Deck 1: The People and the Field

Question 1

Dr. Ragan, is a social learning/cognitive behaviorist. Dr. Malesta is a traditional behaviorist. Both college counselors specialize in helping "at-risk" freshman who are currently doing very poorly in their current semester, succeed at school. Compare Dr. Ragan's and Dr. Malesta's treatment of the freshman.

Answer 1

Dr. Ragan would work to stimulate self-efficacy. He might explain how self-defeating perceptions are impairing student performance, point out their previous successes ("You did so well in high school"), and generally get his clients to believe "I can succeed if I work hard." Drawing on the concept of modeling, Dr. Ragan might bring a senior who did very poorly freshman year, but is about to graduate with honors to talk to his group.
Dr. Malesta, in contrast, might positively reinforce individual students for studying by having them complete charts spelling out how many hours they spent at the library, and then rewarding each person who increased his or her study time. He could give special individual prizes for bringing up grades on subsequent tests. If a particular group generally improved their grades at the end of the semester, they might celebrate by having a party.

Question 2

Take a specific concept, term, or theory in this chapter and discuss how it applies to your own life.

Answer 2

There are multiple possibilities, so students' answers will vary.

Question 3

The scientific study of aging is called _____.

Answer 3

gerontology

Question 4

After researchers conduct a cross-sectional study, they find that older people are happier than younger people. How should these developmentalists interpret this finding?

Question 5

List the minuses and pluses of conducting longitudinal research.

Question 6

A psychologist wants to determine the heritability (or genetic contribution) to being shy. Describe how the psychologist might design this study. What findings would suggest that shyness is highly genetic?

Question 7

_____ is the term that refers to advancing or rising in education, income, and social status compared to our parents.

Question 8

Estimate the amount of time you spend on social media during a typical week. Then, as a thought experiment, imagine your Internet goes on the fritz, and you are forced to spend time on other activities. What specifically would you choose to do? Do you think social media sites are a negative or a positive influence in your life?

Question 9

A developmentalist is studying the relationship between parental physical punishment (e.g., hitting, spanking) and first graders' aggression. Her plan is to individually watch each parent interact with a child at home, and then observe that child's behavior at school. Name the type of measurement strategy this researcher is using, and spell out its advantages and disadvantages.

Question 10

List three normative and three non-normative influences in your life.

Question 11

Unusual, or unpredictable, transitions people encounter during life, such as divorce or the death of a child, are called _____.

Question 12

Brandi, a college sophomore, seeks help from the counseling center for her extreme shyness, and is offered a choice of treatments. She can have sessions with a behavioral therapist, work with a psychoanalyst, or get therapy from a person who follows the developmental systems perspective. Explain in a sentence how each treatment would differ from the others.

Question 13

If Janet is a baby boomer and Jamila is a millennial, then Janet and Jamila are members of different _____.

Question 14

Melissa and Ramon want to conduct a study to determine if exercise promotes health. Melissa plans to test this question using a correlational approach, while Ramon decides to conduct an experiment. Describe what each student's research might look like and discuss the respective pluses and minuses of each plan.

Question 15

Spell out the main similarity and the main difference between John Bowlby's attachment theory and traditional psychoanalytic theory.

Question 16

Harmonious group relationships are of primary importance in collectivist cultures, while independence and personal achievement are highly valued in _____ cultures.

Question 17

Explain Piaget's concepts of assimilation and accommodation and give a concrete example of those processes.

Question 18

Joey and Cyril are born on the same day, but Joey lives in Canada and Cyril was born and is growing up in Haiti. Statistically speaking, what differences between Joey and Cyril might you predict as they travel through life?

Question 19

Explain the "culture of connectivity."

Question 20

Compare and contrast Erikson's and Freud's ideas.

Question 21

The disadvantage of correlational studies is that they do not allow a researcher to determine ______.

Question 22

What area of the lifespan did scientists study first?

A) child development
B) adult development
C) gerontology
D) prenatal development

Question 23

We shape our environment to go along with our genetic propensities in two different ways. These principles are called _____ and _____ forces.

Question 24

Evolutionary psychologists emphasize the _____ roots of human behavior.

Question 25

Longitudinal studies examine a group of people _____.

Question 26

Freud referred to the rational part of personality that allows us to successfully function in life as our _____.

Question 27

According to John Bowlby, children's early experiences with _____ shape their ability to love.

Question 28

For Erikson, each life stage involves a particular developmental challenge, or _____.

Question 29

The volunteers who remain in a longitudinal study for years tend to be a(n) _____ group, much better than average.

Question 30

The field that explores the biological or genetic contribution to human differences is called _____.

Question 31

According to Piaget, we shape the environment to who we are by _____ and in the process we change to fit the environment by_____.

Question 32

In cognitive behavioral terms, a person who has low _____ will be less likely to accept a challenging task than a counterpart.

Question 33

The developmental science term for inherited or genetic forces that shape behavior is _____.

Question 34

When researchers use personal interviews (versus statistics) to understand behavior, these scientists are conducting _____.

Question 35

In a(n) _____, the researcher assigns groups to different treatments and looks at the results.

Question 36

A researcher who looks at many different influences on behavior advocates the _____ perspective.

Question 37

_____ theories focus on specific changes that occur at particular ages.

Question 38

In traditional operant behaviorist terminology, people learn through _____.

Question 39

Researchers increased the study of which life stage during the final third of the twentieth century?

A) child development
B) adult development
C) adolescent development
D) prenatal development

Question 40

Gerontologists study:

A) evolution.
B) genes.
C) diseases of the ancient world.
D) aging.

Question 41

Which person is definitely a baby boomer?

A) Selma, who is about to turn 50
B) Kimiko, who is 65
C) Kevin, who became a father last year
D) Tan, who just got his Ph.D.

Question 42

Which person is a member of the baby-boom cohort?

A) David, who was born in 1946 after his dad returned from World War II
B) Adrianna, who just entered college at age 18
C) Lynnette who was born during the l970s
D) Liang, who retired in 1960

Question 43

A woman who says she is a baby boomer:

A) grew up during World War II.
B) grew up during the 1980s.
C) reached her teens during the late 1960s or 1970s.
D) reached her teens in the 1980s.

Question 44

Which of the following is true of the baby-boom cohort?

A) They are in their sixties and early seventies.
B) They were born right after World War I.
C) They are in their forties.
D) They are all in middle adulthood.

Question 45

Which is a non-normative transition?

A) Mary begins kindergarten at age 5.
B) Sara has a child when she is in her twenties.
C) Josephine gets cancer at age 18.
D) Manuel retires at age 65.

Question 46

Which of the following is true of the baby boomers?

A) They were teenagers during the late 1980s.
B) They are mainly in their young-old years.
C) They are an incredibly small cohort.
D) They have had little impact on Western society.

Question 47

Millennial, generation X, and baby boomer are terms that refer to a person's:

A) social class.
B) cohort.
C) society.
D) group of friends.

Question 48

A cohort refers to a:

A) group of friends.
B) group of people who were born around the same time.
C) family group.
D) group of people who live in the same neighborhood.

Question 49

A developmental scientist might study:

A) parenting practices and how they affect normal child development.
B) changes in socioeconomic status.
C) cross-cultural comparisons related to political climates.
D) travel and its economic impact on a nation's wealth.

Question 50

Which person definitely is a baby boomer?

A) Cesar, who is 30
B) Callista, who is 65
C) Cami, who is 40
D) Corrine, who is 10

Question 51

When Aracelly tells you that she is a millennial, Aracelly is referring to her _____.

A) society
B) cohort
C) income
D) gender

Question 52

The modern "caring" view of childhood was influenced by:

A) the writings Freud, who felt childhood was a special period.
B) social media.
C) the need for children to receive an education.
D) larger families.

Question 53

Childhood got longer because of:

A) schooling-the need for more education.
B) economic pressures-the need for kids to stay at home.
C) biology-children reaching puberty at younger ages.
D) family changes-more single-parent moms.

Question 54

Over the centuries, childhood has become much:

A) longer.
B) more difficult.
C) more stressful.
D) simpler.

Question 55

Which is a fundamental context of development?

A) weight
B) date of birth
C) height
D) cohort

Question 56

Which is a normative transition?

A) walking
B) divorce
C) sleeping in bed with a child
D) living through a recession

Question 57

A developmentalist might study:

A) effective therapies for eating disorders among males.
B) what treatments work best for people with schizophrenia.
C) which treatments are most effective for borderline personality disorder.
D) how an individual's personality may change over time.

Question 58

Which statement is referring to a person's cohort?

A) "We live in the same area of the country."
B) "We play tennis together every week."
C) "We were born around the same time."
D) "We are of the same ethnic group."

Question 59

For people born in the nineteenth century, which of the following is true?

A) They would be far more likely to die during early childhood than today.
B) They would be far more likely to go to school than today.
C) They began their "adult life" at a far older age than today.
D) They skipped the developmental stage of adolescence.

Question 60

Today, the baby-boom cohort is:

A) mainly young-old.
B) old-old.
C) almost completely dead.
D) mainly middle aged.

Question 61

Deaths from heart disease are much more common today than a century ago because people are:

A) living much longer.
B) not taking good care of their bodies.
C) working harder.
D) under more stress.

Question 62

If Therese is in her eighties, she is _____.

A) old-old
B) a new senior citizen
C) in early old age
D) an emerging adult

Question 63

Which event relates to the lifestyle revolution of the 1960s?

A) deaths shifting from chronic to infectious disease
B) the men's movement
C) decreases in divorce
D) increases in unmarried motherhood

Question 64

Ali is discussing the young-old. Which statement is correct?

A) "They are in their thirties."
B) "They are often unhealthy."
C) "They may say they look and feel middle-aged."
D) "They are in their late fifties."

Question 65

Social media transformed U.S. lifestyles around the:

A) 1960s.
B) 1980s.
C) early years of the twenty-first century.
D) last 2 or 3 years.

Question 66

The age to which people have a 50-50 chance of surviving is their _____.

A) ultimate life expectancy
B) average life-expectancy
C) statistical life span
D) predictable lifespan

Question 67

Which age group has benefited MOST from the disease-control advances that produced the twentieth-century life-expectancy revolution related to pasteurized milk?

A) infants and children
B) adults in their thirties
C) midlife adults
D) elderly people

Question 68

Which of the following is true of the twentieth-century life-expectancy revolution?

A) It was caused by public health improvements and medical advances.
B) It occurred mainly in the early eighteenth century.
C) It allowed people to live beyond the maximum lifespan.
D) It allowed most people to live past late adulthood.

Question 69

Which of the following is a late-twentieth-century lifestyle change in the United States?

A) fewer divorces
B) men doing much more housework and childcare
C) women moving out of the workforce
D) more rigid ideas about how adults should behave

Question 70

The twentieth-century life-expectancy revolution occurred when scientists were able to:

A) cure or prevent many infectious diseases.
B) slow the progress of many chronic diseases.
C) make inroads in curing heart disease.
D) allow people to live happier lives.

Question 71

If someone says, "My grandma is old-old," which of the following is likely to be true?

A) She is in her eighties or older.
B) She is less likely to be frail.
C) She is not likely to live in a nursing home.
D) She is a recent grandparent.

Question 72

Sara is describing some effects of the twentieth-century life-expectancy revolution. Which statement is correct?

A) "People today are unlikely to die of infectious diseases."
B) "People today often live beyond the maximum lifespan."
C) "People today expect to survive beyond late adulthood."
D) "People today are not likely to die of heart disease and cancer."

Question 73

Carlos, in his twenties, is trying to decide on a career. Carlos is in the life stage called:

A) emerging adulthood.
B) wandering adulthood.
C) immaturity.
D) post adolescence.

Question 74

The main difference between the young-old and the old-old is:

A) health.
B) wisdom.
C) discrimination.
D) the climate in which they live.

Question 75

Adolescence became a life stage during:

A) the eighteenth century.
B) the nineteenth century.
C) the early twentieth century.
D) the late twentieth century.

Question 76

The maximum lifespan:

A) refers to the biological limit of human life, about 105.
B) is about age 85.
C) can be changed by public health improvements.
D) can be changed by curing all infectious diseases.

Question 77

What phenomenon is part of the social media revolution?

A) on-line bullying
B) increased social relationships
C) increased academic performance
D) increased longevity

Question 78

The main consequence of the lifestyle revolution of the 1960s is greater:

A) freedom in lifestyle choices.
B) happiness.
C) unhappiness.
D) obesity.

Question 79

If Phillip is describing the young-old, he should say:

A) "They are far more likely to be healthy than the old-old."
B) "They are in their fifties."
C) "They were born during the Great Depression."
D) "They clearly define themselves as senior citizens."

Question 80

Emerging adulthood:

A) refers to the time from age 18 through the late twenties.
B) refers to making the transition from high school to college.
C) tends to be an unusually happy life stage.
D) tends to be an unusually unhappy life stage.