Deck 9: Human Development

Question 1

Which of the following correctly defines the prenatal period?

A)The prenatal period begins at birth and ends at age 2.
B)The prenatal period begins at the fetal stage of development and ends at birth.
C)The prenatal period begins at conception and ends at birth.
D)The prenatal period begins at conception and ends at age 2.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Which is likely to be the most critical stage of fetal development and why?

A)zygote, because most of the zygote is particularly vulnerable to teratogens
B)embryo, because most of the internal organs are formed during this period
C)fetus, because the fetus cannot survive outside the womb
D)infant, because the baby is finally exposed to environmental effects

Answer 2

B

Question 3

From conception to approximately 2 weeks after conception, a developing human is called an)

A)zygote.
B)embryo.
C)fetus.
D)infant.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is the influence of the environment on brain development?

A)None; brain development is controlled by genes.
B)None; the brain is fully developed at birth.
C)Substantial; however, the influence is primarily through diet.
D)Substantial; a broad range of environmental factors affects brain development

Question 5

From approximately 2 weeks after conception to approximately 2 months after conception, a developing human is called an)

A)zygote.
B)embryo.
C)fetus.
D)infant.

Question 6

Your aunt who drinks just got pregnant.Which of the following actions would you recommend to her?

A)She should quit drinking immediately.
B)She should stop drinking after the baby is born so she can be an attentive mother.
C)She can drink safely up until the end of the first trimester.
D)It is already too late to avoid harm to her fetus, so it does not matter what she does.

Question 7

A developing human is called a zygote until approximately weeks after conception.

A)24
B)32
C)2
D)8

Question 8

Which of the following statements about brain development is INCORRECT?

A)As an adult, your brain has fewer synapses than it had when you were 2 years old.
B)Humans are less mature at birth than are most other animals.
C)The number of brain synapses increases rapidly during the two years following birth.
D)The brain of a full-term newborn is fully developed.

Question 9

According to the textbook, the fact that human development follows a consistent progression suggests that

A)human development is fundamentally different from development in the rest of the animal kingdom.
B)the order and timing of development are under genetic control.
C)early experience has a large influence on brain development.
D)the human brain continues to grow throughout development.

Question 10

Which of the following conditions is a preventable birth defect?

A)Down syndrome
B)fetal alcohol syndrome
C)hemophilia
D)developmental delay

Question 11

Which of the following items are considered potential teratogens?

A)drugs
B)bacteria
C)viruses
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Question 12

The fetus has a heart by

A)the second month.
B)the fifth month.
C)the seventh month.
D)birth.

Question 13

Environmental influences begin to affect children's development

A)when they are able to move about in their environments.
B)shortly after conception.
C)within hours of birth.
D)as soon as they begin attending to peers.

Question 14

Gus is a developmental psychologist.Which question would he be most interested in studying?

A)How does autism affect behavior?
B)How does parenting style interact with genetic vulnerability?
C)How do cancer patients cope with the stress of receiving a diagnosis?
D)How does memory work in the brain?

Question 15

From approximately 2 months after conception until birth, a developing human is called an)

A)zygote.
B)embryo.
C)fetus.
D)infant.

Question 16

What are some of the changes that a developmental psychologist might be interested in studying?

A)cognitive
B)physiological
C)social
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Question 17

Children who suffer severe neglect have brains that are smaller and that develop abnormally.These results are most likely due to

A)a lack of synaptic connections.
B)a lack of synaptic pruning.
C)plasticity.
D)environmental enrichment.

Question 18

A developing human is called an embryo until approximately weeks after conception.

A)24
B)32
C)2
D)8

Question 19

Which of the following statements about teratogens is INCORRECT?

A)Teratogens include any chemical in the environment that negatively affects a developing embryo or fetus.
B)Teratogens are a group of recessive genes that affect the child while still in the womb.
C)Teratogens include alcohol, prescription drugs, and environmental chemicals.
D)Teratogens are often avoidable.

Question 20

The term embryo describes a developing human from

A)conception to approximately 2 weeks after conception.
B)approximately 2 weeks after conception to approximately 2 months.
C)approximately 2 months to birth.
D)the last trimester to birth.

Question 21

Myelination

A)occurs across the central nervous system at roughly the same time.
B)decreases the speed at which a neuron can transmit signals.
C)begins at birth.
D)first occurs in the spinal cord.

Question 22

When visiting your sister, you notice that her infant enjoys watching a mobile that hangs over his head.Of the various objects hanging on the mobile, which ones are likely to get more of his attention?

A)red ones, because infants are particularly responsive to this color
B)gray ones, because these are least frightening to a child
C)ones with bold black-and-white patterns, because patterns with high contrast are most interesting to an infant
D)objects with simple shapes, because these are easier for the infant to recognize

Question 23

You present an infant with two pictures-one of a boat and another of a tree.You time how long she looks at each of them.Over a 5-minute period, the infant looks at each of the pictures for the same amount of time.You can probably conclude that

A)the stimuli are of no interest to the infant.
B)the infant has never seen the stimuli.
C)the infant is more interested in the boat picture.
D)the stimuli are similarly interesting to the infant.

Question 24

Jenna just learned to crawl.According to dynamic systems theory, Jenna likely achieved this developmental milestone due to

A)reinforcement and encouragement from her parents.
B)seeing her older brother crawl.
C)her own desire to explore the exciting environment around her.
D)the fact that she entered the preoperational stage.

Question 25

Whereas early research on when children achieve developmental milestones focused on influences of genes and environment, dynamic systems theory emphasizes the role that genes and environment play in an infant's development.

A)unique; joint
B)unique; influential
C)influential; joint
D)joint; unique

Question 26

Dynamic systems theory refers to the view that development is

A)a self-organizing process.
B)shaped entirely by parenting.
C)based on inconsistent interactions between a child and the environment.
D)determined mostly by genetic factors.

Question 27

Sean just said his first word, "Scruffy," the name of the family dog.How would a dynamic systems psychologist explain why this was his first word?

A)He has correctly categorized "Scruffy" into the dog category.
B)The dog is interesting to him and is a constant presence in the environment.
C)His parents love the dog and he sees him a lot.
D)He thinks the dog is part of the family.

Question 28

Your nephew Khalil has recently started to reach for objects in the mobile above his crib.These objects entertain him now, but according to dynamic systems theory he is likely to lose interest in them if

A)he touches them and discovers that he does not like their texture.
B)they start making sound.
C)he becomes more interested in some other object in the environment.
D)his parents tell him they are boring.

Question 29

Visual acuity reaches adult levels in a typical child by the time they are of age.This development depends on the child's .

A)4 weeks; environment
B)approximately 1 year; integration of the visual cortex
C)3 years; development of cones in the retina
D)8 years; attachment style

Question 30

Synaptic pruning is

A)the brain's way of doing away with synaptic connections that are not being used.
B)a process induced by teratogens that negatively affects development.
C)a process that occurs in all brain areas at the same time.
D)a process that is detrimental to normal brain development.

Question 31

Very few synaptic connections between neurons will be made in the brain if

A)myelination has not occurred.
B)the child is not adequately stimulated.
C)the child is in the preoperational stage.
D)all teratogens have been avoided.

Question 32

You would expect infants in Kenya and Thailand to reach developmental milestones

A)in the same order and at exactly the same pace.
B)in the same order, but at different paces.
C)in different orders, but almost always at the same pace.
D)in completely different orders and paces.

Question 33

At birth, an infant will automatically turn and suck when a nipple or similar object is placed near her mouth.This reflex is called

A)grasping.
B)pruning.
C)rooting.
D)orienting.

Question 34

A toy maker wants to determine which of three toy models infants like best.Which of the following methods would be best for assessing this preference?

A)strange-situation test
B)preferential looking technique
C)visual acuity tests
D)There is no good technique; infants cannot yet express preference.

Question 35

Shari just got her first tattoo at 17 years of age.Her mother is furious with her and cannot understand why she got this tattoo.Dynamic systems theory would explain Shari's behavior as

A)simple teenage rebellion.
B)arising from both Shari's own desires and the influences of her peers, many of whom also have tattoos.
C)occurring because her peers pressured her to get one.
D)arising from immature frontal brain regions.

Question 36

Comparisons across cultures regarding when children achieve particular developmental milestones indicate that

A)culture doesn't play a role in when children achieve developmental milestones.
B)crawling occurs at the same age in all cultures.
C)the achievement of developmental milestones shows a consistent general pattern across cultures.
D)no generalizations can be made regarding the process of human development without taking culture into account.

Question 37

Young children are able to perceive visual stimuli with the same precision as adults

A)when the child is approximately 4 years old.
B)about one year after birth.
C)as a function of the child's binocular disparity.
D)by 6 months of age.

Question 38

What types of objects would a dynamic systems theory psychologist predict are likely to be a child's spoken first words?

A)objects in the environment that are interesting to the child
B)objects that they are seeing for the first time
C)the child's own name
D)something that is easy to pronounce

Question 39

Imagine you are designing a research study that is examining developmental milestones in young children from a dynamic systems theory perspective.Which of the following sets of measures and variables would you want to collect?

A)socioeconomic status of the family, ethnicity, community support, and neighborhood safety
B)family history of learning problems, child's health status at birth, and whether they were born prematurely
C)child factors such as attention, perinatal health complications, and child's temperament
D)stimuli present in the home environment, cultural practices, and child factors such as attention

Question 40

Dynamic systems theory views development as arising from the interaction between a child and

A)the child's personality and environmental and cultural contexts.
B)the child's environmental and cultural contexts.
C)the child's genetic makeup.
D)the child's genetic makeup and environmental and cultural contexts.

Question 41

Jody has a great memory for things that she did during kindergarten and first grade, but cannot remember any details from earlier in her life.This difference is most likely due to

A)false memories implanted by a therapist.
B)the fact that accurate memory becomes possible after the first year of life.
C)infantile amnesia.
D)the fact that children cannot accurately process concepts until they begin to walk.

Question 42

What is the difference between the auditory abilities of a newborn infant and a 6-month-old infant?

A)A newborn cannot discriminate sounds at all, while a 6-month-old infant can easily tell the difference between different sounds and voices.
B)A newborn will orient toward the source of sounds, while a 6-month-old infant has adult levels of auditory discrimination.
C)A newborn infant does not show preferences to sounds of different languages, while a 6-month-old prefers sounds from languages they've never heard before.
D)There are no differences in hearing since this system does not fully develop until 1 year of age.

Question 43

Identify the correct statement about human attachment.

A)The biological mechanisms of attachment are unknown.
B)Infant-parent attachment is unique to humans.
C)Human infants have an innate tendency to form bonds.
D)An equal number of infants have secure and insecure attachments.

Question 44

As described in the text, Harlow did an experiment with infant rhesus monkeys, requiring them to make a choice between an artificial mother that provided contact comfort or one that provided food.The results demonstrate that for this species,

A)food is the most important reinforcement.
B)food is used as a method for tension reduction in the young.
C)contact comfort is more important than food, particularly during stress.
D)infants were distressed because the "mother" providing contact comfort did not also supply food.

Question 45

Which of the following is a true statement about imprinting?

A)There is a critical period in which imprinting must occur.
B)Imprinting occurs most commonly in humans.
C)Imprinting represents a type of social mimicry.
D)Imprinting can only occur with biological relatives.

Question 46

One aspect of memory that differs between your memories from before age 3 from those you formed after age 5 is that

A)memories from before age 3 are typically just a "flashbulb" of one moment in time.
B)you have more and greater detailed memories from after age 5.
C)you have the same number of memories at both ages, but they are more detailed after age 5.
D)you have fewer memories before age 3, but they have the same amount of detail.

Question 47

The results of Harlow's research with infant monkeys

A)supported Freud's notions of human development.
B)supported behavioral theories of development.
C)challenged Freudian theories of development.
D)undermined the notion of sensitive periods during development.

Question 48

The strange-situation test was designed to allow psychologists to assess

A)how infants respond to separation and reunion with their mothers.
B)an infant's tendencies to seek or avoid novelty.
C)a mother's response to a fearful infant.
D)the level of social skill an infant has acquired.

Question 49

Studies have shown that when infants begin to crawl, they

A)begin to lose interest in their caregivers.
B)display signs of being more interested in age peers than in caregivers.
C)play happily even when the caregiver leaves.
D)show signs of distress when separated from caregivers.

Question 50

When adults interact with infants, they tend to do all of the following EXCEPT

A)use a high-pitched voice.
B)make exaggerated facial expressions.
C)talk in low, soft sounds.
D)rock back and forth while holding the infant.

Question 51

At what age will a baby have a nearly adult level of auditory perception?

A)1 week
B)1 month
C)6 months
D)12 months

Question 52

Infants show signs of beginning to develop social attachments

A)at about the same time they can move about in their environments.
B)at about the same time language develops.
C)when they are old enough to understand facial expressions of emotions such as contempt.
D)within the first few months of life.

Question 53

The implication of Harlow's research on infant rhesus monkeys for parenting behavior is that when your infant is frightened, you should

A)feed her.
B)leave her alone until the fear passes.
C)utter reassuring sounds to her.
D)hold her.

Question 54

According to John Bowlby, the originator of attachment theory,

A)infants have a set of innate behaviors that cause adults to attend to them.
B)infants must learn how to elicit attention from adults.
C)social attachment is primarily an outcome of how adults respond to infants.
D)social attachment is primarily an outcome of how infants respond to adults.

Question 55

Memory researchers found that by months of life, infants .

A)12; get bored by a memory task because they have habituated to the consequences of their actions
B)12; remember the associations between their actions and consequences for several weeks
C)18; get bored by a memory task because they have habituated to the consequences of their actions
D)18; remember the associations between their actions and consequences for several weeks

Question 56

Joey has a memory of receiving a light-up truck for his second birthday.He remembers eating cake, and seeing people singing happy birthday to him before he opened his cool toy.Though he believes this was his second birthday, it was probably his birthday because .

A)first; he's seen many pictures from the party
B)third; his perception system was not developed enough at 2 years to detect those kinds of stimuli
C)fifth; children have trouble forming vivid memory before this age
D)sixth; his parents wouldn't have given him a truck at such a young age

Question 57

Harlow's research with infant monkeys demonstrated that

A)fear can be reduced by food.
B)when fearful, infant monkeys lose their appetites.
C)fear produces a preference for contact comfort over food.
D)fear inhibits the development of attachment behaviors.

Question 58

Infantile amnesia refers to the observation that

A)infants quickly forget stimuli they have seen recently.
B)infants repress any unpleasant images they see.
C)adults are unable to remember things that occurred to them before about the age of 3.
D)we can remember what occurred in infancy but not why it occurred.

Question 59

As part of a science project, you hatched a baby duckling and are raising it.The duckling follows you even when other adult ducks are around.The duckling's behavior is an example of

A)faulty learning.
B)imprinting.
C)a fixed-action pattern.
D)attachment.

Question 60

Research suggests that by 18 months, infants

A)cannot remember events for longer than 24 hours.
B)have little recall of any stimuli not relevant to their immediate needs.
C)can remember some things for several weeks.
D)remember stimuli or events directly associated with caregivers but little else.

Question 61

Separation anxiety appears in infants

A)at varying times, depending upon the cultures the infants are in.
B)at 8 to 12 months of age.
C)primarily if they have been deprived of caregiver comfort.
D)at about the same time they reach the formal operational stage of development.

Question 62

According to Piaget, in which learning process do we place a new experience into an existing schema?

A)assimilation
B)accommodation
C)maturation
D)conservation

Question 63

Imagine you are visiting your sister and her 1-year-old child, Jamie.You note that Jamie becomes distressed whenever your sister leaves the room, can be easily comforted by you while she is gone and something stressful occurs, and ignores your sister when she comes back into the room.Ainsworth would describe Jamie's attachment to your sister as

A)insecure.
B)secure.
C)strange.
D)disorganized.

Question 64

Which of the following statements is true of young infants' attention to stimuli in their environment?

A)They show no preferences for particular stimuli because they cannot discriminate between them.
B)They prefer familiar stimuli to novel stimuli.
C)They prefer novel stimuli to familiar stimuli.
D)They prefer black and white stimuli to colorful stimuli.

Question 65

If your infant were securely attached to you, how would he react when you leave the room during the strange-situation test?

A)He would look around the room for you in distress.
B)He would explore the room and the objects in it.
C)He would play with any stranger who came in.
D)He would be inconsolably upset.

Question 66

In Piaget's view of cognitive development, assimilation has occurred when , and accommodation when .

A)something new that has happened to the child is incorporated into existing schemas; new experiences are reinterpreted
B)new experiences are incorporated into existing schemas; existing schemas are dramatically altered to include the new experiences
C)existing schemas are modified; existing schemas are discarded
D)existing schemas are discarded; existing schemas are modified

Question 67

Approximately what percentage of children develops what Ainsworth called an insecure attachment style?

A)5 percent
B)15 percent
C)35 percent
D)65 percent

Question 68

One sign that a child is securely attached to her caregivers is that

A)the child continues to play happily when the caregiver leaves.
B)the child is not afraid of strangers when the caregiver is present.
C)when the caregiver returns after an absence, the child ignores the caregiver.
D)in the caregiver's absence, the child can be comforted by a stranger.

Question 69

A hormone that has recently been shown to play an important role in mother/infant attachment is

A)testosterone.
B)oxytocin.
C)epinephrine.
D)norepinephrine.

Question 70

A psychologist found that infant monkeys preferred a surrogate mother made of soft cloth that could not give milk to a surrogate mother made of wire that could give milk.Who was this psychologist?

A)Konrad Lorenz
B)Sigmund Freud
C)Harry Harlow
D)Jean Piaget

Question 71

Attachment is all of the following EXCEPT

A)adaptive.
B)a building block of social life.
C)transient.
D)present in nonhuman animals.

Question 72

The orienting reflex is the tendency for an infant to

A)pay more attention to novel stimuli than to stimuli he is familiar with.
B)move toward any breast like stimulus.
C)prefer subtle patterns to bold patterns.
D)look away more slowly when the stimulus is familiar.

Question 73

A securely attached infant differs from one who is insecurely attached in terms of

A)what the infant does when the attachment figure leaves.
B)how the infant responds to strangers.
C)what the infant does when the attachment figure returns after an absence.
D)All of the answer options are correct.

Question 74

A challenge to Piaget's theory of development takes issue with his argument that

A)all adults are capable of formal operational thought.
B)differentiating self from objects is very important.
C)individuals go through the developmental stages in the same order.
D)object permanence develops more quickly in females than in males.

Question 75

Approximately what percentage of children develop what Ainsworth called a secure attachment style?

A)15 percent
B)25 percent
C)45 percent
D)65 percent

Question 76

What is the correct ordering of Piaget's stages of cognitive development?

A)formal operational, concrete operational, preoperational, sensorimotor
B)sensorimotor, concrete operational, preoperational, formal operational
C)preoperational, concrete operational, sensorimotor, formal operational
D)sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational

Question 77

An infant is presented with a picture of his hand and a picture of a bear's paw.He will

A)look at the picture of his hand longer than the picture of the bear paw.
B)look at the picture of the bear paw longer than the picture of his hand.
C)shift his gaze between the two, allocating roughly equal amounts of attention to both.
D)look at the one with subtle rather than bold patterns.

Question 78

Which of the following statements would Jean Piaget most likely agree with in regard to child development?

A)It is difficult for adults to understand why children behave as they do because children have fundamentally different assumptions about the world.
B)All children in a given age range approach a task the same way.
C)Child development occurs in a progressive linear order.
D)It is impossible for a child to progress to a new stage of development without fully overcoming the primal urges of the previous stage.

Question 79

The nature of an infant's attachment to its caregivers is primarily a function of

A)its genetic inheritance.
B)parental treatment.
C)which of Piaget's stages of development it has achieved.
D)the degree of contact comfort it has experienced from noncaregivers.

Question 80

When a psychologist says you have become habituated to a stimulus, she means that

A)you are familiar with it and prefer to look at it rather than at other stimuli.
B)you habitually engage in behavior that makes the stimulus accessible to you.
C)your interest in the stimulus declines.
D)you no longer see, smell, or feel it.