Midterm 1

Question 1

Name and describe three developmental domains.

Answer 1

1. Physical development.
2. Cognitive development.
3. Psychosocial development.

Question 2

Describe the characteristics of “emerging adulthood”.

Answer 2

a transitional period between adolescence and full-fledged adulthood that extends from about age 18 to age 25 and maybe as late as 29.

a. explore their identities;
b. lead unstable lives filled with job changes, new relationships, and moves;
c. are self-focused, relatively free of obligations to others, and therefore free to focus on their own psychological needs;
d. feel in between—adultlike in some ways but not others;
e. believe they have limitless possibilities ahead.

Question 3

What is an “age grade”? Give two examples of cultural or societal differences in age grades.

Answer 3

Each socially defined age group in a society is assigned different statuses, roles, privileges, and responsibilities.

1. rite of passage (transition from child to adult)
2. ??

Question 4

Summarize the extreme positions one can take on the “nature–nurture” issue and the position taken by most developmental scientists today.

Answer 4

Nature: emphasize the influence of heredity, universal maturational processes guided by the genes, biologically based or innate predispositions produced by evolution, and biological influences on us every day of hormones, neurotransmitters, and other biochemicals.

Nurture: emphasize change in response to environment—all the external physical and social conditions, stimuli, and events that can affect us, from crowded living quarters and polluted air, to social interactions with family members, peers, and teachers, to the neighborhood and broader cultural context in which we develop.

In reality: Developmental changes are the products of a complex interplay between nature and nurture. It is not nature or nurture; it is nature and nurture (Plomin et al., 2013). To make matters more complex, it is nature affecting nurture and nurture affecting nature!

Question 5

List and describe the goals driving the study of life-span development.

Answer 5

1. Describing
2. Predicting
3. Explaining
4. Optimizing development

(make sure you know what each of these are in detail)

Question 6

List Baltes’ seven key assumptions or themes of the lifespan perspective. Development is …

Answer 6

1. a lifelong process.
2. multidirectional.
3. both gain and loss.
4. is characterized by lifelong plasticity
5. shaped by its historical-cultural context
6. multiply influenced
7. must be studied by multiple disciplines

Question 7

Describe the “heart” of the scientific method in one sentence.

Answer 7

Theories generate hypotheses, which are tested through observation of behavior, and new observations indicate which theories are worth keeping and which are not.

Question 8

List three characteristics of a good theory.

Answer 8

1. Internally consistent.
2. Falsifiable
3. Supported by data.

Question 9

Describe the three critical features of true experiments.

Answer 9

1. random assignment
2. manipulation of the independent variable
3. experimental control

Question 10

What is the basic question for correlational designs?

Answer 10

“Are two or more variables are related in a systematic way?” Researchers take people as they are and attempt to determine whether there are relationships among their experiences, characteristics, and developmental outcomes.

Question 11

What kind of conclusion can be drawn from research utilizing experimental method that cannot be drawn from research utilizing correlational method?

Answer 11

Experimental: manipulating the independent variable causes a change in the dependent variable.

Correlational: The strength and direction (+/-) of the relationship between two variables. Because this is a correlational study, we cannot draw firm cause-effect conclusions the way we can in an experiment.

Question 12

Describe two rival interpretations that are possible for most correlational studies.

Answer 12

Directionality problem: the cause effect could be reverse
a third variable problem: the interaction between the two variables could be caused by a third variable they’re not seeing / measuring for

Question 13

Describe the cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential designs and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Answer 13

Cross-sectional: the performances of people of different age groups, or cohorts, are compared.

Longitudinal: Strength: one cohort of individuals is assessed repeatedly over time. Strength: it can tell whether most people change in the same direction or whether different individuals travel different developmental paths.

Sequential: Strength: combines the cross-sectional approach and the longitudinal approach in a single study.

Question 14

Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and sequential designs.

Answer 14

Cross-sectional: Strength: it’s quick and easy. Cross-sectional studies are very efficient and informative, especially when the cohorts studied are not widely different in age or formative experiences. Weakness: it can be misleading, and we don’t know how individuals change. You need longitudinal research for that.

Longitudinal: Strength: i t can tell whether most people change in the same direction or whether different individuals travel different developmental paths; indicate whether the characteristics and behaviors measured remain consistent over time; are extremely valuable for what they can reveal about how people change as they get older. Weakness: It is costly and time-consuming; its methods and measures may seem outdated or incomplete by the end of the study; its participants may drop out because they move, lose interest, or die; and participants may be affected by being tested repeatedly; Because of time-of-measurement effects, we may not know whether the age-related changes observed in a longitudinal study are generalizable to people developing in other sociohistorical contexts.

Sequential: Strength: In short, sequential designs can begin to untangle the effects of age, cohort, and time of measurement. Weakness: Yet they are complex and expensive.

Question 15

What characteristics determine whether a research study is likely to be viewed as ethical?

Answer 15

If the potential benefits greatly outweigh the potential risks, and if there are no other, less risky procedures that could produce these same benefits, the investigation is likely to be viewed as ethical.

Question 16

List and explain the four major ethical obligations of investigators to their research participants.

Answer 16

1. allowing them to freely give their informed consent,
2. debriefing them afterward if they are not told everything in advance or are deceived,
3. protecting them from harm, and
4. treating any information they provide as confidential.

Question 17

Development

Answer 17

as systematic changes and continuities in the individual that occur between conception and death, or from “womb to tomb.”

Question 18

reciprocal determinism

Answer 18

The notion in social cognitive theory that the flow of influence between people and their environments is a two-way street; the environment may affect the person, but the person’s characteristics and behavior will also influence the environment.

Question 19

evidence-based practice

Answer 19

grounding what they do in research and ensuring that the curricula and treatments they provide have been demonstrated to be effective.
scientific method: An attitude or value about the pursuit of knowledge that dictates that investigators must be objective and must allow their data to decide the merits of their theorizing.

Question 20

Theory

Answer 20

A set of concepts and propositions designed to organize, describe, and explain a set of observations.

Question 21

Meta-analysis

Answer 21

A research method in which the results of multiple studies addressing the same question are synthesized to produce overall conclusions.

Question 22

Ethnocentrism

Answer 22

The belief that one’s own cultural or ethnic group is superior to others.

Question 23

G Stanley Hall

Answer 23

often cited as the founder of developmental psychology

Question 24

Paul Baltes

Answer 24

laid out seven key assumptions of the lifespan perspective

Question 25

Name the four major theoretical viewpoints about human development and name one major theorist or researcher associated with each.

Answer 25

1. The psychoanalytic viewpoint developed by Sigmund Freud and revised by Erik Erikson and other neo-Freudians
2. The learning perspective developed by such pioneers as Ivan Pavlov, John Watson, B. F. Skinner, and Albert Bandura
3. The cognitive developmental viewpoint associated with Jean Piaget
4. The systems theory approach, exemplified by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model

Question 26

State the opposing viewpoints in each of the four key developmental issues on which theorists disagree: nature vs. nurture; activity vs passivity; continuity-discontinuity; universality vs. context specificity.

Answer 26

Nature–nurture: (from above)

Activity–passivity: focuses on the extent to which human beings are active in creating and influencing their own environments and, in the process, in producing their own development, or are passively shaped by forces beyond their control.

Continuity–discontinuity: focuses in part on whether the changes people undergo over the life span are gradual or abrupt. Continuity theorists view human development as a process that occurs in small steps, without sudden changes, as when grade school children gradually gain weight from year to year. In contrast, discontinuity theorists tend to picture the course of development as more like a series of stair steps, each of which elevates the individual to a new (and often more advanced) level of functioning.

universality–context specificity: the extent to which developmental changes are common to all humans (universal) or are different across cultures, subcultures, task contexts, and individuals (context specific).

Question 27

What are the two related meanings of discontinuity in development?*

Answer 27

1. the course of development as more like a series of stair steps, each of which elevates the individual to a new (and often more advanced) level of functioning.
2. changes that make the individual fundamentally different in some way

Question 28

According to Freud, how does a mature, healthy personality achieve a dynamic balance between the id, ego and superego?

Answer 28

In the mature, healthy personality, a dynamic balance operates: The id communicates its basic needs, the ego restrains the impulsive id long enough to find realistic ways to satisfy these needs, and the superego decides whether the ego’s problem-solving strategies are morally acceptable. The ego has to balance the opposing demands of id and superego while taking into account the realities of the person’s environment.

Question 29

How is positive reinforcement different from negative reinforcement? How are they alike?

Answer 29

positive reinforcement: desirable event that, when introduced following a behavior, makes that behavior more probable.
negative reinforcement: a response is strengthened or made more probable when its consequence is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus from the situation.

Question 30

Explain Bandura’s ideas about reciprocal determinism.

Answer 30

The notion in social cognitive theory that the flow of influence between people and their environments is a two-way street; the environment may affect the person, but the person’s characteristics and behavior will also influence the environment. As Bandura sees it, environment does not rule, as it did in Skinner’s thinking: People choose, build, and change their environments; they are not just shaped by them. And people’s personal characteristics and behaviors affect the people around them, just as other people are influencing their personal characteristics and future behaviors. Bandura doubts that there are universal stages of human development.

• Learning involves watching a model and, through vicarious reinforcement or punishment, the consequences of the model’s behavior.
• Skills, cognitions, and behaviors, including ones that the learner has not been directly reinforced for displaying are learned

Question 31

Without using the word “stage” in your explanation, explain why Piaget’s theory is considered a stage theory.

Answer 31

the development of thought from infancy to adolescence. four major periods of cognitive development. the mind that “constructs” understanding of the physical world also comes, with age, to understand gender, moral values, emotions, death, and a range of other important aspects of the human experience

Question 32

Describe Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory

Answer 32

Disagreeing with Piaget’s notion of universal stages of cognitive development, Vygotsky maintained that cognitive development is shaped by the sociocultural context in which it occurs and grows out of children’s interactions with members of their culture (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978). Each culture provides its members with certain tools of thought—most notably a language, but also tools such as pencils, art media, mathematical systems, and computers. The ways in which people in a particular culture approach and solve problems are passed from generation to generation through oral and written communication. Hence culture, especially as it is embodied in language, shapes thought. As a result, cognitive development is not the same universally. Whereas Piaget tended to see children as independent explorers, Vygotsky saw them as social beings who develop their minds through their interactions with more knowledgeable members of their culture.

*popular in recent years

Question 33

What metaphor is used in the information processing approach to describe the human brain?

Answer 33

likens the human mind to a computer with hardware and software and examines the fundamental mental processes, such as attention, memory, decision making, and the like, involved in performing cognitive tasks.

Question 34

Explain systems theory.

Answer 34

claims that changes over the life span arise from ongoing transactions in which a changing organism and a changing environment affect one another. The individual and the physical and social contexts with which he interacts are inseparable parts of a larger system in which everything affects everything else. Development can take a variety of paths, and some surprising turns, depending on the complex interplay of multiple influences. Nature and nurture cannot be separated easily because they are part of a dynamic system, continually influencing one another, “co-acting” to produce development.

Question 35

Name, define and give an example of each of the five environmental systems in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model.

Answer 35

1. microsystem: an immediate physical and social environment in which the person interacts face-to-face with other people and influences and is affected by them.
2. mesosystem: interrelationships between two or more microsystems.
3. exosystem: social settings that individuals do not experience directly but that can still influence their development.
4. macrosystem: the larger cultural or societal context in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are embedded. It includes a society’s cultural values, laws, political and economic systems, and institutions.

Question 36

developmental stage

Answer 36

A distinct phase within a larger sequence of development; a period characterized by a particular set of abilities, motives, behaviors, or emotions that occur together and form a coherent pattern.

Question 37

Extinction

Answer 37

The gradual weakening and disappearance of a learned response when it is no longer reinforced. possibly because overimitation has proven adaptive for our species, helping us learn “how we do things” in our culture—helping us acquire the many, often arbitrary, skills, rituals, and rules important in our culture, including new ways of solving problems. Overimitation also helps us fit in.

Question 38

Overimitate

Answer 38

possibly because overimitation has proven adaptive for our species, helping us learn “how we do things” in our culture—helping us acquire the many, often arbitrary, skills, rituals, and rules important in our culture, including new ways of solving problems. Overimitation also helps us fit in.

Question 39

Constructivism

Answer 39

the position taken by Piaget and others that humans actively create their own understandings of the world from their experiences, as opposed to being born with innate ideas or being programmed by the environment.

Question 40

contrast psychosexual vs. psychosocial stages

Answer 40

psychosexual stages: Freud’s five stages of development, associated with biological maturation and shifts in the libido: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

psychosocial stages: Erikson’s eight stages of development (trust, autonomy, initiative, industry, identity, intimacy, generativity, and integrity), emphasizing social influences more and biological urges less than Freud’s psychosexual stages.

• Placed less emphasis on sexual urges as the drivers of development and more emphasis on social influences—not just parents but peers, teachers, schools, and the broader culture—claiming that nature and nurture are equally important.
• Placed less emphasis on the unconscious, irrational, and selfish id and more on the rational ego and its adaptive powers.
• Held a more positive view of human nature, seeing people as active in their development, largely rational, and able to overcome the effects of harmful early experiences.
• Put more emphasis on development after adolescence.

Question 41

List and describe the three main arguments in Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Answer 41

There is genetic variation in a species. Genes that aid their bearers in adapting to their environment will be passed to future generations more frequently than genes that do not. This is the key principle of natural selection—the idea that nature “selects,” or allows to survive and reproduce, those members of a species whose genes help them adapt to their environment. Genes that increase the chances of surviving and reproducing will become more common over time because they will be passed to many offspring. Through natural selection, then, the genetic makeup of a species slowly changes—and will continue to change as long as individuals with certain genetic makeups reproduce more frequently than individuals with other genetic makeups. Change can eventually be sufficient to produce a new species.

Question 42

For natural selection to work and for a species to evolve, what must be true of the genetic make-up of a species?

Answer 42

The idea that nature “selects,” or allows to survive and reproduce, those members of a species whose genes help them adapt to their environment.

Question 43

Complete (or explain) this statement from the text “Genes do not determine anything….”

Answer 43

Not all human similarity is because of genes, however. Through the process of cultural evolution, we “inherit” from previous generations a characteristically human environment and tried and true ways of adapting to it, invent better ways of adapting and adjusting to changing conditions, and pass on what we learn to the next generation

Question 44

escribe and give examples of the major mechanisms of inheritance (single gene-pair, sex-linked, and polygenic inheritance).

Answer 44

Through single gene-pair inheritance, each of thousands of human characteristics are influenced by only one pair of genes—one from the mother, one from the father.In sex-linked inheritance, a characteristic is influenced by single genes located on the sex chromosomes rather than on the other 22 pairs of chromosomes. In fact, most important human characteristics are influenced by polygenic inheritance—by multiple pairs of genes, interacting with multiple environmental factors, rather than by a single pair of genes. Examples of polygenic traits include height, weight, intelligence, personality, susceptibility to cancer and depression, and much more.

Question 45

What happens to gene expression when a dominant gene is paired with a recessive gene?

Answer 45

It happens that there is a gene associated with tongue curling; it is a dominant gene, meaning that it will be expressed when paired with a recessive gene, a weaker gene that can be dominated (like one associated with the absence of tongue-curling ability).

Question 46

What is the most likely outcome for a zygote with the wrong number of chromosomes?

Answer 46

In most cases, a zygote with the wrong number of chromosomes is spontaneously aborted; chromosome abnormalities are the main cause of pregnancy loss.

Question 47

Describe how twin studies, adoption studies and family studies are done. What can each contribute to untangling genetic and environmental influences? What are some limitations of each?

Answer 47

twins: A simple type of twin study to untangle genetic and environmental influences involves determining whether identical twins reared together are more similar to each other in traits of interest than fraternal twins reared together. If genes matter, identical twins should be more similar because they have 100% of their genes in common, whereas fraternal twins share only 50% on average.
adopted: Researchers must appreciate that not only the genes of a biological mother but also the prenatal environment she provided influence how an adopted child turns out. Researchers must also be careful to correct for the tendency of adoption agencies to place children in homes similar to those they were adopted from. Finally, researchers must recognize that because adoptive homes are generally above-average environments, adoption studies may underestimate the effects of the full range of environments children can experience.

family studies: Researchers are conducting complex family studies that include pairs of siblings who have a variety of different degrees of genetic similarity—for example, identical twins, fraternal twins, full biological siblings, half siblings, and unrelated stepsiblings who live together in stepfamilies.

Question 48

What are concordance rates and what do they tell us about the trait being studied?

Answer 48

The percentage of pairs of people studied (for example, pairs of identical twins or adoptive parents and children) in which if one member of a pair displays the trait, the other does too. If concordance rates are higher for more genetically related than for less genetically related pairs of people, the trait is heritable.

Question 49

Describe molecular genetics and explain what molecular genetics studies tell us that behavioral genetics studies cannot.

Answer 49

Molecular genetics is the analysis of particular genes and their effects (Plomin et al., 2013). It involves identification of specific variants of genes that influence particular traits and comparisons of animals or humans who have these genes with those who do not. It also allows researchers to study the effects of specific genes in combination with the effects of specific environmental influences.

Question 50

Compare the heritability of intelligence and temperament/personality

Answer 50

Clearly, correlations are higher when pairs of people are closely related genetically than when they are not and are highest when they are identical twins.

Temperament—tendencies to respond in predictable ways, such as sociability and emotional reactivity, that serve as the building blocks of later personality (see Chapter 11). Genes contribute to individual differences in both early temperament and later personality. The temperament of infants is genetically influenced. These identical twins seem like easy babies, eager to socialize.

Question 51

Describe and give an example of passive gene-environment correlations, evocative gene-environment correlations and active gene-environment correlations.

Answer 51

Passive gene–environment correlations work like this: Because parents provide children with both their genes and a home environment compatible with those genes, the home environments to which children are exposed are correlated with (and are typically likely to reinforce) their genotypes.

In evocative gene–environment correlations, a child’s genotype also evokes certain kinds of reactions from other people. The smiley, sociable baby is likely to get more smiles, hugs, and social stimulation—and more opportunities to build social skills—than the wary, shy baby who makes you worry he will howl if you try anything.

Through active gene–environment correlations, children’s genotypes influence the kinds of environments they seek. The individual with a genetic predisposition to be extraverted is likely to go to every party in sight, invite friends over, join organizations, collect Facebook friends, and otherwise build a “niche” that is highly socially stimulating and that strengthens social skills. The child with genes for shyness may actively avoid large group activities and instead develop solitary interests.

Question 52

Explain what epigenetic effects are and what they say about the relationship between genes and environment.

Answer 52

Epigenetic effects, ways in which environmental factors influence the expression of particular genes in particular cells.

Through epigenetic effects, factors such as diet, stress, alcohol and drugs, environmental toxins, and early parental care leave records, chemical codings on top of certain genes that affect whether those genes are turned on or off. Analysis of RNA can now reveal these patterns of gene expression.

Question 53

Explain why genetic research and behavioral genetic research are controversial.

Answer 53

New techniques for “editing” the genome and inserting new genes in patients’ bodies promise to revolutionize gene therapy—and raise all kinds of ethical issues and concerns about unintended consequences. To give parents information that might prompt them to abort a fetus that is not of the desired health status or intellect, and to experiment with techniques for altering an individual’s genetic makeup through gene therapy

Question 54

species heredity:

Answer 54

The genetic endowment that members of a particular species have in common; a contributor to universal species traits and patterns of maturation.

Question 55

crossing over

Answer 55

A process in which genetic material is exchanged between pairs of chromosomes during meiosis.

Question 56

incomplete dominance

Answer 56

a form of intermediate inheritance in which one allele for a specific trait is not completely expressed over its paired allele. This results in a third phenotype in which the expressed physical trait is a combination of the phenotypes of both alleles.

Question 57

Zygote

Answer 57

The moment of fertilization, when a sperm penetrates an ovum, forming a zygote.

Question 58

Heritability

Answer 58

The amount of variability in a population on some trait dimension that is attributable to genetic differences among those individuals.

Question 59

identical twins vs. fraternal twins:

Answer 59

Identical twins – monozygotic twins who develop from a single zygote that later divides to form two genetically identical individuals.

Fraternal twins – are not identical and who result when a mother releases two ova at roughly the same time and each is fertilized by a different sperm.

Question 60

genotype vs. phenotype

Answer 60

genotype: The genetic endowment that an individual inherits. Contrast with phenotype.

Phenotype: The way in which a person’s genotype is expressed in observable or measurable characteristics. (what it looks like on the outside)

Question 61

gene-environment interaction vs. gene-environment correlation:

Answer 61

gene-environment interaction: The effects of our genes depend on what kind of environment we experience, and how we respond to the environment depends on what genes we have. Thus, the genes people have make a difference only when their environment is stressful, and a stressful environment has an effect only on individuals with a genotype that predisposes them to depression. Genes and environment interact.

gene-environment correlation: A systematic interrelationship between an individual’s genes and that individual’s environment; ways in which genes influence the kind of home environment provided by parents (passive gene–environment correlation), the social reactions to the individual (evocative gene–environment correlation), and the types of experiences the individual seeks (active gene–environment correlation).

Question 62

shared environmental influences vs. nonshared environmental influences:

Answer 62

Shared: (the opposite) = same environmental influences

Non-shared: if differences in their development are systematically related to differences in their experiences. Since they have identical genes and grew up in similar prenatal and postnatal environments, differences in their behavior or development can be credited to differences in their experiences

Question 63

Explain how an infant conceived through in vitro fertilization could wind up with five “parents”.’

Answer 63

a sperm donor, an egg donor, a surrogate mother in whom the fertilized egg is implanted, and a caregiving mother and father.

Question 64

Name the three phases into which embryologists divide the prenatal period and describe how these phases fit into the trimesters into which most parents and obstetricians divide the prenatal period.

Answer 64

1. the germinal period: The first trimester begins with the germinal period, which lasts approximately 2 weeks;
2. the embryonic period: The first trimester continues with the embryonic period, which occurs from the third to the eighth week after conception. During this short time, every major organ takes shape.
3. fetal period: The fetal period lasts from the ninth week of pregnancy until birth, which means it encompasses part of the first trimester and all of the middle and last trimesters

Question 65

Describe the main events of the embryonic period, including their timing.

Answer 65

a. Embryo elongates, three layers form (ecto, meso, and endoderm)
b. Embryo curves, and folds to form neural tube. Heart beats for the first time.
c. Ears, mouth, and throat take shape. Heart divides into two regions
d. Heart divids into four chambers. Sexual differentiation begins.
e. Most structures and organs present. Ovaries and tests are evident. Embryo straightens and looks more human.

Question 66

Describe the main events of the fetal period, including their timing.

Answer 66

Bone tissue emerges, embryo becomes fetus. Head of fetus looks huge. Fetus and open and close mouth and turn head.
Fingers and toes formed. Genitalia developeed. Movements increasees a lot. “Breathing” and reflexes.
Heartbeat audible with stethoscope. Mother feels movements. Skeleton hardens
Fingernails, toenails, hair, teeth buds, eyelashes grow. Brain development is phenomenal
Viability - chance of survival outside womb!
Fetus gains weight, brain grows, nervous system organized
Last 6 weeks of full-term pregnancy weight gain and brain activity. Lungs mature.

Question 67

Define proliferation, migration, and differentiation of neurons and describe what happens during each of those phases.

Answer 67

Proliferation: of neurons involves their multiplying at a staggering rate during this period; by one estimate, the number of neurons increases by hundreds of thousands every minute throughout all of pregnancy, with a concentrated period of proliferation occurring between 6 and 17 weeks after conception

Migration: the neurons move from their place of origin in the center of the brain to particular locations throughout the brain where they will become part of specialized functioning units. Migration is influenced by genetic instructions and by the biochemical environment in which brain cells find themselves.

Differentiation: transformation of cells. Neurons may evolve into a particular type or function based on where they land following migration. Alternatively, another theory is that cells may “know” what they are supposed to be and where they are intended to go on their migratory path before reaching their final destination

Question 68

Describe how three generations of people might be affected by prenatal environmental factors such as maternal smoking.

Answer 68

it is not only the unborn child who may be affected by prenatal environmental factors: The offspring of the unborn child may also be affected. Through epigenetic codings carried on the DNA of the reproductive cells of the developing fetus, a pregnant woman’s health, diet, and environment may adversely affect her future grandchildren. Epigenetics is a critical component in understanding fetal programming. According to research with animals and increasingly humans, prenatal imbalances in nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins may alter molecular pathways in ways leading to disease and health challenges later in life. Adult health and mental health conditions such as obesity, heart disease, and schizophrenia may arise, in part, from the prenatal environment and fetal programming.

Question 69

Describe any five teratogens and their impact on the developing embryo and fetus.

Answer 69

Drug: thalidomide: relieved early morning sickness a while ago, but the women gave birth to babies with missing limbs or body parts in the wrong spot based on when she took the medicine.
Tobacco: increased miscarriage, prematurity, growth retardation, respiratory problems, cleft lips, CNS impairment, later health problems (ie. inflammatory bowel disease)
Alcohol: FAS deformities, irritability, hyperactivity, seizures, termors, low IQ tests, attention deficits, psychiatric disorders.
Cocaine: greater reactivity response to stimulation in first year, deficits in information processing, delinquent behavior.
Antidepressants: greater risk for heart malformations, neural tube defects, low birth weight, respiratory distress
Chemo: miscarriage and malformations
Marijuana: low birth weight, premature birth, irritability at birth, deficits in general intelligence

Question 70

Name seven effects of maternal smoking during pregnancy. How does maternal smoking cause these effects?

Answer 70

increased miscarriage, prematurity, growth retardation, respiratory problems, cleft
lips, CNS impairment, later health problems (ie. inflammatory bowel disease)

Question 71

What amount of alcohol drinking during pregnancy appears to be safe?

Answer 71

There is no level that seems “safe”

Question 72

Describe the causes and effects of fetal anoxia during birth.

Answer 72

Anoxia - oxygen shortage. brain cells die if they are starved of oxygen for more than a few minutes. Severe anoxia can initially cause poor reflexes, seizures, heart rate irregularities, and breathing difficulties. In the long run, severe anoxia can lead to memory impairment or cerebral palsy, a neurological disability primarily associated with difficulty controlling muscle movements; it also increases the risk of learning or intellectual disabilities and speech difficulties

Question 73

Discuss four differing cultural practices surrounding birth (include Western industrial cultures).

Answer 73

Kenya: fathers stop hunting so he doesn’t get killed by animals.
Midwifery: delivers the baby
Placenta buried in goat enclosure
Baby washed in cold water and given mixture of hot ash and boiled herbs so it will vomit amniotic fluid
India: dai assists delivery. Hands on helps push baby out
Pushing on the floor
In Nambia, women labor by themselves, the woman goes off on our own and expected to labor quietly. Otherwise it’s a sign of weakness.
Western: highly medicalized, hooked up to monitors, separated from most family members. But they prevent infant fatalities better.

Question 74

How does postpartum depression in mothers affect their infants?

Answer 74

an episode of clinical depression lasting 2 or more weeks (rather than days) in a woman who has just given birth. children whose mothers experienced postpartum depression may become less securely attached to their mothers during infancy and less responsive during interactions with their mothers at age 5. postnatally depressed mothers show more violent behavior even when researchers control for family characteristics and later episodes of maternal depression. Adolescents whose mothers had been postnatally depressed also show elevated levels of cortisol, which is associated with major depression

Question 75

Discuss risk and resilience, including damaging effects that are irreversible and the Werner and Smith findings about the outcomes of at-risk infants.

Answer 75

Risk: Children who have a higher than normal chance of either short-term or longterm problems because of genetic defects, prenatal hazards, or perinatal damage.
Resilience: their ability to rebound from early disadvantages and to respond to environmental influences throughout their lives rather than only during so-called critical periods.
Study: studied a group of babies born in 1955 on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. On the basis of this information, each baby was categorized as having been exposed to severe, moderate, mild, or no prenatal or perinatal stress. At ages 1, 2, 10, 18, 32, and 40 years, researchers diligently tracked down their participants and conducted interviews (initially with the mothers and later with the children), administered psychological and cognitive tests, rated the quality of the family environment, and conducted medical examinations. One-third of the children classified as at-risk showed considerable resilience, getting themselves back on a normal course of development.

Question 76

Discuss risk and resilience, including damaging effects that are irreversible and the Werner and Smith findings about the outcomes of at-risk infants.

• • Two major findings emerge from this research:
• • Two types of protective features:

Answer 76

Two major findings emerge from this research:
1. The effects of prenatal and perinatal complications decrease over time.
2. The outcomes of early risk depend on the quality of the postnatal environment.
Two types of protective features:
1. Personal resources: because of their genetic makeup, some children have qualities such as intelligence, sociability, and communication skills that help them choose or create more nurturing and stimulating environments and cope with challenges. parents and other observers noted that these children were agreeable, cheerful, and self-confident as infants, which elicited positive caregiving responses
2. Supportive postnatal environment: receive the social support they need within or outside the family. Most importantly, they are able to find at least one person who loves them unconditionally and with whom they feel secure.

Question 77

blastocyst

Answer 77

A hollow sphere of about 100 to 150 cells that the zygote forms by rapid cell division as it moves through the fallopian tube.

Question 78

age of viability

Answer 78

A point (around the 24th prenatal week) when a fetus may survive outside the uterus if the brain and respiratory system are well enough developed and if excellent medical care is available.

Question 79

Myelin

Answer 79

A fatty sheath that insulates neural axons and thereby speeds the transmission of neural impulses.

Question 80

Teratogen

Answer 80

Any disease, drug, or other environmental agent that can harm a developing fetus.

Question 81

Couvade

Answer 81

Sympathetic pregnancy, or the experiencing by fathers of some of the same physiological symptoms their pregnant partners experience (for example, bloating, weight gain, fatigue, insomnia, and nausea).

Question 82

critical period vs. sensitive period:

Answer 82

Critical: A defined period in the development of an organism when it is particularly sensitive to certain environmental influences; outside this period, the same influences will have far less effect.

Sensitive: As compared to a critical period, a period of life during which the developing individual is especially susceptible to the effects of experience or has an especially high level of plasticity.

Question 83

spina bifida vs. anencephaly:

Answer 83

Spina bifida: Condition in which the bottom of the neural tube fails to fully close during prenatal development and part of the spinal cord is not fully encased in the protective covering of the spinal column.

Anencephaly: Condition in which the top of the neural tube fails to close and the main portion of the brain above the brain stem fails to develop properly.

Question 84

Teratogen

Answer 84

Agent that can harm a fetus

Question 85

Anoxia

Answer 85

lack of oxygen during birth

Question 86

Couvade

Answer 86

pregnancy symptoms experienced by fathers

Question 87

Apgar

Answer 87

10-point newborn assessment

Question 88

Epigenetic effects

Answer 88

gene expression modified by environmental events

Question 89

Name the key glands in the endocrine system. Describe the function of each and their effects on growth and development.

Answer 89

Endocrine gland that secrete chemicals called hormones directly into the bloodstream. In contrast, children who lack adequate growth hormone are unlikely to exceed 4 feet (or 130 cm) in height as adults if left untreated. Treatment with synthetic growth hormones can lead to near-expected adult height if administered early—well before the start of puberty.

Pituitary gland , the so-called master gland located at the base of the brain. Directly controlled by the hypothalamus of the brain, it triggers the release of hormones from all other endocrine glands by sending hormonal messages to those glands. Moreover, the pituitary produces growth hormone, which triggers the production of specialized hormones that directly regulate growth.

Question 90

What is the basic unit of the nervous system?

Answer 90

Neuron

Question 91

Which two structures comprise the central nervous system?

Answer 91

The spinal cord and brain.

Question 92

What is the make-up of the peripheral nervous system?

Answer 92

The peripheral nervous system is subdivided into the somatic nervous system and the autonomic nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is your environmental interface. It is the interface between the internal environment of your mind/brain and body and the external environment around you. It is also the interface of the body with the mind/brain.

Question 93

What is myelination? Describe how it works and its importance to nervous system function.

Answer 93

The process of myelination—neurons becoming encased in this protective substance that speeds transmission—begins prenatally but continues for many years after birth, proceeding from the spinal cord to the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain.

Question 94

Name, describe, and provide an example of each of the three major principles of growth.

Answer 94

The cephalocaudal principle, according to which growth occurs in a head-to-tail direction. The head is far ahead of the rest of the body during the prenatal period and accounts for about 25% of the newborn’s length and 13% of total body weight. But the head accounts for only 12% of an adult’s height and 2% of an adult’s weight.

This proximodistal principle of growth can be seen during the prenatal period, when the chest and internal organs form before the arms, hands, and fingers. During the first year of life, the trunk is rapidly filling out but the arms remain short and stubby until they undergo their own period of rapid development. While infants are growing from the head downward, they are also growing and developing muscles from the center outward to the extremities.

The orthogenetic principle is where development starts globally and undifferentiated and moves toward increasing differentiation and hierarchical integration (Werner, 1957). Consider a human who starts as a single, undifferentiated cell at conception. As growth proceeds, that single cell becomes billions of highly specialized cells (neurons, blood cells, liver cells, and so on).

Question 95

Describe the 5 main components of the life-span developmental model of health.

Answer 95

1. Health is a lifelong process. It is influenced by personal choices over the life span and is constantly changing in response to these choices.
2. Health is determined by both genetic and environmental influences.
   A person’s genetic predispositions interact with their environmental experiences to create adaptive (healthy) outcomes or disruptive (unhealthy) ones.
3. Health—and its study—is multidimensional. Physical, mental, and social functioning are intertwined with one another; changes in one area influence other aspects of self.
4. Changes in health involve both gains and losses; health both improves and declines over the life span in response to many factors.
   5/ ealth occurs in a sociohistorical context and can be enhanced or constrained by the social and historical factors that contribute to it. Especially important is socioeconomic status. Lower socioeconomic status is routinely associated with poorer health and well-being and shorter life expectancy.

Question 96

Describe the processes of synaptogenesis and synaptic pruning and explain their relationship to plasticity of the developing human brain.

Answer 96

Synaptogenesis, or growth of synapses, during childhood as well as the synaptic pruning or removal of unnecessary synapses that is also an important component of brain development.
Between birth and 7 years of age, there is a tremendous amount of synaptogenesis, or the development of connections between neurons. But between 7 and 15 years of age, there is another process at work: synaptic pruning or elimination of unnecessary or unused connections.

Question 97

Summarize newborn capabilities that promote healthy adaptation to the world outside the womb, including reflexes and behavioral states.

Answer 97

Breathing reflex: Provides oxygen; expels carbon dioxide
Eye-blink reflex: Protects eyes from bright light or foreign objects
Pupillary reflex: Constriction of pupils to bright light; dilation to dark or dimly lit surroundings; Protects against bright light; adapts visual system to low illumination
Rooting reflex: Turning a cheek toward a tactile (touch) stimulus; Orients child to breast or bottle
Sucking reflex: Sucking on objects placed (or taken) into mouth; Allows child to take in nutrients
Swallowing reflex: Allows child to take in nutrients; protects against choking
Primitive Reflexes
Babinski reflex: Fanning then curling toes when bottom of foot is stroked Disappears by 12–18 months months Presence at birth and disappearance in first year indicate normal neurological development
Grasping reflex: Curling fingers around objects (such as a finger) that touch the baby’s palm; is replaced by a voluntary grasp
Moro reflex: Loud noise or sudden change in position of baby’s head will cause baby to throw arms outward, arch back, then bring arms toward each other however, child continues to react to unexpected noises or a loss of bodily support by showing startle reflex
Swimming reflex: Infant immersed in water will display active movements of arms and legs and will involuntarily hold breath (thus staying afloat for some time)
Stepping reflex: Infants held upright so that their feet touch a flat surface will step as if to walk.
Sleeping through the night.

Question 98

Name the two leading causes of death during the first year of life.

Answer 98

1. Only about 12% of babies in the United States are premature, but complications of premature birth account for 35% of infant deaths.
2. Complications related to labor and delivery account for about one-quarter of deaths, and various types of infections together account for another one-quarter of deaths.

Question 99

Describe some research supported differences in abilities between girls and boys. Explain how these may be caused by the interaction of nature and nurture.

Answer 99

It turns out there is a well-established gender difference in both throwing speed and distance: Girls do, indeed, throw like girls and not like boys (Thomas et al., 2010). A typical 13-year-old girl can throw a ball an average of 38.5 miles per hour, which sounds fast until you learn that the typical 13-year-old boy averages 53.5 miles per hour. Some of this difference seems to be nurture: Boys are given more things to throw, start earlier in sports that involve throwing, and spend more time practicing throwing. But practice and the environment do not explain all of the gender difference in throwing. Boys may also be able to throw faster and farther because of their greater upper body muscle mass and their shoulder width.

We should note that girls are somewhat ahead of boys in hopping and tasks that require manual dexterity.

Question 100

Explain how brain changes during adolescence influence teens’ behavior, including such things as synaptogenesis, synaptic pruning, myelination, reward systems, and changes in levels of neurotransmitters.

Answer 100

the volume of gray matter increases, peaks, and then decreases throughout the teen years. This pattern is believed to be associated with increased synaptogenesis just before puberty, followed by a period of heightened pruning of synapses.
In contrast to this inverted U-pattern, the brain’s “white matter,” consisting of clusters of axons, increases in linear fashion throughout adolescence, a likely result of the steady progression of myelination of axons.
One is that the part of the brain involved in regulating self-control has not yet matured.
The second thing to consider is that adolescence ushers in a period of increased responsiveness to rewards. Indeed, the reward system of the brain is hyper-responsive: The adolescent brain has greater need for reward, which leads to more reward-seeking behaviors.
The neurons serving the frontal lobes are among the last areas of the brain to become myelinated. The frontal lobes are essential to many higher-order mental activities of thinking, planning, and decision making.

Question 101

*14. Where in the adult brain, is brain loss greater with aging? Where is it less with aging?

Answer 101

don’t know.

Question 102

Synaptogenesis

Answer 102

The growth of synapses, or connections between neurons.

Question 103

synaptic pruning

Answer 103

The removal of unnecessary synapses between neurons in response to experience.

Question 104

plasticity

Answer 104

the adaptability of an organism to changes in its environment or differences between its various habitats.

Question 105

corpus callosum

Answer 105

a broad band of nerve fibers joining the two hemispheres of the brain.

Question 106

telomeres

Answer 106

A stretch of DNA that forms the tip of a chromosome and that shortens after each cell division, serving as an aging clock and timing the death of cells.

Question 107

Hayflick limit:

Answer 107

The estimate that human cells can double only 50 times, plus or minus 10, and then will die.

Question 108

central nervous system

vs. peripheral nervous system:

Answer 108

??

Question 109

adrenarche vs. menarche vs. semenarche

Answer 109

Adrenarche: A period of increased production of adrenal hormones, starting around 6–8 years of age, that normally precedes increased production of gonadal hormones associated with puberty.

vs. menarche: Female’s first menstrual period.
vs. semenarche: A boy’s first ejaculation.

Question 110

Pituitary gland

Answer 110

the “master gland” of the body

Question 111

Babinski reflex

Answer 111

fanning of toes when bottom of foot is stroked

Question 112

Free radicals

Answer 112

toxic by-products of metabolism

Question 113

Resveratrol

Answer 113

antioxidant in grapes, red wine and peanuts

Question 114

Explain the differences in how constructivists and nativists view sensation and perception. How Gibson’s ecological theory of perception distinct from the constructivist and the nativist views of perception?

Answer 114

Constructivist: They argue that perceptions of the world are constructed over time through learning. Yes, we come equipped at birth with functioning sensory systems, but understanding the input coming in through our senses requires interacting with the environment and figuring out what those sensations mean. They argue that perceptions of the world are constructed over time through learning. Yes, we come equipped at birth with functioning sensory systems, but understanding the input coming in through our senses requires interacting with the environment and figuring out what those sensations mean.

Nativists: argue that perception is not created by interpreting external input; instead, innate capabilities and maturational programs are the driving forces in perceptual development. Infants come equipped with basic sensory capabilities, which are further refined according to an innate plan. Nativists would argue that the infant does not need experience to learn how to interpret different retinal images cast by the same object at different distances. The brain automatically understands the meaning of different retinal images created as we move about our world (for example, a small image is automatically “read” by the brain as distant object). Thus, from the nativist perspective, perception is direct—it does not require interpretation based on previous experience

Question 115

How Gibson’s ecological theory of perception distinct from the constructivist and the nativist views of perception?

Answer 115

Gibson’s ecological theory: Gibson’s ecological approach also considers the organization of the environment. In particular, Gibson’s theory proposes that information important for perception is readily and directly available in the environment: in the to-be-perceived objects. As we move around in our world, our position relative to all other objects in the environment is constantly changing and altering the flow of information and the images projected to our retina.

Question 116

Describe the four main methods used to study infant perception.

Answer 116

1. Habituation: The same stimulus is repeatedly presented until the infant grows bored with what has become familiar and disengages (e.g., looks away). Researchers can measure how long (e.g., how many trials) until an infant becomes bored. They can also measure how distinct a second, new stimulus needs to be in order to recapture the infant’s attention.
2. Preferential looking: Two stimuli are simultaneously shown to an infant to determine which one they prefer, which is inferred to be the one they look at longer. Adding head-mounted, eye-tracking cameras has allowed researchers to more precisely measure preferential looking.
3. Evoked potentials: Electrical activity in different parts of the brain is measured while the infant watches, listens to, or is otherwise exposed to stimulation. Electrodes are attached to the surface of the skull and a computer records the pattern of electrical activity corresponding to various stimuli.
4. Operant conditioning: Infants are conditioned to reliably respond a certain way to a certain stimulus (e.g., they are rewarded for turning their head every time they hear a sound). Once this response is well-established, the researcher can examine the conditions under which the infants will, or will not, continue to produce the behavior.

Question 117

What is the underlying key to doing research on infant perception?

Answer 117

(topic comments)

Question 118

Describe the change in form perception that appears to happen around 2 months.

Answer 118

But starting around 2 months, infants no longer focus on some external boundary or contour; instead, they explore the interiors of figures thoroughly (for example, looking at a person’s eyes rather than just at the chin, hairline, and top of the head). It is as though they are no longer content to locate where an object starts and where it ends, as 1-month-olds tend to do; they seem to want to know what it is. During this time, infants also become better at shifting their attention or disengaging from a stimulus. Initially, their gaze seems to become “stuck” on the fixated object, and they have difficulty shifting it to another object

Question 119

What are three properties of patterns that capture the young infant’s attention?

Answer 119

1. patterns that have a large amount of light–dark transition, or contour; they are responsive to sharp boundaries between light and dark areas (Banks & Shannon, 1993; Farroni et al., 2005). The soft pastel colors often presented to young infants may not have enough contrast to be detected by them (Brown & Lindsey, 2009).
2. displays that are dynamic (as opposed to static) or contain movement (Courage et al., 2006; Kavsek & Yonas, 2006). Newborns can and do track a moving target with their eyes, although their tracking at first is imprecise and likely to falter unless the target is moving slowly (Slater et al., 2010b).
3. patterns that are moderately complex: not too simple, which would be boring, and not too complex, which would be overwhelming. Thus, they prefer a clear pattern (for example, a bold checkerboard pattern) to either a blank stimulus or an elaborate one such as a page from the New York Times (Fantz & Fagan, 1975). As infants mature, they prefer more complex stimuli.

Question 120

Describe the visual cliff paradigm. What does it tell us about infant perception? What motor skill is necessary before infants fear the visual cliff?

Answer 120

An elevated glass platform that creates an illusion of depth and is used to test the depth perception of infants. This cliff consists of an elevated glass platform divided into two sections by a center board. On the “shallow” side a checkerboard pattern is placed directly under the glass. On the “deep” side the pattern is several feet below the glass, creating the illusion of a drop-off or “cliff.” Infants are placed on the center board and coaxed by their mothers to cross both the shallow and the deep sides. babies over the shallow and deep sides of the visual cliff, babies as young as 2 months had a slower heart rate on the deep side than on the shallow side. 2-month-old infants perceive a difference between the deep and the shallow sides of the visual cliff, but they have not yet learned to fear drop-offs. avoidance of drop-offs appears to be learned through crawling—and falling now and then, or at least coming close to it. Features of a cliff provide infants with the necessary information to know how to interact (or not interact) with the cliff. Walking is necessary before they fear the cliff.

Question 121

Describe the three sensitive periods when experience most affects the visual system.

Answer 121

As compared to a critical period, a period of life during which the developing individual is especially susceptible to the effects of experience or has an especially high level of plasticity. First, there is the period they call visually driven normal development. This is when expected developmental changes in vision will occur with exposure to “normal” visual input; these changes will not occur if visual input is absent. Second, there is a sensitive period for damage; that is, there is a period when abnormal or absent visual input is likely to lead to permanent deficits in some aspect of vision. Third, there is a sensitive period for recovery when the visual system has the potential to recover from damage

Question 122

Describe three phases of exploratory behavior that occur as infants create the sensory environments that meet their needs and contribute to their development.

Answer 122

1. From birth to 4 months, infants explore their immediate surroundings, especially their caregivers, by looking and listening, and they learn a bit about objects by mouthing them and watching them move.
2. From 5 to 7 months, once the ability to voluntarily grasp objects has developed, babies pay far closer attention to objects, exploring objects with their eyes as well as with their hands.
3. By 8 or 9 months, after most have begun to crawl, infants extend their explorations into the larger environment and carefully examine the objects they encounter on their journeys, learning all about their properties.

Question 123

Apply the workings of the cephalocaudal principle and the proximodistal principle of development to human motor development (i.e., what develops when).

Answer 123

If you examine the progression of these motor skills, you will notice the workings of the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles of development. Early motor development follows the cephalocaudal principle because the neurons between the brain and the muscles acquire myelin sheaths in a head-to-tail manner. Thus, infants can lift their heads before they can control their trunks enough to sit, and they can sit before they can control their legs to walk. The proximodistal principle of development is also evident in early motor development. Activities involving the trunk are mastered before activities involving the arms and legs, and activities involving the arms and legs are mastered before activities involving the hands and fingers or feet and toes. Therefore, infants can roll over before they can walk or bring their arms together to grasp a bottle. As the nerves and muscles mature downward and outward, infants gradually gain control over the lower and the peripheral parts of their bodies. When this happens, infants are ready for the next step, literally.

Question 124

Describe typical changes in vision that can be expected with aging and discuss how these changes may affect daily activities.

Answer 124

1. Pupil: Less responsive to changes in lighting conditions and to dim light = Difficulty reading menus in dimly lit restaurants; trouble with night driving; unable to adjust quickly enough to oncoming lights at night or exiting a movie theatre into daylight
2. Lens: Cataract: Cloudiness of the lens; Presbyopia: Thickening or hardening of the lens; Blurred or distorted vision; Decreased ability to see close objects; need for “reading” glasses
3. Retina: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Photoreceptors in the middle of the retina, the macula, deteriorate. Retinitis pigmentosa (RP): Deterioration of light-sensitive cells outside the macula = Loss of central vision, an important contributor to reading, driving, watching TV, and other daily activities Loss of peripheral vision
4. Eyeball: Glaucoma: Increased fluid pressure in the eyeball = Loss of peripheral vision and eventual loss of all vision

Question 125

Which two groups of drivers have more accidents per mile according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety?

Answer 125

both elderly drivers and young drivers have more accidents per mile driven than middle-aged drivers

Question 126

Describe typical changes in hearing that can be expected with aging and discuss how these changes may affect daily activities.

Answer 126

Ear wax, inner ear changes, degenerations. Makes them have loss of sensitivity to high-frequency or high-pitched sounds. Difficulty hearing a child’s high voice.

Question 127

Which taste has little loss of acuity across the lifespan?

Answer 127

Sweetness

Question 128

Affordances

Answer 128

In Eleanor and James Gibson’s ecological theory of perception, characteristics of an object that reveal what it has to offer humans and how it might be used by them.

Question 129

rhythmic stereotypies:

Answer 129

Primary motor stereotypies (also called stereotypic movement disorder), are rhythmic, repetitive, fixed, predictable, purposeful, but purposeless movements that occur in children who are otherwise developing normally.

Question 130

cross-modal perception:

Answer 130

?

Question 131

selective attention:

Answer 131

?

Question 132

sensation vs. perception:

Answer 132

Sensation: The process by which information is detected by the sensory receptors and transmitted to the brain; the starting point in perception. From birth, infants sense their environment. They detect light, sound, odor-bearing molecules in the air, and other stimuli.

Perception: The interpretation of sensory input. they understand the patterns of stimulation coming in from the various sense organs. recognizing what you see, understanding what is said to you, knowing that the odor you have detected is a sizzling steak, and so on. Everything you do—all of your physical and mental actions—depends on your ability to sense and perceive the world around you.

Question 133

Perception

Answer 133

interpretation of sensory information

Question 134

Sensation

Answer 134

detection and transmission of sensory information

Question 135

Macular degeneration

Answer 135

retinal cell damage resulting in loss of central vision

Question 136

Retinitis pigmentosa

Answer 136

hereditary disorder causing loss of peripheral vision

Question 137

Presbycusis

Answer 137

most common age-related hearing loss

Question 138

State Piaget’s general description of cognition.

Answer 138

?

Question 139

Describe the processes of developmental change (assimilation, accommodation and equilibration) in Piaget’s and give an example of each. What is the importance of equilibration in this process?

Answer 139

Assimilation is the process by which we interpret new experiences in terms of existing schemes or cognitive structures. Thus, if you already have a scheme that mentally represents your knowledge of cats, you may label this new beast “kitty.”

Accommodation is the process of modifying existing schemes to better fit new experiences. Perhaps you will need to invent a new name for this animal or ask what it is and revise your concept of four-legged animals accordingly.

We are motivated to reduce conflict through what Piaget called equilibration, the process of achieving mental stability where our internal thoughts are consistent with the evidence we are receiving from the external world

Question 140

Name (with age ranges) Piaget’s four stages of cognitive development.

Answer 140

1. The sensorimotor stage (birth to roughly 2 years)
2. The preoperational stage (roughly 2–7 years)
3. The concrete operations stage (roughly 7–11 years)
4. The formal operations stage (roughly 11 years and beyond)

Question 141

Discuss the strengths of Piaget’s theory, noting features that remain fairly well supported by the research in this field.

Answer 141

His cognitive developmental perspective has been applied to almost every aspect of human development. His theory has undoubtedly stimulated much research in the decades following its creation.
Piaget showed us that infants and children are active in their own development
Piaget taught us that young people think differently than older people do.
The sequence he proposed—sensorimotor to preoperational to concrete operations to formal operations—seems to describe the general course and content of intellectual development for children and adolescents.

Question 142

Indicate how culture and social interaction affect thought in Vygotsky’s theory.

Answer 142

Cognitive growth occurs in a sociocultural context and evolves out of the child’s social interactions.
Luria found that children growing up in a remote rural village with limited social experiences gave remarkably similar responses, whereas children growing up in a large city gave more distinctly individual answers. Knowledge, then, depends on social experiences.

Question 143

Explain how tools, especially language, influence thought.

Answer 143

How do children acquire their society’s mental tools? They acquire them by interacting with parents and other more experienced members of the culture and by adopting their language and knowledge.
According to Lev Vygotsky’s theory, cognitive development is shaped by the culture in which children live and the kinds of problem-solving strategies that adults and other knowledgeable guides pass on to them.

Question 144

Explain the importance of object permanence and describe the path from lack of object permanence to full understanding of object permanence.

Answer 144

The fundamental understanding that objects continue to exist—they are permanent—when they are no longer visible or otherwise detectable to the senses.
By 12–18 months of age (substage 5), the infant has overcome the A-not-B error but may continue to have trouble with invisible displacements—as when you hide a toy in your hand, move your hand under a pillow, and then remove your hand, leaving the toy under the pillow.

Question 145

What important cognitive achievement emerges toward the end of the sensorimotor period?

Answer 145

Symbolic Capacity

Question 146

Name three ways that preoperational thought is limited relative to concrete operational thought.

Answer 146

1. Perceptual salience. Understanding is driven by how things look rather than derived from logical reasoning.
2. Transductive reasoning. Children combine unrelated facts, often leading them to draw faulty cause–effect conclusions simply because two events occur close together in time or space.
3. Egocentrism. Children have difficulty seeing things from other perspectives and assume that what is in their mind is also what others are thinking.

Question 147

What is the defining feature of concrete operational thought?

Answer 147

The concrete operations stage involves mastering the logical operations missing in the preoperational stage—becoming able to perform systematic mental actions on objects, such as adding and subtracting Halloween candies, classifying dinosaurs, or arranging objects from largest to smallest.

Question 148

. Define adolescent egocentrism and describe Elkind’s two types of adolescent egocentrism.

Answer 148

Difficulty differentiating one’s own thoughts and feelings from those of other people. The young child’s egocentrism is rooted in ignorance that different people have different perspectives, but the adolescent’s reflects an enhanced ability to reflect about one’s own and others’ thoughts. Elkind identified two types of adolescent egocentrism: the imaginary audience and the personal fable.

Question 149

Describe the hypothetical-deductive approach to problem solving.

Answer 149

A form of problem solving in which a person starts with general or abstract ideas and deduces or traces their specific implications; “if–then” thinking.

Question 150

In what situations are adults more likely to use concrete operational thought than formal operational thought?

Answer 150

To use concrete operations in less familiar areas. Each group of students did well on the problem relevant to that group’s field of expertise. On problems outside their fields, however, about half the students failed.

Question 151

Explain why poorer performance on tests of formal operational thinking does not mean that older adults have regressed to immature modes of thought (at least 3 reasons).

Answer 151

Understanding that knowledge is relative, not absolute; there are far more shades of gray than there are clear dichotomies of knowledge.

Accepting that the world (physical and mental) is filled with contradictions: inconsistent information can exist side by side.

Attempting to integrate the contradictions into some larger understanding.

Question 152

zone of proximal development

Answer 152

Vygotsky’s term for the difference between what a learner can accomplish independently and what a learner can accomplish with the guidance and encouragement of a more skilled partner.

Question 153

guided participation

Answer 153

A process in which children learn by actively participating in culturally relevant activities with the aid and support of their parents and other knowledgeable individuals.

Question 154

Scaffolding

Answer 154

Jerome Bruner’s term for providing structure to a less skilled learner to encourage advancement.

Question 155

Egocentrism

Answer 155

The tendency to view the world from the person’s own perspective and fail to recognize that others may have different points of view.

Question 156

Postformal thought

Answer 156

Proposed stages of cognitive development that lie beyond formal operations.

Question 157

Centration vs. decentration:

Answer 157

Centration: The tendency to focus on only one aspect of a problem when two or more aspects are relevant.

decentration: The ability to focus on two or more dimensions of a problem at one time.

Question 158

relativistic thinking vs. dialectical thinking:

Answer 158

relativistic thinking: There are multiple ways of viewing a problem and that the solutions people arrive at will depend on their starting assumptions and perspective.
vs. dialectical thinking: Detecting paradoxes and inconsistencies among ideas and trying to reconcile them.

Question 159

Class inclusion

Answer 159

understanding that the parts are included in the whole

Question 160

Seriation

Answer 160

arrange items mentally along a quantifiable dimension

Question 161

Transitivity

Answer 161

necessary relations among elements in a series

Question 162

Static thought

Answer 162

focus on end states rather than changes

Question 163

Describe the information processing approach to cognition and memory.

Answer 163

The computer was the model for it; emphasizes the basic mental processes involved in attention, perception, memory, and decision making

Question 164

Name and describe the three memory stores proposed by Atkinson and Shiffrin.

Answer 164

1. Sensory register, which ever-so-briefly (less than a second) holds the abundant sensory information—sights, sounds, smells, and more—that swirls around us
2. Short-term memory, which holds a limited amount of information, perhaps only four chunks, for a short period of time
3. Long-term memory, believed to be a relatively permanent and seemingly unlimited store of information

Question 165

Explain the workings of the memory system, from first exposure to information or an event to eventual retrieval of this information from memory.

Answer 165

1. ENCODE the information: get it into the system.
   consolidation, processes that stabilize and organize the information to facilitate long-term storage. These processes include synaptic 2. 1. 1. CONSOLIDATION, which occurs in the minutes or hours after initial learning, and system consolidation, which takes place over a longer period of time. The processes of consolidation are facilitated by sleep and disrupted by stress
2. STORAGE: holding information in a long-term memory store. Memories fade over time unless they are appropriately stored in long-term memory. Research has also made it clear that storing memories is a constructive process and not a static recording of what was encoded.
3. RETRIEVAL: the process of getting information out when it is needed. People say they have successfully remembered something when they can retrieve it from long-term memory. Retrieval can be accomplished in several ways. If you are asked a multiple-choice question about when the Constitution was ratified, you need not actively retrieve the correct date; you merely need to recognize it among the options. This is an example of recognition memory.

Question 166

List and define the different forms of memory.

Answer 166

Implicit memory:which occurs unintentionally, automatically, and without awareness,
Explicit memory: which involves deliberate, effortful recollection of event

Question 167

Describe the memory responsibilities of the hippocampus, the amygdala, the basal ganglia and the cerebellum.

Answer 167

Hippocampus: is responsible for consolidation and formation of explicit memories.
Amygdala: is involved in forming emotionally charged memories.
Basal ganglia: important in the formation of procedural memories
Cerebellum: important in the formation of procedural memories

Question 168

Describe three methods researchers use to assess the memory capabilities of infants.

Answer 168

1. Habituation: learning not to respond to a repeated stimulus—might be thought of as learning to be bored by the familiar
2. Operant conditioning: As they age, infants need less “study time” before a stimulus becomes old hat, and they can retain what they have learned for days or even weeks
3. Object search: the A-not-B task. For this task, an infant or toddler is seated at a table that contains two identical cloths, under which a small toy can be hidden
4. Imitation: Researchers can learn something about memory by noting whether or not infants can imitate an action performed by a model.

Question 169

Discuss and evaluate the four major hypotheses about why memory and learning improve over childhood.

Answer 169

1. Changes in basic capacities. Older children have higher-powered “hardware” than younger children do; neural advances in their brains have contributed to more working-memory space for manipulating information and an ability to process information faster.
2. Changes in memory strategies. Older children have better “software”; they have learned and consistently use effective methods for putting information into long-term memory and retrieving it when they need it.
3. Increased knowledge of memory. Older children know more about memory (for example, how long they must study to learn things thoroughly, which kinds of memory tasks take more effort, and which strategies best fit each task).
4. Increased knowledge of the world. Older children know more than younger children about the world in general. This knowledge, or expertise, makes material to be learned more familiar, and familiar material is easier to learn and remember than unfamiliar material.

Question 170

Discuss and evaluate the four major hypotheses about why memory and learning improve over childhood.

Answer 170

1. Changes in basic capacities. Older children have higher-powered “hardware” than younger children do; neural advances in their brains have contributed to more working-memory space for manipulating information and an ability to process information faster.
2. Changes in memory strategies. Older children have better “software”; they have learned and consistently use effective methods for putting information into long-term memory and retrieving it when they need it.
3. Increased knowledge of memory. Older children know more about memory (for example, how long they must study to learn things thoroughly, which kinds of memory tasks take more effort, and which strategies best fit each task).
4. Increased knowledge of the world. Older children know more than younger children about the world in general. This knowledge, or expertise, makes material to be learned more familiar, and familiar material is easier to learn and remember than unfamiliar material.

Question 171

Describe three memory strategies used by older but not younger children.

Answer 171

1. Note taking
2. Concentrate on learning relevant material and ignore irrelevant material
3. underlining

Question 172

What is childhood (infantile) amnesia? Discuss the possible causes, including limited working memory, undeveloped language skills and fuzzy-trace theory.

Answer 172

1. Space in working memory. One explanation of childhood amnesia is that infants and toddlers may not have enough space in working memory to hold the multiple pieces of information about actor, action, and setting needed to encode and consolidate a coherent memory of an event.
2. Space in working memory. One explanation of childhood amnesia is that infants and toddlers may not have enough space in working memory to hold the multiple pieces of information about actor, action, and setting needed to encode and consolidate a coherent memory of an event.
3. Level of sociocultural support. Although toddlers may have limited verbal skills, their parents presumably do not. There are large individual differences in toddler–parent “conversations” about past events (
4. Sense of self. We need to consider that infants and toddlers lack a strong sense of self and as a result may not have the necessary ‘pages’ on which they can write memories of personally experienced events
5. Verbatim versus gist storage. Some researchers have tried to explain childhood amnesia in terms of fuzzy-trace theory (Brainerd & Reyna, 2014; 2015). According to this explanation, children store verbatim and general accounts of an event separately.
6. Neurogenesis. Finally, some intriguing research with mice suggests that neurogenesis, the birth of new cells, in the hippocampus early in life ‘refreshes’ our memory store

Question 173

List three practical (non-cognitive) ways to enhance memory

Answer 173

1. Sleep well; consolidation occurs during sleep
2. Healthy eating for your brain
3. Exercise - physical fitness and activity

Question 174

5 methods for Improving encoding and consolidation

Answer 174

1. Pay attention: focus on what you need to learn
   Organize and make connections to existing knowledge. Organizational scheme must make sense to the learner.
2. Use strategies that enrich and elaborate the new material. Thinking of similarities and differences between the new and old material.
3. Customize your learning strategies to optimize your learning style
4. Overlearn new material. Don’t just study to recall it for a short period, otherwise you’ll forget it. Overlearn the material.

Question 175

In general, about how many years of training and experience does it take to become expert in a field?

Answer 175

10 years.

Question 176

Describe the factors that contribute to expertise in adulthood.

Answer 176

• the expert not only knows and remembers more but also thinks more effectively than individuals who lack expertise.
• Having a lot of interest in a subject helps your knowledge base; it allows experts to hold and manipulate more information in short-term memory than nonexperts
• experts are able to use their elaborately organized and complete knowledge bases to solve problems effectively and efficiently
• experts do not need to think much; they are like experienced drivers who can put themselves on “autopilot” and carry out well-learned routines quickly and accurately

Question 177

Discuss the importance of personal significance, distinctiveness, emotional intensity, and life phase of an event in adult autobiographical memory.

Answer 177

Personal significance: Most people believe that the personal significance of an event affects our memory for the event—that events of great importance to the self will be remembered better than less important events. As it turns out, the personal significance of an event, as rated at the time the event occurs, has little effect on one’s ability to later recall the event.
Distinctiveness (uniqueness): The more unique an event is, the more likely it is to be recalled later on, and to be recalled as a distinct event with relevant details. Common events and experiences are often recalled, if at all, as multiple events lumped together as one
Emotional intensity: Events associated with either highly negative or highly positive emotions are recalled better than events that were experienced in the context of more neutral emotions. This enhanced memory for emotion-arousing events occurs even though the emotion associated with the event tends to dissipate with time, especially if it is a negative emotion. It is likely that strong emotions activate the body’s arousal system and the neural components associated with arousal enhance encoding and consolidation of events. (scanned with MRIs)
Life phase: people recall more information from the life phase of their teens and 20s than from any other time except the near present. These events form one’s cultural life script, those stories of our lives that we tell over and over again. Research shows that there may be other “bumps” in memory across the life span that are influenced by what particular cultures prescribe as important life events

Question 178

List five qualifying factors to be kept in mind when considering the research comparing the strengths and weaknesses of older vs younger adults.

Answer 178

Most of the research is based on cross-sectional studies that compare age groups, which suggests that the age differences detected could be related to factors other than age. (If needed, you can refresh your memory of the strengths and weaknesses of cross-sectional designs by referring back to Chapter 1.)
Declines, when observed, typically do not become noticeable until we hit our 70s.
Difficulties in remembering affect elderly people more noticeably as they continue to age and are most severe among the oldest elderly people.
Not all older people experience these difficulties.
Not all kinds of memory tasks cause older people difficulty.

Question 179

Describe the selective optimization with compensation framework and explain its usefulness in compensating for declines in memory and problem-solving ability.

Answer 179

Selective compensation: The concept that older people cope with aging through a strategy that involves focusing on the skills most needed, practicing those skills, and developing ways to avoid the need for declining skills. Three processes are: selection, optimization, and compensation. If cognitive resources are limited, you have to be selective. Partners who are elderly tend to offload tasks / skills that they have not selected to keep due to limited brain resources. It helps to take advantage of their relative strength in implicit memory.

Question 180

procedural memory:

Answer 180

memory about how to do something (we just do it without thinking about it!)

Question 181

executive control processes:

Answer 181

Processes that direct and monitor the selection, organization, manipulation, and interpretation of information in the information-processing system, including executive functions.

Question 182

Metamemory

Answer 182

A person’s knowledge about memory and about monitoring and regulating memory processes.

Question 183

autobiographical memory

Answer 183

Memory of everyday events that the individual has experienced.

Question 184

retrograde amnesia vs. anterograde amnesia:

Answer 184

Retrograde: Loss of memory for information and events occurring prior to the incident that caused the amnesia. Contrast with anterograde amnesia.
Anterograde: no longer able to form new memories

Question 185

gist vs. verbatim memory:

Answer 185

Gist: it is easier to remember the gist of an event (for example, recall of the general points covered in a biology lecture) than
Verbatim: the details of a memory

Question 186

implicit memory

Answer 186

unintentional automatic memory

Question 187

explicit memory

Answer 187

deliberate effortful recollection of events

Question 188

semantic memory

Answer 188

memory for general facts

Question 189

episodic memory

Answer 189

memory for specific experiences

Question 190

elaboration

Answer 190

meaningful linking of items to be learned

Question 191

Atkinson & Shiffrin

Answer 191

described three memory stores

Question 192

Brainerd & Reyna

Answer 192

fuzzy-trace theory

Question 193

Patricia Bauer

Answer 193

autobiographical memory

Question 194

Define intelligence according to the psychometric approach. State the goals of the psychometric approach.

Answer 194

Intellegence: a trait or a set of traits that characterizes some people to a greater extent than others.
Goals: to identify these traits precisely and to measure them so that differences among individuals can be described.

Question 195

Describe Howard Gardner’s conceptualization of intelligence, including describing his eight intelligences.

Answer 195

Rejects IQ score. Asks “How are you smart?” Identifying people’s strengths and weaknessses across range of mental faculties.
8 or 9 intellectual abilities:
1. Intrapersonal - understanding yourself and what you feel and want
2. Spatial - visualizing the world in 3d
3. Naturalist - understanding living things and reading nature
4. Musical - discerning sound
5.logical/mathematical - quantifying things, making hypotheses
6. Existential - tackling the questions of why we live and die
7. Interpersonal - sensing people’s feelings and motives
8.Bodily kinesthetic - coordinating mind and body
9. Linguistic - finding the right words to express what you mean

Question 196

Describe the three components of Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence. Then discuss the fourth element (a type of intelligence) that he added in recent years.

Answer 196

1. Emphasizes three aspects of intelligent behavior:
   practical component: emphasizing the effect of context on what is intelligent;
2. creative component: centering on coping with both novel and familiar problems; and an
3. analytic component: focused on the cognitive processes used to solve a problem.

Fourth element: successful intelligence: establish and achieve reasonable goals consistent with your skills, optimize strengths and weaknesses, adapt to environment, and use all three above components of intelligence

Question 197

Explain why IQ scores and creativity scores do not correlate well.

Answer 197

It turns out that IQ scores and creativity scores do not correlate very well because they measure two different types of thinking. IQ tests measure convergent thinking, which involves “converging” on the best answer to a problem. If we could typecast someone as a convergent thinker, it would be the person who wants to know the correct answer to a problem. In contrast, creativity involves divergent thinking, or coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions to a problem when there is no single correct answer.

Question 198

Explain the poor correlation between DQ scores in infancy and children’s later IQ?

Answer 198

They are based on a large group of children, and they do not necessarily mean that the IQs of individual children will remain stable over the years. As it turns out, many children show sizable ups and downs in their IQ scores over the course of childhood. Patterns of change differ considerably from child to child, as though each were on a private developmental trajectory. within a group, children’s rankings (high or low) in comparison with peers stay stable from one point to another during the childhood years. Remember, however, that this relates to performance on IQ tests rather than underlying intellectual competence. IQ scores are influenced not only by people’s intelligence but also by their motivation, testing procedures and conditions, and many other factors that we will discuss in this chapter.

Question 199

Describe the infant behaviors that are best connected to later intelligent behaviors.

Answer 199

1. Speed of habituation - the degree to which they prefer novel stimulus
2. Preference for novelty

The “smart” infant is the speedy information processor—the infant who quickly becomes bored by the same old thing, seeks novel experiences, and soaks up information rapidly. the extent to which the young infant processes information quickly can predict the extent to which he will learn quickly and solve problems efficiently later in childhood.

Question 200

Describe the Flynn Effect and what factors might account for this finding.

Answer 200

The rise in average IQ scores over the 20th century. In the United States, the increase has amounted to about 3 IQ points per decade.

1. Many researchers argue that increases of this size cannot be caused by genetic evolution and therefore must have environmental causes. For one thing, children today are better educated than earlier generations; 85% today complete high school, compared with just 5% in 1895
2. improved economic conditions have brought improved nutrition and living conditions over the course of the 20th century, and this has contributed to the rise in intellectual functioning
3. People in countries where rates of infectious diseases are high have, on average, lower IQ scores than those in countries where rates of infectious diseases are low. The researchers believe that infectious diseases, especially parasitic diseases that cause diarrhea in infants and children, divert energy from the brain and rob the brain of needed nutrients.

Question 201

Is creativity or intelligence more stable during adolescence? Support your answer by describing related research.

Answer 201

Intelligence is more stable during adolescence. A longitudinal study showed that there were stronger correlations of IQ within the childhood ages (stable). However, many children show ups and downs in IQ and many factors are involved (including motivation during test taking, etc.)

Question 202

Summarize the Schaie, et al, findings related to changes in intellectual functioning as people age.

Answer 202

A comprehensive sequential study directed by K. Warner Schaie (2012) provides some evidence regarding the pattern of changes in IQ. They were given a revised test of primary mental abilities that yielded scores for five separate mental abilities: verbal meaning, spatial ability, reasoning, numerical ability, and word fluency. Seven years later, as many of them as could be found were retested.

a. when a person was born has at least as much influence on intellectual functioning as age does.recently born cohorts (the youngest people in the study were born in 1973) tended to outperform earlier generations (the oldest were born in 1889) on most tests.
b. patterns of aging differ for different abilities (Figure 9.8). Fluid intelligence (those abilities requiring active thinking and reasoning applied to novel problems, as measured by tests such as the primary mental abilities tests of reasoning and space) usually declines earlier and more steeply than crystallized intelligence (those abilities involving the use of knowledge acquired through experience, such as in answering the verbal meaning test used by Schaie). Consistently, adults lose some of their ability to grapple with new problems starting in middle age, but their crystallized general knowledge and vocabulary stay steady throughout middle and older adulthood.

Question 203

What is most likely to influence whether or not a person experiences declines in intellectual performance in old age?

Answer 203

1. Poor health (cardiovascular or chronic illness)
2. Diseases (and drugs used to treat)
3. Unstimulating lifestyle, disengaged from life (use it or lose it!)

Question 204

Describe the research on neuroplasticity in older adults (page 283, Application 9.1, IQ Training of Aging Adults). What does it suggest about why some intellectual skills decline with aging?

Answer 204

Neuroplasticity: restructuring of the brain in response to training or experience, among older adults. Research was about restoring lost ability and reasoning and measuring intelligence. You don’t use it, you lose it! Another study: Their activities draw upon memory, literacy, and problem-solving skills. Many intellectual skills decline in later life because they are not used—and that these skills can be revived with a little coaching and practice.

Question 205

Define wisdom and describe the attributes (e.g. cognitive style) of people who demonstrate wisdom.

Answer 205

Wisdom: A combination of rich factual knowledge about life and procedural knowledge such as strategies for giving advice and handling conflicts.
Attributes: knowledge of life, prosocial values, self-understanding, acknowledgment of uncertainty, emotional homeostasis [balance], tolerance, openness, spirituality, and sense of humor

Question 206

Discuss the following hypotheses about why racial and ethnic group differences in IQ scores exist: bias in testing, motivational factors, genetic differences among groups, and environmental differences among groups

Answer 206

Bias: IQ tests may be more appropriate for children from white middle-class backgrounds than for those from other subcultural groups. African american dialects, hispanic spanish speakers, etc. Minority groups don’t have as much exposure to culture reflected in tests. 
Motivation: not motivated to do their best in testing because they're anxious or resist being judged by examiner with a different background. Stereotype threat.
Genetic factors: most psychologists do not think the evidence that heredity contributes to within-group differences says much about the reasons for between-group differences. even though genes partially explain individual differences in IQ within African American and European American groups, the average difference between the racial groups may still reflect nothing more than differences in the environments they typically experience. 
Environmental differences: Many of the intellectual and academic differences attributed to race or ethnicity probably reflect racial and ethnic differences in socioeconomic status instead. The major message of this research is that children, whatever their racial background, perform better on IQ tests when they grow up in intellectually stimulating environments with involved, responsive parents and are exposed to the “culture of the tests and the schools”  Reducing poverty and offering more early developmental programs to offset the costs of impoverished home environments would go a long way toward eliminating racial differences in intellectual performance.

Question 207

savant syndrome

Answer 207

The phenomenon in which extraordinary talent in a particular area is displayed by a person who is otherwise mentally retarded.

Question 208

cumulative deficit hypothesis

Answer 208

The notion that impoverished environments inhibit intellectual growth and that these inhibiting effects accumulate over time.

Question 209

terminal drop

Answer 209

A rapid decline in intellectual abilities that people within a few years of dying often experience.

Question 210

wisdom

Answer 210

A combination of rich factual knowledge about life and procedural knowledge such as strategies for giving advice and handling conflicts.

Question 211

stereotype threat

Answer 211

An individual’s fear of being judged to have the qualities associated with negative stereotypes of his or her social group.

Question 212

mental age (MA)

Answer 212

A measure of intellectual development that reflects the level of age-graded problems that a child is able to solve; the age at which a child functions intellectually.

Question 213

developmental quotient

Answer 213

a number expressing the development of a child determined by dividing the age of the group into which test scores place the child by the child’s chronological age and multiplying by 100 —abbreviation DQ.

Question 214

intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 214

A numerical measure of a person’s performance on an intelligence test relative to the performance of other examinees of the same age, typically with a score of 100 defined as average.

Question 215

fluid intelligence vs. crystallized intelligence;

Answer 215

Fluid: Aspects of intelligence that involve actively thinking and reasoning to solve novel problems. Contrast with crystallized intelligence.
Crystalized: Those aspects of intellectual functioning that involve using knowledge acquired through experience. Contrast with fluid intelligence.

Question 216

convergent thinking vs. divergent thinking;

Answer 216

Convergent: Thinking that involves “converging” on the one best answer to a problem; what IQ tests measure. Contrast with divergent thinking.
Divergent: Thinking that requires coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions to a problem when there is no one right answer. Contrast with convergent thinking.

Question 217

Terminal drop

Answer 217

rapid decline in intellectual abilities preceding death

Question 218

Cumulative-deficit

Answer 218

hypothesis over time negative environments may lower IQ

Question 219

Howard Gardner

Answer 219

theory of multiple intelligences

Question 220

David Wechsler

Answer 220

WPPSI-III, WISC-IV, WAIS-IV (preschool and childhood Intelligence tests)

Question 221

Donald Sternberg

Answer 221

theory of successful intelligence