Psychology And Life 2nd Canadian Edition By Richard – Test Bank

Chapter 11: Human Development across the Life Span

1) Which of the following is a weakness associated with longitudinal research?
A) It cannot measure the stability of behaviour.
B) Cultural experiences cannot be controlled.
C) It costs a lot in terms of time and money.
D) Historical influence cannot be controlled.
Answer: C
Diff: % correct 68 a= 9 b= 9 c= 68 d= 14 r = .16 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Factual

2) Dr. Halk is studying a group of 25 youngsters from the time they are born until they reach school age. This is known as _______ research.
A) cross-sectional
B) mixed design
C) longitudinal
D) historical
Answer: C
Diff: % correct 82 a= 14 b= 0 c= 82 d= 4 r = .50 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Applied

3) Dr. Halk is studying the influence of getting older on intelligence. He tests a group of first-graders, a group of third-graders, and a group of sixth-graders. They are all tested in one day. This is an example of _________ research.
A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) mixed design
D) fixed effects
Answer: A
Diff: % correct 79 a= 79 b= 7 c= 11 d= 4 r = .55 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Applied

4) Which of the following is an advantage of longitudinal research?
A) It takes a relatively short period of time.
B) It is quite flexible.
C) It can measure stability of behaviour.
D) It is extremely practical.
Answer: C
Diff: % correct 92 a= 4 b= 2 c= 92 d= 2 r = .23 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Factual

5) A developmental psychologist believes that increased TV watching by young children is responsible for a decline in reading scores when these children enter school. To explore her hypothesis, she records the TV watching habits of toddlers in a suburban community. She examines these habits again when the children enter kindergarten and once more when they complete first grade. This method is ________.
A) longitudinal
B) cross-sectional
C) convergent
D) experimental
Answer: A
Diff: % correct 71 a= 71 b= 7 c= 11 d= 4 r = .55 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Applied

6) Developmental norms are useful because they ___________________.
A) tell parents when their child will begin to talk
B) tell parents when their child is ready to talk
C) give an indication of future skills and potentials
D) alert parents to extreme developmental deviations
Answer: D
Diff: % correct 70 a= 2 b= 2 c= 26 d= 70 r = .26 Type: MC
Page Ref: 320
Skill: Conceptual

7) An audience of 20-year-olds finds a series of off-colour jokes highly amusing. A group of 50-year-olds finds the same jokes highly offensive. It is concluded that, as people age, their senses of humour become more rigid and narrow. The major difficulty in drawing conclusions of this sort is that _______.
A) longitudinal studies cannot distinguish between age differences and generational differences
B) cross-sectional studies cannot distinguish between age differences and generational differences
C) longitudinal studies cannot distinguish between age differences and differences in the time at which measurements are taken
D) cross-sectional studies cannot distinguish between age differences and differences in the time at which measurements are taken
Answer: B
Diff: % correct 59 a= 27 b= 59 c= 5 d= 9 r = .51 Type: MC
Page Ref: 322
Skill: Applied

8) A weakness of longitudinal studies is that they _______.
A) take far too long to gather the appropriate data
B) cannot eliminate sample biases
C) cannot distinguish age differences from cohort differences
D) do not distinguish significant from non-significant relationships
Answer: A
Diff: % correct 82 a= 82 b= 7 c= 7 d= 4 r = .24 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Factual

9) The description and explanation of behaviour changes in the individual and the differences between individuals from conception to death is called __________.
A) developmental psychology
B) the whole life approach
C) the life span development approach
D) the longitudinal method
Answer: C
Diff: % correct 73 a= 27 b= 0 c= 73 d= 0 r = .34 Type: MC
Page Ref: 320
Skill: Conceptual

10) Dr. Cross is studying whether the psychological trait of dependency vs. independence changes as one gets older. He collects data from first-, fourth-, and ninth-graders. Dr. Cross is studying the relationship between age and dependency/independence using _______ research.
A) longitudinal
B) cross-sectional
C) case study
D) applied
Answer: B
Diff: % correct 95 a= 5 b= 95 c= 0 d= 0 r = .73 Type: MC
Page Ref: 321
Skill: Applied