Q&A Hero

Q: A __________ is a prediction of behavior drawn directly from a __________. A) confirmation; fact B) hypothesis; theory C) theory; hypothesis D) summary; study

Q: Before arriving in a kindergarten classroom, Dr. Banks prepared a questionnaire for interviewing children for her research. This is an example of a research A) design. B) question. C) method. D) hypothesis.

Q: How does the ethical principle of informed consent operate in studies involving children?

Q: Describe the problems in conducting longitudinal research.

Q: Describe laboratory, field, and natural, or quasi-, experiments. Explain the strengths and limitations of each.

Q: Discuss the concept of validity, and describe internal and external validity.

Q: Describe ethnography, noting its strengths and limitations.

Q: Describe the clinical, or case study, method, including its strengths and limitations.

Q: Compare and contrast structured observation and structured interviews, noting the strengths and limitations of each.

Q: In studies involving children, many child development specialists believe thatA) debriefing should not be used.B) deception should not be used.C) deception and debriefing should be used in the same manner they are used with adults.D) deception should be used only if the risk of harm is minimal.

Q: Some researchers have suggested that debriefing does not work well with children because it A) may undermine their belief in the honesty of adults. B) often leads to observer influence and bias. C) can bias the effects of an experimental manipulation. D) is unethical to debrief children.

Q: A researcher would like 8-year-old Andie to participate in a study. Who should have the final word in deciding whether Andie participates? A) the researcher B) Andie C) Andie's parents D) Andie's teacher

Q: Which of the following statements is true about age differences in children's research risks? A) Young children are more susceptible than older children to procedures that threaten the way they view themselves. B) Adolescents may be better than younger children at sizing up and rejecting researchers' deceptive evaluations. C) Receiving false negative feedback tends to be more stressful for very young children than for school-age children. D) Children in middle childhood, but not adolescents or young children, feel external pressure to continue with a study.

Q: A researcher would like 9-year-old Simon to participate in a study. The researcher should obtain permission from A) Simon only. B) Simon's parents only. C) Simon and his parents. D) neither Simon nor his parents.

Q: The ethical principle of __________ requires special interpretation when participants cannot fully appreciate the research goals and activities.A) privacyB) beneficial treatmentsC) informed consentD) knowledge of results

Q: If there are any risks to the safety and welfare of participants that the research does not justify, then preferences is always given to the A) investigator. B) research committee. C) research participants. D) institutional review board.

Q: __________ is used by review committees in colleges, universities, and other institutions to evaluate the ethics of research proposals. A) A protection-from-harm ratio B) Reliability C) A risks-versus-benefits ratio D) Validity

Q: An investigator interested in sexual practices among high school students asked them to post their answers on a Facebook group page. Which of the following research rights was violated? A) informed consent B) protection from harm C) beneficial treatments D) privacy

Q: An investigator conducted a study in a second-grade classroom. She obtained permission from the teacher and the principal only. Which of the following research rights was violated? A) protection from harm B) beneficial treatments C) informed consent D) privacy

Q: An investigator interested in studying fears in preschool children had them reach into a covered box where she placed either a ball, a snake, a kitten, or a spider. Which of the following research rights was violated?A) protection from harmB) informed consentC) privacyD) beneficial treatments

Q: The __________ design offers insights into how change occurs. A) sequential B) longitudinal C) microgenetic D) cross-sectional

Q: Compare the United States with other industrialized countries on several indicators of child health and well-being. Why have U.S. public policies safeguarding children and youths lagged behind policies in other developed nations?

Q: List the three basic issues in child development. What stances do behaviorism and Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory take on each of these issues?

Q: Describe the dynamic systems perspective of child development.

Q: Describe Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory.

Q: Compare and contrast the terms "critical period" and "sensitive period," and discuss how observations of imprinting led to the development of these concepts.

Q: Discuss the concepts of stability and plasticity with regard to individual differences among children.

Q: Summarize differences between continuous and discontinuous development.

Q: The Children's Defense FundA) was founded by James Mark Baldwin.B) engages in public education, legal action, and community organizing.C) partners with corporations to enhance the social relevance of child development research.D) primarily publishes reports on children's conditions in developing nations.

Q: Opponents of the Convention on the Rights of the Child A) maintain that its provisions would shift the burden of child rearing from the family to the state. B) believe that investing in children yields valuable returns to a nation's economy. C) are mostly located in war-torn nations. D) argue that it should contain child abuse and neglect protections.

Q: With regard to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States A) played no role in drafting the agreement. B) is one of only two nations in the world whose legislature has not yet ratified it. C) ratified it in 1989. D) adopted it as public policy in 2010.

Q: The field of child development now recognizes that __________ is among the most powerful tools for preventing developmental problems and enhancing children's quality of life. A) sound public policy B) family therapy C) early IQ testing D) high-quality child care

Q: Which of the following is one way Great Britain used welfare policies to reduce its child poverty rate by more than half over the past decade? A) It initiated a minimum wage sufficient to cover a family's basic needs. B) It instituted a 60-month lifetime cap on welfare benefits. C) It only allows families to receive welfare benefits for 24 continuous months. D) It completely eliminated government-funded preschool and child-care subsidies.

Q: Welfare reformA) promotes children's development only when it results in a more adequate standard of living.B) is beneficial for children and for low-skilled, less-educated single mothers.C) protects children from the damaging effects of poverty.D) has been successful, even in families that moved to total reliance on work.

Q: In the United States, a family can be on Temporary Aid to Needy Families for _____ continuous months. A) 24 B) 36 C) 48 D) 60

Q: Research on the importance of early experiences for children's intellectual development played a major role in the founding of A) the Convention on the Rights of the Child. B) the Children's Defense Fund. C) Project Head Start. D) the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Q: Which of the following statements is true about collectivist societies? A) Most Western European countries lean away from collectivism. B) Collectivism tends to increase as cultures become more complex. C) Collectivist societies value the interdependent self. D) People think of themselves as separate entities and are largely concerned with their own needs.

Q: One reason Americans have been slow to endorse government-supported benefits for all families is because the A) people in the United States tend to value interdependence. B) United States is a relatively wealthy nation. C) United States is a highly complex society. D) United States is an individualistic society.

Q: Which of the following countries has the highest teenage pregnancy rate?A) CanadaB) the United StatesC) SlovakiaD) Poland

Q: __________ is the only industrialized nation without a universal, publicly funded health-care system, A) Saudi Arabia B) Japan C) The United States D) The United Kingdom

Q: Of all Western nations, __________ has the highest percentage of extremely poor children. A) the United States B) Canada C) Denmark D) Australia

Q: Public policy research shows that A) the United States has more public policies safeguarding children than any other developed nation. B) extreme poverty is no longer a major problem among U.S. families with children. C) U.S. public policies safeguarding children and youths lag behind policies in other developed nations. D) the United States has an excellent system in place for guaranteeing high-quality child care to all citizens.

Q: Both __________ and __________ emphasize nature and nurture. A) behaviorism; ethology B) social learning theory; evolutionary developmental psychology C) sociocultural theory; the dynamic systems perspective D) behaviorism; ecological systems theory

Q: Which of the following major theories in child development primarily emphasizes nurture rather than nature as an important influence?A) the psychoanalytic perspectiveB) behaviorismC) ethologyD) information processing

Q: Which of the following theories emphasizes many possible courses of development? A) psychoanalytic perspective B) cognitive-developmental theory C) information processing D) social learning theory

Q: Both __________ and __________ emphasize discontinuous development. A) behaviorism; social learning theory B) Piaget's cognitive-developmental theory; the psychoanalytic perspective C) information processing; Vygotsky's sociocultural theory D) ethology; evolutionary developmental psychology

Q: Dynamic system theorists regard development as A) a single, continuous line. B) stagewise. C) a web of fibers branching out in many directions. D) static.

Q: Dynamic systems theorists emphasize that A) children are driven mainly by instincts and unconscious motives. B) different children master the same skills in unique ways. C) sensitive periods are key to understanding development. D) development can be best understood in terms of its adaptive value.

Q: According to the dynamic systems perspective, development occurs whenA) behavior is actively reorganized following a change in any part of the child's integrated system.B) a child internalizes the behaviors of more skilled members of society.C) a child is in the sensitive period for a particular behavior.D) disequilibrium is experienced by the child in the home environment.

Q: Frequency of __________ is associated with reduced sexual risk taking, alcohol and drug use, and mental health problems in adolescence. A) family meals B) extracurricular activities C) peer interaction D) parental communication

Q: Family life survey findings reveal that considering U.S. families as a whole, __________ time with children has __________ over the past three decades. A) mothers'; increased B) fathers'; remained fairly stable C) mothers'; remained fairly stable D) fathers'; increased

Q: In ecological systems theory, children are A) primarily influenced by the social transmission of knowledge. B) controlled by successful imprinting during the early critical period. C) both products and producers of their environments. D) driven solely by their inner dispositions.

Q: Annmarie's grades in school have never been affected by her father's multiple job transfers. However, when the family moves from Michigan to Texas between her sophomore and junior years of high school, Annmarie's grades drop significantly. In ecological systems theory, this move represents a change in her A) chronosystem. B) mesosystem. C) microsystem. D) macrosystem.

Q: According to Bronfenbrenner, the environmentA) negatively impacts the breakdown in exosystem activities.B) is a static force.C) is an effective substitute for lack of parental involvement.D) is an ever-changing system.

Q: According to ecological systems theory, the priority that the __________ gives to children's needs affects the support they receive at inner levels of the environment. A) microsystem B) mesosystem C) exosystem D) macrosystem

Q: An organized family life A) is linked to economic disadvantage. B) provides a supportive context for warm, involved parent"child interaction. C) guarantees high IQ in offspring. D) can stifle children's creativity and independence.

Q: Twelve-year-old Ross lives in a country with very low governmental standards for public education. As a result, he is barely literate. The public policies that impact Ross's education are part of the A) microsystem. B) mesosystem. C) macrosystem. D) exosystem.

Q: Mona's flexible work schedule indirectly enhances her children's development by allowing her time off for school activities and to care for sick children. This is an example of interactions within the A) microsystem. B) mesosystem. C) exosystem. D) macrosystem.

Q: In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, interactions between parents and teachers occur in theA) mesosystem.B) macrosystem.C) microsystem.D) exosystem.

Q: As a result of Ginny's dissatisfying interaction with her two defiant teenage sons, Ginny is less patient with her preschooler's attempts at dressing herself. This is an example of __________ influences. A) third-party B) bioecological C) bidirectional D) mesosystem

Q: In Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, interactions between a father and his child occur in the A) mesosystem. B) microsystem. C) macrosystem. D) exosystem.

Q: Urie Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory views the child as A) a blank slate upon which adults and more experienced peers can write. B) developing with a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment. C) resembling our primate relatives in social behavior and emotional expression. D) a biological organism with a highly plastic brain, especially open to growth and reorganization as a result of experience.

Q: In !Kung society, infants are A) provided with a diverse range of learning toys. B) provided with natural objects, such as twigs, grass, stones, and nutshells. C) encouraged to explore objects independently. D) discouraged from interacting with nonrelatives.

Q: Among the !Kung, a hunting-and-gathering society living in the desert regions of Botswana, a child's first words generally include words meaning "__________" and "__________."A) mine; yoursB) No; I"ll do it myselfC) I want it; That belongs to my familyD) Here, take this; Give it to me.

Q: Cross-cultural research stimulated by Vygotsky's theory reveals that A) the developmental sequences observed in Western cultures are universal. B) adults begin to encourage valued skills as soon as children start school. C) cultures select different tasks for children's learning. D) sociocultural theory has little application outside industrialized nations.

Q: Vygotsky's theory differs from Piaget's theory in that Vygotsky A) believed that children are active, constructive beings. B) believed that children undergo certain stagewise changes. C) viewed cognitive development as taking place in universal stages. D) viewed cognitive development as a socially mediated process.

Q: Which of the following behaviors is consistent with Vygotsky's sociocultural theory? A) When working on a math assignment, Michelle tries several solutions before arriving at the correct answer. B) When building a tower with blocks, Ted produces the same guiding comments that his father previously used when helping him build block towers. C) When his mother takes him to the store, Tom is well-behaved because he knows that he will be rewarded with a lollipop. D) When playing in her sandbox, Amy builds the same castle that she saw her friend build yesterday.

Q: According to Vygotsky, __________ is necessary for children to acquire the ways of thinking and behaving that make up a community's culture. A) social interaction B) reinforcement C) discipline D) independence

Q: Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory focuses onA) how the values, beliefs, customs, and skills of a social group are transmitted to the next generation.B) the child as a developing organism within a complex system of relationships affected by multiple levels of the surrounding environment.C) the child's mind, body, and physical and social worlds, which form an integrated system that guides mastery of new skills.D) the ways in which evolution and heredity influence behavior and development.

Q: Evolutionary developmental psychologists seek to understand the entire __________ system. A) ecological B) social"cultural C) organism"environment D) genetic

Q: Dr. O"Donnell studies why children play in gender-segregated groups and how such play might lead to adult gender-typed behaviors. Dr. O"Donnell's research is in the realm of A) cognitive psychology. B) ecological systems theory. C) sociocultural theory. D) evolutionary developmental psychology.

Q: British psychoanalyst John Bowlby applied ___________ theory to understanding the human caregiver"infant relationship A) social learning B) cognitive-developmental C) ethological D) sociocultural

Q: The term ____________ applies better to human development than the strict notion of a critical period. A) resilience B) discontinuity C) sensitive period D) equilibrium

Q: Observations of __________ led to the concept of __________ in child development.A) learned behaviors in dogs; the sensitive periodB) imprinting in baby birds; the critical periodC) modeling in young mammals; adaptationD) human infant"caregiver attachment; resilience

Q: The roots of ethology can be traced to the work of A) Charles Darwin. B) Sigmund Freud. C) Jean Piaget. D) Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Q: Dr. Cooper is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist. Which of the following questions would Dr. Cooper most likely investigate? A) What is the best technique to measure intelligence? B) Does actual brain size affect cognitive progress? C) How does nutrition affect overall brain growth and memory patterns? D) How do experiences at various ages influence the organization of the brain?

Q: A criticism of the information-processing approach is that it A) focuses too heavily on creativity and imagination. B) lacks scientific research. C) has little to say about nonlinear cognition. D) views children as blank slates.

Q: A great strength of the information-processing approach is its commitment to A) fieldwork. B) structured observations. C) rigorous research methods. D) clinical interviews.

Q: The information-processing approachA) regards children as tabula rasa.B) does not divide development into stages.C) views development as discontinuous.D) regards thought processes as vastly different at all ages.

Q: The information-processing approach is being used to A) clarify the processing of social information. B) identify differences between innate and learned behaviors. C) facilitate bilingual speech recognition. D) predict school achievement and career success.