Developmental Psychology
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Developmental Psychology explores the patterns of growth, change, and stability that occur throughout the human lifespan. This course examines physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development from infancy through adulthood, emphasizing both the universal milestones and the individual variations in development. Topics include major theories of development, the influence of heredity and environment, attachment, language acquisition, moral reasoning, identity formation, and the challenges of aging. Through case studies, research analysis, and real-life applications, students gain insight into how and why people change over time, and how developmental psychology informs practices in education, healthcare, and social policy.
Recommended Textbook
The Journey of Adulthood 7th Edition by Barbara R. Bjorklund
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846 Verified Questions
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Adult Development
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following scenarios is MOST likely a nonnormative life event?
A) a couple in their 20s first marry then have a child.
B) A grandfather of 2 retires at age 65.
C) Two nursing home residents marry at ages 80 and 82.
D) A young woman graduates with a bachelor's degree at age 22.
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following timing/experience combinations would be likely to create the LEAST stress and disruption, according to the shared experiential/social clock model?
A) the death of your father when you are 60 years old
B) retirement because of ill health at age 50
C) being fired from your job when you are 40 years old
D) becoming a parent for the first time when you are 16 years old
Answer: A
Q3) According to the text, emerging adulthood begins in the age decade of _______.
A) the 20s
B) the 30s
C) the 40s
D) the 50s
Answer: A
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Physical Changes
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Q1) Which of the following is the CLEAREST example of primary aging?
A) the decline in neuronal speed with age
B) the increase in the rate of heart disease with age
C) the reduction of VO2 max with age
D) the loss of muscle tissue with age
Answer: A
Q2) You notice that your mother, who is 61 years old, begins to complain about her difficulty seeing while night driving, with the size of the print on her PC screen, with blurry street signs, and with the dimness of the house living and kitchen lights. She may be experiencing loss of visual acuity due to ____________.
A) presbyopia
B) dark adaption
C) cataracts
D) all of the above
Answer: D
Q3) Primary aging is affected by many individual differences. Illustrate how certain genetic predispositions might affect your aging process, use at least one member of your family as a comparative example.
Answer: Not Answer
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Health and Health Disorders
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Sample Questions
Q1) Across the adult years, the month prevalence of most mental disorders increases from young adulthood to middle adulthood and then declines, with the lowest rates being ________________(Kessler, Berglund, Demler, et al., 2005).
A) for teenagers who are between 17-19 years old
B) for young adults who are 20-27 years old
C) for middle age adults who are 45-55 years old
D) for adults who are 60 years of age and older
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following diseases or health problems is more common among African Americans than among Caucasians?
A) osteoporosis
B) anorexia
C) AIDS
D) high blood pressure
Answer: D
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Chapter 4: Cognitive Abilities
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Q1) Researchers often find that older adults do not spontaneously use good memory strategies, but that they can use such strategies if they are reminded or taught. These strategies are an example of _______.
A) list making
B) an external memory aid
C) an IQ aid
D) an internal memory aid
Q2) What is the major explanation offered to account for the differences in the pattern of IQ stability or decline over adulthood shown in cross-sectional versus longitudinal studies?
A) cohort differences
B) terminal drop
C) subject attrition
D) unrepresentative samples
Q3) Describe the typical finding in training studies of memory, such as the Burack and Lachman study described in the text. What do such results tell us about age changes in memory processes?
Q4) What explanation(s) can you offer for the differences in the findings from longitudinal and cross-sectional studies of IQ change over adulthood?
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Chapter 5: Social Roles
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Q1) Research in the U.S. indicates that among couples where both husband and wife work full time, the family role stage during which there is the LARGEST gap in the hours devoted to housework by husbands and wives is _______.
A) in the newlywed period
B) when children are young
C) when children are teenagers
D) in the postparental period
Q2) Generational squeeze refers to __________.
A) the strain of multiple roles
B) the benefit of multiple roles
C) caregiver burden
D) competing demands from parents and children
Q3) In young adulthood, there are three major new roles acquired by the majority of people. Describe these three roles and the problems and joys that accompany them.
Q4) List at least seven characteristics that are part of the common cross-cultural male gender role stereotype and seven that are part of the female stereotype. Indicate briefly some of the consequences of these role stereotypes for adult development.
Q5) List and describe three sources of gender stereotyping.
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Chapter 6: Social Relationships
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following behaviors toward another person would be LEAST LIKELY to be considered an attachment behavior?
A) hugging
B) shaking hands
C) writing a letter
D) smiling
Q2) The key feature of unsuccessful marriages (those most likely to end in divorce), according to Gottman's research, is _______.
A) a high level of squabbles or disagreements
B) a low level of laughter
C) an inability to resolve conflicts by discussion or argument
D) a high ratio of displeasing to pleasing interactions
Q3) As yet we know relatively little about the role of friends and friendships in adult lives. What are the problems with current research on this subject? Design a study that would add significantly to our information.
Q4) List at least three ways in which happily married couples differ from unhappily married couples in their interactions with one another. Which of these features seems to you to be most amenable to change?
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Chapter 7: Work and Retirement
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Q1) What is the relationship found in existing research between age and the quality of job performance for most jobs?
A) Job performance improves steadily with age.
B) Job performance declines steadily with age.
C) Job performance peaks at about age 45.
D) Job performance remains constant across age.
Q2) What single change in the last several decades has had the largest positive effect on the average income of current elderly persons in the United States?
A) More women have worked, and so earn retirement income.
B) Men are living longer, so there are more couples earning the higher male retirement incomes.
C) Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) were created.
D) Social Security benefits have significantly increased.
Q3) Analyze the following statement: "The apparent increase in job satisfaction with age, evident in cross-sectional studies, is really only a cohort difference in disguise." Can you support or refute this statement? What relevant data can you muster?
Q4) Your text advises three strategies for coping with conflict and strain; list and describe these suggestions.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Personality
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Q1) In Maslow's system, love needs are to self-actualization needs as, in Erikson's system,
A) intimacy is to identity
B) intimacy is to integrity
C) generativity is to intimacy
D) identity is to integrity
Q2) Vaillant recently published an article in the well-respected American Psychology Association journal suggesting that his levels of defense mechanisms are a way to measure psychological maturity and well-being. Which of the following is an argument he probably offered in support of this assertion?
A) All individuals consistently demonstrate the same defense mechanisms in identical situations.
B) The association between mature defenses and mental health is present across a number of indicators (occupational success, maturity, happiness).
C) Individuals under severe stress do not revert to less mature mechanisms.
D) The levels of defense mechanisms are sequential and stage-like.
Q3) The text posits three explanations for the trend in personality change from middle to late adulthood. Describe these changes.
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Chapter 9: The Quest for Meaning
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Q1) Results from longitudinal studies of moral judgment show most clearly that
A) moral development does not occur in the clear stages that Kohlberg describes
B) children and adolescents shift from one stage of moral reasoning to another, following the sequence described by Kohlberg
C) average scores on moral development reasoning move upward in stages, but individuals move up and down quite frequently
D) stage-like development of moral reasoning occurs only among children and adolescents growing up in Western cultures
Q2) "I grew up in the Baptist church, but when I went off to college, I really had to question all the ideas I'd been given as a child and as a teenager. For a while I called myself an atheist. But now I find myself drawn back to the Baptists. It just seems to me that the church offers answers to questions I've been asking myself." Which of Fowler's stages of faith does this statement most reflect?
A) synthetic-conventional
B) individuative-reflective
C) conjunctive
D) universalizing
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Chapter 10: Stress, Coping, and Resilience
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Q1) 10-21. Which of the following findings would be the clearest illustration of the buffering effect of social support?
A) Older widows are less negatively affected by widowhood than are younger widows.
B) Unemployed men who enjoy close relationships with their wives are less likely to be depressed than are those men who have distant relationships with their wives.
C) Adults with more intimate friendships show higher levels of life satisfaction than do adults with fewer or less intimate friendships.
D) The lowest rates of illness and emotional disturbance among widows are found among those with living parents; those with close friends and no living parents are more prone to illness.
Q2) Longitudinal studies have linked stress with the occurrence of ______________.
A) breast cancer
B) death from heart disease
C) faster progression of HIV to AIDS
D) All of the above
Q3) 10-49. Describe a study designed to explore this set of questions:
1) Are there age differences in the way adults respond to life crises?
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Chapter 11: Death and Bereavement
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Sample Questions
Q1) The sequence of 5 stages of responses to dying, according to Kübler -Ross's theory, is
A) anger, denial, depression, bargaining, acceptance
B) anger, denial, bargaining, depression, acceptance
C) denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance
D) denial, anger, depression, bargaining, acceptance
Q2) Marshall and Levy suggest that 2 important functions of rituals are _______.
A) venting and rituals
B) rituals and mourning
C) control and meaningfulness
D) mourning and meaningfulness
Q3) Wenda Yuan-si, a 42 year old Chinese-American technology consultant, decided it was time to finalize some things that he has long put off. Wenda made out his Last Will and Testament, and he bought life insurance. His actions are typical of what process?
A) reminiscence
B) finitude
C) living wills
D) adaption
Q4) Among middle-aged adults, which ones are likely to show the MOST fear of death?
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Chapter 12: The Successful Journey
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Q1) Describe the period in adulthood from age twenty-five to forty. What are its key features? What makes this period different from those that come before or after?
Q2) Describe the period of adulthood from age sixty-five to seventy-five. What are its key features? What makes this period different from those that come before or after?
Q3) Which of the following best describes our current knowledge about the existence of a midlife crisis?
A) Virtually all adults experience a crisis at midlife.
B) Some adults experience a crisis, but they are in the minority.
C) More adults experience a crisis at midlife than at any other age.
D) There is no evidence that any adults experience a crisis at midlife.
Q4) Which of the following pairs of characteristics or events is most likely to occur together (that is, in the same age period) in a normative adult life?
A) peak physical functioning and Erikson's stage of generativity
B) Erikson's stage of intimacy and low rates of loneliness
C) noticeable physical decline and fewer but more intense friendships
D) maximum division of gender roles and the postparental stage of the family life cycle
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