Deck 1: Introduction

Question 1

Explain the differences between Gesell's idea of maturationism and Watson's idea of environmentalism.

Answer 1

Nature vs nurture, innate vs learned, environment does not affect ontogeny vs environment shapes ontogeny

Question 2

Why did the idea that experiences during infancy may not have a lasting impact on development gain traction?

Answer 2

Over-reliance on linear models of development that hold that early experiences have obvious and direct short- and long-term effects

Question 3

Describe the transactional model and give an example for its importance in development.

Answer 3

Inherited constitution and experienced environment mutually influence one another during the course of development; examples: prematurity, early behavioral adjustment, the role of culture in shaping the parent-infant context, and child maltreatment

Question 4

What period of a person's life is considered infancy?

A) Infancy is the period of life between birth and the emergence of language roughly 1.5 to 2 years later.
B) Infancy is the period of life between conception and the emergence of language roughly 1.5 to 2 years later.
C) Infancy is the period of life between birth and the emergence of walking roughly 1 to 1.5 years later.
D) Infancy is the period of life between conception and the emergence of walking roughly 1 to 1.5 years later.

Question 5

Which is NOT an example of a structure?

A) Hippocampus, a special part of the brain that only has 3 layers.
B) Sweat on your palms when experiencing a stressful situation.
C) Sore muscles after running a marathon.
D) Limbic system, often referred to as the emotional brain.

Question 6

Key questions in infancy research deal with

A) Status, i.e., how developed a structure or function is.
B) Function, i.e., what use a structure or ability provides.
C) Determinants, i.e., what shapes development.
D) All of the above.

Question 7

What is epistemology?

A) The study of the origins of knowledge and how it changes.
B) The study of the causes and effects of health and disease conditions.
C) The study of the history of developmental psychology.
D) The study of the relationship between parents and their offspring.

Question 8

Which of the following statements is false about an EMPIRICIST?

A) He believes that infants are born with an understanding of what an object is.
B) He believes that a fetus can learn to discriminate the mother's voice from a stranger's voice.
C) He believes that infants develop an understanding of the principle of gravity through experience.
D) He believes that infants do not have any innate concept of social agents.

Question 9

What was John Locke's school of thought about infants?

A) Infants are born with a rich endowment of knowledge.
B) Infants perceive the world as a blooming, buzzing confusion.
C) Infants are born as empty slates.
D) Infants experience the world through limited senses.

Question 10

The transactional model

A) Viewed development as a dynamic process between heredity, experience, and time.
B) Viewed development as a static process in which either heredity or experience was central.
C) Viewed development as a dynamic process where parental input crucially shaped children's development.
D) Viewed development as a dynamic process in which children seek out experiences that will aid their development.

Question 11

Children with a specific version of the DRD4 gene respond more strongly to the quality of parenting. This is an example of

A) A species-typical tendency.
B) Maturationism.
C) Epigenesis.
D) A heritable influence.

Question 12

Which of the following factors is not a nonshared environmental factor of development?

A) Being the youngest child in the family.
B) Vitamin D deficiency due to lack of sunshine in the winter time.
C) Allergies.
D) Being the teacher's favorite.

Question 13

Genie was a victim of lifelong child abuse and was kept without language. When she was freed and taught language later on, she never learned proper grammar. This is an example

A) Of the sensitive period hypothesis.
B) That maintenance can only happen when experiences occur in a certain time of development.
C) That language development is a species-typical tendency.
D) Of a shared environmental factor.

Question 14

What group of theorists thought that certain experiences have maximal influence over development if they occur at a specific time?

A) Psychoanalysts.
B) Ethologists.
C) Behaviorists.
D) Learning theorists.

Question 15

The rate of habituation in infancy has been found to predict children's IQ at 8 years of age. This is an example of

A) Normative development.
B) Homotypic stability.
C) Heterotypic stability.
D) A main effect.

Question 16

What factors argue against the existence of fixed stages of development?

A) There are individual differences in the timing and order of development.
B) Stage theories are descriptive rather than explanatory.
C) Development is often not unidirectional, i.e., sometimes regression is necessary for development to advance.
D) All of the above.

Question 17

Which of the following statements is true about systems models of early development?

A) One developmental change leads to other changes in related systems.
B) Development takes place in each system independently.
C) Experiences during infancy do not impact later behavior.
D) Maturation determines infants' behavior.

Question 18

What did the nativist philosopher Descartes think about infants?

A) He thought that they are born as a "tabula rasa".
B) He thought that they have ideas that help them make sense of the world around them.
C) He thought that early experiences and infants' biological endowment shape infants' development.
D) None of the above.

Question 19

Professor Jones tested a group of 8-month-old infants who were born two months before their due dates and a group of full-term 6-month-old infants. These infants match in

A) Experiental age.
B) Conceptional age.
C) Postnatal age.
D) None of the above.

Question 20

Freud believed that

A) Experiences during the oral phase lead to differences in sexual orientation in adulthood.
B) Experiences during the oral phase shape a person's stubbornness and obsessiveness.
C) Experiences during the anal phase shape a person's stubbornness and obsessiveness.
D) Experiences during the anal phase lead to differences in sexual orientation in adulthood.

Question 21

Erikson believed that

A) Early feeding experiences shape a person's trust.
B) Early feeding experiences shape a person's autonomy.
C) Early feeding experiences shape a person's sexual orientation.
D) Early feeding experiences shape a person's tendency for obesity.

Question 22

Some infants start crawling at 7 months, others at 10 months, and some infants never crawl at all. This is an example of

A) Normative development.
B) Homotypic stability.
C) Individual variation.
D) None of the above.

Question 23

Jerome Kagan, a major proponent of the discontinuity hypothesis, believes that

A) Maturation is a major factor in development.
B) Home and day care settings do not affect an infant's development much.
C) Even extremely impoverished rearing conditions do not derail an infant's development.
D) All of the above.

Question 24

What are some of the reasons for studying infancy?

A) To inform science, parents, and society as a whole about how infants develop and what should be done to gain the best outcomes for them.
B) To give infants research experiences early on.
C) To allow nonparents to interact with infants.
D) All of the above.

Question 25

Which of the following are consequences of cocaine use during pregnancy?

A) Infants are born with a dependence on the drug.
B) Infants are at a higher risk for seizures.
C) Infants are at a higher risk for respiratory distress.
D) All of the above.

Question 26

What are the estimated costs of raising a child born in 2010 to a middle-income family?

A) $153,000
B) $227,000
C) $286,000
D) $512,000

Question 27

What are some of the developmental implications for an infant who just learned to walk?

A) The infant can explore her environment independently.
B) Adults treat her differently.
C) The infant can approach or withdraw from others more easily.
D) All of the above.

Question 28

Which of these questions is NOT a chief question that Tinbergen raises about why a certain behavior occurs?

A) What survival value does the behavior have?
B) How did this behavior evolve throughout our species' history?
C) How can drugs cure a negative behavior?
D) How do internal and external factors shape behavior?

Question 29

What are the three false beliefs about biological influences on development? Give a concrete example for each one.

Question 30

It has been found that participation in Head Start is associated with a significantly increased probability of completing high school and attending college. Moreover, researchers have found some evidence of elevated earnings in Head Start participants in their early twenties. Discuss the importance of this research from a scientific and political standpoint.