Q&A Hero

Q: During the college years, students' exposure to multiple viewpoints leads toA) a short-term identity crisis.B) a greater risk for uncertainty and lower self-esteem.C) the development of a more complex self-concept.D) the formation of an unchanging set of traits and values.

Q: In a study of the college learning experiences of seniors scoring low and high in epistemic cognition, high-scoring students A) frequently reported activities that encouraged them to struggle with realistic but ambiguous problems. B) focused primarily on the familiar aspects of a problem. C) were less likely than low-scoring students to mention faculty encouragement and guidance. D) worked to find the most objective aspects and solutions for a given problem.

Q: Brian is pursuing a doctorate degree in philosophy. Through his commitment within relativism, he A) is committed to justifying his viewpoints in his doctoral thesis despite strong counterevidence. B) actively seeks differing perspectives in order to advance his knowledge and understanding. C) pursues a meta-analysis of moral views of euthanasia in order to determine once and for all which stance is correct. D) has come to accept that life philosophies can never be more than personal opinions.

Q: Ailee sometimes gets into political discussions with her father who did not attend college. They often disagree, but Ailee is a(n) __________ thinker and can see that her beliefs are subjective to the circumstances, whereas her father is "certain" about what is right and what is wrong. A) omniscient B) preoperational C) dualistic D) relativistic

Q: After some exposure to the academic world, students move more toward the view that all knowledge is embedded within a framework of thought, and they give up the possibility of absolute truth in favor of A) omniscience. B) dualistic thinking. C) relativistic thinking. D) objective standards.

Q: Carlos believes that others' behaviors need to be judged against a firm ethical standard of right and wrong; therefore, Carlos engages inA) globalization.B) relativistic thinking.C) dualistic thinking.D) postformal thought.

Q: The work of William Perry provided the starting point for an expanding research literature on the development of __________, or our reflections of how we arrived at facts, beliefs, and ideas. A) epistemic cognition B) postformal thought C) moral self-relevance D) identity achievement

Q: Since college serves as a "developmental testing ground," a time for devoting full attention to exploring alternative values, roles, and behaviors, many students enter the cognitive developmental stage of A) postformal thought. B) postmoral justification. C) ethical dilemmas. D) experience-dependent brain growth.

Q: The cognitive gains of the late teens and early twenties are supported by further brain development, especially the A) speech and auditory centers. B) activity of the amygdala. C) prefrontal cortex and its connections with other brain regions. D) connections between the left and right hemispheres.

Q: Critics of the concept of emerging adulthood point out that in developed nations, important milestones (such as marriage, career entry, parenthood, and retirement) have become less determined by __________ and more affected by __________. A) age; economic conditions B) culture; economic conditions C) social conditions; age D) age; culture

Q: Critics of the concept of emerging adulthood argue that if satisfying work enabling financial independence were plentiful,A) the benefits of emerging adulthood would disappear.B) emerging adulthood would be a universal phenomenon.C) young people would not choose to postpone adult responsibilities.D) young people would remain uncommitted for longer periods of time.

Q: Which of the following young people in the United States is most likely to experience emerging adulthood? A) Mandy, a single mother B) Jerilyn, a third-year college student C) Parker, a high school dropout D) Walker, who comes from a low-SES family

Q: In industrialized countries, where many young people experience emerging adulthood, they generally emphasize __________ in describing what it means to become an adult. A) family commitments B) attaining high levels of advanced education C) psychological qualities D) establishing a cultural identity

Q: Feng comes from a wealthy Chinese family and is attending a university in the United States. Which of the following statements most likely applies to Feng? A) Because he comes from a developing country, it is likely that he will not experience emerging adulthood. B) Emerging adulthood is a universal phase of development, so he will experience it even if he does not attend a university. C) Unlike most youths from his country, he will experience emerging adulthood for at least a short time. D) In all respects, his experience with emerging adulthood will be similar to that of youths in the United States.

Q: Emerging adulthood is A) limited to cultures that postpone entry into adult roles until the twenties. B) found only in highly industrialized countries. C) found primarily in developing countries. D) a universal developmental phenomenon.

Q: As the economies of industrialized nations have become more technical and information-based, __________ has increased.A) the number of manufacturing jobsB) earlier independence of children from their families of originC) the amount of education required to enter complex, well-paid careersD) the cultural construction of an abbreviated childhood

Q: Research suggests that emerging adulthoodthe rich, complex bridge between adolescence and the assumption of adult responsibilitiesis a(n) A) cultural construction. B) long-established developmental phase. C) universal stage of development. D) excuse for immature young people.

Q: Which of the following emerging adults is most likely to live independently? A) Sam, a low-SES man B) Tricia, a high-SES woman C) Nick, a Native-American man D) Leesa, an African-American woman

Q: More than half of 18- to 25-year-olds' preferred way of entering into a committed intimate partnership is through A) an online dating service. B) cohabitation. C) traditional courtship and marriage. D) experimentation with a wide range of partners.

Q: Many researchers view the older age for first marriage over the past 50 years in the United States as due to A) a struggling economy and a lack of financial security. B) young people's inability to form healthy intimate attachments. C) a longer period of experimentation with sexuality and intimacy. D) disadvantages related to living expenses and income tax penalties.

Q: The adult milestones of finishing school, living on one's own, launching a career, and building a lasting intimate partnershipA) are highly diverse in timing and order across individuals.B) typically occur in a relatively set pattern among individuals in industrialized countries.C) are accomplished by age 25 for most people.D) often lead to an extended identity crisis.

Q: In a survey of parents of a large sample of ethnically and religiously diverse U.S. undergraduate and graduate students, most viewed their children as A) financially competent, but morally deficient. B) socially mature, but cognitively immature. C) fully mature adults. D) not yet fully adult.

Q: Rachel graduated from college and immediately took a Peace Corps assignment. When she finished, she came back to the United States and entered graduate school. American psychologist Jeffrey Arnett calls this exploration of possibilities and deferment of a more traditional career-and-family lifestyle a period of A) postformal thought. B) emerging adulthood. C) cognitive immaturity. D) dualistic thinking.

Q: When sampled, most 18- to 25-year-olds in the United States felt they had reached adulthood A) when they turned 18. B) when they turned 21. C) about the time they got their first full-time job. D) when they reached their late twenties and early thirties.

Q: Pedro is 19 and in college. He is asked whether he considers himself to have reached adulthood. Which of the following answers will he most likely give? A) "Yes, when I turned 18." B) "No, not until I"m 21." C) "Yes and no." D) "I guess so."

Q: Define educational self-fulfilling prophecies, and discuss how teacher bias affects students.

Q: Describe features of social-constructivist classrooms, including the three educational themes used in these settings.

Q: Describe the relationship between television violence and aggression.

Q: Describe the differences between cliques and crowds, and how they develop.

Q: Describe the three-stage sequence of children's understanding of friendship.

Q: Describe ways in which parents indirectly influence their children's peer relations.

Q: Which of the following poses a major challenge to implementing a national apprenticeship program?A) Research does not indicate any long-term benefits associated with apprenticeship programs.B) Only low-SES youths would have access to such a program.C) Low-SES youths may become concentrated in the lowest-skilled apprenticeship placements.D) The cost of apprenticeship programs far outweighs the benefits.

Q: In __________, adolescents who do not go to a college-preparatory high school have access to one of the world's most successful work"study apprenticeship systems for entering business and industry. A) Canada B) Japan C) Sweden D) Germany

Q: Which of the following statements is true regarding adolescent job commitments? A) The responsibility required for after-school jobs often translates into a student taking greater responsibility for household chores and schoolwork. B) Students who have part-time jobs are more likely to finish high school and attend college. C) The more hours students work, the poorer their school attendance, the lower their grades, and the more likely they are to drop out. D) The more hours students work, the greater their school attendance, the higher their grades, and the less likely they are to drop out.

Q: American employers regard recent high school graduates as A) spoiled and selfish, lacking a solid work ethic. B) well-prepared for skilled business and industrialized occupations and manual trades. C) poorly prepared for skilled business and industrialized occupations and manual trades. D) particularly well-suited for positions in upper management.

Q: One advantage that teachers in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have over their Western counterparts is that they A) are usually bilingual or trilingual. B) work with students who start school with much higher skills. C) are paid higher teacher salaries. D) vary more in their training.

Q: Whereas American parents and teachers tend to regard __________ as the key to academic success, Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese parents and teachers believe that __________.A) native ability; all children can succeed academically as long as they try hardB) social forces; repetitive drills lead to greater math understandingC) stimulating, academically demanding classrooms; native ability determines successD) student motivation and parental guidance; work outside the classroom is essential

Q: Which of the following reasons best explains why U.S. students fall behind in academic accomplishments compared to their international peers? A) Instruction in the United States is less challenging than in other countries. B) U.S. teachers assign less homework than teachers in other countries. C) U.S. parents tend to be disinterested in their children's education. D) U.S. students have language deficits that compound reading and math problems.

Q: On an international scale, reading, math, and science performance of U.S. students is A) higher than that of Japan or Korea. B) at a high-performing level. C) the lowest of all industrialized nations. D) at or below average.

Q: Mr. and Mrs. Behru live in a low-income, high-risk neighborhood. They have little involvement with their child's school because they A) have no need for school support. B) feel resentful toward the school for its demands on their time. C) are disinterested in education. D) face daily stresses that reduce their energy for school involvement.

Q: Which of the following options is best for Sally, a child with an above-average IQ who is experiencing extreme difficulty in math? A) Keep her in a regular classroom and assign extra math homework. B) Place her in a special education class instead of a regular classroom. C) Place her in a resource room for math and in a regular classroom for the rest of the day. D) Tell her to study harder or she will be placed in a special education class.

Q: Achievement gains for children in inclusive classrooms depend onA) both the severity of the disability and the support services available.B) the qualifications of the general education teacher.C) whether or not they have access to mentors.D) how they view the nature of their disability.

Q: Ephraim has an above-average IQ, but has extreme difficulty in reading. Ephraim most likely A) has mild mental retardation. B) has a learning disability. C) has a hearing impairment. D) is an underachiever.

Q: Maddox has mild mental retardation and receives all of his special education services in a regular classroom. Maddox is experiencing A) mainstreaming. B) full inclusion. C) transitional learning. D) an overly restrictive environment.

Q: In China, Japan, and most Western European countries, high school track placement is determined by A) family reputation. B) teacher recommendations. C) ancestry and lineage. D) a national exam.

Q: Which of the following statements is true about magnet schools? A) They are often located in well-to-do neighborhoods in larger cities. B) They typically utilize a constructivist classroom. C) Research on the effectiveness of magnet schools has been inconclusive. D) Many students are admitted to magnet schools on a lottery basis.

Q: Magnet schools offerA) education to ethnically diverse students, although achievement results remain similar to more segregated schools.B) more exclusive education to high-SES students who are able to afford it.C) the usual curriculum, plus an emphasis on a specific area of interest.D) education in a specific area of interest to select groups of homogeneous students.

Q: Since the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court Brown v. Board of Education decision ordering schools to desegregate, school integration has A) been detrimental to both majority and minority student achievement. B) been successfully achieved in most school districts in the United States. C) receded since the late 1980s. D) mostly eliminated the racial divide in U.S. education.

Q: For collaboration between heterogeneous peers to succeed, teachers need to A) provide the children with extensive guidance. B) provide repetitive drill and practice activities. C) hire formal tutors for students. D) develop a tracking system to measure individual and group progress.

Q: A decrease in competition and increased harmony are two positive outcomes of A) traditional classrooms. B) homogeneous grouping arrangements. C) multigrade classrooms. D) mainstreaming.

Q: Karina has just been placed in a "low-ability" reading group. What is a probable outcome of this placement? A) Karina will view herself as more intelligent than others in the group. B) Karina will exhibit a drop in academic self-esteem. C) Karina will exhibit an increase in academic motivation. D) Karina's reading achievement will quickly improve, which will increase her self-esteem.

Q: Teacher expectationsA) have a greater impact on girls than boys.B) are most effective when they emphasize competition and publicly compare children.C) are usually slanted in a positive direction.D) have a greater impact on low-achieving than high-achieving students.

Q: Ms. Weems believes that Donny is a slow learner and poor reader. He begins having reading difficulties and does poorly in class. Donny is showing evidence of A) an educational self-fulfilling prophecy. B) learned helplessness. C) passive learning. D) teacher neglect and bias.

Q: Paolo is a low-SES Hispanic male who is unruly in class. Paolo most likely A) receives more encouragement and praise from his teachers than his higher-SES peers. B) receives more criticism from his teachers than his higher-achieving peers. C) has a close, sensitive, and supportive relationship with his teachers. D) receives more criticism from his peers than his teachers.

Q: Elementary and secondary school students describe good teachers as __________, __________, and __________. A) fun; easy graders; positive role models B) laid back; not too serious; funny C) caring; helpful; stimulating D) authoritarian; professional; challenging

Q: Which of the following approaches is most beneficial in helping adolescents adjust to school transition? A) forming larger homerooms to encourage closer relations between teachers and students B) having alumni speak to new students about their own experiences with school transition C) assigning students to classes with several familiar peers D) assigning students to classes with all new peers with similar interests

Q: Which of the following reasons best explains why girls fare less well than boys when transitioning to middle school?A) They tend to take school successes and failures more personally.B) Movement to junior high coincides with other life changes, such as the onset of puberty and dating.C) They typically find school transitions more confusing and disorienting.D) They are more likely to be affected by negative self-fulfilling prophecies.

Q: Research reveals that with each school change (from elementary to middle or junior high and then to high school), A) adolescents' grades increase. B) adolescents' grades decline. C) satisfaction with school increases. D) adolescents' peer networks expand.

Q: Because social maturity in early childhood contributes to later academic performance, a growing number of experts propose that A) readiness for kindergarten be assessed in terms of not just academic skills but also social skills. B) preschool education be made mandatory for children. C) kindergarten teaching focus almost exclusively on social skills rather than academic instruction. D) temperamentally shy, impulsive, and emotionally negative children be taught separately from their prosocial agemates.

Q: In the Vygotsky-based innovation, __________, teachers guide the overall process of learning but no other distinction is made between adult and child contributors. A) Montessori education B) homogeneous grouping C) transitional education D) communities of learners

Q: In Mr. Yi's classroom, students participate in a wide range of challenging activities with teachers and peers, with whom they jointly construct understandings. Mr. Yi most likely teaches in a __________ classroom. A) philosophical B) traditional C) social-constructivist D) Montessori

Q: Cameron and Cooper are both 5 years old. Cameron has spent the last two years in a Montessori preschool. Cooper has been at home with his mother and younger siblings. When the boys enter kindergarten, research suggests thatA) Cooper will have lower rates of behavior problems than Cameron.B) Cameron will outperform Cooper in cognitive flexibility.C) Cooper will probably be placed in a transition class after kindergarten.D) Cameron will show anxiety and disruptiveness throughout elementary school.

Q: Kadin attends a school that includes multiage classrooms, teaching materials specially designed to promote exploration and discovery, long time periods for individual and small-group learning in child-chosen activities, and equal emphasis on academic and social development. Kadin attends a A) private preschool. B) Head Start program. C) Montessori preschool. D) boarding school.

Q: If Lydia goes to a constructivist classroom, which of the following outcomes will most likely occur? A) She will show a slight edge in achievement test scores over children in traditional classrooms. B) She will show gains in critical thinking and moral maturity. C) She will show gains in cognitive development and creativity. D) She will display a decrease in behavioral problems during high school.

Q: Research shows that kindergarteners' and first graders' engagement in peer conversation and games during recess A) resulted in an increase of incidents of children being excluded. B) predicted gains in academic achievement. C) led to an increase in prosocial behaviors. D) led to increased incidence of disruptive classroom behaviors.

Q: Research shows that school recess A) subtracts from classroom learning. B) offers few benefits to children over the age of 8. C) boosts classroom learning. D) only benefits students who are in good physical shape.

Q: Today, _____ percent of U.S. schools no longer provide recess to students as young as second grade.A) 2B) 7C) 15D) 20

Q: The U.S. No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law in 2001, resulted in A) greater attention to student-chosen areas of study. B) a move toward enhanced constructivist classrooms. C) a "back to basics" movement in which classrooms returned to traditional instruction. D) a wider focus to foster development beyond academic instruction.

Q: Mr. Pegel does most of the talking in his classroom. His students are relatively passive and respond when called upon. Mr. Pegel most likely teaches in a __________ classroom. A) high-stakes B) traditional C) standardized D) constructivist

Q: __________ are especially likely to profit from extracurricular pursuits that require them to take on meaningful roles and responsibilities. A) Overweight adolescents B) Adolescents with physical limitations C) Adolescents with academic, emotional, and social problems D) Popular-prosocial adolescents

Q: Which of the following predicted substantially higher achievement for students from fourth through ninth grades? A) experiencing small classes from kindergarten through third grade B) placing teachers' aides in classrooms C) participating in extracurricular activities D) a focus on teaching social skills as well as academics

Q: According to the large field experiment involving more than 6,000 kindergartners, what is the optimal class size?A) 10 to 12 studentsB) 13 to 17 studentsC) 18 to 24 studentsD) 25 to 30 students

Q: If Stewart and Merrie want to regulate their children's TV and computer use, one helpful strategy is to A) allow their children only 30 minutes of unsupervised TV viewing or computer use per day. B) allow their children to only be able to do one or the other each day of the week. C) avoid using TV or computer time as a reward. D) permit their children to watch TV and play on the computer only in their bedrooms.

Q: Which of the following has hampered efforts to regulate TV broadcasting in the United States? A) lack of funding B) intense pressure from parents C) successful lobbying by television and film studios D) the First Amendment right to free speech

Q: Angelina is a teenager with high levels of conflict with her parents. When asked by an online friend to meet in person, Angelina is more likely than her peers to A) end the online friendship without ever meeting the person face-to-face. B) ask a sibling or friend to attend the meeting with her. C) attend the meeting without telling her parents. D) maintain the online friendship but avoid meeting the person.

Q: A study of instant messaging use among young people showed that A) it enhances social skills and is a safe way to experiment with online dating. B) it accounts for a small percentage of the time that young people spend at the computer. C) the more instant messaging young people engage in, the more detached they become from their wider circle of family and friends. D) as the amount of instant messaging between preexisting friends increases, so do young people's perceptions of intimacy in the relationship.

Q: An increasing number of studies show that playing violent video gamesA) is like watching violent TV and increases hostility and aggression.B) fosters selective attention and spatial abilities.C) teaches children about the negative consequences of hostility and aggression.D) is less harmful to children than watching violent TV.

Q: Playing speed-and-action video games fosters A) spatial skills in boys, but not in girls. B) selective attention in boys and girls alike. C) greater selective attention in girls, but not in boys. D) greater school performance for boys and girls alike.

Q: Which of the following statements is true regarding boys' and girls' use of computers? A) Girls more often than boys connect to the Internet to download music. B) Girls more often than boys use spreadsheets and graphics programs. C) By the end of elementary school, girls spend more time with computers than boys. D) More boys than girls rate their computer skills as "excellent."

Q: Cho is just beginning to learn to read and write. If she uses the computer for word processing, A) the ability to revise her text's meaning and style will cause her to worry less about making mistakes. B) she will become easily frustrated because her typing skills are slower than writing with a pencil. C) she will not learn to spell correctly, as she will rely on the computer to correct her mistakes. D) her attention will be sustained longer, but the quality of her work will be poor.