Human Growth and Development CLEP exam study guide

The first negative emotion clearly exhibited during infancy is

A. fear

B. shame

C. guilt

D. distress

E. jealousy

D.

According to behavioral psychologists, which of the following treatments is most likely to extinguish disruptive behavior in preschool children?

A. Threatening to isolate them immediately after such behavior

B. Ignoring them so that they do not receive the reinforcement they are seeking

C. Punishing them immediately so they understand what they did wrong

D. Discouraging them but not punishing them

E. Reasoning with them and explaining that their behavior is wrong

B.

In which of the following stages of development do tissues develop into the endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm germ layers?

A. Germinal

B. Embryonic

C. Fetal

D. Perinatal

E. Neonatal

B.

A defining characteristic of children with autism spectrum disorder is

A. obsessive attachment to their mothers

B. lack of motor coordination

C. unresponsiveness to others

D. hyperactivity

E. physical abnormality

C.

Anxiety over performance can positively motivate school achievement in children as long as the degree of anxiety is

A. very high

B. high

C. moderate

D. low

E. very low

C.

According to Jean Piaget, cognitive development begins with which of the following?

A. Preoperations

B. Concrete operations

C. Intuitive thought

D. Sensorimotor activites

E. Formal operations

D.

Social-class differences in vocabulary development result from social-class differences in the amount of

A. maternal anxiety

B. verbal stimulation

C. paternal illness

D. sibling rivalry

E. marital discord

B.

Studies in which the same people are tested at different ages are called

A. longitudinal

B. cross-sectional

C. normative

D. naturalistic

E. experimental

A.

Which of the following is most central to the concept of sensitive period?

A. Growth spurts must occur at specific ages.

B. Children who do not develop at the same time as their peers experience distress.

C. A given function emerges automatically during a particular time period regardless of learning experiences.

D. Particular experiences are especially influential at a certain time in development.

E. Children go through a negativistic stage as a part of their cognitive development.

D.

Jimmy saw his favorite candy for sale in the store. He had no money, so he planned to steal it. However, he changed his mind and decided not to do it, because stealing is wrong. According to Sigmund Freud's theory, which part of Jimmy's personality prevented him from stealing?

A. Id

B. Ego

C. Superego

D. Anima

E. Collective unconscious

C.

If reinforcement is to be most effective in the learning of a new behavior, the reinforcement should be

A. provided as sparingly as possible

B. administered on an intermittent schedule

C. used primarily with high achievers

D. delayed until the end of the learning period

E. provided soon after the desired behavior occurs

E.

In Harry Harlow's experiments, infant monkeys raised with only wire or cloth "mothers" were most at ease in strange situations in the presence of

A. the "mother" who had provided food

B. the "mother" who had provided contact comfort

C. the "mother" who had provided primary drive reduction

D. other young monkeys

E. their biological mothers

B.

A sudden, loud noise made in the vicinity of a newborn infant is likely to elicit which of the following reflexes?

A. Babinski

B. Moro

C. Rooting

D. Palmar grasp

E. Stepping

B.

On which of the following types of problems should a four-year-old child and a seven-year-old child perform most similarly?

A. Conservation of number

B. Classification

C. Transformation

D. Object permanence

E. Superordinate concepts

D.

Red-green color blindness is best described as

A. a sex-linked recessive trait

B. a sex-linked dominant trait

C. an autosomal recessive trait

D. an autosomal dominant trait

E. a trait resulting from chromosomal breakage

A.

Over summer vacation, Gwen sees a boy she knows from school, but she has difficulty remembering his name. Which of her memory processes is failing in this situation?

A. Storage

B. Retrieval

C. Encoding

D. Short-term memory

E. Sensory memory

B.

Which of the following people developed a behavioral theory?

A. Sigmund Freud

B. Jean Piaget

C. B.F. Skinner

D. Lawrence Kohlberg

E. Erik Erikson

C.

Which of the following is true of menopause in men?

A. Menopause is purely a physical phenomenon.

B. Menopause may result from a lack of exercise.

C. Menopause may result from work-related stress.

D. Menopause is differentially damaging to the male psyche, depending on age.

E. Menopause is physically impossible because males do not menstruate.

E.

Which of the following dimensions of infant temperament is most likely to be positively correlated with antisocial behavior later in life?

A. Attention span

B. Activity level

C. Approach

D. Irritable distress

E. Rhythmicity

D.

In accounting for the rapid expansion of a child's early vocabulary, Susan Carey argued that a major role must be played by the child's own active cognitive processing. Adults simply cannot teach a child exactly what referent every word picks out. Carey coined which of the following terms to denote this concept?

A. Fast mapping

B. Lexical conventionality

C. Lexical contrast

D. Linguistic empiricism

E. Metacognition

A.

Heather is currently taking courses in several different academic departments and doing volunteer work to help identify and develop her interests. She also spends a lot of time thinking about her values and goals but has not chosen a career path. Heather's identity status is referred to as

A. fixation

B. identity achievement

C. identity diffusion

D. identity foreclosure

E. identity moratorium

E.

According to Lev Vygotsky, the range between what a child can do alone and what a child can do with assistance is referred to as

A. higher mental functions

B. scaffolding

C. inner speech

D. egocentric speech

E. the zone of proximal development

E.

A researcher is evaluating the effects of three different types of parent-education programs on adolescent mothers' interactions with their toddlers. What is the independent variable in this investigation?

A. Adolescent mothers' interactions with their toddlers

B. Level of parent-child communication

C. Type of parent education program

D. Child's attachment to the mother

E. Child's socioeconomic status

C.

Which of the following is a cause-and-effect pair that could be tested in a research study using an experimental design?

A. Low birth weight . . childhood nutrition

B. Eating disorder in adolescence . . body weight in adulthood

C. Music lessons . . intelligence

D. Food preference . . amount of time exercising

E. Anxiety symptoms . . marijuana use

C.

A developing organism is most vulnerable to the effects of teratogens during the period of the

A. ovum

B. zygote

C. embryo

D. fetus

E. neonate

C.

With regard to sexual maturity, girls generally mature

A. two years earlier than boys do

B. four years earlier than boys do

C. two years later than boys do

D. four years later than boys do

E. at approximately the same age as boys

A.

Carolyn tripped on the carpet and fell. When she got up, she looked at her mother, who was laughing, and she laughed, too. This is an example of

A. empathy

B. sympathy

C. social referencing

D. display rules

E. semantics

C.

Proximodistal development is exemplified by which of the following?

A. Control of gross arm movements prior to fine motor control of the fingers

B. Control of the lower extremities prior to control of the head

C. Refinement of perceptual abilities prior to walking

D. Acquisition of differential skills prior to acquisition of complex skills

E. Maturation of neural pathways in the cerebrum prior to maturation of the neural pathways in the midbrain

A.

Newborn infants were given either smooth or knobby pacifiers to suck. They were later allowed to look at both types of pacifiers. They looked longer at the type of pacifier they had previously sucked. This finding indicates that newborn infants have

A. categorical perception

B. intermodal perception

C. shape constancy

D. depth perception

E. object permanence

B.

Which of the following cues is most useful to an infant in determining which elements go together to form a coherent object?

A. Common movement

B. Linear perspective

C. Texture gradient

D. Optical expansion

E. Convergence

A.

Aiden and Amilia are friends in preschool who play house together every day. Aiden pretends to clean the house while Amilia pretends to take care of their pet dog. This type of play is known as which type of play?

A. Onlooker

B. Associative

C. Parallel

D. Cooperative

E. Egocentric

D.

A child explains thunder as "the clouds yelling at each other." This is an example of

A. conservation

B. reversibility

C. animism

D. egocentrism

E. logical inference

C.

The stage of formal operations is characterized by

A. the application of logical thought to concrete objects and situations

B. intuitive and animistic thought

C. abstract thought and hypothetical problem solving

D. the development of transductive reasoning

E. the ability to conserve

C.

Katie, a preschooler, sees a llama at the zoo for the first time and calls it a sheep. This is an example of

A. overextension

B. chaining

C. fast mapping

D. divergent thinking

E. an expressive style

A.

Research on newborn infants' hearing shows that they

A. cannot distinguish one sound from another

B. are essentially deaf at birth

C. react most strongly to their mothers' voices

D. enjoy hearing their own voices

E. hear, but do not respond to sounds

C.

A theory of language development that proposes an innate language acquisition device is classified as which of the following?

A. Nativist

B. Interactionist

C. Empiricist

D. Contextual

E. Functionalist

A.

A child who has an IQ of 55 to 70 and delayed social development is classified as having a

A. mild intellectual disability

B. moderate intellectual disability

C. severe intellectual disability

D. profound intellectual disability

E. learning disability

A.

Which of the following statements about ethnicity and intelligence test scores is most accurate?

A. No differences in intelligence test scores are observed between ethnic groups in the United States.

B. Accounting for socioeconomic status (SES) does not reduce the ethnic differences in intelligence test scores.

C. There is greater variation in intelligence test scores within ethnic groups than there is between them.

D. Differences in intelligence test scores between ethnic groups are most likely attributable to genetic differences.

E. Inducing stereotype threat reduces the ethnic differences in intelligence test scores.

C.

A toddler with a secure attachment to a primary caregiver is most likely to

A. avoid the caregiver when they are reunited after a brief separation

B. stay in the caregiver's lap rather than explore a new environment

C. cry when the caregiver leaves the toddler with a babysitter

D. have a close bond with only one parent or primary caregiver

E. respond equally well to the caregiver and to a strange adult

C.

A boy who believes that he will become a girl if he wears his sister's clothes has not achieved the concept of

A. androgyny

B. gender stability

C. gender labeling

D. gender consistency

E. gender schema

D.

The process by which fluid from the uterus is taken early in pregnancy to determine whether the developing fetus has a genetic anomaly is called

A. amniocentesis

B. chorionic villus sampling

C. positron-emission tomography

D. insemination

E. ultrasound

A.

Although Elizabeth's seven-year-old son wants to stay up past his bedtime to watch a television special, she insists that he go to bed at the usual time. She explains that he will be too tired to do well in school if he does not get his rest, and she promises to record the show for him. Diana Baumrind's classification for Elizabeth's parenting style is which of the following?

A. Secure

B. Uninvolved

C. Authoritarian

D. Authoritative

E. Permissive

D.

Which of the following statements about attachment is most accurate?

A. Childcare is unlikely to impact attachment as long as it is not of poor quality.

B. Fraternal twins are more similar in attachment than identical twins.

C. Only a minority of children are securely attached.

D. Infants with an initial disorganized attachment style typically become securely attached later in life.

E. Infants with an easy temperament are less likely to be securely attached than those with a difficult temperament.

A.

The three behavioral styles identified by Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess in their early research on infant temperament are

A. sanguine, melancholic, choleric

B. easy, difficult, slow-to-warm-up

C. secure, avoidant, ambivalent

D. emotional, sociable, inhibited

E. introverted, extroverted, agreeable

B.

Time out is a disciplinary technique that is based on the principles of

A. operant conditioning

B. classical conditioning

C. observational learning

D. information processing

E. habituation

A.

A mother nags her son until he cleans his room. A few weeks later, the son spontaneously cleans his room because he does not want to be nagged. The mother's nagging is an example of

A. a positive reinforcer

B. a negative reinforcer

C. a vicarious reinforcer

D. vicarious punishment

E. negative punishment

B.

Information-processing theorists argue that one of the major changes that takes place from two to five years of age is

A. an increase in the ability to form abstract thoughts and use logical reasoning

B. an increase in the complexity and power of working memory

C. a decrease in the complexity of schemata associated with everyday experiences

D. a decrease in fluid intelligence

E. a decrease in the storage capacity of long-term memory

B.

Which occupation is best suited for an individual with a conventional personality in John Holland's personality-type theory?

A. Poet

B. Scientist

C. Social worker

D. Bank teller

E. Business executive

D.

Keisha politely asks her teacher to please pass her the scissors but at home demands that her little brother give them to her immediately. Keisha is demonstrating her understanding of which aspect of knowledge?

A. Phonology

B. Semantics

C. Syntax

D. Pragmatics

E. Overregularization

D.

Which of the following is the symptom most closely associated with the early stages of Alzheimer's disease?

A. Manic or depressive behavior

B. Sensory impairment

C. Loss of ability to walk

D. Loss of memory

E. Loss of reflexes

D.

One of the major criticisms of the stages of dying identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross is that

A. there are too many stages in her theory

B. there are not enough stages in her theory

C. not everyone goes through the stages in the order she describes

D. she does not adequately suggest how people try to cope with each stage

E. the stages vary by sex

C.

Instruction by teachers who employ Piagetian principles is most likely to be characterized by which of the following?

A. Use of lecture as the dominant form of instruction

B. Reliance on drill and repetition

C. Encouragement of active experimentation

D. Encouragement of private speech

E. Discouragement of group activities

C.

Which of the following theorists advanced the concept of the identity crisis?

A. Jean Piaget

B. Sigmund Freud

C. Lev Vygotsky

D. B. F. Skinner

E. Erik Erikson

E.

When Frank was a child, he moved to a new house near a major airport. At first, he was unable to sleep because of the loud noise created by the airplanes. Over time, however, he was no longer disturbed by the plane noise. A behaviorist would most likely describe the change in Frank's behavior as which of the following?

A. Habituation

B. Superstition

C. Shaping

D. Operant conditioning

E. Response generalization

A.

Five-year-old Sophia struggles to pronounce words with complex sounds, such as "play" or "stay," pronouncing them as "pay" and "tay" instead. Sophia's difficulty involves which component of language?

A. Morphology

B. Syntax

C. Pragmatics

D. Phonology

E. Semantics

D.

According to Robert Sternberg's triangular theory, which of the following are the three major components of adult love?

A. Friendship . . compassion . . commitment

B. Commitment . . intimacy . . compassion

C. Intimacy . . commitment . . passion

D. Compassion . . friendship . . passion

E. Compassion . . infatuation . . intimacy

C.

According to researchers, ethnic identity or a sense of identifying with one's own ethnic group

A. mostly occurs in adolescence

B. mostly occurs in older adulthood

C. stays the same throughout the life span

D. changes throughout the life span

E. is not important to overall positive developmental outcomes

D.

Which of the following is the most commonly diagnosed among individuals in very late adulthood?

A. Schizophrenia

B. Dementia

C. Generalized anxiety disorder

D. Somatic symptom disorder

E. Seasonal affective disorder

B.

A researcher compares church attendance between people born in the 1940s and people born in the 1960s. The groups of people are called

A. cohorts

B. confounds

C. control groups

D. reference groups

E. intervening variables

A.

Eighteen-month-old Michael sees his mother about to put his juice away, and he yells out, "More juice!" Michael's expression is an example of

A. a holophrase

B. receptive language

C. private speech

D. motherese

E. telegraphic speech

E.

According to Janet Werker's research, the oldest age that children can discriminate phonemic differences in all languages is about

A. 6-12 months

B. 18-24 months

C. 3-4 years

D. 7-8 years

E. 12-13 years

A.

According to Lawrence Kohlberg, parents can best foster their children's moral development by

A. setting high expectations for moral behavior

B. promptly and consistently punishing their children's misbehavior

C. providing models of moral behavior

D. providing positive reinforcement for appropriate moral decisions

E. exposing their children to more advanced moral reasoning by discussion of both sides of moral dilemmas

E.

When there is an extremely weak relationship between two behavioral variables, the correlation coefficient will be

A. much lower than zero

B. close to zero

C. close to +1

D. close to −1

E. much higher than +1

B.

Two young boys sitting next to each other, each drawing a separate picture with his own set of crayons, are engaging in which type of play?

A. Cooperative

B. Independent

C. Parallel

D. Onlooker

E. Associative

C.

Intelligence tests are most appropriately used to answer which of the following questions?

A. Should a student take honors courses?

B. Which approach to education is best to use with a student?

C. Is a student at risk for social rejection because of high intelligence?

D. Does a child have attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder?

E. What are a student's cognitive strengths and weaknesses?

E.

What two developmental milestones occur around the age of one year?

A. Walking and speaking first words

B. Crawling and gesturing to communicate

C. Running and climbing on furniture

D. Throwing and catching a ball with two hands

E. Smiling and pulling to a stand

A.

In the United States, marital satisfaction is at its lowest at which stage of life?

A. Immediately following the wedding

B. Before children are born

C. When children are very young

D. When children leave home

E. Retirement

C.

An infant who is fed a balanced diet yet is not gaining enough weight would most likely be diagnosed with

A. non-organic failure-to-thrive

B. marasmus

C. kwashiorkor

D. autism spectrum disorder

E. Trisomy 21

A.

Drazen, a child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), is likely to be rated by his peers as being in which of the following peer status categories?

A. Average

B. Rejected aggressive

C. Rejected withdrawn

D. Neglected

E. Popular

B.

Which of the following should Cheryl say to her son to encourage him to keep doing well in school?

A. "You're doing so well; keep up your hard work."

B. "You should be grateful to have such good teachers."

C. "You have to be the best in your class at school."

D. "This must be easy for someone as smart as you."

E. "If you keep getting good grades on all your tests, I'll take you shopping."

A.

According to research on the Big Five model of personality, which personality trait tends to increase for both men and women over their life spans?

A. Aggressiveness

B. Conscientiousness

C. Extraversion

D. Neuroticism

E. Openness

B.

A parent who is teaching a child to write adjusts his level of support to match the child's existing competence in writing. Which of the following concepts best describes the parent's behavior?

A. Conservation

B. Egocentrism

C. Metacognition

D. Scaffolding

E. Priming

D.

Both stunted growth and delayed menarche are strongly influenced by

A. lower-middle-class status

B. use of day care

C. malnutrition

D. a nuclear family structure

E. high protein intake

C.

Which of the following findings is often cited as evidence for the evolutionary perspective?

A. Men's reproductive capabilities last until later in life than women's.

B. Young children engage in trial-and-error learning.

C. Children imitate the behaviors modeled by their parents.

D. Identical twins have more personality traits in common than fraternal twins do.

E. Token economies help maintain order in the classroom.

A.

Which of the following can cause presbyopia?

A. Buildup of wax in the ear canal

B. Loss of hair cells in the inner ear

C. Hardening of the eye lens

D. Loss of retinal cells

E. Loss of ocular dominance columns

C.

Paul harasses and humiliates other students, calling them names and kicking them without provocation. Paul is exhibiting which of the following?

A. Instrumental aggression

B. Hostile aggression

C. Frustration aggression

D. Conventional morality

E. Stereotype threat

B.

Steve is 63 years old and attends professional meetings and conferences. Though he used to focus on developing his expertise at the meetings, he now directs his energy toward spending time with close colleagues rather than learning about advancements in his field. Which of the following theories best explains Steve's shift in focus?

A. Programmed aging

B. Socioemotional selectivity

C. Psychodynamic

D. Social learning

E. Disengagement

B.

Which of the following theories describes development as being dependent on the unconscious mind and early experiences with parents?

A. Ecological

B. Sociocultural

C. Evolutionary

D. Psychodynamic

E. Social cognitive

D.

Which of the following is a basic emotion?

A. Depression

B. Optimism

C. Mania

D. Disgust

E. Empathy

D.

Which research question would most likely be addressed by a developmental psychologist?

A. How does a person mentally rotate an image of a cube?

B. How do people perceive color?

C. Are changes in executive control of attention continuous or discontinuous?

D. Do nerve cells communicate using chemical or electrical messages?

E. How does relationship quality affect a person's ability to cope with chronic illness?

C.

Two seventh graders spend most of their time together talking about difficulties involving either their parents or their history class. These discussions bring them closer in friendship, but their focus on negative aspects tends to lead to them both being more troubled. These students' behavior is an example of

A. a clique

B. a dominance hierarchy

C. co-rumination

D. scaffolding

E. acculturation

C.

The visual cliff was developed by Eleanor Gibson and R.D. Walk to study

A. depth perception

B. acuity

C. complex pattern recognition

D. habituation

E. object permanence

A.

Every morning 4-year-old Marta watches her mother put on a suit, pack a lunch, and put her lunch and a briefcase by the front door while preparing for work. One day Marta wakes up, puts on one of her mother's suits, puts snacks in a lunch bag, and puts the lunch bag and a backpack at the front door. She runs to her mother and says, "I'm ready for work!" Marta's behavior can best be explained by which of the following theories?

A. Information processing

B. Humanism

C. Evolutionary

D. Social learning

E. Psychodynamic

D.

Jorge is aware of his emotions and understands his personal strengths and weaknesses. Jorge appears to have high levels of which intelligence in Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences?

A. Interpersonal

B. Existential

C. Bodily-kinesthetic

D. Linguistic

E. Intrapersonal

E.