ASPPB Developmental Psychology 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Erikson's stage of 'Intimacy vs. Isolation' is associated with which period of life?
- Adolescence
- Early adulthood (Correct answer)
- Middle adulthood
- Late adulthood
Correct answer: Early adulthood
Young adults face the challenge of forming deep, committed relationships; failure leads to isolation and loneliness.
Question 2: A child who understands that a taller glass contains the same amount of liquid as a shorter, wider glass is demonstrating:
- Egocentrism
- Centration
- Decentration and conservation (Correct answer)
- Animism
Correct answer: Decentration and conservation
Decentration — attending to multiple dimensions simultaneously — underlies the achievement of conservation.
Question 3: Which of the following is an example of a sensitive period in development?
- The universal ability to learn any skill at any age with enough practice
- Early childhood as the optimal window for first-language acquisition (Correct answer)
- Adolescence as the only time personality can be formed
- Adulthood as the peak period for fluid intelligence
Correct answer: Early childhood as the optimal window for first-language acquisition
Sensitive periods are times of heightened neuroplasticity when certain experiences have their greatest impact, such as language acquisition in early childhood.
Question 4: Research on secular trends in puberty timing indicates that over the past century:
- The age of menarche has risen significantly
- Puberty onset has occurred progressively earlier (Correct answer)
- There has been no change in pubertal timing
- Boys now enter puberty earlier than girls
Correct answer: Puberty onset has occurred progressively earlier
Improved nutrition, health care, and environmental factors have contributed to earlier onset of puberty across successive generations.
Question 5: The Strange Situation procedure developed by Mary Ainsworth primarily measures:
- Cognitive development in toddlers
- Quality of infant-caregiver attachment (Correct answer)
- Temperamental reactivity to novelty
- Language acquisition milestones
Correct answer: Quality of infant-caregiver attachment
The Strange Situation is a standardized laboratory protocol that classifies attachment patterns (secure, anxious-avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, disorganized) based on infant behavior.
Question 6: According to Baltes's life-span developmental perspective, which principle states that development at every age involves both gains and losses?
- Plasticity
- Multidirectionality (Correct answer)
- Historical embeddedness
- Contextualism
Correct answer: Multidirectionality
Multidirectionality holds that development involves simultaneous growth in some areas and decline in others throughout the lifespan.
Question 7: Which cognitive ability tends to peak earliest in adulthood and then gradually decline?
- Crystallized intelligence
- Wisdom
- Fluid intelligence (Correct answer)
- Semantic memory
Correct answer: Fluid intelligence
Fluid intelligence — the capacity for abstract reasoning and novel problem-solving — peaks in early adulthood and declines with age.
ASPPB Developmental Psychology 4
Erikson's stage of 'Intimacy vs.
Isolation' is associated with which period of life?