Human Development
Lead Author(s): Saylor Academy
Source: Saylor
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This category centers in on human development from conception to death with a psychological lens.
This content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
By 13-15 weeks gestation, a fetus can detect differences in which of the following amniotic fluid characteristics?
Smell
Taste
Color
Temperature
Doctors examine infant reflexes at different ages to obtain information on which of the following?
Cognitive development
Personality development
Attachment
Neurological development
Genetic disorders are caused by which of the following?
Small mutations in a specific chromosome
Small mutations in a specific gene
Unpaired chromosomes
The environment
We call environmental substances and processes that cause birth defects:
Amnions
Poisons
Teratogens
Mutations
We know that in many species, the prenatal environment can have a significant impact on the:
phenotype.
genotype.
pleiotype.
pattern of polygenic inheritance.
What is the earliest physical manifestation of the human brain, formed in the first weeks of gestation?
Neural ball
Temporal lobe
Neural tube
Spinal cord
What is the first sense to develop in the womb?
Audition
Vision
Taste
Touch
When are we likely to have the most neural connections in the visual cortex?
At birth
At one year of age
During early adulthood
During old age
Which of the following statements most accurately describes the interaction between genes and experience in the development of the brain?
Genes act to "fine tune" the results of experience.
Genes provide the basic level of organization, which is then "fine-tuned" by experience.
Experience plays a very small role.
There is no interaction between genes and experience.
We use the term genotype to describe which of the following?
The cumulative effects of many genes
Cellular structures containing genes
The internally coded, inheritable information carried by all living organisms
The effects of the environment on development
Early differences in language acquisition show a slight advantage for which demographic?
Girls
Boys
Asians
Bilingual infants
Fourteen-month-old Andy rarely acknowledges his mother when she returns to pick him up after a half-hour separation. Which attachment type most likely characterizes him?
Insecure-avoidant
Insecure-resistant
Secure
Disorganized/disoriented
Handedness, right or left, often appears around what age?
Six months
Twelve months
Two years
Five years
Maya can multiply only single-digit numbers on her own, but with her big brother's close guidance, she can multiply three- and four-digit numbers together. What would Vygotsky call the difference between Maya's actual developmental level as determined by what she can multiply on her own and the level of potential development as determined by what she can multiply in collaboration with her brother?
Zone of distal development
Zone of proximal development
Scaffolding zone
Socio-cultural context
Research suggests that which of the following has a significant negative effect on cognitive ability in children?
Malnourishment
Very high socioeconomic status
Late-occurring puberty
Delayed physical growth
Which of the following is a milestone of language development around the age of three to four months?
Smiles at the sound of a stranger's voice
Begins to babble
Shows clear understanding of common nouns
Starts cooing
Which of the following is NOT a reason that healthy play is important for human development?
Play enhances language development.
Play engages creativity.
Play promotes centration during problem solving.
Play helps children integrate their past experiences.
Which one of the following milestones of cognitive development do children reach by the age of about one year?
Make-believe play
Finding hidden objects easily
Beginning to sort by shapes and colors
Completing simple jigsaw puzzles
By what age do most babies begin to roll front to back and back to front?
Three months
Seven months
Twelve months
Fifteen months
Although thirteen-year-old Kayla enjoys diving, she will no longer practice at the community pool because she thinks everyone will notice any mistake she makes. Kayla is experiencing the common cognitive distortion of adolescence called:
the imaginary audience.
the personal fable.
superegocentrism.
abstract thought.
Fifteen-year-old Jessica is extremely focused on what she needs to do to become a surgeon, which is what her parents have encouraged her to focus on; she has not considered any other career options. According to Marcia's theory, which stage of identity development characterizes Jessica?
Identity achievement
Identity exploration
Identity foreclosure
Identity diffusion
In girls, early puberty is linked to which of the following?
Depression, drug and alcohol use, and early sexual activity
Aggressive behavior
Physical abnormalities
Emotional maturity
Parental conflict with adolescent children is often related to which of the following?
The shift from unilateral parental authority to mutual authority in which adolescents share in the decision-making process
An offshoot of sibling rivalry in which the parents get involved
The new form of egocentrism that emerges in early adolescence
The influence of teachers whose views differ from the parents
Puberty that arrives either earlier or later in boys can lead to which of the following?
Aggressive behavior
Physical abnormalities
Depression
Poor academic performance
Research suggests that the age of onset of puberty has decreased for which demographic?
Girls only
Boys only
Both boys and girls
African American boys only
What does contemporary research on adolescent brain development suggest?
The brain's ability to control impulses is fully developed by puberty, so adolescents should be held fully responsible for the negative consequences of their actions.
One reason that adolescents still need adult guidance is that the parts of their brain responsible for imagining consequences of their decisions are still in development.
During adolescence, individuals show a peak in neuron production, thus explaining their reliance on reasoning abilities rather than gut feelings to make decisions.
During adolescence, brain development stalls as energy is devoted to the tremendous physical changes of puberty in other parts of the body.
What is early onset puberty called?
Abnormal puberty
Hypochondriasis
Precocious puberty
Premenses
What is the hormone that triggers puberty?
Estradiol
Androgen
Progesterone
Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH)
Which of the following is an important risk factor for engaging in sexual aggression in adolescence?
Being male
A self-perception of low romantic competence
Late-onset puberty
Low peer status
Which of the following statements about adolescent friendships is most accurate according to research on this topic?
Although peer influence peaks from about seventh to ninth grades, adolescents are still more likely to turn to their parents than their friends for guidance on their long-term plans.
Efforts for parents to get to know their adolescent children's friends often backfire, leading to children becoming less inclined to discuss their lives with their parents.
Throughout high school, the positive aspects of peer influence steadily decline, while the negative aspects of peer influence steadily incline.
Younger adolescents are more resistant to peer pressure to engage in risky activities than older adolescents, who care less and less about their parents' rules and values as they approach legal adulthood.
Which of the following statements is true about the development of romantic experiences?
It tends to follow a common course across individuals and cultures.
It tends to be slower among girls than boys.
It tends to be faster in Western culture than in other cultures.
It can never be predicted.
Which part of the brain, responsible for such skills as planning and allocating attention, matures substantially during adolescence?
Temporal lobe
Brain stem
Corpus callosum
Prefrontal cortex
Why are teenagers often clumsy during the growth spurt that occurs in puberty?
They are preoccupied by thoughts of romantic relationships.
Their feet grow faster than everything else.
Their brains literally cannot keep up with their bodies.
Their self-consciousness about their physical development interferes with their attention to their physical surroundings.
As Americans have shown tremendous increases in life expectancy over the past century, the leading causes of death for older Americans have shifted to:
chronic diseases.
infectious diseases.
accidents and suicide.
sudden, acute illnesses.
As we age, our intellectual ability usually does not diminish. Rather, which of the following aspects of our cognitive processing tends to change?
Depth
Detail
Focus
Speed
In middle adulthood, many, if not most, individuals experience which of the following?
An overwhelming midlife crisis
Subtle but definite losses in physical functioning
The lowest levels of marital satisfaction, if currently married
Major declines in cognitive abilities, especially those related to memory capacity
In middle adulthood, women experience menopause as a result of:
a sudden drop in the production of the hormone estrogen.
a gradual decline in the production of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
a sudden increase in the production of testosterone.
accumulation of genetic mutations in the chromosomes of their egg cells.
Levinson thought that middle and late adulthood were linked by an intermediate phase called:
midlife.
late middle adulthood.
the late adulthood transition.
andropause.
Over the course of the lifespan, most sensory systems do which of the following?
Become less sensitive
Do not change
Become more sensitive
Shut down
Which of the following is an accurate statement about dementia?
Dementia is defined as severe memory impairment in an individual 65 years of age or older.
The number of individuals diagnosed with dementia has steadily declined over the past three decades.
Dementia is an umbrella term for cognitive disorders marked by memory impairment as well as by problems with language, motor activity, and executive function.
Dementia is simply another term for Alzheimer's disease.
Which of the following is the idea that development proceeds as a period of relatively stable states connected by relatively unsettled transitional states?
The high-low pattern
Stable instability
Connectionism
Punctuated equilibrium
How is death defined from a biological point of view?
The cessation of brain activity
The cessation of brain activity and breathing
The cessation of the heartbeat
The cessation of brain activity, breathing, and the heartbeat
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