Deck 17: Emerging Adulthood

Question 1

Describe the impact of the college experience on cognitive development. Discuss ways in which college has improved in recent years and ways in which it has become less effective.

Answer 1

College has historically led to improvements in postformal thinking.
In the past, over the four years of college, students became 1) better abstract reasoners or critical thinkers, 2) more skilled at using reason and evidence to address ill-structured problems for which there are no verifiably correct answers, 3) more intellectually flexible in that they are better able to understand more than one side of a complex issue, and 4) better able to develop more sophisticated abstract frameworks to deal with complexity.
Modern students 1) show only half as much growth in critical thinking, analysis, and communication over four years, and 2) in the first two years, almost half of the students made no cognitive advances.

Question 2

Maximum height for girls is usually reached by age _____.

Answer 2

16 (sixteen)

Question 3

Describe four ways in which adult thinking differs from adolescent thinking.

Answer 3

Adult and adolescent thinking differ in multiple ways. Adult thinking is more 1) flexible, 2) practical, 3) creative, and 4) dialectical (which means more capable of combining contradictory elements into a comprehensive whole). This means that adults are 5) less likely to take unreasonable risks, and they are 6) more likely to make decisions based more on facts than on feelings.

Question 4

The period of life during which 18- to 25-year-old men and women continue their education and exploration, often postponing marriage, parenthood, and career, is called _____.

Question 5

Your friend has just celebrated her 21st birthday, and she is concerned that "it is all downhill from here." Based on what you have learned, give your friend three positive facts about the physical effects of emerging adulthood.

Question 6

Name and describe at least three characteristics of the proposed fifth stage of cognitive development.

Question 7

Explain fast and slow aging as well as three factors that affect them.

Question 8

The optimal years in a person's life for reproduction and hard physical work are between the ages of 18 and _____.

Question 9

Postformal thinking differs from earlier thinking in three major ways: It is more _____, more flexible, and more dialectical.

Question 10

Maximum height for boys is usually reached by age _____.

Question 11

The low rate of serious disease between ages 18 and 25 is counterbalanced by a high rate of _____, especially among young males.

Question 12

Describe Erikson's stage of intimacy versus isolation.

Question 13

Some people experience aging three times _____ than others.

Question 14

Define massification and describe the impact that a college education has on wealth.

Question 15

Describe how today's emerging adults seek to achieve vocational identity, and note the typical employment pattern during the emerging adulthood years.

Question 16

Building on Piaget's four stages of cognitive development, some developmentalists have proposed an additional stage referred to as _____ thought.

Question 17

Define stereotype threat and detail how it might explain women's comparatively low participation in technological fields.

Question 18

Young males have always experienced what demographers call a(n) _____ at about age 20.

Question 19

Emerging-adult men are murdered at _____ times the rate of 45-year-old men.

Question 20

How might risk taking by emerging adults be both destructive and beneficial? Include two specific examples of both destructive and beneficial risk taking.

Question 21

In Erikson's theory of development, after achieving identity, the sixth developmental crisis a person must face is intimacy versus _____.

Question 22

Emerging adults who once were independent and who now live with their parents are known as _____.

Question 23

There is a noticeable trend among emerging adults to postpone, but not totally reject, the commitment of _____.

Question 24

Postformal thought is more practical as well as more creative and imaginative than earlier stages of thinking.

Question 25

The years between ages 18 and 25 are optimal for safe reproduction and hard physical work.

Question 26

The period of development characterized by the postponement of marriage, parenthood, and work is now referred to as late adolescence.

Question 27

Taking risks can benefit an individual's development.

Question 28

Sophia is a 60-year-old retired woman whose daughter recently had her first child. Sophia will be taking care of her grandchild so that her daughter can return to work. The intertwining of the needs and experiences of these family members, all at different stages of life, is referred to as _____.

Question 29

Emerging adults rarely experience serious illness.

Question 30

Some argue that emerging adulthood may only exist in _____ countries.

Question 31

The idea that college is not just for the elite but for everyone is known as _____.

Question 32

An unfortunate consequence of _____ threat is that it can be self-handicapping.

Question 33

A sexual interaction between partners who know little about each other, perhaps having met a few hours before, is known as a(n) _____.

Question 34

The rate of risk taking is much higher in females than males.

Question 35

Students from _____ backgrounds show the biggest health and wealth benefits from a college education.

Question 36

_____ is an arrangement in which an unmarried couple live together in a committed romantic relationship.

Question 37

The possibility that one's appearance or behavior will be misread to confirm another person's oversimplified, prejudiced attitude is referred to as _____.

Question 38

Some research finds that thinking becomes more reflective and expansive with each _____ at college.

Question 39

The identity crisis may cause confusion, foreclosure, or the more mature response of seeking a _____.

Question 40

Health habits in emerging adulthood do not affect health in middle age.

Question 41

An adult's need for intimacy is generally only fulfilled by a romantic partner.

Question 42

Cognitive flexibility, particularly the ability to change childhood assumptions, is needed to counter stereotypes.

Question 43

The possibility of being negatively stereotyped arouses emotions that could disrupt cognition or emotional regulation.

Question 44

Every year of college historically improved cognitive abilities.

Question 45

Being exposed to a diverse array of people in college should contribute to deeper thought and intellectual challenge.

Question 46

During emerging adulthood, those who did not attend college are more likely to change jobs than those who attended college.

Question 47

A reasonable response to the identity search is to seek a moratorium, postponing identity achievement while exploring possibilities.

Question 48

Today, struggles involving identity are usually resolved in adolescence.

Question 49

Many developmentalists now believe that there is actually a fourth stage of cognitive development called postformal thought.

Question 50

In the United States today, a couple's first shared household is more likely to involve cohabitation, not marriage.

Question 51

One reason that other nations have greater massification than the United States is that in these nations college tuition is lower.

Question 52

Emerging adults today often have stronger links with their parents than young adults did in the past.

Question 53

There is less diversity among students on college campuses today than there was in 1970.

Question 54

The number of students in college is decreasing in every nation in the world; this phenomenon is known as massification.

Question 55

Emerging adults are marrying at younger ages than in the past.

Question 56

As students progress through college, they usually are less able to see multiple perspectives.

Question 57

The average young adult holds one or two distinct jobs between ages 18 and 25.

Question 58

The characteristics of postformal thought (practical, flexible, dialectical) are evident as the brain matures.

Question 59

Students who are about to graduate from college are likely to believe that there are clear and absolute truths to discover.

Question 60

Erik Erikson's sixth developmental crisis occurs during emerging adulthood and is known as intimacy versus independence.

Question 61

A person between the ages of 18 and 25 is considered to be in the developmental stage of _____.

A) adulthood
B) emerging adulthood
C) postadolescence
D) young adulthood

Question 62

"Boomerang" refers to emerging adults who _____.

A) once were independent but now live at home
B) never know what their parents are doing
C) refuse to participate in their parents' lives
D) live at home because their parents want them to

Question 63

Because young males have always been risk takers, demographers describe a(n) _____.

A) death increase
B) accident hump
C) dismemberment expansion
D) injury growth

Question 64

The sexual-reproductive system is at its strongest during _____.

A) adolescence
B) emerging adulthood
C) middle adulthood
D) late adulthood

Question 65

The ability to change stereotyped assumptions that one made in childhood is _____.

A) needed to develop stereotypes
B) an indication of cognitive flexibility
C) unusual among emerging adults
D) undesirable, as it interferes with cultural norms

Question 66

The fifth of Erik Erikson's eight stages of development (identity versus role confusion) starts in adolescence, but it is completed _____.

A) before adulthood
B) at the end of puberty
C) during adulthood
D) during adolescence

Question 67

Currently, emerging adulthood is characterized by _____.

A) marriage
B) parenthood
C) attainment of education
D) consistent employment

Question 68

Hans is a 21-year-old American. According to the text, Hans is in the developmental stage of _____.

A) late adolescence
B) emerging adulthood
C) early adulthood
D) young adulthood

Question 69

Whereas Piaget focused on problem solving in child and adolescent cognitive development, postformal thought focuses on _____.

A) absolute right and wrong
B) the ability to understand complexities
C) rigidity of thought
D) a single logic

Question 70

Almost all unmarried young adults in Italy and Japan _____.

A) go to college
B) start working directly after high school graduation
C) live with their parents
D) have children

Question 71

In emerging adulthood, every body system (including the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, muscular, and sexual-reproductive systems) _____.

A) functions optimally
B) is still developing
C) is beginning to deteriorate
D) needs to be examined by a doctor annually

Question 72

According to Erikson's theory, the crisis that follows identity achievement is called _____.

A) intimacy versus isolation
B) identity versus intimacy
C) affiliation versus identity
D) intimacy commitment versus lonely isolation

Question 73

Chanel has recently finished high school and is now attending college. After earning her undergraduate degree, she plans to continue on to graduate school. In addition, Chanel is not seriously dating anyone and thinks marriage and parenthood are years away. Chanel is at which developmental stage?

A) late adolescence
B) emerging adulthood
C) extended adolescence
D) young adulthood

Question 74

Which statement about diversity on college campuses is true?

A) The increased diversity of the student body on campuses is a distraction to students and inhibits cognitive growth.
B) The increased diversity of the student body on campuses may lead to a better understanding of others but not of the self.
C) The increased diversity of the student body on campuses can lead to increased intellectual challenge and deeper thought.
D) The increased diversity of the student body on campuses has no effect on learning.

Question 75

When a person is concerned that other people might judge them poorly because of their ethnicity, sex, age, or appearance, they are experiencing _____

A) stereotype threat
B) mirror-image judgments
C) dialectical thinking
D) ethnic diversity

Question 76

The best predictor of whether or not someone will earn a college degree is _____.

A) parental SES
B) whether their friends are going to college
C) vocational identity
D) cognitive development

Question 77

Biologically, emerging adulthood has traditionally been the optimal time for hard physical work and _____.

A) job success
B) relationship problems
C) decreased risk taking
D) safe reproduction

Question 78

Despite striving for independence and achievement, most emerging adults today continue to have "linked lives" with their parents by _____.

A) being affected by their parents and affecting their parents
B) giving time and money to their parents
C) having their parents live with them
D) caring for their parents' medical needs

Question 79

Which is the leading cause of death among people age 15 to 25?

A) accidents
B) cancer
C) heart disease
D) stroke

Question 80

Which statement is true about emerging adulthood?

A) It is a time when full adult roles are established.
B) This developmental stage has always existed.
C) Universal trends, including longer educational tracks and later first-time parenthood, have "created" this stage.
D) All individuals between the ages of 18 and 30 are now considered to be in this stage.