.
D) engage in reconstructive processing during storage.
The period of the embryo
A) lasts for about two weeks.
B) is the period of the most rapid prenatal changes.
C) begins during the second trimester of pregnancy.
D) is the period when the developing organism is the least vulnerable.
Two-year-old Maya is building a block tower. Her father begins by pointing to where
each block needs to go as Maya piles them up. As Maya’s competence with the task
increases, her father gradually withdraws support. This is an example of
A) transitive inference.
B) cooperative learning.
C) reciprocal teaching.
D) scaffolding.
According to the nativist perspective, children master the structure of language
A) only with deliberate training from parents.
B) spontaneously, with only limited language exposure.
C) at different rates, depending on their native language.
D) quickly, but only in its simplest forms; more complicated forms come much later.
The adult milestones of finishing school, living on one’s own, launching a career, and
building a lasting intimate partnership
A) are highly diverse in timing and order across individuals.
B) typically occur in a relatively set pattern among individuals in industrialized
countries.
C) are accomplished by age 25 for most people.
D) often lead to an extended identity crisis.
Baby Rolf first demonstrated the ability to kick and reach, then learned to rock on all
fours, and later combined the skills to crawl. Rolf is exhibiting evidence of
A) dynamic systems theory of motor development.
B) the cephalocaudal trend.
C) the proximodistal trend.
D) a built-in maturational timetable.
Which of the following statements is true about attachment security and later
development?
A) Children with mixed histories of attachment and maternal sensitivity tend to be
physically and cognitively delayed.
B) Children with disorganized/disoriented attachment tend to become securely attached
to at least one caregiver by middle childhood.
C) Mounting evidence indicates that continuity of caregiving determines whether
attachment security is linked to later development.
D) A secure father”child relationship is less important for long-term adjustment than a
secure mother”child relationship.
Which of the following statements is true about intermodal perception?
A) Intermodal perception develops very slowly over time.
B) Intermodal sensitivity is crucial for perceptual development.
C) Young infants notice changes in purely visual properties only when exposed to
intermodal information.
D) Intermodal perception interferes with social and language processing.
To overcome the limitations of factor analysis, investigators conduct componential
analyses to
A) look for relationships between aspects of information processing and children’s
intelligence test performance.
B) determine the extent to which test scores are accurate predictors of future academic
achievement.
C) compare a child’s test performance with the performance of a specific group of
children.
D) determine the average score obtained on a test by children of various ages or grade
placements.
Critics of Gardner’s theory point out that
A) the unusual skills of people with savant syndrome are mechanical and inflexible
because those skills are not aided by other abilities.
B) Gardner ignores the role of cultural and educational experiences in intellectual
development.
C) the theory is at odds with the existence of prodigies who show precocious
development in only one area.
D) his intelligences are only weakly correlated with a single overarching mental ability.
Pediatricians test reflexes carefully because weak, absent, overly rigid, or exaggerated
reflexes may indicate
A) brain damage.
B) a circadian rhythm.
C) parental abuse or neglect.
D) skeletal trauma.
A common theme characterizing the diverse symptoms of ADHD is
A) intense focus to detail.
B) an impaired capacity to inhibit action in favor of thought.
C) a disorganized home life.
D) nonstop loud talking.
Which of the following statements is supported by research on memory?
A) Boys tend to produce better organized and more complex personal memories than
girls.
B) Preschoolers who experience the repetitive style produce more organized and
detailed personal stories than preschoolers who experience the elaborative style.
C) Preschoolers who experience the elaborative style recall more information about past
events than preschoolers who experience the repetitive style.
D) Asian adults report their first memory, on average, earlier than Western adults.
The main difference between a clique and a crowd is that
A) clique membership is based on reputation and stereotype.
B) a crowd is a more loosely organized group.
C) crowd membership predicts academic and social competence.
D) crowd membership is more important to girls than to boys.
Which of the following statements is true about collectivist societies?
A) Most Western European countries lean away from collectivism.
B) Collectivism tends to increase as cultures become more complex.
C) Collectivist societies value the interdependent self.
D) People think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with their
own needs.
In a series of studies on infants of diabetic mothers, Charles Nelson and his
collaborators used __________ to assess young infants’ memory performance.
A) NIRS
B) ERPs
C) PET
D) fMRI
Three-year-old Noelle is shown two pictures: one shows a child stealing an orange and
the other shows a child eating spaghetti with her fingers. Noelle is most likely to view
A) both actions as equally wrong.
B) both actions as okay if an adult did not see them.
C) the stealing as more wrong than the bad table manners.
D) the bad table manners as more wrong than the stealing.
Which of the following approaches is likely to be seen in a Vygotskian classroom?
A) opportunities for active participation
B) an emphasis on teacher-directed instruction
C) activities developed to foster peer collaboration
D) learning experiences designed to promote independent exploration
In response to the Heinz dilemma, David says, “It’s a natural thing for Heinz to want to
save his wife, but it’s still his duty as a citizen to obey the law.” David is most likely in
the stage of __________ orientation.
A) social-order-maintaining
B) instrumental purpose
C) “good boy”good girl”
D) social-contract
Shae does not believe that her successes or failures in school can be changed, or that her
effort will make a difference in her grades. Shae
A) holds an entity view of ability.
B) comes from a middle-SES household.
C) has an incremental view of ability.
D) lacks a belief”desire theory of mind.
The existence of children with autism who excel in numerical and spatial skills provides
support for __________’s theory of intelligence.
A) Sternberg
B) Cattell
C) Carroll
D) Gardner
Describe the dynamic systems perspective of child development.
How does the ethical principle of informed consent operate in studies involving
children?
Describe factors that led to the development of the first intelligence tests, and explain
Binet’s and Simon’s contribution to the intelligence testing movement.
Describe fraternal twinning, including maternal factors linked to fraternal twinning.
Discuss the factors that influence adolescents’ decisions about contraceptive use.
Describe early speech sounds, including the acquisition of communication skills during
infancy and toddlerhood.
Explain Cattell’s theory of intelligence, including how it relates to children with
different cultural and educational backgrounds.
Describe the problems in conducting longitudinal research.
Describe two accounts of how semantic development takes place.
Describe the ways in which observational learning affects how children view gender
roles.
How can adults influence children’s autobiographical narratives?
Cite evidence that suggests that young children’s underextensions and overextensions
are purposeful.
Identify and describe useful techniques for soothing a crying baby.
Explain how the development of information processing affects children’s mastery of
academic skills.
Describe the development of self-concept from early childhood to adolescence.
Describe and evaluate current views on divergent and convergent thinking, including
the psychometric approach and the investment theory of creativity.