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Life-Span Development Cover
Life-Span Development, 8/e
John W. Santrock, University of Texas - Dallas

The Life-Span Development Perspective
Introduction

Multiple Choice Quiz

Answer All of the Questions





1

Which of the following is NOT a reason the text gave to study life-span development?
A)The more you learn about children, the better you can deal with them.
B)You may gain insight into your own history.
C)It is a requirement for such fields as nursing, psychology, and child development.
D)As a parent or teacher, you may have responsibility for children.
2

In thinking about the importance of studying life-span development, research has found:
A)massage therapy decreases the immune system functioning of preterm infants.
B)secure attachment to parents in adolescence is linked with a host of negative outcomes.
C)researchers have been able to extend the life span of human cells in human subjects.
D)extending the life span of human cells in a test tube has implications for expanding human life.
3

Parents who believe their children are basically good and need little discipline have adopted which philosophical view?
A)original sin
B)tabula rasa
C)innate goodness
D)experiential
4

Parents adhering to the fundamental premise of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "innate goodness" argument would:
A)reject the need to "teach" language since speech is inherited.
B)provide their children with little monitoring or constraints.
C)view their child as intellectually indistinguishable from themselves.
D)argue that their newborn's brain is like a "blank slate."
5

Today, childhood is conceived of as:
A)a unique period of life that lays an important foundation for the adult years and is highly differentiated from them.
B)a period when children are like balls of clay ready to be molded.
C)an inconvenient waiting period during which adults must suffer the incompetencies of their young.
D)a unique period of life when adults must use caution to be sure they elicit the good from their children and suppress the evil.
6

The traditional approach to development emphasizes:
A)little change from birth through old age.
B)extensive change from birth to adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
C)extensive change from birth to adulthood, then little change for the rest of the life-span.
D)extensive change from birth to adolescence, little or no change in adulthood, then decline in late old age.
7

In the twentieth century:
A)life expectancy has increased by 30 years.
B)life expectancy has increased by 25 years.
C)life span has increased by 30 years.
D)life span has increased by 25 years.
8

The maximum life span of humans since the beginning of recorded history has:
A)increased.
B)almost caught up with that of the Galapagos turtles.
C)decreased.
D)remained the same.
9

As the older population continues to increase in the twenty-first century, concerns are raised about the number of older adults who will be:
A)living in poverty.
B)a financial drain on society.
C)able to care for themselves.
D)without either a spouse or children.
10

According to Baltes (1987), the life-span perspective has the following characteristics EXCEPT being:
A)lifelong.
B)unidirectional.
C)multidimensional.
D)plastic.
11

Many older persons become wiser with age, yet perform more poorly on cognitive speed tests. This supports the life-span perspective notion that development is:
A)multidirectional.
B)multidimensional.
C)lifelong.
D)plastic.
12

In the __________ view, individuals are thought of as changing beings in a changing world.
A)plastic
B)sociocultural
C)contextual
D)cognitive
13

The onset of puberty is an example of:
A)normative age-graded influences.
B)normative history-graded influences.
C)nonnormative life events.
D)storm-and-stress events.
14

The AIDS epidemic in the United States would be an example of a:
A)normative age-graded influence.
B)normative history-graded influence.
C)nonnormative life event.
D)storm-and-stress event.
15

Concerns for health and well-being have:
A)been important goals for most of human history.
B)become important goals since the great advances in medicine in the nineteenth century.
C)become important goals with the discovery of penicillin.
D)yet to become goals of major importance.
16

The main interests of Luis Varga are:
A)gerontology and development of the life-span perspective.
B)cultural issues and the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, and families.
C)ending spousal abuse and establishing shelters for abused women and children.
D)age and happiness in adolescence and adulthood.
17

The behavior patterns, beliefs, and all other products of a particular group that are passed on from generation to generation are called:
A)nationality.
B)religion.
C)culture.
D)ethnicity.
18

A national government's course of action designed to influence the welfare of its citizens is called:
A)social policy.
B)social slate.
C)national policy.
D)policy agenda.
19

Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund, states that with respect to how well children are treated in industrialized nations, the United States:
A)is the highest ranking.
B)ranks among the highest.
C)ranks around the middle.
D)is at or near the lowest ranking.
20

With respect to women's experience of violence it occurs:
A)around the world.
B)most frequently in industrialized countries.
C)most often in third world countries.
D)least often in technologically advanced countries.
21

The concept of generational inequity describes:
A)the situation in which older individuals receive more of the resources than younger individuals.
B)differences in values, and is commonly called the "generation gap."
C)differences in years of education between older, less educated individuals and younger, better educated individuals.
D)family power patterns in which older individuals typically have more decision-making power.
22

Development is defined as the pattern of movement or ___________ across the life span.
A)growth
B)change
C)decline
D)stability
23

Which of the following would involve a cognitive process?
A)hormonal changes at puberty
B)an infant responding to her mother's touch with a smile
C)an elderly couple's affection for each other
D)putting together a two-word sentence
24

What is true concerning the biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes?
A)Each is distinct from the others.
B)The cognitive and socioemotional are more closely related than the cognitive and biological.
C)They are intricately interwoven.
D)They are more obvious in the early years of life.
25

Penny is just beginning to use language and other symbols. If she is developing normally, we would expect her to be in which developmental period?
A)perinatal
B)prenatal
C)infancy
D)early childhood
26

__________ typically marks the end of the early childhood period of development.
A)Walking without assistance
B)The emergence of the first word
C)First grade
D)The onset of puberty
27

Which period of development is characterized by establishing independence, developing an identity, and thinking more abstractly?
A)middle childhood
B)late childhood
C)adolescence
D)early adulthood
28

Bernice Neugarten has emphasized reemerging life themes in development. Her observations have led her to conclude that:
A)life stages are important for understanding development.
B)each person relives his or her childhood during later development.
C)we must focus on the later developmental periods.
D)age is becoming less important for understanding development.
29

Rozee is 86 years young. She continues to learn phrases in new languages, she writes poetry, and she enjoys going to museums to see the latest up-and-coming artists. These examples of her adaptive capacities demonstrate:
A)chronological age.
B)biological age.
C)psychological age.
D)social age.
30

Researchers who are proponents of the nurture perspective would argue that:
A)genetics determines all behavior.
B)the environment a person is raised in determines that individual's longevity.
C)how long an individual's parents lived is the best predictor of that individual's longevity.
D)genetics and the environment in which an individual is raised will jointly determine that person's longevity.
31

In studying changes in the way we think as we age, Dr. Long notes a child moves from not being able to think abstractly about the world to being able to, which is a qualitative change in processing information. Dr. Long emphasizes:
A)continuity.
B)discontinuity.
C)stability.
D)maturation.
32

An important dimension of the ____________ issue is the extent to which early experiences or later experiences are the key determinants of a person's development.
A)stability-change
B)nature-nurture
C)continuity-discontinuity
D)multidimensional
33

Most life-span developmentalists recognize that:
A)nature, continuity, and stability are the primary determinants of behavior.
B)nurture, discontinuity, and change are the primary determinants of behavior.
C)the key to development is in the interaction of nature and nurture, continuity and discontinuity, and stability and change.
D)while nurture (the environment) is important, nature (heredity) plays the stronger role.
34

The answers to questions about the issues of nature-nurture, continuity-discontinuity, and stability-change:
A)influence public policy decisions and how people live their lives.
B)have little influence on public policy decisions, but do influence how people live their lives.
C)influence public policy decisions, but have little influence on how people live their lives.
D)are primarily concerns for psychologists, but end up having little impact in policy or people's lifestyle choices.
35

Jennifer has been working with the elderly for many years diagnosing their medical problems, evaluating treatment options, and making recommendations for nursing care or other arrangements. Jennifer is most likely a:
A)gerontologist.
B)geriatric physician.
C)geriatric nurse.
D)geropsychologist.

Matching: Match the following persons with the statement or theory that most closely reflects their perspective:



36

Marian Wright Edelman
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
37

John Locke
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
38

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
39

Bernice Neugarten
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
40

Paul Baltes
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
41

Jerome Kagan
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant
42

Warner Schaie
A)The life-span perspective has seven fundamental contentions
B)Children are innately good
C)Suggests both early and later life experiences contribute to development
D)Children are like blank slates and grow through experience
E)Helped create the life-span perspective
F)The U.S. ranks very low in the treatment of children
G)Our society is increasingly age-irrelevant