ASPD Human Development and Behavior 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Erik Erikson's stage of 'Initiative vs. Guilt' (ages 3–6) is relevant to ASPD development because failure to resolve it may contribute to what?
- Chronic hyperactivity
- Deficits in prosocial motivation and moral guilt (Correct answer)
- Impaired language development
- Social withdrawal and depression
Correct answer: Deficits in prosocial motivation and moral guilt
Failure to develop appropriate guilt and moral initiative during this stage can lay groundwork for deficient empathy and rule-breaking seen in ASPD.
Question 2: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children are considered a precursor to which adult diagnosis?
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Narcissistic Personality Disorder
- Psychopathy and severe ASPD (Correct answer)
- Paranoid Personality Disorder
Correct answer: Psychopathy and severe ASPD
Callous-unemotional traits—lack of empathy, guilt, and shallow affect—in children are the developmental antecedent of adult psychopathy and severe ASPD.
Question 3: The 'Good Lives Model' in offender rehabilitation assumes that antisocial behavior often represents a maladaptive attempt to meet what?
- Genetic imperatives
- Universal human needs and primary goods (Correct answer)
- Childhood trauma reenactment
- Social dominance drives
Correct answer: Universal human needs and primary goods
The Good Lives Model posits that offending represents misguided attempts to fulfill universal human needs (autonomy, intimacy, mastery), and rehabilitation means finding prosocial ways to meet those needs.
Question 4: Which environmental factor during prenatal development has been associated with increased risk of antisocial behavior in offspring?
- Maternal vitamin D supplementation
- Maternal smoking and substance use during pregnancy (Correct answer)
- Paternal age over 25
- Maternal exercise during second trimester
Correct answer: Maternal smoking and substance use during pregnancy
Maternal smoking and substance use during pregnancy are linked to increased risk of ADHD and conduct problems in offspring, likely through neurodevelopmental mechanisms.
Question 5: Social learning theory (Bandura) explains the development of aggressive behavior in future ASPD individuals primarily through what mechanism?
- Unconscious id impulses overwhelming the ego
- Observational learning and reinforcement of modeled aggression (Correct answer)
- Genetic predisposition activated by puberty
- Dopamine dysregulation from birth
Correct answer: Observational learning and reinforcement of modeled aggression
Bandura's social learning theory emphasizes that children learn aggressive behaviors by observing and imitating models, especially when aggression is reinforced.
Question 6: In the context of ASPD, what does 'conduct disorder' represent developmentally?
- An adult diagnosis equivalent to ASPD
- The childhood/adolescent antecedent required for an ASPD diagnosis (Correct answer)
- A comorbid anxiety condition in antisocial individuals
- A mild variant of ASPD found only in females
Correct answer: The childhood/adolescent antecedent required for an ASPD diagnosis
DSM-5 requires evidence of conduct disorder onset before age 15 as a diagnostic criterion for ASPD, making conduct disorder the childhood precursor.
Question 7: The 'stress-diathesis model' applied to ASPD suggests that the disorder emerges when what two factors combine?
- Low intelligence and high aggression
- Biological vulnerability and environmental stressors (Correct answer)
- Criminal peers and substance abuse
- Poverty and single-parent households
Correct answer: Biological vulnerability and environmental stressors
The stress-diathesis model posits that ASPD develops when an individual's biological predisposition (diathesis) interacts with significant environmental stressors.
ASPD Human Development and Behavior 3
Erik Erikson's stage of 'Initiative vs.
Guilt' (ages 3–6) is relevant to ASPD development because failure to resolve it may contribute to what?