Why do we study the development of children? - ExamTest 1

Questions

Question 1

Which statement is true?

1. It is not possible to suppose that children tell the truth in court.
2. Specifically, young children are susceptible for suggestive questioning, when questions are repeated again and again.

1. Only statement 1 is true.
2. Only statement 2 is true.
3. Both statements are true.
4. Both statements are false.

Question 2

Which statement is true? Children can experience negative effects when they... 

1. Have been in an unstable environment longer than 1 month after birth. 
2. Have been in an unstable environment longer than 3 months after birth.
3. Have been in an unstable environment longer than 6 months after birth.
4. Have been in an unstable environment longer than 1 year after birth.

Question 3

Which general conclusion can be drawn about continuous/discontinuous development, despite some disagreement over the topic?

1. Development is mainly a continuous process.
2. Development is mainly a discontinuous process, as proved in the stage theories.
3. It depends on how you look at it and how often you look.
4. Development is sometimes a continuous and sometimes a discontinuous process.

Question 4

Which research design has the advantage of being able to observe the change of individuals over time and the disadvantage that repeated testing reduces external validity?

1. Longitudinal research
2. Observational research
3. Cross-sectional research
4. Correlational Research

Question 5

The "turtle shell" technique is an example of a successful intervention that helps preschoolers cope with ...

1. The sense of isolation.
2. Feelings of embarrassment.
3. Bullying from peers.
4. Their own anger.

Question 6

What is meta-analysis?

1. The reproduction of a past study in order to confrim or debunk the results.
2. A philosophical exploration of an experiment or case study.
3. A method for combining and analyzing the results from several independent studies.
4. A list of all published articles related to a specific area of research.

Question 7

Studies have shown that children's testimony is usually accurate when which of the following conditions are met?

1. The interviewer does not ask leading questions.
2. One of the child's parents is present.
3. The child and the interviewer are alone when the testimony is given.
4. The child is repeatedly prompted during the interview.

Question 8

According to developmentalists, which of the following statements is true?

1. Development is most heavily influenced by nature.
2. Development is most heavily influenced by nurture.
3. Development is influenced by thejoint working of nature and nurture.
4. Nature and nurture are essentially the same.

Question 9

The concept of the "active child" refers to ...

1. Observations of children at play.
2. Whether an infant sleeps through the night.
3. The importance of physical activity to child development.
4. How children contribute to their own environment.

Question 10

In recent decades, researchers have come to the conclusion that, after infancy, most developmental changes occur ...

1. Gradually.
2. Suddenly.
3. Discontinuously.
4. Externally.

Question 11

In the context of mechanisms of developmental change, the study of the development of "effortful attention" provides insights into ...

1. Continuous versus discontinuous development.
2. The role of brain activity, genes, and learning experiences.
3. The complexity of the child's sociocultural environment.
4. The role of the researcher in judging the validity of a study.

Question 12

The physical, social, cultural, economic, and historical circumstances that make up a child's environment are known as ...

1. The developmental foundation.
2. The sociocultural context.
3. The developmental stage.
4. The socioeconomic status.

Question 13

The first basic step in using the scientific method involves ...

1. Developing a research plan.
2. Choosing a question.
3. Formulating a hypothesis.
4. Drawing a conclusion.

Question 14

In order to generalize her findings beyond the individuals who participated in her study, Dr. Liu needs to conduct additional research using participants from a variety of backgrounds. What quality of behavioral research is Dr. Liu addressing?

1. Interrater reliability.
2. Internal validity.
3. Test-retest reliability.
4. External validity.

Question 15

The experience that children in an experimental group receive - and which children in a control group do not receive - is referred to as the ...

1. Dependent variable.
2. Independent variable.
3. Random assignment.
4. Correlational design.

Answers

Question 1

B. Research shows that younger children forget details more often, but what they say is mainly based on the truth. 

Question 2

C. Research shows that children who have been in deprivation for less than 6 months after birth, will experience no negative effects later in life. However, if this period is longer than 6 months, they can experience negative effects later in life, despite they might be in a stable environment.

Question 3

C. Stage theories seem to argue for a discontinuous development. Parents see their children grow up a bit every day, they see the continuity of the development of their child, whereas a friend of the family might see huge changes since he last saw the child. 

Question 4

A. Longitudinal research is a method that focuses on the behavior of children of the same age over a longer period of time, in which measurements are repeated. An advantage of this method is that the degree of stability can be determined over a longer period. The information obtained also says something about the patterns of changes over time. However, this method also has disadvantages: often many participants drop out ("dropouts"), for various reasons. Repeated measurements can also affect the external validity of the study.

Question 5

D. The intervention is aimed at helping preschoolers cope with their own anger.

Question 6

C. A meta-analysis is a method for combining and analyzing the results from several independent studies.

Question 7

A. The interviewer should not ask leading questions, as children are very vulnerable for compliance.

Question 8

C. According to developmentalists, development is influenced by the joint workings of nature and nurture.

Question 9

D. The "active child" refers to how children contribute to their own development, or in other words how they play an "active role" in it.

Question 10

A. In recent decades, researchers have come to the conclusion that, after infancy, most developmental changes occur gradually.

Question 11

B. The study of the development of "effortful attention" provides insights to the role of brain activity, genes, and learning experiences.

Question 12

B. It is known as the sociocultural context.

Question 13

B. The first step is to choose a research question.

Question 14

D. She refers to external validity.

Question 15

B. The independent variable.