Psychology 201 practice test

Question 1

Researchers interested in infant perception of faces have found that

Answers:

infants prefer to look at faces over other complex objects.

faces are uniquely interesting to infants.

"when looking at faces, babies have no preference for type of face."

babies prefer to look at male faces.

babies prefer their mother's face.

Question 2

Anita's mother uses the same ice cream scoop to put ice cream into one large bowl and one small bowl. Anita is upset because she thinks her brother's small bowl holds more ice cream than her large bowl. Anita has not yet acquired

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conservation.

egocentrism.

reflexes.

assimilation.

accommodation.

Question 3

A correlation cannot be used to determine whether

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children who are friendly are also smart.

honesty in school is related to honesty at home.

intelligence is related to friendliness.

honest children have honest parents.

TV violence causes childhood aggression.

Question 4

Bowerman and other constructivist theorists maintain that the important factor in language development is

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built-in biases.

genetically programmed operating principles.

the constraints on language.

the rate of brain cell development.

the child's construction of language.

Question 5

Research on spatial cognition indicates that

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girls' play preferences offer them an advantage in spatial cognition.

video games decrease mental rotation abilities.

play hampers the development of spatial skills.

boys score higher than girls on spatial cognition tasks.

it is not influenced by experience.

Question 6

The sequence of pubertal changes begins about _____________________ for boys than for girls.

Answers:

one year earlier.

two years later.

two years earlier.

six months earlier.

three years later.

Question 7

A disorder that causes mental retardation that becomes progressively worse as children get older and is also strongly associated with autism is known as ________________.

Answers:

Down syndrome.

Klinefelter's syndrome.

Fragile-X syndrome.

Turner's syndrome.

Huntington's disease.

Question 8

"A set of ideas that explains other people's ideas, beliefs, desires, and behavior is a theory of"

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mind.

cognition.

personality.

mentality.

beliefs.

Question 9

Children born to poverty-level parents who were adopted into middle-class families typically have IQs that are

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identical to those of their natural parents.

10 to 15 points higher than their adoptive mothers.

10 to 15 points higher than their birth mothers.

identical to those of their adoptive parents.

not related to either set of parents.

Question 10

Which of the following statements describes Lamar's genotype?

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He has brown hair.

He is short for his age.

He looks like his father.

He has type AB blood.

He is an overachiever.

Question 11

Frank has an IQ of 97. He would be classified as

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learning disabled.

gifted.

mentally retarded.

average.

superior.

Question 12

All of the following are part of Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory EXCEPT

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zone of proximal development.

operational efficiency.

scaffolding.

naive psychology.

the primitive stage.

Question 13

"Howard Gardner proposes eight separate types of intelligence, including all of the following EXCEPT"

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linguistic.

musical.

componential.

spatial.

interpersonal.

Question 14

"From six months on, babies begin engaging in ________, which is a sound pattern consisting of consonants and vowels."

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cooing

babbling

gurgling

fussing

crying

Question 15

Research has shown that a newborn can

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"taste sweet and salty, but not sour or bitter."

clearly see objects up to eight feet away.

recognize objects better than people.

discriminate his/her mother's voice from other voices.

efficiently track a moving object.

Question 16

Watson's Little Albert experiment demonstrated that

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children automatically fear small animals.

classical conditioning plays a role in the development of emotional responses.

operant conditioning is the only form of learning that works with infants.

conditioned stimuli are naturally occurring events.

unconditional stimuli rarely lead to long term conditioning.

Question 17

Research has shown that ____________________ is more important than family income in determining a child's IQ.

Answers:

sibling's IQ.

good nutrition.

limited television viewing.

quality of parent-child interactions.

activity level.

Question 18

"Billy Jean is a heavy smoker. Her doctor has warned her that research results indicate that if a mother smokes during pregnancy, the child will have"

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foreshortened or missing limbs.

vaginal cancer.

low birth weight.

learning problems in elementary school.

FAS.

Question 19

Maturation refers to

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genetically programmed sequential patterns of change

growth patterns that are not universal across cultures

growth patterns that are highly influenced by environmental factors such as practice

growth patterns that occur in adulthood only

Question 20

"According to Steiner's research, children can first respond differentially to sweet, sour, and bitter flavors at"

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birth.

one month.

six months.

nine months.

one year.

Question 21

All of the following are common characteristics of children with fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) EXCEPT

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larger than normal size.

smaller brains.

distinct facial features.

heart defects.

physical deformities.

Question 22

The continuity vs. discontinuity issue in development relates to the idea that development

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may occur in stages and sequences

is characterized by critical periods

is characterized by either qualitative or quantitative changes

All of the above

Question 23

"When young children use audible language to help control or monitor their own behavior, they are exhibiting"

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overregularization.

child directed speech.

baby talk.

fast mapping.

private speech.

Question 24

A nativism theorist would believe that perceptual abilities are ________; whereas a empiricism theorist would state that perceptual abilities are ________.

Answers:

learned; inborn

inborn; genetic

acquired; learned

genetic; inborn

inborn; learned

Question 25

Renaldo is four years old and is experiencing a neurological growth spurt. What skill will he be attaining?

Answers:

evidence of some goal-directed planning

fluency in speaking and understanding language

improvements in eye-hand coordination

improvements in memory function

motor coordination

Question 26

Which of the following do reading experts suggest is critical to success in reading in the early years?

Answers:

picture books

silent reading

phonological awareness

workbooks

spelling lessons

Question 27

"When Bette saw a skunk for the first time and asked why the kitty had a big stripe, her mother explained that the animal was a skunk. Now Bette recognizes skunks are different from cats. Bette has used"

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integration.

accommodation.

discrimination.

assimilation.

organization.

Question 28

Bandura added all of the following concepts to traditional learning theory EXCEPT

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abstract modeling.

observational learning.

classical conditioning.

emphasis on cognitive elements.

intrinsic reinforcements.

Question 29

The Apgar scoring system is used to evaluate an infant's

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status immediately after birth and then again five minutes later.

weight at birth and at one week after birth.

social responses at one day and one week after birth.

"strength of crying, blood pressure, and birth-weight immediately after birth."

readiness to be taken home.

Question 30

"When a baby understands that her bottle still exists even when she throws it down and it disappears under the sofa, she is demonstrating"

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size constancy.

shape constancy.

object identity.

object permanence.

object constancy.

Question 31

How does Erikson's psychoanalytic theory differ from that of Freud?

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It is described as psychosexual.

It focuses on psychosocial stages influenced by common cultural demands.

"It is based on libidial energy and incorporates the concepts of id, ego, and superego."

It includes both a phallic and genital stage.

It states that a child's success depends on interaction with people and objects.

Question 32

Maria's baby has just started to see colors. Her baby is how old?

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12 months

9 months

6 months

3 months

1 month

Question 33

"In comparison to adult auditory processes, newborns"

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hear nearly as well in the range of pitch and loudness of the human voice.

have poorer hearing at some pitches but the same hearing at all loudness levels.

have more acuity with high-pitched sounds.

have better auditory acuity at all pitches and loudness levels.

have less acuity at all pitches and loudness levels.

Question 34

Piaget believed that cognitive development is

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characterized by great irregularities.

shaped by the environment.

"an active process of exploration, manipulation, and examination."

random and unpredictable.

based on personality factors.

Question 35

It is most accurate to describe the genetic material in the nucleus of the cell as

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"DNA, which contains chromosomes and genes."

"chromosomes composed of DNA, which has segments called genes."

"genes, which contain DNA and are found on chromosomes."

"separate bodies called genes, chromosomes, and DNA."

46 genes made up of DNA.

Question 36

"In research on infant perception, a common research strategy presents an infant with some stimulus until s/he stops responding to it. Then a new stimulus that differs from the first in some specific respect (e.g., color) is presented to see if the infant now responds. This strategy involves the use of what basic process?"

Answers:

preference

scanning

constancy

dishabituation

conditioning

Question 37

Current evidence suggests that full (adult-level) visual acuity is reached by what age?

Answers:

6 months

2 years

3-4 years

10-11 years

puberty

Question 38

Freud's psychoanalytic theory of development

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emphasizes conscious drives rather than unconscious drives

proposes that the superego is the part of the personality that operates under the pleasure principle.

is characterized by psychosexual stages including the oral, anal, phallic,latency, and genital stages

proposes that defense mechanisms are the result of conscious efforts to resolve conflict.

Question 39

The great majority of neurons are apparently formed

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by two years after birth.

at birth.

in the third trimester of pregnancy.

between 10 and 18 weeks into gestation.

at conception.

Question 40

"According to Piaget, assimilation involves"

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changing a scheme as a result of new information taken in.

deriving generalizable schemes from specific experiences.

being shaped by the environment.

taking in an event or experience and making it part of a scheme.

an inborn need to put things in order.

Question 41

Which of the following statements describes the person's phenotype?

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Maria's 23rd chromosome pair is XX.

Mark's blood type is AO.

Jill is a carrier of cystic fibrosis.

Larry has brown hair.

Mel has Trisomy 21.

Question 42

Fenson's research on language indicates that children s first words appear by the age of

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5 months.

7 months.

9 months.

11 months.

12-13 months.

Question 43

Studies of a wide variety of language communities have revealed that

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Asian children skip the prelinguistic phase.

Western children tend to use language before they understand it.

the prelinguistic phase is identical in all language communities.

there is no set pattern for language development.

all language development is genetically programmed.

Question 44"Piaget's four stages, in order, are"

Answers:

"sensorimotor, preoperational, formal operational, concrete operational."

"preoperational, sensorimotor, concrete operational, formal operational."

"preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational, sensorimotor."

"sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational."

"formal operational, concrete operational, preoperational, sensorimotor."

Question 45

"Intelligence tests were intended to measure ________, while achievement tests were designed to measure ________."

Answers:

competence; performance

knowledge; aptitude

performance; competence

aptitude; competence

competence; knowledge

Question 46

What part of the brain becomes the focus of developmental processes during the 10-to-12-year-old neurological growth spurt?

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medulla

midbrain

frontal lobes

parietal lobes

Brainstem

Question 47

Whether a child's development is controlled by innate factors or environmental influences is referred to as

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continuity vs. discontinuity

nature vs. nurture

maturation vs. genetics

idealism vs. rationalism

Question 48

The ecological perspective in developmental psychology

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uses evolutionary theory to explain inborn patterns of behaviors.

emphasizes teaching children about protection of the natural environment.

looks at the context in which the child grows up.

applies theories of animal behavior to understanding human behavior.

was first suggested by Hall.

Question 49

Which theorist is most strongly associated with nativist theories of language?

Answers:

Skinner

Freud

Chomsky

Piaget

Vygotsky

Question 50

"Babies vary in the way they react to new things, in their typical moods, in their rate of activity, in the regularity of their daily rhythms, etc. These variations usually go by the name of"

Answers:

temperament.

states.

habituation.

instincts.

conditioning.