BAPSY Developmental Psychology Across Lifespan 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Teratogens are most harmful during which prenatal period?
- The germinal period (fertilization to 2 weeks)
- The embryonic period (weeks 3–8) (Correct answer)
- The fetal period (week 9 to birth)
- The perinatal period (just before birth)
Correct answer: The embryonic period (weeks 3–8)
The embryonic period is the most sensitive to teratogens because organ systems are actively forming and highly vulnerable to disruption.
Question 2: Cross-sectional studies in developmental psychology are limited primarily by:
- Participant attrition over long periods
- Cohort effects that confound age differences with generational differences (Correct answer)
- Inability to measure more than one variable at a time
- Ethical problems with informed consent
Correct answer: Cohort effects that confound age differences with generational differences
Because cross-sectional studies compare different age cohorts, differences may reflect historical experiences of those cohorts rather than true developmental change.
Question 3: Marcia's identity statuses are based on the dimensions of exploration and:
- Commitment (Correct answer)
- Conformity
- Cognition
- Creativity
Correct answer: Commitment
Marcia extended Erikson's work by classifying identity status according to whether an individual has explored options and made a commitment to an identity.
Question 4: The 'still face' paradigm demonstrates that infants:
- Cannot recognize their mother's face before 6 months
- Are sensitive to social cues and become distressed by unresponsive caregiver expressions (Correct answer)
- Prefer geometric shapes over human faces
- Show no emotional responses before 12 months
Correct answer: Are sensitive to social cues and become distressed by unresponsive caregiver expressions
In the still face paradigm, infants show distress and social withdrawal when a caregiver abruptly becomes expressionless, demonstrating early social sensitivity.
Question 5: Crystallized intelligence, as described by Cattell and Horn, refers to:
- Speed of information processing and working memory
- The ability to solve novel problems using abstract reasoning
- Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills built through experience (Correct answer)
- Reaction time and sensory acuity
Correct answer: Accumulated knowledge and verbal skills built through experience
Crystallized intelligence reflects learned knowledge, vocabulary, and expertise that tends to remain stable or increase with age.
Question 6: According to Bowlby's attachment theory, the internal working model is:
- A mental blueprint of relationships based on early attachment experiences (Correct answer)
- The neural architecture underlying language processing
- Piaget's framework for cognitive assimilation and accommodation
- A child's ability to internalize parental rules
Correct answer: A mental blueprint of relationships based on early attachment experiences
Internal working models are cognitive-emotional representations of self and others formed through early attachment experiences that guide future relationship expectations.
Question 7: Selective optimization with compensation (SOC), associated with Paul Baltes, refers to older adults':
- Tendency to withdraw from all demanding activities
- Strategy of focusing on high-priority goals while finding new means to reach them (Correct answer)
- Use of medication to compensate for memory decline
- Preference for solitary over social activities
Correct answer: Strategy of focusing on high-priority goals while finding new means to reach them
SOC theory describes how successful aging involves selecting fewer but meaningful goals, optimizing resources, and compensating for losses with alternative strategies.
BAPSY Developmental Psychology Across Lifespan 4
Teratogens are most harmful during which prenatal period?