LMHC Human Growth and Development 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor notices that a 4-year-old client understands that a ball of clay rolled into a snake still has the same amount of clay. This indicates the child has developed:
- Object permanence
- Conservation (Correct answer)
- Decentration
- Reversibility
Correct answer: Conservation
Conservation is the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape, typically emerging during Piaget's concrete operational stage.
Question 2: Carol Gilligan critiqued Kohlberg's moral development theory primarily because:
- It ignored cognitive development in children under age 5
- It was biased toward male perspectives and undervalued care-based reasoning (Correct answer)
- It failed to account for cultural differences in moral reasoning
- It placed too much emphasis on postconventional morality
Correct answer: It was biased toward male perspectives and undervalued care-based reasoning
Gilligan argued that Kohlberg's model, based on male samples, undervalued the ethic of care more common in women's moral reasoning.
Question 3: Which of the following best describes 'scaffolding' in educational and developmental contexts?
- Removing all support so a child learns through trial and error
- Providing temporary, adjustable support to help a learner accomplish tasks beyond their independent ability (Correct answer)
- Teaching abstract concepts before concrete ones
- Reinforcing correct behavior through operant conditioning
Correct answer: Providing temporary, adjustable support to help a learner accomplish tasks beyond their independent ability
Scaffolding, derived from Vygotsky's work, involves providing support that is gradually withdrawn as the learner gains competence.
Question 4: During which Freudian psychosexual stage does the Oedipus complex occur?
- Oral stage
- Anal stage
- Phallic stage (Correct answer)
- Latency stage
Correct answer: Phallic stage
The Oedipus complex, involving unconscious attraction to the opposite-sex parent and rivalry with the same-sex parent, occurs during the phallic stage (ages 3–6).
Question 5: A client in their 60s describes feeling a deep sense of satisfaction reviewing their life accomplishments. According to Erikson, this person is successfully navigating:
- Generativity vs. stagnation
- Integrity vs. despair (Correct answer)
- Industry vs. inferiority
- Intimacy vs. isolation
Correct answer: Integrity vs. despair
Ego integrity vs. despair is Erikson's final stage, in which older adults reflect on their lives and experience either peace or regret.
Question 6: Which attachment style is most associated with a caregiver who is inconsistently responsive—sometimes attentive, sometimes neglectful?
- Secure attachment
- Avoidant attachment
- Anxious-ambivalent attachment (Correct answer)
- Disorganized attachment
Correct answer: Anxious-ambivalent attachment
Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) attachment develops when caregivers are inconsistent, causing the child to be uncertain about the caregiver's availability.
Question 7: The concept of 'epigenetics' in human development refers to:
- Genetic mutations caused by environmental toxins
- Changes in gene expression caused by environmental factors without altering DNA sequence (Correct answer)
- The study of how genes determine personality traits
- Inherited behavioral tendencies passed from parent to child
Correct answer: Changes in gene expression caused by environmental factors without altering DNA sequence
Epigenetics examines how environmental experiences can switch genes on or off, affecting development without changing the underlying DNA sequence.
LMHC Human Growth and Development 3
A counselor notices that a 4-year-old client understands that a ball of clay rolled into a snake still has the same amount of clay.
This indicates the child has developed: