Psych Exam

Question 1

What are the changes in height and weight that occur during this age?

Answer 1

6-12 children are growing
Average 2-3 inches a year
Weight gain about 7 pounds per year

Question 2

what are the gender differences seen in height?

Answer 2

Girls are more rapid, growth spurt around age of 10
Girls are on average taller than boys during this stage

Question 3

What are the impacts of adequate nutrition and undernutrition/malnutrition?

Answer 3

Receiving more nutrients are happier children

Having a breakfasts helps with reaction time, more energy levels, processing information, more alert

Malnutrition dampens kids curiosity, motivation to learn

Question 4

What are causes and consequences of obesity and how have rates in the United States changed over the years?

Answer 4

A body mass index at or above a 90 percentile

20% of children in US are considered obese

Tripling in the past twenty years

Causes: genetic, social (parental control), lack of exercise

Question 5

What are the barriers to identification of psychological disorders in children?

Answer 5

1. Symptoms are often inconsistent from those of adults
2. Antidepressant drugs used for treatment not been approved by regulators for use with children

Question 6

What are the pros and cons of using medication to treat psychological disorders in children?

Answer 6

Pros: Depression and other psychological disorders treated successfully using medication.
More traditional nondrug therapies that largely employ verbal methods are ineffective

Cons: we do not know the long term consequences, correct dosages are not always known with children ages and sizes

Side effects: interferes with appetite, energy levels, sleeping

Question 7

What are learning disabilities and do they indicate anything about the child’s intellectual level?

Answer 7

Affect 1 in 10 school aged children

Affect ability of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, or mathematical abilities

Mismatch in academic performance and their potential to learn

Question 8

What is dyslexia?

Answer 8

Dyslexia: reading disability
-Misperception of letters during reading
-Reduced phonemic awareness
-left/right confusion
-Difficulty in spelling

Question 9

Dysgraphia

Answer 9

inability to write coherently
-Symptom of brain damage or disease

Question 9

Dyscalculia

Answer 9

severe difficulty in making arithmetical calculations
-Result of brain disorder

Question 10

Is dyslexia considered a visual disorder or an auditory processing disorder?

Answer 10

Difficulty sounding out letters (auditory processing disorder)

Question 11

What are the symptoms of ADHD?

Answer 11

Persistent difficulty in finishing task, following instructions, and organizing work

Inability to watch an entire tv program

Frequent interruptions of other or excess talking

fidgeting

Question 12

How does drug treatment (e.g., stimulants like Ritalin) help with NOT reducing hyperactivity and increasing attention and how do stimulants help with academics, if at all (i.e., what are the short-term and long-term impacts of taking ADHD meds on academics)?

Answer 12

Commonly treated with stimulants
Improved attention and compliance
Increasing attention span
Negative side effects
irrebility
Academic improvement

Question 13

Know the main characteristics of how children think in Piaget’s Concrete Operational Stage (7-12 years)how logic is used in this stage, how egocentric are they, and what they can and can’t understand/master in this stage.

Answer 13

-Active and appropriate use of logic
-Conservation mastered
-Able to answer questions correctly without much thought
-Concrete problems solvable
-Less egocentric
-Better understanding of time/speed
-if cars start and finish at the same time point they will understand they can travel at the same time because the red car is traveling faster.
-Unable to understand abstract or theoretical questions

Question 14

decentering

Answer 14

ability to take multiple aspects of a situation into account

Question 15

reversibility

Answer 15

notion that processes transforming a stimulus can be reversed to original form
Know 3+5=8 but 5+3=8

Question 16

What are the major characteristics of language development in middle childhood? Know specifically about how grammar use improves, as well as understanding of syntax, which phonemes are difficult?

Answer 16

Vocabulary continues to increase

Mastery of grammar improves

Passive voice increases
Ex: the dog was walked by john

Conditional sentences appear
EX: if i put away my blocks, daddy will read my favorite book

Phonemes that are difficult: j,v ,th, zh

Question 17

how intonation is difficult for children to interpret

Answer 17

tone of voice can change meaning of sentence

Question 18

what are the increases in pragmatic language development?

Answer 18

using gestures, how close you stand to a person, when to start and when to stop a conservation

Question 19

how can language help self-control with regards to the marshmallow test?

Answer 19

Resisting temptation so they can get a bigger reward

4 year olds chose to look at marshmallows while waiting (this was not an effective strategy)

while 6-8 year olds used language to help overcome temptation by speaking and singing to themselves, reminding them that if they waited they would get more treats in the end. Thus children in this stage can use self-talk (language) not only to communicate but also to regulate their own behavior. The effectiveness of self-control grows as language skills increase

Question 20

What is the difference between code-based and whole-language approaches to teaching about reading and which method is most recommended by reading experts?

Answer 20

Code-based approaches:
select words made up of letters and letter combinations representing the same sound in different words

Whole-language approaches:
Recognizing words as whole pieces of language, words function in relation to one another

National Reading Panel and National Research Council support reading instruction using code-based approaches

Question 21

Know what an Intelligent Quotient is and how it’s calculated.

Answer 21

Calculation: Mental age/actual age X 100

Question 22

Know about the three major current IQ tests, including which test is more flexible/fair for children with English as a second language.

Answer 22

Standford-Binet: administered orally, more difficult questions, no possible deviation from the test questions, cannot elaborate questions, or give extra information

Wechsler Intelligence Scale

Kaufman Assessment: more fair for children with English as a second language

Question 23

What are problems concerning the standard IQ tests?

Answer 23

Poor predictors of later income and success

Iq test in favor of white, upper, class students

Question 24

Be able to identify the following conceptions of intelligence, including: Spearman’s g

Answer 24

one central intelligence type

Question 25

Catell: Fluid intelligence and Crystalized

Answer 25

Fluid intelligence- on the spot, information processing, problem solving

Crystallized intelligence- accumulation of information, skills that people have learned through experience

Question 26

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence

Answer 26

Intelligence has 8 distinct intelligences that are independent from each other

EX: you are tone death, you are not very good at the musical part

Could be high or low on average of any of them

Question 27

What is the main finding from the Vaillant & Vaillant study?

Answer 27

study showed long-term impacts of this stage; men most industrious and hardworking in childhood most successful as adults (jobs/socially)

Question 28

What does Erikson’s industry vs. inferiority stage (6-12 years) entail?

Answer 28

Based on largely what happens during bulk of elementary school years
Gaining confidence
Feeling like you are of worth
Becoming aware of ability to make friends
Develop self-esteem