Which of the following statements is supported by research on colic?
A) Colic is usually a sign of central nervous system damage.
B) Infants with colic tend to have persistent low-pitched cries.
C) Colic usually subsides between 3 and 6 weeks.
D) Newborns who react especially strongly to unpleasant stimuli are at risk for colic.
By the middle of the second trimester, the
A) new being has grown large enough that the mother can feel its movements.
B) development of the cerebral cortex is nearly complete.
C) fetus reaches the age of viability.
D) production of glial cells is nearly complete.
Teenagers who develop well despite family stress tend to have a(n)
A) foreclosed identity.
B) firm parent who believes in strict discipline.
C) intense, driven disposition.
D) bond with a prosocial adult outside the family who cares deeply about the
adolescent’s well-being.
Eleven-year-old Leah has developed a sense of competence at a number of useful skills
and tasks. She has a positive but realistic self-concept and takes pride in her
accomplishments. According to Erikson, Leah has
A) positively resolved the psychological conflict of middle childhood.
B) developed an ideal self that guides her behavior.
C) yet to encounter the psychological conflict of middle childhood.
D) overcome the conflict of role confusion.
Episodes of impotence
A) are more common in midlife.
B) are a sign of serious sexual dysfunction.
C) rarely occur before age 50.
D) are always caused by declining testosterone.
According to Kbler-Ross, when denial, anger, and bargaining fail to postpone the
illness, the person
A) once again tries bargaining.
B) lashes out at loved ones.
C) moves into the acceptance stage.
D) becomes depressed.
According to Levinson, which of the following statements about gender differences in
dreams is true?
A) Men’s dreams tend to define the self in terms of relationships.
B) Most career-oriented women have “split dreams” involving both marriage and
career.
C) Women’s dreams are usually more individualistic than men’s dreams.
D) Most career-oriented men have “split dreams” involving both marriage and career.
Terry is approaching age 50. He can anticipate an accumulation of fat in which areas of
his body?
A) face and legs
B) lower abdomen and face
C) waist and upper arms
D) back and upper abdomen
Studies of sex differences show that
A) worldwide, approximately 106 girls are born for every 100 boys.
B) the proportion of male births has declined in many industrialized countries in recent
decades.
C) rates of miscarriage, infant death, and childhood death are higher among females
than males.
D) rates of mental retardation, learning disabilities, and behavior disorders are higher
among females than males.
At the end of high school, about 65 percent of U.S. young people have had sexual
intercourse; by age 25, __________ have done so.
A) 70 percent
B) 75 percent
C) 80 percent
D) nearly all
In the United States,
A) overweight children usually slim down by adolescence or early adulthood.
B) many people show large weight gains between the ages of 25 and 40.
C) rates of overweight and obesity are starting to decline in low-SES adults.
D) more adults are overweight than obese.
Which of the following is an indicator of survival over the next two years in a very old
person?
A) increased lung capacity
B) low T cell activity
C) high cortisol activity
D) high T cell activity
One limitation of correlational studies is
A) researchers cannot replicate the studies.
B) investigators cannot infer cause and effect.
C) researchers randomly assign participants and manipulate their experiences.
D) age-related changes may be distorted because of participant dropout.
Which of the following statements about creativity in adulthood is true?
A) Mature creativity simply requires originality.
B) Adult expertise often interferes with creativity.
C) Expertise is not necessary for creativity.
D) Creativity is a function of “career age,” not chronological age.
Longitudinal research can identify common patterns as well as individual differences in
behavior because the investigator
A) studies groups of participants differing in age at the same point in time.
B) randomly assigns participants to treatment conditions.
C) tracks the performance of each person over time.
D) conducts quasi-experiments, comparing conditions that already exist.
The __________ of poverty is a trend in which women who support themselves or their
families have become the majority of the adult poverty population.
A) emasculation
B) gender equalization
C) feminization
D) glass ceiling
Seven-year-old Paolo can efficiently arrange a series of sticks of different lengths from
shortest to longest. Paolo has developed an ability called
A) classification.
B) decentration.
C) spatial reasoning.
D) seriation.
On the basis of twin studies and other kinship evidence, researchers estimate that about
__________ of the differences in IQ among children can be traced to their genetic
makeup.
A) a quarter
B) a third
C) half
D) two-thirds
In a study of middle-aged and older adults, theater-training participants showed
__________ than no-intervention controls.
A) fewer gains in working-memory capacity
B) greater gains in problem solving
C) fewer gains in word recall
D) greater gains in verbal IQ
According to Erikson, a sense of __________ can develop in middle childhood when
family life fails to prepare children for school life or when teachers and peers destroy
children’s self-confidence with negative responses.
A) shame
B) mistrust
C) inferiority
D) despair
Which of the following statements about continuing education for older adults is true?
A) Community senior centers experience little demand for course offerings for low-SES
older adults.
B) Continuing education opportunities help older adults overcome their own ingrained
stereotypes of aging.
C) Government-sponsored programs often partially cover Road Scholar costs for
seniors.
D) Higher-educated participants in Road Scholar courses report learning the most from
their experiences.
A form of dementia that involves deterioration in subcortical brain regions is
A) Alzheimer’s disease.
B) cerebrovascular dementia.
C) reversible dementia.
D) Parkinson’s disease.
Which of the following statements about preventing childhood injuries is true?
A) About 27 percent of infant seats are improperly used.
B) As early as 2 or 3 years of age, parents should begin relying on children’s knowledge
of safety rules.
C) Even though they know better, many parents and children behave in ways that
compromise safety.
D) About 40 percent of U.S. parents fail to place their preschoolers in car safety seats.
Nadine, an average-weight adult, gained a small amount of weight between the ages of
25 and 50. Nadine should
know that
A) the weight gain is likely caused by a lack of physical activity.
B) she is at high risk for heart disease.
C) this is a normal part of aging, resulting from a drop in basal metabolic rate.
D) the average woman gains between 2 and 5 pounds a year throughout early and
middle adulthood.
Which of the following contributes to the superiority of Chinese over U.S. children’s
math knowledge?
A) Chinese parents provide their preschoolers with extensive practice in counting and
adding.
B) Chinese schools emphasize drill in computational skills more than U.S. schools.
C) In Chinese classrooms, much less time is spent on underlying math concepts than in
U.S. classrooms.
D) Compared to U.S. schools, multidigit problems are introduced later in Chinese
schools, when children are more cognitively sophisticated.
Telomere shortening predicts
A) earlier death.
B) slower disease progression.
C) persistent psychological stress.
D) longevity.
During the third stage of labor,
A) the cervix thins to nothing.
B) uterine contractions begin.
C) the placenta is delivered.
D) the baby is born.
Stephanie is a new mother. While she is entitled to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave
from work, she returns to her job after only four weeks. What is the most likely reason
for Stephanie’s decision?
A) Financial pressures do not allow her to take more time off without pay.
B) Her husband is more likely to have paid paternity leave.
C) She wants a break from the new caregiving responsibilities.
D) She is unaware of her maternity leave rights.
In the information-processing system, a special part of working memory, called the
__________, directs the flow of information.
A) sensory register
B) central executive
C) permanent knowledge base
D) automatic cognitive processor
U.S. child care settings providing the very worst quality of care tend to serve
__________ families.
A) rural
B) high-SES
C) low-SES
D) middle-SES
Which of the following employees is the most likely to be assigned to a high-risk,
high-visibility leadership role?
A) Gene, a Caucasian-American man
B) Virginia, an African-American woman
C) Redmond, an African-American man
D) Genevieve, a Caucasian-American woman