Deck 2: Theories of Development

Question 1

Erik Erikson's psychosocial theory would suggest that the best way to help toddlers develop a sense of autonomy would be to

A) be patient and allow the child to do things on her own, even if she struggles a bit.
B) allow the child to make his own decisions about what he wants to eat and when he wants to eat it.
C) let the child learn by watching other children of her own age, rather than getting help from an adult.
D) hold very high standards for the child and be critical of the child's performance when the child doesn't meet your expectations.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In Freud's psychoanalytic theory, the basic drives, such as sex and hunger, are contained in the

A) id.
B) ego.
C) unconscious.
D) superego.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In Erikson's psychosocial theory, the developmental challenge of infancy is the issue of

A) initiative versus guilt.
B) trust versus mistrust.
C) autonomy versus shame.
D) intimacy versus isolation.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Psychoanalytic theory focuses on the internal process of the mind, but learning theories focus on

A) conscious motivation.
B) adaptive biological mechanisms.
C) biological maturation.
D) observable behavior.

Question 5

In the process of classical conditioning, the unconditioned stimulus is a stimulus that

A) naturally evokes an unconditioned response.
B) provokes a conditioned response.
C) that has no meaning before the process begins.
D) is quickly extinguished once the conditioning stops.

Question 6

Freud would say that an adult who smokes heavily or one who constantly bites her nails

A) is trying to repress her aggressive urges.
B) is fixated at the oral stages because these needs were not met in infancy.
C) has not resolved his or her issues with the same-sex parent.
D) is stuck in the latency stage of development.

Question 7

When we look at developmental theories in historical perspective, we find that

A) theories do not develop in a vacuum because each draws upon earlier ideas or concepts.
B) over time theories have given more and more weight to the influence of early experiences on development.
C) all of our current best ideas are really just old ideas that have been recycled.
D) the oldest theories, such as psychoanalysis and classical conditioning, are really still the best ones.

Question 8

The psychoanalytic technique of free association is intended to

A) uncover thoughts that are in the unconscious mind.
B) repress thoughts that create anxiety and stress for the person.
C) engage the reality principle so people can deal with their problems.
D) move people through the psychosexual stages of development.

Question 9

John Watson classically conditioned Little Albert to demonstrate

A) that infants could learn to salivate to the sound of a bell.
B) how classical conditioning could create fear in a human infant.
C) that reinforcement was more powerful in shaping behavior than punishment.
D) how quickly responses can be learned and then unlearned.

Question 10

Watson believed that our personality, abilities and other qualities are primarily determined by

A) biological maturation.
B) neural impulses.
C) the environment.
D) internal drives.

Question 11

The major modern application of psychoanalytic theory has been in the area of

A) neuroscience.
B) ethnography.
C) developmental psychopathology.
D) information processing.

Question 12

According to Freud, boys and girls develop what has been called "the family romance" during the ____________ stage of development.

A) anal
B) phallic
C) latency
D) genital

Question 13

The superego is the part of the personality that

A) contains the basic biological drives, such as sex and hunger.
B) deal with the demands of the real world and the demands of the id.
C) constitutes the conscience or sense of right and wrong.
D) contains the growing sense of autonomy as the child develops.

Question 14

The driving force for development in Erik Erikson's theory is the

A) use of rewards and punishment to shape the child's behavior.
B) need to understand and make sense of the child's experiences.
C) social experiences that are typical at each stage of development.
D) need to adapt to the changing demands of the environment.

Question 15

The force that drives development

A) is biological processes in early development, but environmental processes later on.
B) alternates between biological process and environmental processes throughout development
C) cannot be quantified so we cannot say what this force might be.
D) can be biological processes, environmental events, or a combination of both.

Question 16

The part of the personality in Freudian psychoanalytic theory that negotiates between the demands of the real world and the drive to satisfy basic drives is the

A) id.
B) ego.
C) superego.
D) latency principle.

Question 17

A basic set of principles that help us organize our observations in order to understand and predict human development is called a(n)

A) hypothesis.
B) operationalization.
C) theory.
D) dynamic system.

Question 18

Freud believed that the key to healthy psychological functioning involved

A) children directly confronting their parents about their perceived mistreatment while they were young.
B) releasing inhibitions and given free reign to the demands of the id.
C) uncovering the thoughts in the unconscious mind that were associated with the psychological symptoms of the person's problem.
D) slowly being desensitized to stimuli that are provoking anxiety.

Question 19

As children grow, they become taller and heavier. This is a(n)

A) quantitative change in development.
B) qualitative change in development.
C) accumulative change in development.
D) transactive change in development.

Question 20

The scientific process

A) is the best way to prove or disprove a theory.
B) provides us with hypotheses, but does not provide the methodology to test them.
C) has changed over time so that there now is little agreement on the best way to conduct the process.
D) cannot prove a theory beyond a shadow of a doubt, but can provide evidence that supports or opposes the ideas in it.

Question 21

According to Piaget, when you encounter new information and it fits into an existing scheme, you can ____________ the new information.

A) transform
B) assimilate
C) accommodate
D) encode

Question 22

Which of the following is how Piaget would describe children?

A) They are like little sponges that absorb any new information they encounter.
B) They are little computers who take in information and spit it out again.
C) They are like little teachers who want to tell everyone what they know.
D) They are like little scientists who actively experiment on their world.

Question 23

In operant conditioning

A) involuntary responses are either reinforced or punished by the environment.
B) an unconditioned stimulus will always lead to an unconditioned response.
C) a reinforcement that follows a behavior causes that behavior to occur again.
D) a fixed response produces behaviors that are the most resistant to extinction.

Question 24

Bandura's social cognitive theory added a third learning principle to classical and operant conditioning, which was that

A) reinforcement is more powerful in shaping behavior than punishment.
B) only involuntary responses can be classically conditioned.
C) shaping is an effective way to learn a new behavior.
D) people also can learn through imitation of behaviors they observe.

Question 25

If new information cannot fit into an existing scheme, it throws us into a state of cognitive disequilibrium and we will

A) transform the new information into a form we can understand.
B) encode the information in a new way that will allow it to be assimilated.
C) need to create a new scheme to accommodate the information.
D) level the information so that it can make sense to us.

Question 26

When children observed an adult treating a Bobo doll in an aggressive manner

A) they were more likely to treat the doll aggressively themselves when they had the chance to play with it.
B) it aroused a great deal of anxiety in the children and the experiment needed to be discontinued.
C) only children who were initially highly aggressive in their play were affected by what they saw.
D) they exactly copied what they saw the adult do when they played with a smaller doll.

Question 27

One of the ways in which Vygotsky differs from Piaget in his view of how children learn is that Vygotsky

A) places more emphasis on the role of culture and the social world in cognitive development.
B) portrays children as individual learners who are focused on mastering their world.
C) believes that all learning is based upon the principles of classical and operant conditioning.
D) sees children as imitators of what they see other people doing.

Question 28

You can extinguish an undesired behavior by

A) delivering an unpleasant consequence following the behavior.
B) slowly escalating the amount of punishment for the continued undesired behavior.
C) not responding to the behavior.
D) only intermittently punishing the behavior.

Question 29

In the connectionist/network model of memory, memory consists of

A) stores of information that are linked by encoding processes.
B) memory traces that strength with use or degrade with inactivity.
C) concept nodes that are linked together into a neural network.
D) the free associations that we make between ideas and concepts.

Question 30

Through the use of virtual reality, deconditioning has been used to help returning soldiers overcome their debilitating fear reactions. This therapeutic approach is based upon

A) dynamic systems theory.
B) principles of operant conditioning.
C) principles of classical conditioning.
D) social cognitive theory.

Question 31

Which of the following correctly describes the steps in imitation according to social cognitive theory?

A) motoric response - attention - memory - motivation
B) attention - memory - motoric response - motivation
C) motivation - attention - memory - motoric response
D) motivation - memory - attention - motoric response

Question 32

If you wanted to encourage a child to eat a healthier diet, at first you might smile or nod when the child was willing to take a small bite of a healthy food item on her plate. Then you might only smile and nod when the child took a full bite of the food. Then you might only respond when the child ate several bites, and finally only when the child finished the serving on her plate. You are changing this child's behavior through the process of

A) classical conditioning.
B) negative reinforcement.
C) shaping.
D) assimilation.

Question 33

When dynamic assessment is used to determine a child's level of understanding, the instructor determines the child's current level of understanding and then

A) helps the child move to the next level of understanding.
B) compares the child's performance to the performance of other children of the same age.
C) re-assesses the child's understanding at a later date.
D) determines what the child can do under a different set of testing conditions.

Question 34

After you eat dinner at your favorite restaurant five times, they give you a free dessert. This is an example of a ________________ schedule of reinforcement.

A) fixed ratio
B) variable ratio
C) fixed interval
D) variable interval

Question 35

In the information processing model of human learning, the "software"

A) is the storage device that holds information until we need to use it.
B) are cognitive processes such as attention, organization, and retrieval strategies.
C) is the intake of information from the environment through our senses.
D) is the neural network that consists of concept nodes and links between them.

Question 36

When information comes in through our senses, according to the stores model of memory it is held for a very brief period of time in raw form in

A) working memory.
B) encoding memory.
C) short-term memory.
D) sensory memory.

Question 37

Piaget's research has affected the world of education by

A) stressing the importance of rote learning in early education.
B) promoting strategies that allow the child to construct their own learning
C) emphasizing the importance of group work and collaboration in learning projects.
D) making us realize the young children need a great deal of adult supervision and oversight in order to learn effectively.

Question 38

The help that a more knowledgeable person offers to a child to help the child move beyond his current level of understanding is called

A) collaborative learning.
B) prompting.
C) assimilation.
D) scaffolding.

Question 39

One of the important modern applications of classical conditioning is to

A) develop effective treatments for phobias.
B) treat eating disorders.
C) understand the adaptive functions of behavior.
D) design better teaching techniques to use in classrooms.

Question 40

If a professor wanted his students to study at a steady pace throughout the semester, this would be more likely to happen if the quizzes in his class happened

A) each time the class finished covering 100 pages in the textbook.
B) every other week.
C) as "pop quizzes" that occurred from time to time without warning.
D) only at the middle and then again at the end of the semester.

Question 41

The idea that biological maturation operates in interaction with the environment and the experiences it provides to children comes from

A) ethology.
B) sociobiology.
C) dynamic systems theory.
D) behavioral genomics.

Question 42

According to psychoanalytic theory, a person can be fixated at a stage because their needs were not adequately met at that stage or because they received so much gratification that the person is not willing to move on to another stage.

Question 43

A new understanding that has emerged from the research in neuropsychology is that

A) genes largely determine our behavior.
B) experience is powerful enough to override almost all genetic effects.
C) biology impacts on behavior, but the environment also affects biological functioning.
D) the effects of biology and behavior is so complex that we are not yet able to disentangle the two.

Question 44

According to Freud, the genital stage is the stage in which a child's sex drive goes underground.

Question 45

In ecological theory, the macrosystem consists of

A) all of a person's face-to-face interactions in their immediate settings.
B) the interactions between various microsystems.
C) the settings that are external to the child and which the child never enters.
D) the cultural norms that guide the organizations and places that make up one's everyday life.

Question 46

Which of the statements reflect the focus that African culture has on the development of the child?

A) The goal is for a child to develop an individual and unique identity.
B) The goal is for the child to become competent in the social world.
C) The goal is for the child to excel in areas important for the success in adulthood.
D) The goal is for the child to foster independence and a sense of purpose.

Question 47

Stage theories are also considered to be:

A) qualitative theories.
B) quantitative theories.
C) intervention theories.
D) incremental theories.

Question 48

As a result of our growing understanding of how both the brain and genes function, we now recognize that

A) biology has an impact on behavior, but the environment also affects our biological functioning.
B) all of the different aspects of development interact and affect each other over time.
C) the "close in" environments have a great impact on development than the more distal environments.
D) dominant genes are a more powerful influence on brain development than recessive genes.

Question 49

A model that allows us to predict how children will behave is called a hypothesis.

Question 50

Bronfenbrenner would say that it is important that we understand the individual

A) as an autonomous individual who has the free will to make independent choices.
B) as someone who primarily responds to biological processes that he can't control.
C) not on her own or with one or two other people, but rather within all of the contexts that affect development.
D) as a member of a specific culture that dictates the person's attitudes, values and beliefs.

Question 51

An explanation for why girls growing up in families that are conflictual, dysfunctional, or in which the father is absent go through puberty at an earlier age has come from the field of

A) psychopathology.
B) ecological systems theory.
C) evolutionary developmental psychology.
D) ethology.

Question 52

Piaget believed that the primary difference between how children think and how adults think is a difference in how much each knows.

Question 53

The process of classical conditioning works on animals, but humans cannot be classically conditioned.

Question 54

According to the theory of sociobiology, you are more likely to protect, help, and give to relatives rather than to other people because

A) this helps to ensure that genes that you share in common will be passed on to future generations.
B) you are more likely to live in closer proximity to your relatives.
C) you are more likely to be closer in age to your relatives than you are to other people.
D) you feel that your relatives understand you better than other people do.

Question 55

Sociobiology is the study of

A) the behavior of members within their kinship groups.
B) the differences between culture groups that have different biological inheritance.
C) social behaviors that are determined by genes and which have evolved to promote adaption to the environment.
D) the behavior of animals and humans in their natural environments.

Question 56

Ecological system theory has made a particularly important impact in the area of

A) sociobiology.
B) social policy and action research.
C) education.
D) neurobiology.

Question 57

The study of the interaction of genes and behavior is called:

A) neuropsychology.
B) dynamic systems.
C) behavioral genomics.
D) biopsychology.

Question 58

Italian parents are more likely to describe their child in which of the developmental competencies?

A) Descriptions focusing on cognitive competence.
B) Descriptions focusing on individual identity.
C) Descriptions focusing on social and emotional competence.
D) Descriptions focusing on language and international competence.

Question 59

What does developmental theory in non-Western cultures focus on?

A) The role of the individual in the context of the social group.
B) The primary role of the first three years of life for development.
C) The role of active participation in the developmental process.
D) The role of spirituality in developmental processes.

Question 60

The understanding that newborn ducklings and goslings will imprint upon and follow their mothers immediately after birth came from early work in the field of

A) ethology.
B) sociobiology.
C) ecological theory.
D) information processing.

Question 61

Create a mnemonic device to remember important information about one of the theories in this chapter.

Question 62

Describe Piaget's ideas of assimilation, accommodation and equilibration.

Question 63

Evolutionary developmental psychologists have suggested that girls in dysfunctional families reach puberty earlier because this will enable them to pass on their genes if they don't reach adulthood.

Question 64

When research has ecological validity it means that it takes the environment into account when interpreting the findings.

Question 65

In evolutionary theory, survival of the fittest refers to the ability of the animal to adapt most successfully to their environment.

Question 66

Most theories can be proven which is why they have lasted throughout the years, even decades, and can be generalized to all behavior.

Question 67

A parent who smokes tells her child never to smoke because it is bad for her health. What would Albert Bandura say about how effective this will be and why?

Question 68

Compare the evidence for and against Piaget's idea of object constancy (permanence) and the theory of core knowledge.

Question 69

What is the difference between positive and negative reinforcement?

Question 70

Developmental theories proposed by American and European theorists are universal and can be applied to the study of children anywhere in the world.

Question 71

Roland Fryer Jr., a Harvard economist, carried out a study in which students were paid for a variety of behaviors, including getting good test scores, attendance, reading, and not fighting with each other. As a result many students read more and were better behaved in class. Discuss the pros and cons of this approach.

Question 72

A nine-year-old boy is not doing well in school. How would you find out what is causing his problem and how would you treat the problem if you were a behaviorist? ….if you were a psychoanalyst?

Question 73

Development change is primarily driven by biological processes.

Question 74

Compare sensory memory, short term or working memory and long term memory.

Question 75

What did John Watson claim that he had accomplished with the infant Little Albert and how did he do it?

Question 76

Give at least two ways in which Freud's stages differ from those of Erikson. How are their theories similar?

Question 77

Define Vygotsky's concept of the zone of proximal development.

Question 78

How would you use Skinner's idea of reinforcement to work with a child who was showing a lot of aggression in a third grade class?

Question 79

The connectionist or neural network model of memory is based on the idea that neurons in the brain operate through multiple simultaneous connections with other neurons.

Question 80

How would the way that an infant resolves the stage of trust vs. mistrust affect how she would handle the next stage of autonomy vs. shame and doubt?