Practice Test GeeksLMSW - Licensed Master Social Worker Practice Test
← All LMSW Flashcard Decks

LMSW Human Development Theories Questions and Answers Flashcards

7 cards from real LMSW practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 LMSW Human Development Theories Questions and Answers flashcards as text

  1. A client in her 70s reports feeling a sense of despair about her life choices and fears death without meaning. According to Erikson, she is struggling with which stage?

    Answer: Ego Integrity vs. Despair

    Erikson's final stage, Ego Integrity vs. Despair, involves reviewing one's life in old age; those who find meaning achieve integrity, while those filled with regret experience despair.

  2. According to Kohlberg's postconventional level of moral development, moral decisions are guided by:

    Answer: Universal ethical principles that may transcend laws

    At the postconventional level, individuals develop their own moral principles based on universal ethics such as justice and human rights, which may override societal laws.

  3. Self-psychology, developed by Heinz Kohut, emphasizes the role of 'selfobjects.' Which of the following best defines a selfobject?

    Answer: A person or experience that provides functions the self cannot yet perform for itself

    Kohut defined selfobjects as persons or experiences that provide psychological functions — such as mirroring, idealizing, or twinship — needed to maintain a cohesive sense of self.

  4. The concept of 'scaffolding,' derived from Vygotsky's theory, refers to:

    Answer: Temporary support provided by a more skilled person to help a learner accomplish a task

    Scaffolding is a teaching strategy in which support is provided within the ZPD and gradually withdrawn as the learner develops competence.

  5. A social worker notes that a 4-year-old client believes the sun is alive because it 'moves across the sky.' This is an example of which Piagetian concept?

    Answer: Animism

    Animism is the preoperational tendency to attribute life and intentionality to inanimate objects, such as believing the sun moves purposefully.

  6. Which theorist proposed a life-span developmental framework specifically focused on adult transitions including the 'mid-life transition' around age 40?

    Answer: Daniel Levinson

    Daniel Levinson's theory outlined distinct seasons of adulthood, with the mid-life transition (around age 40–45) as a period of re-evaluation of one's life structure.

  7. In the context of human development, 'epigenetics' as used by Erikson (not molecular biology) refers to the principle that:

    Answer: Each stage of development builds upon the successful resolution of prior stages

    Erikson used the epigenetic principle to mean that each psychosocial stage emerges in a predetermined sequence and builds on the resolution of earlier stages.