Q&A Hero

Q: An effective way to ease the strain of school transition in adolescence is to A)form small units within large schools to promote closer relations with both teachers and peers. B)have small groups of students transition at different points during the school year. C)require some form of extracurricular involvement immediately following the transition. D)limit extracurricular involvement until teachers determine whether students are socially ready.

Q: School transitions typically lead to environmental changes that fit poorly with adolescents' developmental needs, including A)disruption of close relationships with teachers at a time when adolescents need adult support. B)an emphasis on sophisticated academic collaboration during a period of heightened self-focusing. C)increased expectation for independent decision making before the child is ready to do so. D)lowered academic demands as students are sorted into academic and nonacademic tracks.

Q: Morgan, who has recently switched schools, is having academic and emotional difficulties. Her parents should know that Morgan, as a vulnerable student, A)may have an easier time forming close friendships now that she is "the new girl." B)will probably seek help from the school guidance counselor. C)may be starting a downward spiral that will eventually lead to failure and dropping out. D)is likely to take advantage of her new environment to forge a more successful academic path.

Q: A study showed that students who had both academic and mental health problems during middle school typically __________ after the transition to high school. A)show academic improvement B)show increased out-of-school problem behaviors C)experience an increase in self-esteem D)have fewer mental health problems

Q: High school transition is particularly challenging for African-American and Hispanic students who A) have older siblings at their new high school. B)have close relationships with peers at their new school. C) move from a larger middle school to a smaller high school. D)move to a new school with fewer same-ethnicity students.

Q: Joshua recently switched from elementary school to middle school. He feels less academically competent, and his liking for school has declined. Which of the following best explains the cause of his feelings? A)He has more homework and less time for socializing with friends. B)He now is offered fewer chances to participate in classroom decision making. C)Boys, more so than girls, tend to struggle with school transitions. D)His parents have become more involved with his schooling.

Q: Compared to their elementary school teachers, students say middle school teachers A)care less about them. B)are friendlier. C)care more about them. D)grade more fairly.

Q: Research on school transitions shows a decline in __________ for adolescents after each school change. A)self-esteem B)grades C)loneliness D)independent reading

Q: Adolescents use slang A)as a sign of group belonging. B)so parents will understand better. C)to prove their mastery of the language. D)as a way of isolating themselves.

Q: Sixteen-year-old Alyssa speaks differently to her boss at work, her parents at home, and her friends at school. Alyssa demonstrates an improved mastery of A)vocabulary. B)grammar. C)pragmatics. D)figurative language.

Q: Compared to school-age children, adolescents are better at A)defining concrete words. B)understanding figurative language. C)taking turns in conversations. D)applying the basic rules of grammar.

Q: During adolescence, young people add a variety of __________ to their vocabularies. A)abstract words B)compound words C)action words D)modifiers

Q: Gains in language development during adolescence are largely influenced by A)biological maturation and synaptic pruning. B)exposure to adult literary works at school. C)improved capacity for reflective thought and abstraction. D)direct instruction in grammar and pragmatics.

Q: One way to enhance girls' math skills is to A)focus more on their verbal processing skills. B)focus less on spatial skills and more on computational skills. C)teach them how to apply effective spatial strategies. D)focus less on computational skills and more on word problems.

Q: Which of the following is a critical factor in eliminating gender differences in math and science? A)finding a way to reduce genetic differences between the genders B)creating all-girl science classes so that girls will not be compared to boys C)decreasing the extent to which boys are urged to excel at math and science D)promoting girls' interest in and confidence at math and science

Q: Girls are more likely than boys to A)blame their errors in math on lack of ability. B)have superior spatial reasoning ability. C)regard math as useful for their future careers. D)believe that being good at math will improve their popularity.

Q: Fabian and his sister Felicity regularly play video games that require rapid mental rotation of visual images. You would expect A)both children to show decreased spatial abilities in school. B)both children to show enhanced scores on spatial tasks. C)Felicity to show enhanced spatial scores, and Fabian's scores to be unaffected. D)Fabian to show enhanced spatial scores, and Felicity's scores to be unaffected.

Q: Research indicates that children who engage in activities such as __________ do better on spatial tasks. A)playing board games B)sorting cards C)doing crossword puzzles D)building models

Q: Some researchers hypothesize that prenatal exposure to __________ enhances right hemispheric functioning, giving males an advantage in spatial abilities. A)estrogens B)endorphins C)androgen hormones D)adrenaline

Q: Sex differences on __________ tasks are weak or nonexistent. A)spatial visualization B)mental rotation C)spatial perception D)visual orientation

Q: When do boys start to outperform girls in mathematics? A)from preschool age B)by the age of 7 or 8 C)by early adolescence D)by late adolescence

Q: Females may show an advantage in verbal abilities because A)they are more likely to attend college than boys. B)they tend to work harder in school than boys. C)they rely on sensory brain regions to process spoken and written words. D)the left hemisphere of the cerebral cortex develops earlier in girls than in boys.

Q: Which of the following statements is supported by research on gender differences in intellectual performance? A)In early childhood, boys are slightly ahead of girls in verbal ability, a trend which continues into adolescence. B)Throughout childhood and adolescence, girls do better than boys at abstract mathematical problem solving. C)By adolescence, girls are far ahead of boys in verbal ability, even when tests are not heavily weighted with writing. D)Girls score slightly higher than boys on tests of verbal ability in middle childhood and adolescence.

Q: Sixteen-year-old Aubrie is more likely to engage in risky behavior, such as driving at high speeds, if she A)has never done it before. B)has done it before without any negative consequences. C)faced negative consequences for driving fast in the past. D)knows someone who has driven fast without consequences.

Q: When making decisions, adolescents are more likely than adults to emphasize __________ over __________. A)short-term goals; long-term goals B)logic; irrationality C)risks; benefits D)wants; needs

Q: In making decisions, adolescents, more often than adults, A)use sound decision-making strategies. B)consider the far-reaching consequences of their decisions. C)fall back on well-learned intuitive judgments. D)emphasize long-term over short-term goals.

Q: With regards to decision making, evidence confirms that adolescents, relative to adults, are more influenced by A)avoidance of potential losses. B)avoidance of taking risks. C)the possibility of immediate reward. D)reasoned pros and cons of a given situation.

Q: Elizabeth has developed an idea of how the "perfect family" should look and act, and she constantly criticizes her siblings and parents for not measuring up. Elizabeth's parents should A)ignore her comments and hope she outgrows this behavior as she matures. B)point out examples of children whose families are worse off than Elizabeth's. C)develop a hierarchy of negative consequences that should be implemented immediately after each critical remark. D)tolerate her criticism but also remind her that all people are blends of virtues and imperfections.

Q: Adolescent idealism often leads young people to become A)more cooperative at home. B)more critical of parents and siblings. C)better students at school. D)more realistic in their evaluations of others.

Q: Young people with __________ and __________ scores tend to take more sexual risks, more often use drugs, and commit more delinquent acts than their agemates. A)low personal-fable; high sensation-seeking B)high personal-fable; high sensation-seeking C)high self-esteem; low sensation-seeking D)low self-esteem; high idealism

Q: When combined with a sensation-seeking personality, the personal fable seems to contribute to A)risk taking. B)disengagement from others. C)poor schoolwork. D)peer conformity.

Q: The idea that others care about their appearance and behavior __________ as they struggle to separate from parents and establish an independent sense of self. A)interferes with teenagers' ability to understand that actions have consequences B)interferes with teenagers' attempts to hold onto important relationships C)helps teenagers understand that actions have consequences D)helps teenagers hold onto important relationships

Q: After Dylan is rejected for a date, his father attempts to comfort him. Dylan responds, "Leave me alone, Dad! You'll never understand what I'm going through!" This common adolescent distortion is known as A)logical necessity. B)hypothetico-deductive reasoning. C)the imaginary audience. D)the personal fable.

Q: Jonathan views himself as reaching great heights of omnipotence and also sinking to unusual depths of despair. Which of the following cognitive distortions contribute to Jonathan's views? A)the personal fable B)learned helplessness C)the imaginary audience D)metacognition

Q: As teenagers become certain that others are observing and thinking about them, they develop a feeling that they are special and unique. This aspect of adolescent thought is called A)propositional reasoning. B)the imaginary audience. C)the personal fable. D)role assessment.

Q: While out shopping, Mrs. Salveson becomes upset with her teenage daughter Ashley's sarcastic responses to her questions. Understanding the concept of the imaginary audience, how would you advise Mrs. Salveson to react to Ashley's behavior? A)Address the behavior immediately when it happens to avoid the likelihood of it recurring. B)Ask another respected adult, such as a teacher or counselor, to deal with Ashley's behavior. C)Ignore the behavior and hope that it will disappear as Ashley matures. D)Wait until she has an opportunity to speak to Ashley alone, and address the problem then.

Q: Why should parents refrain from finding fault with their teenagers in public? A)Teens tend to believe that they are the focus of everyone else's attention and concern, so critical remarks in public can be mortifying. B)Parents tend to judge teen behavior incorrectly, so they run a higher risk of being critical without a legitimate reason. C)The best way to ride out the storms of adolescence is to appease teens as much as possible as being critical will only create more problems. D)Recent research has found that adolescents who suffer public criticism engage in higher levels of delinquency than their peers.

Q: __________ helps explain the long hours adolescents spend inspecting every detail of their appearance and why they are so sensitive to public criticism. A)Egocentrism B)Concrete thinking C)The imaginary audience D)Metacognition

Q: Gina has a bruise on her leg. She turned down an invitation to a swim party, explaining, "I can't possibly wear a swimsuit with this ugly bruise. Everyone will notice how ugly I look!" Gina's response reveals that her thinking is characterized by A)paranoia. B)egocentrism. C)the imaginary audience. D)the personal fable.

Q: According to Piaget, a new form of egocentrism arises, in which adolescents have difficulty distinguishing A)the self from the surrounding world. B)the self from the peer group. C)subjective and objective aspects of experience. D)their own and others' perspectives.

Q: __________ lead(s) adolescents to think more about themselves. A) New insights into effective strategies for self-regulation fueled by neurological changes B) The ability to reflect on their own thoughts, combined with physical and psychological changes, C)Individualistic values and a disregard for others' feelings D)Selfishness and poor problem-solving skills

Q: Anthony is expressing an exaggerated sense of personal uniqueness. What would be the best way for Anthony's father to handle this situation? A)acknowledge his son's unique characteristics but also look for opportune times to point out that he, too, had similar feelings as a teenager B)sensitively but firmly tell Anthony that he is not really unique at all-that, in fact, human beings are all much more similar than different C)cater to Anthony's sense of self until about the age of 18, when Anthony should be ready to hear a more balanced perspective D)completely ignore Anthony's inflated sense of self as most adolescents resolve these issues on their own

Q: Research indicates that when solving causal-experimental tasks and quantitative-relational tasks, adolescents A)master component skills in no particular order. B)fail to formulate and test the appropriate hypotheses. C)construct a general model that they can apply to many instances of a given type of problem. D)formulate appropriate hypotheses but have difficulty applying effective strategies.

Q: Reasoning scientifically requires the __________ capacity to evaluate one's objectivity. A)deductive B)metacognitive C)self-regulatory D)self-conscious

Q: Owen applies logic more effectively to ideas he doubts than to ideas he favors. Owen is showing evidence of A)scientific reasoning skills. B)metacognitive understanding. C)propositional thought. D)a self-serving bias.

Q: A high school science teacher, Mr. Reidy, wants to increase his students' skill at coordinating theory with evidence. He wonders whether he should provide them with traditional scientific tasks or allow them to engage in informal reasoning. What should you tell him? A)Scientific reasoning is influenced by years of schooling, which can involve either of the two methods. B)Neither of the methods has been proven effective for increasing scientific reasoning. C)Traditional scientific tasks are the only types of problems that improve scientific reasoning. D)Informal reasoning tasks are the only types of problems that improve scientific reasoning.

Q: Research reveals that on complex, multivariable tasks, children A)view evidence as separate from and bearing on a theory. B)often blend evidence and theory into a single representation of "the way things are." C)are unable to identify likely variables and make reasonable predictions. D)are able to inhibit their initial judgment long enough to seek disconfirming evidence.

Q: According to Kuhn, young children faced with the sports ball problem A)are skilled at coordinating theory with evidence but fail to apply strategies consistently. B)use logical rules to examine the relationship between multiple variables. C)often reason much like adolescents and young adults, but not as rapidly. D)often ignore evidence conflicting with their own initial judgment.

Q: According to Kuhn, the heart of scientific reasoning is A)coordinating theories with evidence. B)designing experiments. C)developing hypotheses. D)conducting statistical analyses of data.

Q: Researchers regard __________ as central to adolescent cognitive development. A)processing capacity B)application of memory strategies C)metacognition D)attentional self-regulation

Q: In an Israeli study of seventh to ninth graders, after controlling for participants' age, researchers found that A)if individuals are capable of formal operational thought, they display it often in everyday life. B)only a small percentage of very intelligent people are capable of formal operational thought. C)years of schooling fully accounted for early adolescent gains in propositional thought. D)years of schooling did not contribute to early adolescent gains in propositional thought.

Q: Individuals in tribal and village societies A)often outperform same-age peers in Western cultures on formal operational tasks. B)perform formal reasoning tasks accurately, but at a slower pace than their Western counterparts. C)perform well on propositional tasks, but do poorly in hypothetico-deductive reasoning. D)rarely do well on tasks typically used to assess formal operational reasoning.

Q: Taking college courses A)has no measurable impact on formal operational reasoning. B)leads to improvements in formal operational reasoning on all kinds of tasks. C)leads to improvements in formal reasoning related to course content. D)improves propositional thought but not hypothetico-deductive reasoning.

Q: With age, adolescents, in justifying their reasoning, move from __________ to __________. A)giving concrete examples; explaining the logical rules on which it is based B)explaining their theories; providing real-world evidence C)testing one variable; testing multiple variables D)listing the variables; explaining their theory

Q: Seven-year-old Mia is presented with the following set of statements: "If dogs can fly and Buster is a dog, then Buster can fly." Mia believes this statement to be false because dogs do not fly in real life. In this example, Mia is unable to A)understand the content of the statements. B)explain why a pattern of observations supports a hypothesis. C)engage in hypothetico-deductive reasoning. D)grasp the logical necessity of propositional reasoning.

Q: The teacher says, "If mice are bigger than cats, and cats are bigger than elephants, then mice are bigger than elephants." This statement is likely to be judged __________ by __________. A)false; 11-year-old Craig B)false; 13-year-old Michael C)true; 9-year-old Rana D)true; 12-year-old Paige

Q: With respect to propositional thought, children A)have great difficulty reasoning from premises that contradict reality or their own beliefs. B)are unable to solve even simplified deductive reasoning tasks involving only two variables. C)find it easier than adolescents to inhibit activation of well-learned knowledge. D)do not understand that hypotheses must be confirmed by appropriate evidence.

Q: Piaget acknowledged language's importance in adolescence, as formal operations require A)adolescents to cast aside abstract thinking and focus on aspects of the problem that are grounded in reality. B)adolescents to be able to explain in great detail and justify their methods of how they arrived at the solution for a problem. C)language-based and other symbolic systems that do not stand for real things, such as those in higher mathematics. D)improvements to adolescents' ability to monitor, evaluate, and redirect their thinking.

Q: Bryan hears the following statement: "Either the train is moving or it is not moving." If Bryan is in the formal operational stage, he will say that A)he cannot determine whether the statement is true or false. B)the statement is true. C)the statement is false. D)the statement is sometimes true.

Q: An experimenter hides a poker chip in her hand and asks children to indicate whether the following statement is true, false, or uncertain: "Either the chip in my hand is green or it is not green." A concrete operational child will A)express uncertainty. B)say it is true. C)say it is false. D)express disinterest.

Q: Marcus is able to evaluate the logic of verbal statements without referring to real-world circumstances. Marcus is engaging in A)hypothetico-deductive reasoning. B)propositional thought. C)concrete operational thought. D)cognitive intuition.

Q: In watching a concrete operational child and a formal operational adolescent solve the pendulum problem, which of the following differences will be evident? A)The concrete operational child will be completely unable to solve the problem. B)The formal operational adolescent will solve the problem intuitively, without experimentation. C)The formal operational adolescent will start with a hypothesis, from which he or she will deduce logical, testable inferences. D)The concrete operational child will start with reality, and when it is not confirmed, they will think of alternatives.

Q: In trying to solve the pendulum problem, formal operational adolescents usually A)fail to notice variables not suggested by the concrete materials of the task. B)identify the variables and test each one separately and, if necessary, also in combination. C)have difficulty separating out the effects of variables. D)focus on the weight of the object, not the length of the string.

Q: Lourdes is capable of hypothetico-deductive reasoning. When faced with a problem, which of the following will she do first? A)develop a prediction about all possible variables that might affect the outcome B)deduce specific hypotheses about what might happen in a situation C)test her hypotheses in an orderly fashion to see which ones work in the real world D)examine the most obvious predictions about a situation

Q: In biology class, Zia had to determine which of two fertilizers was best for growing African violets. She tested not just for type of fertilizer but also for its concentration and frequency of use. Zia used A)hypothetico-deductive reasoning. B)propositional thought. C)hierarchical classification. D)transitive inference.

Q: A person in Piaget's formal operational stage A)can come up with general logical rules through internal reflection. B)is able to use inductive reasoning for the first time. C)can "operate on reality" and will eventually learn to "operate on operations." D)has just learned that hypotheses must be confirmed by appropriate evidence.

Q: Which of the following children is in Piaget's formal operational stage? A)Beth, who can think in a logical, orderly fashion when dealing with concrete information B)Abi, who can think abstractly about things she cannot perceive concretely C)Isaac, who can create a relationship between pieces of information that are not from the same category D)Jonas, who can think through a process and then mentally reverse it

Q: Principal Jaster wants to reduce drug experimentation among his high school students. Describe the components of an effective drug prevention program.

Q: Describe an effective sex education program. What key elements should be included?

Q: Discuss the role of heredity and prenatal biological influences in the development of sexual orientation. How might heredity lead to homosexuality?

Q: Discuss the impact of media on adolescents' sexual activity.

Q: Describe the long-term consequences of pubertal timing, especially for early-maturing girls. What are some possible reasons for the difficulties early-maturing girls face?

Q: Describe the secular trend in pubertal timing in industrialized nations.

Q: Explain why adolescence is extended in industrialized nations, including the three phases of adolescence.

Q: Which of the following statements about adolescent drug abuse treatment is true? A)Individual, rather than family, therapy is the best treatment. B)Even comprehensive programs have alarmingly high relapse rates. C)Adolescents who are motivated from the start of treatment have better outcomes. D)Comprehensive programs that focus on individual and family therapy have modest to low relapse rates.

Q: Mr. Wellington wants to reduce drug experimentation among the teens in his community program. He should A)teach parents that teens need freedom from activity monitoring. B)teach students skills for resisting peer pressure. C)deemphasize parent education. D)acknowledge the social acceptability of drug use.

Q: Which of the following teenagers with family difficulties has an especially high risk of substance abuse? A)Jake, whose mother is unemployed B)Ken, whose friends use and provide drugs C)Walt, who lives with his single father D)Paul, who has a below-average school performance

Q: Brad is a teenager who has experimented minimally with alcohol. Brad is likely to A)be a healthy, curious young person. B)become an addict in adulthood. C)be less sociable than his peers who do not experiment. D)choose not to drink alcohol in college.

Q: According to the most recent, nationally representative survey of U.S. high school students, 39 percent of tenth graders have tried at least one illegal drug, usually A)OxyContin. B)cocaine. C)marijuana. D)Ecstasy.

Q: Teenage alcohol and drug use rates in the United States have __________ since the mid-1990s. A)risen sharply B)slowly increased C)slowly decreased D)substantially declined