LMSW LMSW Human Development Theories Questions and Answers 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to Erik Erikson, successful resolution of the 'Initiative vs. Guilt' stage results in which virtue?
- Hope
- Purpose (Correct answer)
- Competence
- Will
Correct answer: Purpose
Successful resolution of Initiative vs. Guilt (ages 3–5) yields the virtue of purpose, as children learn to initiate activities without excessive guilt.
Question 2: In Piaget's theory, 'conservation' is a milestone that typically emerges during which stage?
- Sensorimotor
- Preoperational
- Concrete Operational (Correct answer)
- Formal Operational
Correct answer: Concrete Operational
Conservation — the understanding that quantity remains the same despite changes in shape or appearance — develops during the concrete operational stage (ages 7–11).
Question 3: A social worker using a strengths-based perspective rooted in resilience theory would most likely focus on:
- Diagnosing the client's pathology using the DSM-5
- Identifying the client's protective factors and coping capacities (Correct answer)
- Confronting the client's maladaptive defenses directly
- Tracing unresolved childhood conflicts through free association
Correct answer: Identifying the client's protective factors and coping capacities
Resilience-informed, strengths-based practice emphasizes identifying and building on clients' internal and external protective factors rather than deficits.
Question 4: Which theorist introduced the concept of 'generativity vs. stagnation' as a key psychosocial challenge of middle adulthood?
- Sigmund Freud
- Carl Jung
- Erik Erikson (Correct answer)
- Daniel Levinson
Correct answer: Erik Erikson
Erikson identified generativity vs. stagnation as the seventh psychosocial stage, occurring in middle adulthood, centering on contributing to future generations.
Question 5: The 'Strange Situation' procedure developed by Mary Ainsworth identified which attachment pattern in infants who show distress on separation but resist comfort on reunion?
- Secure attachment
- Anxious-avoidant attachment
- Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) attachment (Correct answer)
- Disorganized attachment
Correct answer: Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) attachment
Anxious-ambivalent (resistant) attachment is characterized by high distress at separation and difficulty being soothed upon the caregiver's return, often showing anger or passivity.
Question 6: In Freud's psychosexual stages, unresolved conflict during the oral stage is theorized to contribute to which adult characteristic?
- Obsessive tidiness and need for control
- Dependency, passivity, or oral fixations such as smoking (Correct answer)
- Oedipal or Electra complex conflicts
- Fear of intimacy and authority issues
Correct answer: Dependency, passivity, or oral fixations such as smoking
Freud theorized that fixation at the oral stage (birth–18 months) due to unresolved conflict leads to adult issues around dependency and oral behaviors.
Question 7: Daniel Levinson's concept of the 'Dream' in his adult development theory refers to:
- Unconscious wish fulfillment during sleep
- An idealized vision of what one hopes to accomplish in life (Correct answer)
- A mid-life crisis triggered by career failure
- Fantasies about childhood that resurface in therapy
Correct answer: An idealized vision of what one hopes to accomplish in life
Levinson described the 'Dream' as an imagined possibility of the self in the adult world — a guiding vision of what one wants to become — that shapes early adulthood.
LMSW LMSW Human Development Theories Questions and Answers 4
According to Erik Erikson, successful resolution of the 'Initiative vs.
Guilt' stage results in which virtue?