Q&A Hero

Q: Parents can foster children's understanding of their own and others' mental lives by A) providing commentary about mental states. B) purposefully mislabeling emotions to teach them to identify mismatches. C) exposing them to highly stressful situations and then talking about what the children observed. D) encouraging them to work out problems on their own.

Q: Gains in cognitive inhibition predict __________ particularly strongly, perhaps because children must suppress __________ responses. A) false-belief understanding; irrelevant B) high self-esteem; immature C) theory of mind; false-belief D) self-awareness; egocentric

Q: Children who pass false-belief tasks have more accurate eyewitness memories because A) their autobiographical memory, which is built upon a false-belief base, is highly developed. B) they are less likely to be confused or distracted by the actions of other people at the scene and can accurately focus on the observed incident. C) they realize that one person can present misinformation to another, which can affect the second individual's beliefs. D) they are able to integrate multiple sources of information, such as sights, sounds, and images of people at the scene, at once.

Q: False-belief understanding is linked to gains in young children's capacity to A) discuss thoughts and feelings in conversations with friends. B) correctly identify risky social situations. C) understand that people always act consistently with their desires. D) avoid making scale errors.

Q: Which of the following statements is an example of recursive thought?A) "Mommy is mad because I hit my sister."B) "My teacher is always happy."C) "If she doesn"t give me the book, I"m going to tell the teacher."D) "I thought you would think I was just kidding when I said that."

Q: Appreciation of second-order false belief requires __________, a form of perspective taking that involves the ability to reason simultaneously about what two or more people are thinking. A) making mental inferences B) identity diffusion C) self-recognition D) recursive thought

Q: Appreciation of __________ enables children to pinpoint the reasons that another person arrived at a certain belief. A) first-order false belief B) second-order false belief C) pragmatics D) empathy

Q: Mastery of false belief signals a change in representationthe ability to view beliefs as A) scale errors. B) desires existing in a person's inner states. C) mental inferences. D) interpretations, not just reflections, of reality.

Q: In one study, researchers said to children, "Sam can"t find his dog. Sam's dog is really in the kitchen, but Sam thinks his dog is in the bedroom. Where will Sam look for his dog?" Children who stated that Sam would look in the kitchen do not yet understand A) false beliefs. B) the I-self. C) metaphors. D) proximity.

Q: Five-year-old Serena ate a cupcake that she knew she was not supposed to have until after dinner. To avoid punishment, Serena told her mother that the dog ate the cupcake. Serena's attempt to alter her mother's belief demonstratesA) learned helplessness.B) an entity view of ability.C) antisocial behavior.D) belief"desire theory of mind.

Q: Research on theory of mind and perspective taking indicates that preschoolers A) are capable of understanding what another person is thinking and feeling. B) understand that two people can interpret the same ambiguous information differently. C) think that people always act in ways consistent with their desires and do not realize beliefs also affect behavior. D) realize that prior knowledge and experience affects an individual's interpretation of new information.

Q: Mr. Mach states that he does not like milk, but drinks it to keep his bones healthy. His young daughter, who has a desire theory of mind, hears him say this and watches him drink the milk. She A) understands that he does not like milk, but drinks it anyway to stay healthy. B) understands that he does not like milk, and is confused as to why he drinks it anyway. C) believes that he drinks the milk because he likes it, or because he is thirsty. D) tells him not to drink the milk if he does not like it.

Q: When studying development of early mental states, researchers found that as early as 6 months, infants A) expect people to talk to other people, rather than to inanimate objects. B) understand that people are intentional beings who share and influence another's mental state. C) are aware that others' perspectives differ from their own. D) can determine if an object inside a box is desirable or undesirable.

Q: __________ is crucial for a wide variety of social"cognitive achievements, including understanding others' emotions, referential communication skills, and self-concept and self-esteem. A) Metacognition B) Making social comparisons C) Understanding of moral imperatives D) Perspective taking

Q: During the evening drive home, Mr. Cruz looks at his 4-year-old daughter in the rearview mirror and asks what she is doing. She responds, "I"m thinking inside." Her response indicates an awareness of the __________ self.A) categoricalB) enduringC) innerD) remembered

Q: Not until age _____ are children certain that a video image of themselves replayed a few minutes after it was filmed is still "me." A) 3 B) 4 C) 5 D) 6

Q: Most North Americans regard favorable self-esteem as __________ for healthy development, whereas Chinese adults generally see it as __________. A) crucial; unimportant or even negative B) unimportant or even negative; crucial C) somewhat important; maladaptive and harmful D) somewhat important; crucial

Q: Chinese parents integrate Confucian traditions of strict discipline and social obligations into their personal stories to A) teach children the importance of autonomy and independent decision making. B) reinforce children's spunk and assertiveness. C) affirm the importance of not disgracing the family. D) illustrate how children from other cultures behave.

Q: Research examining the storytelling practices between adults and 2-year-olds in Irish-American and Chinese families reveals that A) Irish-American families tend to discuss holidays and family trips more than Chinese families. B) Irish-Americans tend to downplay story transgressions by attributing them to the child's spunk and assertiveness. C) parents in both cultures are equally likely to teach proper behavior at a story's conclusion. D) Chinese parents are more likely than Irish-American parents to emphasize the child's autonomy.

Q: The development of __________ memory is linked with the emergence of the __________ self.A) recognition; socialB) working; enduringC) semantic; categoricalD) autobiographical; remembered

Q: Three-year-old Athena says, "Daddy's a man. Mommy's a woman." These statements suggest that Athena has developed a A) categorical self. B) large vocabulary. C) social self. D) remembered self.

Q: __________ is considered a powerful tool in self-development because it permits children to represent and express the self more clearly. A) A large social network B) Movement C) Language D) Recursive thought

Q: Which of the following statements describes the relationship between toddlers' sense of self and possessiveness? A) Toddlers with a weak sense of self are likely to argue loudly in a dispute over an object. B) The stronger toddlers' self-definition, the more possessive they tend to be. C) The weaker toddlers' self-definition, the more possessive they tend to be. D) Toddlers must develop a sense of ownership before they can develop a sense of self-recognition.

Q: Cross-cultural research shows that German and Greek caregivers use a(n) __________ parenting style common in cultures that value independence, while Nso caregivers use a(n) __________ parenting style typical in cultures that value interdependence. A) authoritarian; permissive B) permissive; uninvolved C) distal; proximal D) proximal; distal

Q: During the first year, as infants act on the environment, theyA) are self-involved and cannot focus on objects.B) cannot distinguish between self and others.C) notice effects that help them sort out self, other people, and objects.D) are unable to separate objects from the surrounding world.

Q: When visiting her grandmother's house, 2-year-old Marta sees a new family photo on the wall, points to it, and says, "See Marta," to her grandmother. Marta's behavior indicates that she A) is aware of self-reflection. B) is aware of her inner self. C) has developed self-recognition. D) has not yet established self-awareness.

Q: Two-year-old Isabella has a red dot on her nose. When she looks into a mirror, she tries to rub off the dot. This behavior indicates that Isabella is developing A) self-recognition. B) self-reflection. C) emotional contagion. D) a secure identity.

Q: Research indicates that infants who look and smile more at video images of others than at video images of themselves A) have not yet developed self-awareness. B) are viewing another person as a potential social partner. C) have a limited self-conceptualization. D) cannot yet distinguish strangers from familiar caregivers.

Q: At what age will infants first look longer at a video image of a peer than at a video image of themselves? A) 1 month B) 4 months C) 6 months D) 9 months

Q: Newborns' remarkable capacity for __________ supports the beginnings of self-awareness.A) intermodal perceptionB) attribution trainingC) empathetic respondingD) social cognition

Q: Five-year-old Jamari observes his friend Liam fall while ice skating. Instead of crying, Liam starts to laugh, and Jamari imagines what Liam's thoughts and feelings might be. Jamari is using __________ to understand Liam's actions. A) self-regulation B) social comparison C) belief"desire theory of mind D) perspective taking

Q: Dr. Zoglin explains to his students how much easier it is to predict the motion of a physical object, such as a rolling ball, than the actions of a person. Dr. Zoglin is describing A) differences between the I-self and the me-self. B) differences between social and nonsocial cognition. C) the development of self-awareness. D) metacognitive understanding.

Q: As children integrate separate behaviors into an appreciation of their own and others' personalities and identities, social cognition A) moves away from a metacognitive level of understanding. B) changes from abstract to concrete. C) becomes better organized with age. D) develops more slowly than nonsocial cognition.

Q: Dr. Arbus is interested in learning how children come to understand their multifaceted world. In her research, she asks questions like: When do infants discover that they are separate beings, distinct from other people and objects? Dr. Arbus is studying A) social cognition. B) the inner self. C) self-concept. D) personality development.

Q: Compared with North American Caucasian infants, Chinese and Japanese babiesA) take longer to soothe themselves when upset.B) display less anxiety when interacting with a stranger.C) smile, laugh, and cry more frequently.D) tend to be less active, irritable, and vocal, and better at quieting themselves.

Q: The powerful effects of __________ on temperament indicate that __________ is/are linked to maladaptive emotional reactivity in children. A) the environment; persistent nutritional and emotional deprivation B) heredity; large family size C) SES; limited resources D) birth order and gender; having four or more children

Q: Heritability estimates are __________ for expressions of __________ than for __________. A) lower; negative emotion; positive emotion B) higher; negative emotion; positive emotion C) lower; irritability; agreeability D) higher; positive emotion; negative emotion

Q: Preschoolers who were highly fearful as 2-year-olds score slightly __________ their agemates in __________ as 4-year-olds. A) better than; effortful control B) below; effortful control C) better than; positive affect D) below; fearful distress

Q: Long-term prediction from early temperament is best achieved A) during early infancy. B) before the first birthday. C) during the second year of life. D) after age 3.

Q: The overall stability of temperament is __________ in infancy and toddlerhood and __________ from the preschool years on.A) moderate; highB) low; moderateC) low; highD) high; moderate

Q: Benny is a shy baby. What can his parents do to help Benny from becoming a fearful child? A) Protect him from minor stresses and teach him to retreat from unfamiliar situations. B) Expose him to fear-inducing situations so he can learn to regulate his anxiety. C) Avoid authoritative child-rearing practices and encourage independence. D) Provide warm, supportive care and make appropriate demands when approaching new experiences.

Q: Jerome Kagan's longitudinal research on several hundred Caucasian infants found that about 40 percent of 4-month-old babies A) were easily upset by novelty. B) retained their temperamental styles as they got older. C) were comfortable, even delighted, with new experiences. D) became more extreme in disposition over time.

Q: Most neurobiological research has focused on children who fall at opposite extremes of the __________ and __________ dimensions of temperament. A) positive-affect; fearful-distress B) activity-level; attention-span C) attention-span; irritable-distress D) activity-level; fearful-distress

Q: One criticism of home research observations of temperament is that A) the results are often too subjective. B) observers find it hard to capture all relevant information. C) fearful children may be unwilling to be observed. D) the researchers are often biased.

Q: One criticism of parental reports of temperament is thatA) most parents do not understand the measures used in temperament research.B) they are inconvenient for researchers to administer.C) depressed mothers perceive their babies as less difficult than they really are.D) information from parents is biased.

Q: Dr. Petty is researching preschoolers' capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response. She is focusing on variations in how effectively a child can focus and shift attention, inhibit impulses, and manage negative emotions. Dr. Petty is studying A) attention span and persistence. B) positive affect. C) effortful control. D) threshold of responsiveness.

Q: According to Mary Rothbart's model of temperament, which dimension measures an individual's distress level when desires are frustrated? A) rhythmicity B) attention span/persistence C) fearful distress D) irritable distress

Q: Accordingly to Thomas and Chess, which dimension of temperament reflects the amount of friendly, joyful behavior as opposed to unpleasant, unfriendly behavior? A) intensity of reaction B) quality of mood C) adaptability D) rhythmicity

Q: Thirty-five percent of children do not fit into any of the Thomas and Chess temperament categories. Instead, they A) show temperamental characteristics that researchers have not yet classified. B) have temperamental characteristics that change frequently, depending on social and family influences. C) show unique blends of temperamental characteristics. D) display no identifiable temperamental characteristics.

Q: Jorge is slow to accept new experiences, tends to react negatively and intensely, and has irregular daily routines. Jorge's temperament is classified asA) a combination of easy, difficult, and slow to warm up.B) difficult.C) easy.D) slow to warm up.

Q: Alexandar Thomas and Stella Chess discovered that __________ can modify children's temperament considerably. A) diet and exercise B) operant conditioning C) parenting practices D) sibling relationships

Q: The psychological traits that make up temperament are believed to form the cornerstone of A) adult maturity. B) the adult personality. C) relationship stability. D) attachment security.

Q: Dr. Padin refers to one of his patients in terms of early-appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation. Dr. Padin is referring to his patient's A) temperament. B) maturity level. C) personality. D) attachment.

Q: Between ages 3 and 6, A) anger and fear increase in frequency and intensity. B) children begin to use language to assist with emotional self-regulation. C) self-conscious emotions are integrated with inner standards of excellence and good behavior. D) self-conscious emotions are clearly linked to self-evaluation.

Q: At what age do children begin to engage in social referencing?A) 1 to 6 monthsB) 7 to 12 monthsC) 1 to 2 yearsD) 3 to 6 years

Q: When responding to a peer's distress, children __________ rarely express concern and frequently display fear, anger, or engage in physical attacks. A) of permissive parents B) of divorced parents C) who have been physically abused D) of authoritative parents

Q: Mr. and Mrs. Yoto want to know how they can support the development of sympathetic concern in their 5-year-old son, Raj. Based on research, which of the following suggestions would you give the Yoto's? A) Provide opportunities for community service activities. B) Avoid having disagreements in front of Raj. C) Allow Raj to independently work through conflicts with peers. D) Limit unstructured social activities until Raj is older.

Q: Obert shows a sharp increase in EEG brain-wave activity in the right hemisphere after seeing a classmate crying. Obert is displaying A) a lack of empathy for another's emotional needs. B) a strong sense of sympathy. C) an ability to self-regulate his own emotions. D) delayed social-referencing skills.

Q: Twin studies reveal that empathy is __________ heritable. A) rarely B) slightly C) moderately D) highly

Q: During __________, advances in perspective taking permit an empathic response not just to people's immediate distress, but also to their general life condition.A) infancy and toddlerhoodB) early childhoodC) middle childhoodD) late childhood and adolescence

Q: Which of the following describes the probable reaction of a 3-month-old who hears another infant crying? A) cries in response to the infant's crying B) attempts to pat and comfort the other infant C) watches the other infant with a sense of curiosity D) cries louder than the other infant to gain a caregiver's attention

Q: Beginning in the preschool years, __________ is an important motivator of prosocial, or altruistic, behavior. A) fear B) empathy C) social referencing D) emotional contagion

Q: Which of the following situations would be considered an excellent context for early learning about emotions? A) parallel play with a peer B) make-believe play with siblings C) solitary play D) functional play with a new playmate

Q: Which of the following mothers is more likely to have a child who is better at understanding emotions? A) Beth, who has four children and works full-time B) Betty, who has a secure attachment bond with her child C) Bev, who does not frequently talk about feelings or emotions with her child D) Bettina, who refuses to disagree with her husband in front of her children

Q: An appreciation of mixed emotions helps school-age children realize thatA) people's expressions may not reflect their true feelings.B) pride elicits the same emotion as happiness and surprise.C) basic emotions are more complex than self-conscious emotions.D) two emotions cannot really occur at once.

Q: Four-year-old Clarissa realizes that when the class talks about fish during circle time, her friend Amy feels sad because her fish died recently. Clarissa puts her arm around Amy's shoulders and pats her. Clarissa has reached a stage of cognitive development where A) she uses social referencing to comfort Amy. B) she realizes that thinking and feeling are interconnected. C) she becomes overwhelmed by others' distress. D) internal explanations for emotional reactions are emphasized more than external explanations.

Q: Miss Kennelly shows 14- and 18-month-olds broccoli and crackers. She acts delighted with the taste of the broccoli but disgusted with the taste of the crackers. When asked to share the food, which of the following is the most likely to occur? A) Fourteen-month-old Reese, who prefers crackers to broccoli, will offer Miss Kennelly broccoli. B) Fourteen-month-old Jake, who prefers broccoli to crackers, will offer Miss Kennelly crackers. C) Eighteen-month-old Gina, who prefers crackers to broccoli, will offer Miss Kennelly broccoli. D) Eighteen-month-old Samuel, who prefers crackers to broccoli, will offer Miss Kennelly crackers.

Q: Which of the following is the most effective method for a caregiver to encourage a wary 18-month old child to play with an unfamiliar toy? A) Quietly place the toy near the child. B) Engage the child in eye contact, smile, and point to the toy. C) Carry the child to the toy and silently put the child down. D) Use vocal encouragement, either alone or with a positive facial expression.

Q: As an unfamiliar adult starts to talk to three-year-old Rose, she becomes anxious and looks at her father, who smiles calmly at her. Reassured, Rose relaxes and responds to the new adult. Rose is demonstrating the use of A) sympathy. B) social referencing. C) empathy. D) emotional display rules.

Q: Some researchers claim that young babies respond in kind to others' emotions through a built-in, automatic process ofA) emotional contagion.B) habituation and recovery.C) operant conditioning.D) social referencing.

Q: Which of the following children would be upset upon hearing her parents argue, but would most likely try to hide her emotions from them? A) Mira, who is a Buddhist B) Suddhira, who is a Hindu C) Christina, who is a Catholic D) Pearl, who is an atheist

Q: By age 3, capacity for self-regulation predicts A) children's skill at portraying an emotion they do not feel. B) empathy. C) anger and hostility toward peers. D) gender differences in make-believe play.

Q: When emotional self-regulation has developed well, young people acquire a sense of A) entitlement. B) regulated self-expression. C) emotional self-efficacy. D) attachment.

Q: To manage her emotion, 12-year-old Britney appraises the situation as changeable, identifies the difficulty, and decides what to do about it. Britney is using A) a secure base. B) problem-centered coping. C) emotional self-efficacy. D) emotion-centered coping.

Q: Bao, a 10-year-old growing up in China, is more likely to list __________ as a fear than children of a similar age in the United States.A) adult criticismB) the possibility of warC) the possibility of natural disastersD) threats to parental health

Q: Common fears during the school years include A) monsters and ghosts. B) acts of nature, such as thunder and lightning. C) family finances and college selection. D) poor academic performance and the possibility of personal harm.

Q: You wonder if your son's fear of birds has become a phobia. One indication that it has would be if A) his fear has persisted for over a week. B) his fear interferes with daily activities. C) he has begun to make jokes about birds in an attempt to overcome his fear. D) he is only afraid of birds in specific situations, such as when playing soccer outside.

Q: Donna's young daughter, Cali, is terribly afraid of cats. Donna can help Cali manage her fear by A) encouraging daily contact with kittens to alleviate her fear. B) showing Cali how small a cat is compared to humans, and tell her she should not be afraid of something so small. C) letting Cali approach cats at her own pace, showing her that cats can be friendly when treated gently. D) accepting her fear and helping her to avoid cats whenever possible.

Q: Temper tantrums tend to occur because toddlers A) frequently compete with siblings for desired toys. B) are easily overwhelmed and often have a difficult temperament. C) recall that crying as an infant got them immediate adult attention. D) cannot control the intense anger that often arises when an adult rejects their demands.

Q: Gains in __________ during the second year lead to new ways of regulating emotion.A) social skillsB) motor developmentC) languageD) visual acuity