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| 1 | |
Paul Ehrlich and Marcus Feldman, who argue that cultural environments are more influential than genes in shaping development, note which of the following problems with what they call “genetic determinism?” |
| | A) | Twin studies show no developmental differences between fraternal and identical twins. |
| | B) | The human genome project has shown that there are not enough individual genes to explain the complexity of human behavior. |
| | C) | Social institutions, such as schools, do not significantly change development. |
| | D) | Evolutionary psychology has explained how culture matters less than most people think. |
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| 2 | |
Gary Marcus, who asserts that the brain is largely guided by genetic predispositions, talks about the changes to the brain that occur through development as |
| | A) | plasticity. |
| | B) | a gene shortage. |
| | C) | a cascade. |
| | D) | if-then contingencies. |
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| 3 | |
Judith Rich Harris, who argues that parents matter less for development than most people think, contends that |
| | A) | children can largely raise themselves. |
| | B) | parents are too passive in raising children. |
| | C) | children learn to behave differently in and out of the home. |
| | D) | parents shape children to be individualists. |
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| 4 | |
Howard Gardner, who criticizes the suggestion that parents don’t matter, claims that a major reason research evidence is not clear about how parents influence children is |
| | A) | the research does not account for biology. |
| | B) | the research uses crude survey categories. |
| | C) | the research goes into too much description. |
| | D) | modern research relies too heavily on Freudian theory. |
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| 5 | |
Stephen Pinker, who asserts that research clearly shows there are small average differences between men and women in the basic cognitive abilities required for certain careers, contends that |
| | A) | there are nearly an equal number of women and men scientists. |
| | B) | women have been discriminated against, and the feminist movement is important. |
| | C) | responses to Harvard president Summers’ comments demonstrates quality intellectual discourse. |
| | D) | more women score at the extreme ends of the scale on cognitive tests. |
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| 6 | |
Elizabeth Spelke, who argues that social factors explain most of the difference between the success of men and women in math and science, shows that |
| | A) | there are few meaningful innate sex differences at birth. |
| | B) | sex differences stay constant through most of the lifespan. |
| | C) | most parents and teachers treat boys and girls identically. |
| | D) | it is relatively easy to discern sex differences that are innate and those that are learned. |
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| 7 | |
Sherri McCarthy and Thomas F. Waters, who discuss ways that crack cocaine use has created a cohort of at-risk children, contend that |
| | A) | pre-natal cocaine exposure is associated with cognitive deficiencies. |
| | B) | pre-natal cocaine exposure accelerates the nervous system. |
| | C) | pre-natal cocaine exposure is similar to malnutrition. |
| | D) | pre-natal cocaine exposure has little influence on physical health. |
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| 8 | |
Mariah Blake, who suggests that the idea of “crack babies” is unfair to children born with drug using mothers, shows that |
| | A) | science focuses too much on the physical effects. |
| | B) | “crack babies” should be considered as similar to any other birth defect. |
| | C) | children born to drug-using mothers often function at a high level in later life. |
| | D) | social labels do not influence child development. |
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| 9 | |
Gwen J. Broude, who contends that research on neuroscience has exaggerated the need for brain stimulation in infancy, claims that |
| | A) | infants do not need much brain stimulation. |
| | B) | parents often over-stimulate infants. |
| | C) | infants only need reasonably normal amounts of stimulation. |
| | D) | politicians are best situated to promote appropriate uses of neuroscience research. |
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| 10 | |
Zero to Three, who claim that infancy is more crucial for development than most people realize, suggest that |
| | A) | promoting a “myth of the first three years” will harm healthy child-rearing. |
| | B) | infant brains need as much stimulation as possible. |
| | C) | brain stimulation is more important than any other parental duty. |
| | D) | researchers know exactly what facilitates infant brain development. |
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| 11 | |
Victoria Rideout and colleagues, who suggest that parents find television and electronic media to be a help to family life, find that |
| | A) | very few families expose infants to television and electronic media. |
| | B) | the majority of infants and young children consume electronic media regularly. |
| | C) | parent media use has very little to do with the exposure of infants and young children. |
| | D) | most parents think television plays an important educational role for children. |
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| 12 | |
Anderson and Pempek, who review research suggesting potential problems with exposing very young children to television, find that |
| | A) | television clearly retards infant development. |
| | B) | most children do not enjoy television. |
| | C) | television watching is likely too passive of an activity to have significant educational benefits. |
| | D) | television seems to shape infants towards materialistic values. |
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| 13 | |
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which finds a correlation between media consumption and being overweight, food advertisers often target children because |
| | A) | they spend increasing amounts of money on food. |
| | B) | they are more likely than adults to develop brand allegiances. |
| | C) | they tend to eat more food than adults. |
| | D) | they tend to enjoy the advertising more than adults. |
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| 14 | |
The Federal Trade Commission asserts that there is no reason to suspect that food-related advertising has any causal relationship to the rise in childhood obesity. In fact, they report that |
| | A) | advertising promotes healthy choices. |
| | B) | children in 2004 saw fewer ads than children in 1977. |
| | C) | there are many factors contributing to childhood obesity, but television isn’t one of them. |
| | D) | children do not watch advertisements. |
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| 15 | |
The U.S. Government, which asserts that Head Start programs are not doing enough to close achievement gaps between children from different social class and ethnic groups, contends that |
| | A) | very young children need more time for play and social interaction. |
| | B) | very young children need better relationships with adults. |
| | C) | very young children need to work harder. |
| | D) | very young children need more exposure to academic skills. |
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| 16 | |
C. Cybele Raver and Edward F. Zigler, who argue that Head Start should maintain an emphasis on comprehensive services to young children, contend that |
| | A) | cognitive development cannot be separated from other aspects of early childhood. |
| | B) | young children need more time with their parents. |
| | C) | Head Start does not need any changes. |
| | D) | testing is the only way to ensure accountability. |
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| 17 | |
Michael Fumento, who asserts that ADHD is a serious condition that requires medical intervention, argues that |
| | A) | people are too quick to dismiss the reality of ADHD. |
| | B) | drug treatments do not work well enough. |
| | C) | poor parenting causes ADHD. |
| | D) | ADHD is equally present in boys and girls. |
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| 18 | |
Rogers H. Wright, who claims that ADHD is over-diagnosed as a way of explaining challenging behavior, contends that |
| | A) | ADHD is a common brain disease. |
| | B) | ADHD medication does more harm than good. |
| | C) | ADHD affects adults more than children. |
| | D) | ADHD is a gender specific disorder. |
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| 19 | |
Roy F. Baumeister and colleagues, who suggest that the evidence for self-esteem causing higher performance is lacking, contend that self-esteem |
| | A) | only influences mental health. |
| | B) | seems to cause school failure. |
| | C) | has been over-promoted by well intended practitioners. |
| | D) | has not received enough research attention. |
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| 20 | |
William B. Swann Jr. and his colleagues think the pessimism about the importance of self-views and self-esteem is misplaced because |
| | A) | self-esteem has a strong correlation with achievement. |
| | B) | self-esteem helps make everyone feel good. |
| | C) | self-esteem promotes healthy individualism. |
| | D) | self-esteem in the form of specific self-views does seem to matter. |
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| 21 | |
Mahoney, Harris, and Eccles, who argue that the “over-scheduling hypothesis” is a myth, find that |
| | A) | most youth participate in very few structured activities. |
| | B) | most youth feel pressure from parents to participate in more activities. |
| | C) | most youth succeed in competitive activities. |
| | D) | certain types of activities do tend to reduce well-being. |
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| 22 | |
Rosenfeld, who contends that over-scheduling is a significant problem for families and youth, contends that |
| | A) | youth who participate in no activities are often more healthy than other youth. |
| | B) | the research by Mahoney, Harris, and Eccles is limited because it is the only available study on this issue. |
| | C) | offerings of structured activities should be cut for all groups of youth. |
| | D) | the stress of over-scheduling influences family life as much as it influences individual youths. |
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| 23 | |
Nancy Signorielli, who believes violent media does have significant effects on us, contends that |
| | A) | there needs to be more research on teen violence. |
| | B) | television should be less accessible to teenagers. |
| | C) | media violence affects different people in different ways. |
| | D) | laws should be written to stop media violence. |
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| 24 | |
Jonathan L. Freedman, who claims that the connection between media violence and aggression is not as strong as people think, notes that |
| | A) | the majority of research studies show no effect of media violence. |
| | B) | professional groups often exaggerate the real research findings. |
| | C) | behavioral conditioning has no influence on behavior. |
| | D) | most people are reluctant to blame the media for violent behavior. |
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| 25 | |
Jean Twenge, who argues that contemporary emerging adults are increasingly narcissistic, finds that |
| | A) | a large minority of college students qualify as narcissistic. |
| | B) | two-thirds of college students qualify as narcissistic. |
| | C) | there is a disconnect between narcissism and self-esteem. |
| | D) | most students have a fragile sense of self-esteem. |
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| 26 | |
Jeffrey Jensen Arnett, who thinks the idea that emerging adults are selfish is a myth, asserts that |
| | A) | traditional markers of civic engagement have actually gone up over time. |
| | B) | emerging adults simply resist responsibility. |
| | C) | emerging adults are more unhappy than selfish. |
| | D) | emerging adults are more self-focused than selfish. |
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| 27 | |
Mel Levine, who suggests that today’s college graduates are not ready for adult life, states that |
| | A) | most employers are unhappy with this generation of workers. |
| | B) | most parents are unhappy with this generation of children. |
| | C) | most teachers are unhappy with this generation of students. |
| | D) | most college students are unhappy with their peers. |
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| 28 | |
Frank F. Furstenberg, et al., who suggest that today’s youth simply take longer to prepare for adulthood, claim that |
| | A) | less students today are going to college than in past generations. |
| | B) | more students are going into the military than in past generations. |
| | C) | adult responsibilities come later in life than in past generations. |
| | D) | most of today’s youth are eager for adult responsibilities. |
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| 29 | |
Sociologist Andrew Cherlin, who observes a deinstitutionalization of marriage, argues that the meaning of marriage has changed because of an increasing emphasis on |
| | A) | long-term commitment. |
| | B) | kin networks. |
| | C) | child rearing. |
| | D) | expressive individualism. |
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| 30 | |
Frank Furstenberg, who argues that marriage will persist with appropriate policy making, suggests that |
| | A) | families need to put renewed emphasis on marriage as an institution. |
| | B) | younger generations do not feel enough pressure from parents to get married. |
| | C) | the institution of marriage may have changed, but it is still important to society. |
| | D) | traditional marriage ceremonies are the ephemera of a bygone age. |
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| 31 | |
The American Psychological Association, which promotes the ability of lesbian and gay couples to be appropriate parents, would most likely agree with which of the following statements? |
| | A) | There is sufficient research on children of lesbian and gay parents during their adolescence and early adulthood. |
| | B) | Changes in the methodologies of recent research have not contributed information about children of lesbian and gay parents. |
| | C) | There is a high possibility that children of lesbian and gay parents experience variation in their psychological and social development as compared to their peers. |
| | D) | Society’s beliefs about lesbian and gay parenting are culturally transmitted and not based on real-world experiences or scientific data. |
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| 32 | |
Timothy J. Dailey, who asserts that homosexual couples should not be allowed to adopt children, suggests that homosexual parenting tends to be |
| | A) | very common. |
| | B) | more common than heterosexual parenting. |
| | C) | as common as heterosexual parenting. |
| | D) | very rare. |
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| 33 | |
David G. Myers, who contends that society has become too materialistic, emphasizes that |
| | A) | religion and spirituality lead to more altruistic behavior. |
| | B) | materialism only leads to happiness when combined with religion and spirituality. |
| | C) | politicians tend to oppose religion and faith. |
| | D) | religion and faith are never used towards negative ends. |
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| 34 | |
Julie Juola Exline, who suggests that being religious causes deep personal challenges, believes that |
| | A) | adhering to strict religious rules allows for better mental health. |
| | B) | religious people tend to be too agreeable. |
| | C) | religious people tend to have more anger than non-religious people. |
| | D) | being strongly religious often involves disappointment. |
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| 35 | |
John W. Rowe and Robert L. Kahn, who suggest specific characteristics that comprise “successful aging,” maintain that |
| | A) | older people need a great deal of time to rest and relax. |
| | B) | good health is not necessary to age well. |
| | C) | older people need to be actively engaged in life. |
| | D) | society prevents most people from experiencing “successful aging.” |
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| 36 | |
Martha B. Holstein and Meredith Minker, who assert that presenting only one model of “successful aging” is unfair to people in diverse circumstances, suggest that |
| | A) | older people have to take individual responsibility for their well-being. |
| | B) | the “decline and loss” paradigm is best for studying aging. |
| | C) | social conditions and personal biography dictate the meaning of “successful aging.” |
| | D) | gerontology needs to adopt positivist models of aging. |
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| 37 | |
Timothy J. Salthouse, who challenges the idea that mental exercises can enhance mental functioning in old age, contends that |
| | A) | any effects of mental exercise is likely specific to the tasks involved in the exercise. |
| | B) | mental exercises cause more fatigue and stress than they are worth. |
| | C) | mental exercises can easily create confusion among older adults. |
| | D) | there is no potential value to mental exercise. |
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| 38 | |
Carmi Schooler, who thinks mental exercise does slow cognitive decline in old age, has found that |
| | A) | all older adults should have access to brain gyms and fitness programs. |
| | B) | television and movies can provide an easy form of cognitive exercise. |
| | C) | being in a cognitively demanding environment leads to better functioning at any age. |
| | D) | mental exercise can reverse the effects of dementia. |
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| 39 | |
Richard T. Hull, who supports physician-assisted suicide, notes that the question of “what kind of life is worth living” is |
| | A) | a matter of religious authority. |
| | B) | a highly personal matter. |
| | C) | a matter for ethical philosophy. |
| | D) | a matter for government legislation. |
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| 40 | |
Margaret Somerville, who argues against physician-assisted suicide, suggests that |
| | A) | legalizing euthanasia would violate religious ethics. |
| | B) | legalizing euthanasia would harm our genetic legacy. |
| | C) | legalizing euthanasia would damage societal values. |
| | D) | legalizing euthanasia would allow death to maintain its mystery. |
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