EPPP Growth and Lifespan Development 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A researcher finds that vocabulary scores peak in the 40s-50s and remain relatively stable, while processing speed declines from young adulthood. This pattern best illustrates which theoretical distinction?
- Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence (Correct answer)
- Explicit vs. implicit memory
- Primary vs. secondary aging
- Proximal vs. distal development
Correct answer: Fluid vs. crystallized intelligence
Fluid intelligence (processing speed, novel problem solving) declines earlier while crystallized intelligence (accumulated knowledge, vocabulary) is maintained or grows into middle age.
Question 2: According to Baumrind's parenting styles research, which style is characterized by high demandingness combined with high responsiveness and is associated with the best child outcomes?
- Authoritarian
- Authoritative (Correct answer)
- Permissive
- Uninvolved
Correct answer: Authoritative
Authoritative parenting, with warm emotional support and consistent firm boundaries, is consistently associated with positive developmental outcomes including higher self-esteem and academic achievement.
Question 3: Marcia's identity statuses extend Erikson's work. An adolescent who has made identity commitments without undergoing exploration is in which status?
- Identity diffusion
- Identity moratorium
- Identity foreclosure (Correct answer)
- Identity achievement
Correct answer: Identity foreclosure
Identity foreclosure describes commitment without prior exploration, often by adopting parents' values or roles without personally questioning them.
Question 4: Which of the following is a hallmark characteristic of preoperational thought in Piaget's theory?
- Systematic hypothesis testing
- Understanding of conservation
- Egocentrism and animism (Correct answer)
- Reversibility of mental operations
Correct answer: Egocentrism and animism
Preoperational children (ages 2-7) exhibit egocentrism (inability to take another's perspective) and animism (attributing life to inanimate objects).
Question 5: The Strange Situation procedure developed by Ainsworth is used to assess which developmental construct?
- Temperament dimensions in infancy
- Quality of infant-caregiver attachment (Correct answer)
- Object permanence in early childhood
- Separation anxiety disorder
Correct answer: Quality of infant-caregiver attachment
Ainsworth's Strange Situation is a laboratory paradigm assessing the quality of infant-caregiver attachment through a series of separations and reunions.
Question 6: Cross-sectional studies of intelligence across the lifespan often show earlier declines than longitudinal studies. This discrepancy is primarily due to which factor?
- Practice effects in longitudinal designs
- Cohort effects confounding cross-sectional results (Correct answer)
- Selective attrition inflating cross-sectional scores
- Test-retest reliability differences
Correct answer: Cohort effects confounding cross-sectional results
Cross-sectional designs confound age with cohort differences; older cohorts may have had less education, making declines appear steeper than they are for any single individual over time.
Question 7: Which developmental concept refers to a sensitive period during which specific experiences must occur for normal development to proceed, such as language acquisition in early childhood?
- Critical period
- Plasticity window
- Experience-expectant development (Correct answer)
- Maturational readiness
Correct answer: Experience-expectant development
Experience-expectant development refers to processes that depend on species-typical experiences occurring during sensitive periods to wire normal neural circuits, such as exposure to language for language acquisition.
EPPP Growth and Lifespan Development 3
A researcher finds that vocabulary scores peak in the 40s-50s and remain relatively stable, while processing speed declines from young adulthood.
This pattern best illustrates which theoretical distinction?