Developmental Psychology Test

PART 1

1) What term is used to describe changes in size, shape and characteristics of the body?

A) Psychological domain

B) Physical domain

C) Cognitive domain

D) Social domain

2) What term is used to describe changes in thinking, memory, problem solving and other intellectual skills?

A) Psychological domain

B) Physical domain

C) Cognitive domain

D) Social domain

3) What term is used to describe changes in variable that are associated with the relationship of an individual to others?

A) Psychological domain

B) Physical domain

C) Cognitive domain

D) Social domain

4) According to your text, when does middle childhood occur?

A) Once a child enters school

B) Once a child begins talking

C) Once a child begins walking

D) Once a child begins puberty

5) Which of the following are central to the nature-nurture controversy?

A) Environmental continuity and psychological comfort

B) Change triggered by social processes or change caused by cultural influences

C) Inborn biases and genetic predispositions

D) Biological process and experiential factors

 6) Developmental psychologists have observed that babies seem to be born predisposed to respond to people in certain ways, such as crying or smiling, in order to elicit attention from a caregiver. Psychologists call these inherent tendencies

A) cultural biases.

B) maturational patterns.

C) inborn biases.

D) nature and nurture tensions.

7) If puberty begins for girls with the onset of menstruation, puberty could be considered a matter of

A) discontinuity.

B) continuity.

C) quantitative development.

D) ecological development.

8) Which of the following developmental outcomes would be illustrative of the concept of vulnerability?

A) Very low IQ scores are more common among children who were born with a low birth weight and who are reared in highly stressed, uninvolved families.

B) Normal birth weight infants born into upper socioeconomic status families invariably have superior levels of intelligence.

C) Children born into caring, facilitative families rarely have sufficient protective factors to overcome or offset all vulnerabilities that might potentially affect their development.

D) Positive developmental outcome is possible only for children with few vulnerabilities and many protective factors.

9) ) A new medicine for headaches is in clinical trials. The patients who are receiving this new drug are members of which group?

A) The placebo group

B) The control group

C) The experimental group

D) The independent group

10) Erikson’s dilemma of intimacy vs. isolation is associated with what developmental age?

A) Birth to one year

B) 2-3 years

C) 18 - 30 years

D) 30 years to late adulthood

11) Which of the following best defines generativity?

A) A sense of wanting to give back to society and future generations

B) A sense of needing to make up for one’s shortcomings

C) The need to resolve a midlife crisis

D) The need to establish intimate relationships

12) Which of the following is credited with introducing the term operant conditioning?

A) Albert Bandura

B) B.F. Skinner

C) Sigmund Freud

D) Erik Erikson

13) Niko plans to go to a good college. He seems unconcerned about competitive admissions policies because he believes that if he studies hard, he can get in wherever he wants. Bandura would consider this an example of which of the following?

A) A self-fulfilling prophecy

B) Delayed gratification

C) A positive self image

D) Self-efficacy

14) According to the principles of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, how you act at a party depends upon which of the following to guide and direct your behavior?

A) Scheme

B) Memory

C) Reinforcement

D) Sensorimotor skills

15) Three-year-old Tran used to call all flying objects such as airplanes and slowly falling leaves “birds.” Now he correctly labels airplanes, butterflies, birds, and bees. Which Piagetian process has Tran accomplished?

A) Assimilation

B) Concrete operations

C) Accommodation

D) Proximal development

16) In terms of usefulness and reliability, which of the following is true of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory?

A) It is far more useful than information-processing theory because it has more empirical support.

B) It relies too much on empiricism to support its application.

C) There is insufficient evidence at present to either support or contradict most of his theory.

D) It has more empirical and research support than Piaget’s theory.

17) Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory of human development places primary emphasis on

A) children’s biological needs.

B) the interactions among the contexts in which children live and develop.

C) genetic or hereditary patterns.

D) environmental stimuli that elicit and reinforce behavior.

18) An important trend in the study of human development involves incorporating many theoretical perspectives in order to better explain development. Which of the following describes this approach?

A) Multiculturalism

B) Eclecticism

C) The cross-modal approach

D) The stages of change model

19) What is the term for the pattern of inheritance in which many genes influence a trait?

A) Polymorphic inheritance

B) Polygenic inheritance

C) Monomorphic inheritance

D) Monogenic inheritance

20) Skylar has brown eyes, thin lips and curly brown hair. Which of these traits is polygenic?

A) Brown eyes

B) Thin lips

C) Curly hair

D) Brown hair

21) Which of the following is one of the ideas summarized by Rutter et al. regarding multi-factorial inheritance?

A) People act on their environment but are unable to shape and select their own experiences.

B) There is an interaction between nature and nurture.

C) Individuals react similarly to environmental influences.

D) Ethology explains the interplay between a person’s genes and their environment.

22) Which of the following is an autosomal dominant disorder?

A) Huntington’s disease

B) Phenylketonuria

C) Sickle-cell disease

D) Tay-Sachs disease

23) Which of the following individuals has the greatest risk for bearing a child with trisomy 21?

A) Mrs. Jones, who is 18 and has been addicted to drugs

B) Mrs. Black, age 45

C) Mrs. Garcia, age 30, who had in vitro fertilization

D) Mrs. Wallace, age 27, who is having her seventh child

24) A blastocyst is floating inside of Daria’s uterus. In what stage is Daria’s pregnancy?

A) Fetal

B) Embryonic

C) Zygotic

D) Germinal

25) Mrs. Lincoln is receiving information and advice about prenatal care from her health care team. With regard to alcohol, what advice will they most likely give Mrs. Lincoln?

A) Drink only in moderation.

B) Avoid alcohol entirely.

C) Avoid liquors such as whiskey and bourbon, but beer and wine in moderation are acceptable.

D) Limit drinking to two drinks per week.

PART 2

1) An infant’s sleep/wake cycle lasts approximately how long?

A) 30 to 45 minutes

B) 4 - 6 hours

C) 2 hours

D) 8 hours

2) Which of the following is true regarding colic?

A) Almost all infants develop colic.

B) Colic is a pattern of intense daily periods of crying for one to three hours per day.

C) The cause of colic is usually an allergy to infant formula.

D) Colic typically begins at about two weeks of age and then disappears spontaneously at three or four months of age.

3) Moesha and Nick have a newborn. If their baby is an average infant, by his first birthday he will have had which of the following?

A) Measles

B) Several instances of sleep apnea

C) No illnesses whatsoever

D) Seven respiratory illnesses

4) What is the leading cause of death in the United States among infants between the ages of one month and one year?

A) Accidents

B) Respiratory infections

C) Micronutrient deficiency

D) Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

5) Your daughter is 20 months old. Which of the following statements is most likely true regarding her auditory acuity and skills?

A) While her auditory acuity is as good as an adult’s, she does not yet have the ability to locate sounds.

B) She has the ability to locate sounds but is not yet able to distinguish between pitch and loudness.

C) Both her auditory acuity and ability to locate sound are not likely to full develop for another four months.

D) Her auditory acuity and ability to distinguish location of sound is nearly as good as that of an adult.

6) Which of the following is a correct statement regarding the research of Renee Baillargeon?

A) Strategies for learning are innate.

B) Knowledge about objects is present at birth.

C) Knowledge about learning is not innate.

D) Strategies for learning are learned.

7) Permanent changes in behavior that result from experience are examples of:

A) procession.

B) learning.

C) molding.

D) conservation.

8) Most of us speak in high pitched voices when speaking to a young child. Which of the following terms best describes this type of speaking?

A) Infant directed speech

B) IDA

C) LAD

D) Language encouragement

9) Babbling with a rising intonation seems to signal

A) the onset of language reception.

B) a desire for a response.

C) anger.

D) boredom.

10) Naming explosion typically occurs around what age?

A) 8 - 10 months

B) 12 - 18 months

C) 11 - 14 months

D) 16 - 24 months

 11) Callie, age 11 months, went to the circus with her mother. When a clown came bouncing up to Callie’s stroller, Callie was anxious and looked at her mother. When Callie’s mother began to laugh at the clown, Callie joined in the laughter. Callie’s behavior is called:

A) affective regulation.

B) social referencing.

C) stranger anxiety.

D) bonding dependence.

12) Which of the following is one of the countries which has the greatest percentage of securely attached children?

A) Great Britain

B) Japan

C) United States

D) Germany

13) The emotional and behavioral predispositions present at birth are thought to be the foundation of personality. These predispositions are collectively referred to as

A) foundations.

B) temperament.

C) moods.

D) motivations.

14) Which of the following is true regarding the long-term stability of temperament?

A) The research data varies greatly so we can’t draw any reliable conclusions on the longevity of temperament. B) Temperament remains stable through the age of 2 years, but then it becomes unpredictable.

C) Difficult children tend to demonstrate the greatest level of instability in temperament.

D) Most studies have found that the basic temperament of a child stays relatively stable at least through age 12.

15) Which of the following groups of children is most likely to experience some negative effects from non-familial day care?

A) African-American children from middle-class homes

B) White children

C) Children from affluent homes

D) Children from lower socio-economic classes

16) Which of the following is a suggestion made by pediatricians to help children develop effective bedtime practices?

A) Allow the child to sleep with the parents on occasion.

B) Eliminate transitional objects that have been reserved for bedtime.

C) All children under age 13 should be in bed by 6 pm.

D) Provide the child with a structured, predictable daytime schedule.

17) What does your book suggest about children’s eating habits?

A) If a child shows little appetite, allow him to eat his favorite foods for a while -- even if they are sweets.

B) Parents should set a regular pattern for meals and insist the child eat everything on her plate as a way of trying new things.

C) Parents of young children should keep a daily food diary until the child is about 3 years old.

D) Allow the child’s appetite to guide to how much food he eats.

18) Which of the following is an example of a socio-cultural influence that could make physical abuse of children more likely?

A) The belief that children have rights

B) Social norms for humane treatment of children

C) The belief that children are property

D) Stressful employment conditions

19) Which of the following is a stage in cognitive development from birth to age seven, according to Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development?

A) Expressive stage

B) Conservation stage

C) Altruistic stage

D) Private speech stage

20) Which of the following activities would help a child develop phonological awareness?

A) Memorization

B) Listening to an adult speak a foreign language

C) Dialogic reading

D) Speaking a second language

 21) Georgia feels sad whenever she sees homeless people. She worries that they are cold at night and may not have enough to eat. Hoffman would suggest that Georgia is exhibiting which of the following?

A) Empathy for another’s life condition

B) Global empathy

C) Personal empathy

D) Empathy for another’s feelings

22) If Matthew understands gender stability, which of the following will he likely assume?

A) Specific activities and personal characteristics as “for girls” or “for boys”

B) That he will grow up and be a daddy

C) That he prefers to play with boys rather than girls

D) That Mommy will still be a girl even if she wears Daddy’s cap and overalls and does Daddy’s job of changing the oil in the car

23) Which of the following terms is used to describe behavior that is not typical of one’s own gender?

A) Homosexual

B) Transgendered

C) Cross-typed

D) Cross-gender

24) Which of the following is the best example of the typical pattern of obedience to parents’ wishes for a two-year-old?

A) When his mother said, “Be careful! Don’t spill your juice!” Benjamin angrily threw the glass on the floor.

B) When her father said, “No, you can’t talk to Gramma now,” Elizabeth alternately whined and threw tantrums for thirty minutes.

C) When his father said, “Let’s go, it is beginning to rain,” William said, “No! Won’t go!” and continued to play.

D) When Muhammed’s mother said, “Don’t touch that! It’s hot!” Muhammed pulled away from the stove.

25) In a study of how ethnicity and socioeconomic status interact with parenting styles, researchers found that which parenting style was linked to positive outcomes for African American and Asian American adolescents?

A) Authoritative

B) Authoritarian

C) Permissive

D) Uninvolved

PART 3

1) Of the following events in boys’ puberty, which typically occurs earliest?

A) Growth of the genitals

B) Peak of the growth spurt

C) Growth of a beard

D) Lowering of the voice

2) Which of the following statements about sex education programs is correct?

A) All sex education programs are effective.

B) Most sex education programs are effective.

C) Most sex education programs are ineffective.

D) There is no clear consensus on the effectiveness of sex education programs.

3) Which of the following terms applies to a person whose psychological gender does not match their physical sex?

A) Homosexual

B) Transgendered

C) Transfixed

D) Cross-typed

4) Among teenagers, what is the most commonly used illicit drug?

A) Alcohol

B) Cocaine

C) Marijuana

D) Diet pills

5) What percentage of high school students in the U.S. have seriously considered suicide?

A) 1%

B) 5%

C) 15%

D) 25%

6) Fourteen-year-old Muhammed won a contest sponsored by the local newspaper to celebrate a championship basketball game. The object of the contest was to determine how many words could be made from the word “score.” Which newly developed ability of formal operational thought would have been most helpful to Muhammed?

A) The ability to reason about objects or situations not previously seen or experienced

B) The ability to search systematically and methodologically for the solutions to a problem

C) The ability to use ethical principles for decision-making

D) The ability to start with a theory and a prediction and arrive at a conclusion

7) Which of the following is an accurate statement about adolescents’ development of formal operational thinking?

A) Formal operational reasoning enables adolescents to understand figurative language, such as metaphors.

B) An adolescent’s decision-making can include here-and-now factors but not future possibilities.

C) Nearly all adolescents are engaged in formal operational thinking by the twelfth grade.

D) Higher education is of little use in the development of formal operational thinking.

8) Which of the following statements is true regarding teenagers as they progress through adolescence?

A) Their self-concepts become more concrete.

B) Their self-concepts are increasingly tied to their physical characteristics.

C) They increasingly define themselves in terms of enduring traits, beliefs, moral standards or personal philosophies.

D) They are increasingly dependent on their parents for their identity.

9) How many levels are there in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

A) 6

B) 4

C) 5

D) 3

10) Dr. Gardner provides his history class with a syllabus that outlines the rules and procedures the class will follow to ensure a comfortable environment for all. Dr. Gardner emphasizes that if the rules seem unfair or cause a hardship, he is willing to negotiate new rules. This philosophy of class management is most consistent with which stage of Kohlberg’s moral reasoning?

A) Universal ethical principles

B) Social contract

C) Law-and-order orientation

D) Naive hedonism

11) If you believe that there are distinct differences in the way that boys and girls perceive moral dilemmas, which theorist would you most likely support?

A) Lawrence Kohlberg

B) Carol Gilligan

C) Samuel Elkind

D) Nancy Eisenberg

12) Sixteen-year-olds are more likely to assume which of the following about conflict resolution?

A) The problems will just go away or work themselves out.

B) It is best to leave for a while and come back when you no longer feel like arguing.

C) If you are going to take something back that you said, then you’d better mean it.

D) It is best to sit down and talk things out right away

13) Which of the following is likely to be true of social interactions in later adolescence?

A) Belonging to a clique of high status becomes more important.

B) Adolescents who don’t belong to a clique or a crowd tend to date more frequently.

C) Mutual friendships and dating pairs become more important than cliques or crowds.

D) Dating pairs replace mutual friendships.

14) What is the noticeable effect among adults experiencing age-based systematic decreases in cardiac output and maximum oxygen uptake?

A) Immune system functioning is less efficient.

B) There is a loss of bone mineral and an increase in the wear and tear of the joints.

C) Tissues in all parts of the body become more elastic and flexible.

D) There is a general loss of strength and speed.

15) Locus of control is best defined by which of the following?

A) An individual’s beliefs about the causes of events

B) An individual’s levels of optimism and pessimism

C) An individual’s self-concept

D) An individual’s ability to make something happen

16) In which of the following groups is the rate of syphilis increasing?

A) African-Americans of both sexes

B) Homosexual men

C) White Americans of both sexes

D) African-American homosexual men

17) According to the World Health Organization, which country has the lowest rate of physical abuse among women?

A) Switzerland

B) The United States

C) Canada

D) Mexico

18) Gregory experiences irrational fear when he is in high places, such as an elevator or on a bridge. Most likely, Gregory is suffering from which of the following?

A) Bi-polar disorder

B) A phobia

C) A mood disorder

D) Depression

19) What is the name of the “5th stage of cognitive development” which many theorists believe applies to young adulthood?

A) Formal operational thought

B) Postformal thought

C) Postcognitive thought

D) Postrelative thinking

20) Which of the following is an aspect of love, according to Sternberg?

A) Lust

B) Commitment

C) Infatuation

D) Novelty

21) Which of the following is proposed by Blackwell and Lichter as a possible reason why cohabiting couples are more likely to get divorced if they marry?

A) Cohabiting couples tend to be more similar than those who do not cohabitate.

B) They are more likely to be monogamous than couples who do not cohabitate.

C) They are less likely to be monogamous than couples who do not cohabitate.

D) Cohabiting couples tend to be less homogamous than those who do not cohabitate.

22) How does the social clock in United States culture affect the age at which women have children in the 21st century?

A) Women are more likely to remain single, but still bear children.

B) Many believe that people should be socially and economically stable before bringing children into the world. C) Many believe that it is even more important to find a husband who is financially stable now than in the 20th century.

D) The average age at which a woman delivers her first child is now almost 30.

23) When comparing women’s jobs with men’s jobs, which of the following statements is most accurate?

A) The job stereotypes of the past have pretty much been eliminated.

B) Women’s jobs are concentrated in service occupations that are typically lower in status and lower paid.

C) Men’s jobs tend be less varied, but higher in both status and income.

D) Seventy-five percent of all working women hold clerical jobs.

24) Which type of person prefers professional activities that are structured, have clear guidelines, and consider themselves accurate and precise?

A) Realistic

B) Investigative

C) Conventional

D) Artistic

25) Which of the following is true in women who have paid employment?

A) They divide the family work equally with their husbands.

B) They have little conflict or difficulty establishing priorities between work and family responsibilities.

C) Their work satisfaction goes up with age.

D) They experience sequential family and work roles.

PART 4

1) Which of the following is a condition of primary aging characterized by loss of bone mass and brittle, porous bones?

A) Osteoporosis

B) Perthes’ disease

C) Hypothyroidism

D) Rickets

2) Which of the following viruses is linked to cancers of the nose and throat?

A) Epstein-Barr

B) Heliobacter

C) hMPV

D) HIV

3) Which of the following is a true statement regarding the relationship between gender and health?

A) In general, men complain about their health more than women do.

B) Women tend to live longer but they also have more diseases and disabilities.

C) Men die younger and tend to have more diseases and disabilities.

D) Men are more likely to describe their health as poor than are women.

4) Which of the following is one of the hypotheses as to why diabetes has a more devastating effect on minority individuals than on whites?

A) They are likely to contract the disease earlier in life so it has a longer time to adversely affect the body.

B) They are likely to be in poorer health overall.

C) They are more likely to contract juvenile diabetes and then develop adult onset diabetes later.

D) They are less likely to adequately manage their diabetes.

5) What is the name of the drug that can help recovering alcoholics deal with withdrawal symptoms?

A) Antabuse

B) Methyltrexate

C) Acamprosate

D) Acetaminophen

6) What is the term used by Baltes and Baltes to refer to the process of balancing the gains and losses associated with aging?

A) Senescence

B) Selective remembering with mnemonic compensation

C) Selective optimization with compensation

D) Judicial optimization of resources

7) A researcher who is testing the cognitive functioning of middle-aged adults would find which of the following to be true of her subjects regarding well-rehearsed, familiar tasks?

A) They would have difficulty performing them

B) They will show gradual decrements

C) They perceive impaired performance

D) They maintain or gain in skill

8) What does the term “Peter Pandemonium” refer to?

A) Adults who are over-anxious to get their grown children out of the house

B) Adolescents who leave home

C) Young adults who don’t want to grow up

D) Children who leave home and then return

9) Which of the following statements about the role of grandparents is correct?

A) Grandfathers and grandmothers have equally broad and intimate roles with their grand children.

B) Grandfathers have a broader and more intimate role with their grandchildren than grandmothers do.

C) Grandmothers have a broader and more intimate role with their grandchildren than grandfathers do.

D) Grandparents typically do not have broad or intimate roles with their grandchildren.

10) Which of the following best describes best-friend relationships in mid-life?

A) The level of intimacy increases as the frequency of interaction declines.

B) The frequency of interaction decreases but the level of intimacy remains stable.

C) The number of friendships stays the same but the level of intimacy declines.

D) Both the frequency and level of intimacy decline over time.

11) Which of the following would be a typical response for a middle-aged man who is dissatisfied with his job?

A) Quit and find a new job

B) Complain to his friends about it and do nothing

C) Negotiate with his boss to try to change the working situation to better fit his needs

D) Resign himself to the fact that he has to change and adjust to the dissatisfaction

12) Many potential employers believe that middle-aged workers are less able to learn new computer skills than their young-adult counterparts. This is an example of which of the following?

A) Reality

B) Compensation

C) Selective optimization

D) Ageism

13) When I retire I plan to continue teaching one class per semester and spend the rest of my time doing whatever I please. Dychtwald would classify me as which type of retiree?

A) Anxious idealist

B) Stretched and stressed

C) Leisure lifer

D) Wealth builder

14) Which of the following is a change that occurs in the brain during the adult years?

A) Faster synaptic speed

B) A gain of gray matter

C) A reduction of brain weight

D) A pruning of the synapses to eliminate redundant neural connections

15) Which of the following is the name of the theory which says that aging is a result of species- specific genes? A) Programmed senescence theory

B) Telomeric theory

C) The Hayflick limit

D) Race-specific DNA theory 

16) Which of the following suggests that all adults retain excellent function until their physical and mental functioning plummets in the few years before death?

A) The spiral hypothesis

B) The downward trajectory hypothesis

C) The sundowning factor

D) The terminal drop hypothesis

17) Mr. Garrett often overeats, complaining that he feels hungry all the time. His doctor has suggested that this problem is due to a malfunction in the sensation associated with blood sugar levels known as

A) deprivation.

B) satiety.

C) insulin.

D) diabetes.

18) Which of the following is a common cause of dementia?

A) Anxiety

B) Obesity

C) Multiple blows to the head

D) Schizophrenia

19) How are the length of time in the U.S., English language skills, and depression correlated among elderly Chinese and Mexican immigrants?

A) They are not correlated.

B) They are negatively correlated.

C) They are positively correlated.

D) There is a positive correlation among Hispanic immigrants and a negative correlation among Chinese immigrants.

20) Which of the following describes the component of successful aging that involves a willingness to learn new things?

A) Cognitive adventurousness

B) Social engagement

C) Cognitive dissonance

D) Acceptance of changes 

21) Which of the following is an effect of volunteerism upon older adults?

A) Increased mortality rate

B) Increased extroversion and decreased introversion in personality

C) Improved life satisfaction

D) Decreased health

22) Nick and Kathy love to play golf and swim. They recently moved to an apartment complex in Florida where everyone is about their age or perhaps a little older. They live autonomously but share common interests with their many neighbors and enjoy socializing on an almost daily basis. Nick and Kathy are probably living in which of the following?

A) A skilled nursing facility

B) An assisted living center

C) A CCRC

D) An independent living community

23) About 65% of the elderly in the United States live ________ of at least one of their children.

A) within 50 miles

B) within about an hour

C) within walking distance

D) within 15 minute

24) Statistically, which of the following i most likely to be living in poverty as an older adult?

A) Asian women

B) Hispanic American women

C) African American women

D) Native American women

25) How are older adults typically evaluated by management in the work place?

A) As being harder to train than younger employees

B) As being more reliable than younger employees

C) As being less cognitively skilled than younger employees

D) As being more reliable, but less valuable than younger employees