CBIS Human Development and Behavior 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which Erikson stage is most commonly disrupted when a young adult sustains a TBI that impairs their ability to form intimate relationships?
- Trust vs. Mistrust
- Identity vs. Role Confusion
- Intimacy vs. Isolation (Correct answer)
- Generativity vs. Stagnation
Correct answer: Intimacy vs. Isolation
Erikson's Intimacy vs. Isolation stage (young adulthood) involves forming close relationships, which TBI-related social cognition deficits directly impair.
Question 2: A 45-year-old TBI survivor exhibits childlike dependency and refuses age-appropriate responsibilities. This regression is best understood through which psychological framework?
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Piaget's Cognitive Development Theory
- Psychodynamic defense mechanisms (Correct answer)
- Bandura's Social Learning Theory
Correct answer: Psychodynamic defense mechanisms
Regression is a psychodynamic defense mechanism where an individual reverts to earlier developmental behaviors under stress or following neurological injury.
Question 3: Which aspect of Vygotsky's theory is most applicable when designing rehabilitation tasks for a TBI survivor with executive function deficits?
- Object permanence
- Zone of Proximal Development (Correct answer)
- Conservation of mass
- Formal operational thinking
Correct answer: Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development guides therapists to assign tasks just beyond current ability with scaffolded support, optimizing neuroplastic learning.
Question 4: Post-TBI behavioral disinhibition in a 30-year-old male most likely reflects injury to which brain region involved in adult behavioral regulation?
- Occipital lobe
- Prefrontal cortex (Correct answer)
- Primary somatosensory cortex
- Cerebellum
Correct answer: Prefrontal cortex
The prefrontal cortex governs impulse control, social judgment, and behavioral inhibition, and is frequently damaged in TBI causing disinhibition.
Question 5: According to attachment theory, a TBI survivor who becomes excessively clingy and fears abandonment during recovery most likely had which premorbid attachment style?
- Secure attachment
- Avoidant attachment
- Anxious-preoccupied attachment (Correct answer)
- Disorganized attachment
Correct answer: Anxious-preoccupied attachment
Anxious-preoccupied attachment involves fear of abandonment and excessive dependence on others, which TBI-related vulnerability can intensify.
Question 6: Which developmental milestone is considered a prerequisite for effective use of compensatory memory strategies in TBI rehabilitation?
- Object permanence
- Metacognition (Correct answer)
- Conservation
- Centration
Correct answer: Metacognition
Metacognition—awareness of one's own cognitive processes—is necessary for a survivor to recognize memory deficits and consistently apply compensatory strategies.
Question 7: A brain injury specialist notes that a pediatric TBI patient's injury has halted new learning but preserved skills acquired before age 7. This pattern is most consistent with:
- Retrograde amnesia only
- The critical period hypothesis and spared prior learning (Correct answer)
- Anterograde amnesia only
- Global amnesia
Correct answer: The critical period hypothesis and spared prior learning
Critical periods establish robust early-learned skills; TBI in childhood can freeze new acquisition while leaving earlier consolidated skills relatively intact.
CBIS Human Development and Behavior 2
Which Erikson stage is most commonly disrupted when a young adult sustains a TBI that impairs their ability to form intimate relationships?