A1.2 Human Development SPMM Qs Flashcards
According to Thomas and Chess study, what percentage of children are considered to be ‘difficult’?
Select one: 25% 40% 60% 10% 1%
The correct answer is: 10%
Temperament refers to a relatively small number of simple, non-cognitive, non-motivational stylistic features of behaviour. Generally accepted aspects of temperament are emotionality, activity and sociability. Thomas and Chess differentiated temperament from motivation, personality and abilities as a response to external stimulus, opportunity, demand or expectation. The social context may intensify or minimise the expression of temperamental features, the influence of temperament on the environment is bi-directional. According to 1963 New York Longitudinal Study - easy children-40%, difficult children-10%, slow to warm up-15%.
Precocious puberty is suspected in girls before the age of
Select one: 9 8 10 7 11
The correct answer is: 8
Precocious puberty is suspected in boys before age 9, and girls before age 8.
Social stress is a puberty accelerator, with familial disruption and father absenteeism, being one of the most effective stressors.
In UK the average age of onset of puberty in males is 11.2 years; for females it is 11 years. Menarche on average is at 12.5 years for females. There has been a decline in western countries in the age of menarche over the last century from 16 in the 1860s to around 13 in the 1960s. This secular trend is thought to be due to the improved nutritional status of the society in general
What percentage of patients eventually achieve level 3 post-conventional morality, described by Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?
Select one: 100 15 5 5 50
The correct answer is: 15
Level 3 post-conventional moralities cannot be considered a part of the normal or expected codes of development and instead represents a philosophical ideal.
Only 15% eventually achieve level 3.
Formal operational thought is necessary but not sufficient to achieve level 3 morality.
Around 18 months of age, what percentage of infants has multiple attachments?
Select one: 87 18 50 3 5
The correct answer is: 87
By their first birthday, children do form attachments with more than one familiar figure. This includes father, siblings, grandparents and others.
But it is shown that multiple attachments are the rule rather than exception.
Around 18m, 87% infants have multiple attachments;
50% primarily attached to the mother, 18% to the father and the rest to equally both.
Attachment process itself is more important than who the attachment figure is.
Which of the following is a normal stage of grief?
Select one: Ambivalence Anger Bargaining Mourning Protest
The correct answer is: Protest
Stages of grief (Erich Lindemann)
- studied 101 bereaved people and published in 1944, an article titled “Symptomology and Management of Acute Grief”.
- Set pattern of reaction to a loss event (grief): After an unexpected death, there is an initial:
1) shock that lasts 10-14 days.
2) Period of intense sadness, and the grieving person may withdraw from social contact.
3) Next comes anger, as the grieving person seems to ‘protest’; the unexpected death.
4) Finally, within a year or so, the grief is resolved, and the person returns to normal.
Which period refers to the autistic phase of Margaret Mahler’s stages of child’s early development?
Select one: 6-36 months 12-24 months 0-2 months 6-12 months 2-6 Months
The correct answer is: 0-2 months
Mahler’s theory for the developmental Phase is as follows:
1) Autistic Phase: first 1 to 2 months - The infant is oblivious to everything but him/herself.
2) Symbiotic Phase: Next 4 to 5 months. He/she begins to recognise others in his/her universe, not as separate beings, but as extensions of oneself.
Stranger fear peaks at
Select one: 1 year 0-3 months 5-8 years 3-6 months 2-3 years
The correct answer is: 1 year
Infants develop a fear of strangers when they are around 6 months of age and it peaks at around 12-18 months of age. Fear of strangers declines after the age of three years.
Separation anxiety starts at 1 year of age and child shows rapproachment (hugs when coming back) by 18 months.
The strange situation procedure is designed for use with children between the ages of
Select one: 6 months and 1 year 18 months and 2 years 1 month and 6 months 1 year and 18 months 2 years and 3 years
The correct answer is: 1 year and 18 months
The strange situation procedure (SSP) developed by Mary Ainsworth in 1978 has become the standard method of assessing the security of an infant’s attachment to the caregiver, which is usually the mother.
It is mainly designed for children between 12 and 18 months.
Average age of puberty in boys is
Select one: 8-9 years 9-10 years 14-15 years 10-11 years 11-12 years
The correct answer is: 11-12 years
Currently in UK the average age of puberty is 11-12 years in boys; slightly lower in girls.
Three infants aged 3 months, 5 months and 12 months are present in a room with their mothers. When all three mothers attempt to leave the room, which of the following might happen?
Select one:
- 5-months-old infant will cry
- All three infants will cry
- Depends on the degree of attachment
- 12-months-old infant will cry
- 3-months-old infant will cry
The correct answer is: 12-months-old infant will cry
Separation anxiety is seen at around age 12 months. This vignette is not about the security of attachment as children, irrespective of the degree of attachment, will show some separation anxiety.
Attachment behaviour typically peaks between
Select one: 5 and 7 months of age 6 and 12 months of age 12 and 18 months of age 36 and 48 months of age 7 and 9 months of age
The correct answer is: 12 and 18 months of age
Attachment behaviour is that displayed by the infant towards the attachment figure usually but not necessarily the mother.
In the first few months, an infant orientates without discrimination.
By 5-7 months, the infant preferentially orientates and signals to discriminated persons.
Separation protest is observable by 7-9 months.
By 9 months, the onset of attachment and stranger anxiety could be seen.
Attachment behaviour peaks between 12-18 months,
and lessens by school age where the relationship is based more on abstract considerations such as affection, approval rather than on proximity maintenance.
Fears of rejection by peer group peaks around the age of
Select one: 10 years 15 years 21 years 17 years 7 years
The correct answer is: 15 years
Themes of anxiety and fears of rejection by friends
- starts by 11 to 13,
- peaks by 15 years and then
- declines by 17 years (the effect being stronger for girls than boys)
A child can use meaningful words without connecting words. Identify the possible age of the child.
Select one: 18-30 months More than 30 months 12-18 months More than 60 months 0-12 months
The correct answer is: 18-30 months.
Telegraphic speech is seen where meaningful words are used without connecting words.
At this stage adults interact with children in a motherese - short simple raised pitch paraphrased language directed at infants.
At about 24 months, children can produce grammatically paired words and achieve vocabulary for more than 240 words.
Gender identity in a normally growing child develops around
Select one: 2 years of age 4 years of age Puberty Early schooling 1 year of age
The correct answer is: 2 years of age.
Gender identity refers to the unshakable self-conviction of being male or female that begins around 18 months and gets fixed by 24 to 30 months.
The theory of mind, the ability to conceptualize false beliefs, develops around
Select one: 4 years of age 5 years of age 3 years of age 2 years of age 6 years of age
The correct answer is: 4 years of age
In the early 80s, psychologists H. Wimmer and J. Perner showed that a full-fledged Theory of Mind doesn’t develop before the age of 4 in most children
According to Margaret Mahler, the separation individuation phase lasts from
Select one:
- 2 to 5 months
- 5 months to 5 years
- 10 to 18 months
- 0 to 2 months
- 18 to 24 months
Separation-individuation phase lasts from 5 months to 5 years of age.
It is further subdivided into;
a) Differentiation sub-phase: (5 to 10m) slowly appreciates the difference between mother and self
b) Practicing sub-phase: (10 to 18m) gradual increase in interest on the environment; practices exploration.
C) Rapprochement sub-phase: (18 to 24m) Alternating drives to be autonomous and dependent; Able to explore alone but requires comfort and reassurance on return.
D) Object constancy sub-phase: (2 to 5yrs) Understand that the mother will not be lost if temporarily away; hence able to function independently
A boy was observed to be speaking in fully formed grammatical sentences similar to adult speech with his mother. By what age is this milestone generally achieved?
Select one: 5 years 1 year 6 months 3 years 2 years
The correct answer is: 5y
Cooing- 2m;
Babbling (gaga, dada)- 6m (4-10m);
One-word stage (mamma, doggie)- 1y (10-18m);
Two word stage (mummy go, daddy go)- 2y (18-24m);
Basic adult grammatical sentence- 3y;
Adult speech- 5y.
In a typically developing child, babbling is seen by what age?
Select one: 6 weeks 9-10 months 6 months 3 months 12 months
The correct answer is: 6m
‘Cooing’ by 6w
Babbling by 6m
Spontaneous babbling refers to the situation when the child enjoys making these sounds alone. All babies around the same age, irrespective of the culture, start babbling. Even the deaf babies of the deaf mute parents start marbling, but, unfortunately, the deaf babies stop babbling at 9-10 months.
Visual acuity reaches near adult levels by
Select one: 2 months of age 4 months of age 12 months of age 1 month of age 6 months of age
The correct answer is: 6m
At birth, Vision is the least developed of the senses, presumably because there is little opportunity for it in utero;
the acuity if newborn is around 20/300.
Newborns can see faces at a distance of 10 to 20 inches, the distance at which mother hold their babies.
At birth, infants can track and scan objects, can discriminate levels of brightness, able to fix objects, fixed focus at about 20 cm, figure-ground discrimination.
At 1month- differentiate faces; preference shown for complex stimuli.
2 months - possesses depth perception, prefers 3 dimensional rather than 2 dimensional representations of a face.
At 4 months - colour vision and accommodation.
At 6 months-accurate acuity (6:6). Visual acuity reaches near adult levels by 6 months and is complete by 3 years.
The age at which Erikson’s stage of industry vs. inferiority is seen:
Select one: 9-19 years 4 - 5 years 30-50 years 6 to 11 years 3 - 4 years
The correct answer is: 6-11y
Erikson’s fourth stage, Industry vs. Inferiority, occurs between six years and puberty.
This is the period in which the child wants to enter the larger world of knowledge and work e.g. a school.
Erikson said that successful experiences give the child a sense of industry, a feeling of competence and mastery, while failure gives them a sense of inadequacy and inferiority, a feeling that one is a good-for-nothing.
What is the most sensitive period for development of attachment behaviour in human beings?
Select one: 6 to 18 months 3 to 6 months 1 to 3 months 3 to 5 years 18 months to 3 years
The correct answer is: 6-18m
According to Bowlby, attachment develops in the latter part of infancy, in the period from six to eighteen months.
Attachment behaviour peaks between 12-18 months. After this period, the attachment gets stabilized, and disruption of the bond is likely to lead to deleterious effects.
Although infancy may be the optimal time to develop attachment, it has been shown that children adopted at four years are also capable of developing long lasting attachment to their adoptive parents (Tizard and Hodges 1978).
In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the concrete operational stage lasts from
Select one: 12 years and above 18 years and above Birth to 2 years 2 to 7 years 7-12 years
Concrete operational stage lasts from about 7 to 12 years.
- can think logically about objects and events.
- conservation of mass (age 7) and weight (age 9).
- can classify objects according to several features and can order them in series along a single dimension e.g. size.
- able to perform operations such as those involved in comprehending the laws of conservation.
A child plays peek-a-boo games with his mother. At what age is this game first understood and enjoyed by the child?
Select one: 6 months of age 3 years or age 3 months of age 18 months of age 9 months of age
Peek-a-boo = 9m
Object permanence starts by 9 months.
It is an understanding that objects that disappear from the field of perception has not ceased to exist; if searched for this object can be found.
Hence, peek-a-boo games are understood and enjoyed. Initially, this is limited as hidden objects are searched at where they were last seen (around 9-12 months); not at where they were hidden. Around 18 months, invisible displacements are inferred, and object permanence is completed.
Which of the following is INCORRECT concerning child development?
Select one:
A 2 years old child can speak more than 50 words
A child starts babbling at 3 months of age
A 4 years old child speaks with correct grammar
A 5 years old child can tell time by quarter of an hour accuracy
A 12 months old child can speak up to 3 words
The correct answer is: A 5 years old child can tell time by quarter of an hour accuracy (IS INCORRECT)
- Reception class children (4-5y) begin to read the time to the hour,
- Yr 1 children (5-6y) should be able to read the time to the hour or the half hour on analogue clocks
- Yr 2 children (6-7y) should be able to read the time to the hour, half hour or quarter hour on analogue clocks.
Kohlberg’s concept of conventional morality is closely related to which of the following?
Select one:
A child believes that the right thing is what satisfies ones needs
A child believes that the right thing is what adults approve of
A child believes that the right thing is to uphold ethical principles
A child believes that the right thing is one that avoids punishments
A child believes that the right thing is what the intuition suggests
The correct answer is: A child believes that the right thing is what adults approve of
According to Kohlberg the three levels of morality include Preconventional (aim is to avoid punishment), Conventional (aim is to get approval) and Ethical principle (aim is to uphold universal ethical principles).
Which one among the following has been used as a non-verbal method of assessing children’s cognitive abilities?
Select one: Ability to draw human figures Ability to draw dinosaurs Ability to draw a fish Ability to draw a cat Ability to draw a bird
The correct answer is: Ability to draw human figures
Children’s ability to draw human figures has been used as a non-verbal method of assessing children’s cognitive abilities.
A standardised form of this is the good enough draw a man test. - In this test, the children are asked to draw a man as best as they can and scored according to the guidelines provided in the test. The greater the details in the drawing, the greater the score. For Eg, a four year old’s drawings usually consist of two body parts, the head and arms (also called tadpole stage) whereas a six year old is able to draw a person with head, neck and hands.
The Cambridge study by Farrington et al. identified risk factors in children between 8-10 years that can predict later delinquent behaviour by the age of 32. Which one of the following is not a risk factor identified by this study?
Select one: Low intelligence Aggression in children Family criminality Low educational attainment Antisocial behaviour
According to the The correct answer is: Aggression in children
Cambridge study by Farrington et al, the most important childhood predictors (during age 8-10) of delinquency were
- antisocial child behaviour,
- impulsivity,
- low intelligence,
- low attainment - family
- criminality, - poverty and poor parental child-rearing behaviour. Aggression is not a risk factor identified in this study.
Language is slower to develop in
Select one: In neglected children Deaf children In twins Boys All of the listed
The correct answer is: All of the listed
Language is slower to develop in boys, in twins, in larger families, in those from social classes 4 and 5 and in children with a lack of stimulation e.g. deaf and neglected children.
Imprinting is characterised by
Select one: Specificity Irreversibility All of the listed Sensitive period Life long retention
The correct answer is: All of the listed
Imprinting was first described by Konrad Lorenz following experiments on ducks and geese and described it as a specialised form of early learning and an example of an innate predisposition to acquire specific information. Imprinting is characteristic of primate development and is also observed in birds. Imprinting is characterised by irreversibility, sensitive period, specificity and life-long retention.
Klein’s depressive position is related to the process of learning to cope with which of the following conflicts?
Select one: Hunger Depression Difficult relationships Ambivalence Sexual needs
The correct answer is: Ambivalence
Melanie Klein described two positions - paranoid-schizoid and depressed position. The paranoid-schizoid position is associated with the use of splitting and projection as a defence mechanism. This position concerns an inability to perceive a whole object and splits all objects into their good and bad parts. But in the depressive position, the infant tolerates the ambiguity or ambivalence and can realise that an individual can have both good and bad qualities. In the paranoid-schizoid position, there is an anxiety is about the survival of the self but in depressive position the anxiety is about the loss of the object.
When children are deprived of parental care from their mother or a mother substitute during infancy and in the first few years of life which of the following conditions can develop?
Select one: ADHD Autism Anaclitic depression Childhood schizophrenia Anankastic personality disorder
The correct answer is: Anaclitic depression.
Anaclitic depression refers to the complex of symptoms exhibited by young children who are deprived of their mother or a mother surrogate during the first few years of life.
Which of the following is not a feature of Piaget’s sensorimotor stage?
Select one: Primary circular reflexes Exercising reflexes Object permanence Secondary circular reflexes Animism
The correct answer is: Animism
Animism is a feature of Piaget’s preoperational stage. Here inanimate objects are treated as living objects.
In a strange situation experiment, a 2-year-old continues to play without getting disturbed when the mother leaves the room and does not show any response when she comes back. What type of attachment is seen here?
Select one: Resistant attachment Disorganised attachment Absence of attachment Anxious avoidant attachment Secure attachment
The correct answer is: Anxious avoidant attachment.
Anxious Avoidant attachment is characterized by anxiety and fright within the child and signs of not trusting the mother resulting in an indifferent attitude towards mother leaving the room or entering the room. The distress noted when left alone can be rather easily pacified by a stranger.
During the strange situation procedure, presence of minimal distress both at separation and on reunion with the caregiver is suggestive of
Select one: Disorganised attachment Disorientated attachment Ambivalent/resistant attachment Anxious/avoidant attachment Secure attachment
The correct answer is: Anxious/avoidant attachment
Type A: Anxious avoidant: 15%. Indifferent attitude to mother leaving the room or entering the room; keeps playing indifferent to mother’s presence. Distress when alone, not when the mother is leaving. Stranger can comfort the child easily. Highly environment directed, low attachment behaviour.
Which one of the following types of infants poorly interact with the mother and do not appear particularly upset when left with a stranger?
Select one: Securely attached infants Disorganised infants Anxious/resistant infants Toddlers in daycare Anxious/avoidant infants
The correct answer is: Anxious/avoidant infants
This question also refers to anxious/avoidant infants. These children show an indifferent attitude to mother leaving the room or entering the room; keep playing indifferent to mother’s presence. They exhibit distress when alone, not when the mother is leaving. A stranger can comfort the child easily.
According to the Social Learning Theory which of the following plays no role in the development of gender appropriate behaviours?
Select one: Reinforcement by role models Archetypal Schema Differential treatment by adults Imitative behaviours Cognitive processes in children
The correct answer is: Archetypal Schema
The Social Learning Theory was proposed by Bandura as a way of explaining how children acquire their gender identity based on the influence of other people (particularly their parents).
In Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, the process of solving new problems using existing schemata is termed as;
Select one: Adaptation Maturation Schema Assimilation Accommodation
The correct answer is: Assimilation.
During development, the child develops mental structures called schemas, which enables him or her to solve problems in the environment.
Schema is an organised structure of knowledge or abilities that change with age or experience.
The processes of assimilation and accommodation bring about adaptation.
The process of solving new problems using existing schema is termed as Assimilation.
Accommodation is the process whereby existing response patterns or schemata are modified to take account of new experiences. (Changing existing schemata in order to solve new experiences).
Which one of the following statements about attachment theory is not true?
Select one:
Children can be attached as strongly to the father as the mother
According to attachment theory, multiple attachments can occur-
Attachment behaviour ceases by puberty
Attachment behaviour is most evident when the infant is stressed
Attachment can develop despite frequent punishment from attachment figure
The correct answer is: Attachment behaviour ceases by puberty (IS NOT TRUE)
Attachment is a close emotional bond between two people characterised by mutual involvement and affection and a desire to maintain proximity.
The term is more usually used to refer to the bond that forms between a caregiver (normally the mother) and the infant, but can be formed with father or any other adult who provides care.
Attachment behaviour endures for majority of life cycle.
It may attenuate or be replaced especially during adolescence but generally persist.
In the adult new secure bases are formed.
Attachment behaviour is directed at one, or a few individuals usually in order of preference. In the majority of children there are multiple attachment figures at the age of 18 months.
Identify the temperamental dimension not included originally by Buss and Plomin in their temperamental survey:
Select one: Activity Impulsivity Attention span and persistence Sociability Emotionality
The correct answer is: Attention span and persistence.
Buss and Plomin in 1984, proposed the EAS model, which is a strongly biological model that views temperament as an inherited personality trait exhibited in early life and are evident in the first year of life.
Temperament is assessed using the EAS-Temperament survey.
Emotionality, Activity and Sociability are three major dimensions.
The original theory also included impulsivity but it was excluded in later revulsions because of its poor heritability.
Conventional stage of morality includes
Select one: Ethical orientation Punishment orientation Reward orientation Authority orientation Obedience orientation
The correct answer is: Authority orientation
During conventional morality stage initially a “good boy - good girl orientation” is seen.
Later authority orientation is noted where the concern goes beyond one’s immediate group(s) to the larger society- to the maintenance of law and order.
One’s obligation to the law overrides one’s obligations of loyalty to one’s family, friends and groups. In other words, no individual or his/her group is considered to be above the law.
Mahler is associated with
Select one: Anal phase Conventional morality Autistic phase Operational stage Individuality vs. inferiority
The correct answer is: Autistic phase.
Mahler’s theory of development included the following 2 early phases:
Autistic Phase: first 1 to 2 months. The infant is oblivious to everything but himself.
Symbiotic Phase: Next 4 to 5 months. He begins to recognize others in his universe, not separate beings, but as extensions to himself.
Which one of the following attachment category has not been described in the adult attachment interview developed by Mary Main?
Select one: Disorganised Autonomous Dismissing Entangled Autocratic
The correct answer is: Autocratic.
Adult attachment interview (AAI) is an approach to assess an adult’s attachment to his/her parents.
It was developed by Mary Main and her colleagues in 1986. Main devised a semi structured interview with questions to assess the security of an adult’s overall working model of attachment.
This is based on the fact that infantile attachment pattern can be predicted reasonably accurately using discourse analysis of adults when recollecting their childhood.
Accordingly, 4 patterns are noted
- secure/autonomous,
- dismissing,
- preoccupied/entangled, and
- unresolved/disorganised.
In which psychiatric disorder, up to three quarters of patients report physical or sexual abuse and prolonged separation from parents in early childhood?
Select one: Obsessive compulsive disorder Schizophrenia Borderline personality disorder Paranoid personality disorder Atypical Grief reaction
The correct answer is: Borderline personality disorder.
Poor quality of caregiving in the form of neglect, abuse, separation, rejection and disrupted parenting is associated with most forms of psychopathology ranging from depression to personality disorders.
Who described human infants to have an ‘innate state of helplessness and would most likely perish without a caregiver’?
Select one: Saunders Bowlby Klein Mahler Anna Freud
The correct answer is: Bowlby
Bowlby believed that attachment is innate and adaptive.
We are all born with an inherited need to form attachments and this need helps us to survive.
In his terms, the newborn infant is helpless and relies on its mother/caregiver for food and warmth and hence the attachment behaviour is essentially adaptive.
Which one of the following terms refers to the bias towards focussing attention on only one aspect of a situation and the inability to attend to other features?
Select one: Symbolic thought Centration Egocentrism Circular reactions Irreversibility
The correct answer is: Centration.
Centration refers to the bias towards focussing attention on only one aspect of a situation and the inability to attend to other features, which is demonstrated by piaget’s famous conservation tasks. T
he experiment involves showing two identical glasses with equal amounts of liquid and pouring the liquid from one glass into a taller thinner glass.
The pre-operational child would say that taller glass has more liquid because the level has risen higher. The child has difficulty understanding that despite appearances the quantity remains the same because none has been added or taken away. It shows that the child has failed to grasp the concept of conservation.
In Margaret Mahler’s stages of early development, the term symbiosis refers to
Select one:
Child’s perception of mother and self as one unit
Child’s lack of exploration of outer world
Child’s ability to gratify mother’s emotional needs
Child’s nutritional dependence on breast milk
Child’s lack of exploration of inner world
The correct answer is: Child’s perception of mother and self as one unit
Mahler used the wordsymbiosis to refer to the ‘undifferentiatedness’ or ‘boundarylessness’ perceived by a growing child with respect to its relation with the mother.
Who proposed that human beings are born with a ‘Language Acquisition device’ (LAD) that enables children gather information about the rules of language use?
Select one: Melanie Klein Donald Winnicott Vygotsky Chomsky Margaret Mahler
The correct answer is: Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky: Children are born with an innate language acquisition device.
Transformational grammar is important in understanding language development. All languages have a surface structure where syntax is accurate and actual words are used to construct language; and a deep structure where more semantic sense is made without similar syntactical rules. A single surface structure can have several deep structures. Children are born equipped with the ability to decipher the transformational grammar of deep to surface structure conversion. Hence years up to puberty are sensitive though not critical fro language development. Social interaction view of language development: Adults such as mother act as LASS (language acquisition support system). This is essential as the function of language is social interaction.
A city council provides three different modes of support for abandoned and abused children - foster care, institutional support or supervised care within the family of origin. Which of the following outcome can be expected from the care provided?
Select one:
- Cognitive recovery occurs when institutionalised children are moved to foster care
- All three groups will have similar IQ profile
- Age at placement under social service care has no influence on cognitive outcome
- Never-institutionalised children will show lower than average IQ
- Indiscriminate sociability is seen in children reared within a family system
The correct answer is: Cognitive recovery occurs when institutionalised children are moved to foster care
RCT of abandoned children reared in institutions vs. abandoned children placed in institutions but then moved to foster care showed markedly poor cognitive outcome for children that were in institutions; but cognitive recovery occurred significantly for younger children placed in foster care. This suggests a possible sensitive period in cognitive development. O’Connor and Rutter (2000) compared young children adopted from Romania with children adopted within the United Kingdom. They found that at both age 4 and again at age 6, the duration of deprivation was linearly related to the number of signs of attachment disorders. Children exhibiting indiscriminate sociability at age 6 had experienced deprivation for twice as long as children exhibiting no attachment disorder signs.
In which stage of Piaget’s model can a boy make out the difference between the amount of water present in a tall glass and a wide mouthed container?
Select one: Conventional stage Formal operational Sensorimoto Pre operational Concrete operational
The correct answer is: Concrete operational.
During concrete operational stage, the ability of conservation of liquid develops (around 6 years) followed by conservation of length, count, weight and volume (around 11 to 12 years) in a vertical decalage fashion (i.e. stepwise, one by one development).
Which of the following experiments is not correctly matched with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development?
Select one:
1) Pendulum experiment- Formal operational stage
2) Hiding objects- Sensorimotor stage
3) Mountain tasks- Pre-operational stage
4) Classification of objects according to rules-concrete operational stage
5) Conservation tasks- sensorimotor stage
The correct answer is: Conservation tasks- sensorimotor stage (NOT CORRECTLY MATCHED)
Piaget illustrated ego-centric thinking with his famous mountain task and conservation tasks to demonstrate the deficiencies in pre-operational thinking.
Using a series of experiments piaget demonstrated that during this stage the child has not grasped the concept of conservation and does not realise that certain properties of objects e.g. Mass, volume, number, length, and weight remain unchanged even when the objects appearances are altered.
The visual cliff is a test of
Select one: Touch perception Depth perception Height perception Sound perception Colour perception
The correct answer is: Depth perception
By 6 months
In the strange situation test, the child undergoing the examination is rigid and frozen when mum returns and does not involve in seeking out contact with her. The attachment behaviour on display is best characterised as
Select one: Disorganised attachment behaviour Anxious avoidant behaviour Anxious resistant behaviour Absence of attachment behaviour Securely attached
Frozen and dazed look is associated with disorganized attachment behaviour.
The correct answer is: Disorganised attachment behaviour
An 18-month-old girl is a ‘blessing to look after’. She has a regular sleep pattern; she calms down quickly when she cries. She has a friendly social smile with strangers. Her temperament is best termed as
Select one: Insecure Slow to warm up Easy Difficult Secure
Thomas and Chess classified temperaments into easy, difficult and ‘slow to warm up’. This girl belongs to the easy group.
The correct answer is: Easy
In a simple experiment using cardboard and toys on a desk, a 4 year old boy could not say what a person would see from the other side of the desk when only one side of an object was visible from that side of the desk. Which among the following feature is demonstrated in this ‘mountain task’ experiment?
Select one: Transductive reasoning Object permanence Egocentrism Hypothetico deductive reasoning Symbolic thought
The correct answer is: Egocentrism
Egocentrism is a feature of pre operational stage (2-7 years).
= the restrictive ability of viewing the world from a single point of view at this developmental stage.
The parallel process in a female child that resembles the Oedipus complex in males is called
Select one: Euripides complex Delphi complex Electra complex Cleopatra complex Jocasta complex
The correct answer is: Electra complex
The Oedipus complex is an intrapsychic and interpersonal event whereby a 3- to 5-year-old male child develops rivalry with this father and an attraction to his mother. A similar process in a female child is called the Electra complex.
A 55-year-old married lady is a mother of three girls who were all raised by her. All are now grown up and her last daughter left home to study recently. Now the mother feels lonely and despondent. Which one of the following terms describes this phenomenon?
Select one: Depression Empty nest distress Downshifting Mid life crisis Separation anxiety
The correct answer is: Empty nest distress.
Empty nest distress or empty nest syndrome refers to the feeling of loneliness when children leave home which usually occurs during latter part of middle age.
However, there is no evidence to support this mythical concept.
The parenting role continues to be important, albeit in a changed form.
Midlife transition or crisis occurs around age 40 to 45, when individuals become acutely aware of their limitations with their previous goals and re-evaluating their life.
Downshifting refers to voluntary opting out of pressurised career and giving up well-paid job for more fulfilling life (anti-urbanism).
During an Adult Attachment Interview, the subject provides an emotional and long discussion of childhood memories and is often distressed and tearful. Based on this finding, identify the category of adult attachment:
Select one: Autonomous Autocratic Entangled Dismissing Disorganised
The correct answer is: Entangled.
In Main’s adult attachment interview (AAI),
- secure attachment –> spontaneous and coherent answers in a non-defensive manner with sufficient elaboration and able to talk freely about positive or negative experiences in childhood.
- avoidant (insecure) pattern –> minimise their experiences, often gives brief answers ‘I don’t remember statements’, do not elaborate on them and do not use colourful metaphors during the discourse (classified as Dismissing of experiences).
- The entangled/ pre-occupied group includes those who had insecure but ambivalent (enmeshed) attachment use multiple emotionally laden responses and ramble excessively. The subject shows an outpouring of emotion with a lengthy discussion of childhood memories and is often distressed, angry and tearful. Broken continuity and interrupted logical flow of thoughts are seen in those who had insecure disorganised attachment pattern. Here the subject becomes incoherent or irrational during the interview.
Which one among the following is said to be achieved when all information properly fits into the schemas?
Select one: Assimilation Accommodation Equilibration Adaptation Object permanence
The correct answer is: Equilibration
Equilibration is a term used in the Piaget’s cognitive developmental theory to describe child’s movement between a state of equilibrium, when they are mostly assimilating, to a state of disequilibrium, when they are mostly accommodating.
It is said to be achieved when all information properly fits into the schema via either processes of adaptation (assimilation and accommodation).
During each developmental state, the child will experience cognitive disequilibrium which gets solved through adaptation and equilibration results. Each time that equilibrium occurs, the child produces more effective schemata or mental structures.
Which one of the following fears is not characteristic of infancy?
Select one: Fear of strange people. Separation anxiety Fear of the dark Fear of falling Fear of loud noises
The correct answer is: Fear of the dark
Fears characteristic of infancy include separation anxiety, fear of loud noises, fear of falling, fear of strange objects and strange people.
According to Thomas and Chess study, all of the following temperamental characteristics are seen in slow to warm up children except
Select one: Slow changes in mood Mild intensity of emotions Negative response to new stimuli Fiery emotionality Gradual adaptations
The correct answer is: Fiery emotionality.
3 behavioural or temperamental styles
- Easy - rhythmic pattern of needs, positive mood, adapts well with a positive approach to novelty, low intensity of emotions and active - seen in 40%
- Difficult - Irregular biorhythms, negative mood, less predictable, uncomfortable with new experiences, react intensely to stimuli (Fiery emotionality), difficult to comfort - seen in 10%
- slow to warm up children- slow changes in mood, somewhat regular habits, gradual adaptations, mild intensity of emotions, adapts poorly to change, but less active - seen in 15% (often labelled as ‘shy’).
