Exam

Question 1

Grief

Answer 1

The intense physical and psychological distress associated with the loss of a loved one

Question 2

Three phases of grieving

Answer 2

Avoidance
Confrontation
Accomodation

Question 3

Which is used to determine the end of life in most industrialised nations?

Answer 3

Brain death

Question 4

Improved formal operational abilities contribute to grater abstract reasoning in adolescence

Answer 4

As long as they remain focused on principles/issues, parent-child disagreements promote development.

Question 5

Occupational identity

Answer 5

is the most important psychological need of entering the workforce

Question 6

Generativity involves

Answer 6

Teaching a child and passing skills to the next generation

Question 7

Leisure refers

Answer 7

To non-work or time not spent in paid employment, and includes time spent on personal growth activities

Question 8

older adults goals and values can be grouped into two categories

Answer 8

Personal and material

Question 9

Three ideas on which a realistic understanding of death I based

Answer 9

Permanence
Universality
Non-functionality

Question 10

Escapist reminiscing

Answer 10

Refers to an individual’s use of private recollection or storytelling as a means of substituting memories of a more pleasant past for the painful present

Question 11

Fluid intelligence

Answer 11

Involves short term memory and abilities that maybe bound up in rapid thinking and the learning of new material or may reflect perceptual processes involving spatial and pattern detection and other nonverbal cognitive skills

Question 12

Crystallised intelligence

Answer 12

Reflects long term memory storage, the lasting mechanics of knowledge and distilled information, and is heavily shaped by the effects of schooling, experience and past knowledge

Question 13

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning level1: pre-moral stage 1: heteronomous morality

Answer 13

Avoid breaking rules; obey laws to avoid being punished
Authorities will get even if people break rules, even for humanitarian reasons
Individual might weigh the odds of punishment and decide that husband should steal. Since the penalty for theft could be less than that for neglecting his wife, self interest would be served in this manner

Question 14

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning: pre-moral Stage 2: Instrumental hedonism

Answer 14

Follow rules and keep promises so that others will do the same for you
Enlightened self-interest is best for everyone
Might justify the same decision to steal the drug because otherwise the husband would need to steal even more money to pay for her funeral

Question 15

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning: Conventional Stage 3: Conformity (or good boy/good girl focus)

Answer 15

Being good means having good motives such as concern for others; behave as others think how you should act, regardless of gain to you.
The need to be liked and good means conforming to the stereotype of human goodness.
Clear recognition of the dutiful claims of affiliation emerges. Thus, for example, Heinz should steal to save his wife because, even if he is arrested for it , the judge will like him better for being a worthy husband

Question 16

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning: Conventional Stage 4: Law and Order (conformity to law or rule)

Answer 16

The most important rule is secular or religious law, rather than personal gain or others needs.
To keep the system (country, religion etc.) going just as it is, you must obey all laws just as they are.
Such considerations of personal liking and individual conscience are put aside in favour of an abstractly idealised respect for conformity to either the legal system (leading to a decision not to steal a drug) or religious law (leading, in many cases, to the decision to steal on the grounds that the pledge of marriage demands that the husband do everything in his power to protect his wife’s life).

Question 17

Kohlberg’s theory of moral reasoning: Principled Stage 5: Principled morality

Answer 17

Follow universal rules such as ‘life is liberty for all’ regardless of majority opinion.
One’s ‘social contract’ as a human being is to make and abide by rules that serve the welfare of all people and promote the ‘greatest good for the greatest number’.
Any person’s right to life could be seen to have higher priority for the common good of humanity. This level of moral reasoning incorporates principles transcending all existing laws, religious doctrines or ethical codes in order to promote optimal concern for human welfare.

Question 18

Marcia’s identity status

Answer 18

Identity achievement
Identity moratorium
Identity diffusion
Identity foreclosure

Question 19

Piaget’s theory: Sensorimotor stage (up to age 2)

Answer 19

Is a period during which the infant learns to deal effectively with the physical and social world at the level of overt behaviour. It ends with beginnings of symbolic thought.

Question 20

Piaget’s theory: Preoperational stage (2 to 7 years)

Answer 20

Is a period during which ability to think about objects, words and other symbols, and to manipulate them mentally, evolves and spreads into the areas of play, moral awareness and social functioning. Thinking in this stage is ‘prelogical’, according to Piaget. The preschooler is intrigued by many natural and social phenomena and their causal origins, as seen in the average three-year old’s perpetual question ‘Why?’

Question 21

Piaget’s theory: Concrete-operational stage

7 to 11 years

Answer 21

During the concrete-operational stage, the child’s thoughts become organised into an integrated system of logical operations called groupings. As a result, the child acquires a rational and consistent understanding of tangible objects and events. Thinking is still limited, however, when it comes to higher-order abstractions and intangibles.

Question 22

Piaget’s theory: Formal operational stage

After 11

Answer 22

For Piaget, the formal-operational stage is the pinnacle of logical thought. When fully mastered, formal operations enable the adolescent to think rationally, hypothetico-deductively and thoroughly about even such remote abstractions as friction and momentum, the mechanisms of human thought or possible future of the world. Genuinely qualitative cognitive development ceases with the attainment of formal operation. But the quantitative assimilation of further information and its integration into existing formal thought structures can continue through the remainder of the lifespan.

Question 23

Schaie’s stage, theory of adult cognition

Answer 23

ACQUISITION STAGES (childhood and adolescence) Piaget's model S-P/O-C/O-F/O How information is acquired 
ACHIEVING STAGE (young adult) Application of knowledge to real-life problems
EXECUTIVE STAGE (for those with top level expertise and responsibility) age 30-60
RESPONSIBLE STAGE (most middle adults) age 30-60
REORGANISATIONAL STAGE ('young-old' 60-65) Retirement planning = new social engagement roles and/or disengaged leisure of family life 
REINTEGRATIVE STAGE ('old-old' 70s & 80s)
'Selective optimisation with compensation' (Baltes)
LEGACY-CREATING STAGE('old-old' 70s & 80s) 'Ego integrity' (Erickson)

Question 24

Robert Sternberg young adults style of love involve varied combinations of three distinct cognitive and emotional elements. PASSION

Answer 24

physiological sexual attraction, sex drive and the other symptoms of physiological arousal that Jane Traupmann & Elaine Hatfield identify as part of passionate love

Question 25

Robert Sternberg young adults style of love involve varied combinations of three distinct cognitive and emotional elements. COMMITMENT

Answer 25

The strength of a couple’s investment in their relationship and the confidence with which they plan a future together. Marriage falls at one extreme of the continuum and a causal one-night stand with a stranger at the other

Question 26

Robert Sternberg young adults style of love involve varied combinations of three distinct cognitive and emotional elements. INTIMACY

Answer 26

The degree of mutual affection, confiding and emotional closeness in the couple’s relationship.

Question 27

Erikson’s theory:
BASIC TRUST versus MISTRUST
(Birth to 1 year)

Answer 27

The quality of the parental care that infants receive during the trust stage leads to conflict and, eventually, to its resolution as a realistic compromise between blind faith in the primary caregiver as the source of total pleasure and an acceptance of the unavoidable pain of delay and frustration. The outcome of satisfactory resolution brings babies their first ‘psychosocial strength’ which Erikson described as hope, and which will form a cornerstone for all manifestations of faith later in life.

Question 28

Erikson’s theory:
AUTONOMY versus SHAME AND DOUBT
(1 to 3 years)

Answer 28

In this stage children a acquire a sense of autonomy, or independence, as they explore their environments and interact with others. Feeling of shame and doubt result from others’ disapproval of some of the child’s early social and exploratory activities. A satisfactory resolution of the conflict between shame and self assertion transcends the both, entailing a mature sense of responsibility within the bounds of law and custom. Too much autonomy, relative to shame, produces a child who is uncontrolled and defiant; too much shame results in an overly inhibited child who is a compulsively zealous conformist.

Question 29

Erikson’s theory:
INITIATIVE versus GUILT
(4 to 5 years)

Answer 29

The preschoolers actively seeks to explore the world, and while parents encourage constructive activities, they also curb bad behaviour, leading to the child’s feelings of personal responsibility and guilt.

Question 30

Erikson’s theory:
INDUSTRY versus INFERIORITY
(6 to 11 years)

Answer 30

When children enter school, their lives become geared to working hard (industry) in the school room. Competitive academic evaluations foster feelings of superiority or inferiority.

Question 31

Erikson’s theory:
IDENTITY versus ROLE CONFUSION
(12 to 18 years)

Answer 31

The adolescent’s central task is to define a comprehensive sense of self, or identity, which incorporates the relics of past identifications aligns the adolescent’s own unique attributes with the opportunities society offers. A satisfactory resolution of the identity conflicts entails the development of a coherent sense of self that integrates all the essential features of the individual’s past and sets the direction for further personal growth and productive contribution to society.

Question 32

Erikson’s theory:
INTIMACY versus ISOLATION
(Early adulthood)

Answer 32

Once young people attain a workable identity, they are ready to commit newfound self to a close relationship with another person. The outcome this integration can be new kind of identity as a couple, which includes, but transcends, the particular identities of each partner. There are two risks: (1) refusing to make any lasting commitments and (2) submerging one’s own weakly resolved identity under the partner’s stronger one, leading to a loss of self. Successful resolution results in mature love, ‘a mutually of devotion greater than the antagonisms inherent in divided function’.

Question 33

Erikson’s theory:
GENERATIVITY versus SELF-ABSORPTION
(Middle adulthood)

Answer 33

The crisis of the middle years relates to socially significant accomplishment or the creation of something that will carry on beyond the finite limits of the adult’s own lifespan to influence future generations. Possible solution include the raising of healthy happy children or a creative, political or constructive career that helps to better the world. The crisis comes about through doubt about the magnitude or worth of one’s contribution or through failure to make a contribution at all.

Question 34

Erikson’s theory:
INTEGRITY versus DESPAIR
(Old age)

Answer 34

This is a stage for looking back over one’s life, for reminiscing, trying up loose ends and integrating one’s whole life into a coherent picture. Erikson called it ‘a new edition of an identity crisis’ because it is also a time for thinking about life as a whole and locating one’s complete life cycle into the larger scheme of things. The conflict often begins when the recognition of the imminence of death upsets complacent satisfaction with life as it has been, and brings poignant regret for the unrealised possibilities that might have been. A satisfactory resolution enables a transcendence of the conflict, as the ageing person undertakes to ‘transfer his strength to the upcoming generation’ and achieves a belief in some higher unity of human life which is free of temporal relativity. The adult who attains maturity realises that ‘individual life is the accidental coincidence of but one the life cycle with but one segment of history, and that for him all human integrity stands and falls with the one style of integrity of which he partakes’.

Question 35

Baltes way of defining old age

Answer 35

1. Sociological/familial: retirement; oldest living family generation
2. Biological: onset of age-linked frailty and physical disability
3. Longevity/demographic: the final decade before natural death
4. Cognitive: onset of cognitive decline (e.g. Alzheimer’s disease or senile dementia)
5. Institutional: transfer into sheltered living (e.g. nursing home)

Question 36

Subcortical areas such as nucleus accumbens and the amygdala

Answer 36

Bounded up with emotional behaviour and inner emotional experiences

Question 37

Prefrontal cortex

Answer 37

Has functional significance for risk assessment and decision making

Question 38

Asynchronous in the development of the adolescent’s emotions, behaviour and neurocognition. EARLY ADOLESCENCE

Answer 38

Puberty heightens emotional arousability, sensation seeking,

reward orientation

Question 39

Asynchronous in the development of the adolescent’s emotions, behaviour and neurocognition. MIDDLE ADOLESCENCE

Answer 39

Period of enlightened vulnerability to risk-taking and problems in regulation of affect and behaviour

Question 40

Asynchronous in the development of the adolescent’s emotions, behaviour and neurocognition. LATE ADOLESCENCE

Answer 40

Maturation of the brain’s frontal lobes facilitates regulatory competence

Question 41

Characteristics of formal-operational reasoning

Answer 41

A scientific, hypothetico-deductive approach to problem solving in which a tango of possible solutions at formulated, followed by systematic empirical testing while controlling multiple variables.
Awareness of reality as a specific case within an infinite range of possibilities
Systematic consideration of all possible combinations of variables, and all possible problem solutions, keeping track of all combinations.
Awareness of reciprocity and negation as two kinds of reversibility, along with an ability to coordinate negation and reciprocity with one another to restore equilibrium and solve problems formulated as equations.
A clear understanding of ratios and proportionality, together with concepts of probability and partial association (correlation).
A logical understanding of abstract, higher order and intangible concepts such as friction, gravity and air resistance.
An understanding of the formal properties of logical propositions such as tautology and contradiction together with the ability to reason logically about scenarios that violate the factual conditions of everyday experience.

Question 42

Levinson’s theory:

Answer 42

ERA OF PRE-ADULTHOOD (0-23)
1.Early adult transition (17-23) Finding a job and shopping around a good career fit (transitional)
ERA OF EARLY ADULTHOOD (23-45)
2.Entry life structure for early adulthood (23-28) Setting on a career and learning its ‘ropes’ (stable)
3.Age 30 transition (28-33) Reappraising and possibly changing career (transitional)
4.Culminating life structure for early adulthood (33-40) Establishing a niche through ambitious goal achievement (stable)
5.Mid-life transition (40-45) Reappraising to express whole personality (transitional)
ERA OF MIDDLE ADULTHOOD (45-65)
6.Entry life structure for middle adulthood (45-50) Creating a productive life structure (stable)
7.Age 50 transition (50-55) Assessing and improving career structure (transitional)
8. Culminating life structure for middle adulthood (55-60) achieving the goals formulated at 50 (stable)
9. Late adult transition (60-65) Preparing for retirement (transitional)
ERA OF LATE ADULTHOOD (66+)
10.Post career retirement stage (66 to end of life) Retirement (stable)

Question 43

Robert Atchley: The process of retiring

Answer 43

• Honeymoon phase. Is typically euphoric period when new retirees indulge in all the things their job prevented them from doing. May include golf, sewing, card playing, hunting, fishing, partying or even world travel.
• Disenchantment phase: was seen by Atchley as a probable, though not inevitable, sequel to the retirement honeymoon. It resembles marital disenchantment in that the realities of a long-term adjustment must be confronted.
• Reorientation phase: the successful weathering of disenchantment with retirement usually leads to a reorientation phase in which goals for the future are actively confronted and difficult choices are made. Lifestyle may resemble teenagers identity crisis in Erik Erikson’s theory.
• Stability phase: if reorientation is successfully accomplished, this is followed by a stability phase in which life satisfaction returns to high levels.
• Termination phase: when retirement is traded for a return to full time employment or for a disabled role as a patient in a hospital or nursing home.

Question 44

Following behavioural differences between boys and girls become stronger, or are noted for the first time, during adolescence

Answer 44

Cognitive processing. Boys show strong superiority on spatial tasks such as reading maps, geometry and visualising the motion of objects. Girls, conversely, show somewhat better verbal skills than boys after adolescence.
• Social relationships. Mothers show increasing deference to sons but not daughters as the child moves through puberty. Girls tend to develop more intimate friendships and use more sophisticated concepts when describing friendship than boys do during adolescence.
• Risk taking. Girls in adolescence display more cautious attitudes than boys, are less willing to take risks when making decisions and are subjected to stronger parental protectiveness.

Question 45

Key life changes adulthood

Answer 45

Key life changes for these young women over this period included emerging into adulthood

1) residentially (by moving out of their parents’ homes),
2) vocationally (through career entry)
3) interpersonally (as they forged mature couple relationships).

Question 46

Robert Sternberg (1988) suggested that young adults’ styles of love involve varied combinations of three distinct cognitive and emotional elements

Answer 46

1. Passion: physiological sexual attraction, sex drive and the other symptoms of physiological arousal that Jane Traupmann and Elaine Hatfield identify as part of passionate love
2. Commitment: the strength of a couple’s investment in their relationship and the confidence with which they plan a future together. Marriage falls at one extreme of the continuum and a casual one-night stand with a stranger at the other.
3. Intimacy: the degree of mutual affection, confiding and emotional closeness in the couple’s relationship.