Psych 5.5 Reading Questions, 2025-26

How might a child raised with a permissive parenting style develop differently than one raised with an authoritative style?

• • Identify and define both the permissive and authoritative parenting styles from the reading.

• • Describe how each parenting style might influence the development of secure or insecure attachment in childhood.

• • Explain how these styles could affect a child's long-term emotional or social outcomes using evidence from the reading.

Compare Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to your personal experiences growing up.

• • Define Bronfenbrenner’s theory using a quote or paraphrase from the reading.

• • Identify two specific “environments” from your own life (e.g., home, school, community) and explain how they influenced your development.

• • Analyze how these examples support or challenge Bronfenbrenner’s ideas about social and emotional growth.

Imagine you're explaining secure and insecure attachment to a friend who just became a parent.

• • Define both “secure attachment” and “insecure attachment” using the reading.

• • Use examples from the reading to describe how an infant with each attachment style might behave in a “strange situation.”

• • Reflect on why this knowledge might be important for new parents and how it could shape their approach to caregiving.

Evaluate the influence of culture on parenting styles and attachment, using both the reading and your observations.

• • Identify how Western and Asian cultural values influence child-rearing approaches, based on the text.

• • Provide one example from your own experience or observation that either supports or contradicts the reading’s claim about cultural influences on attachment.

• • Conclude whether cultural values or individual parenting choices have more impact on attachment, and justify your position.

How does a child's temperament influence the type of attachment they form with caregivers?

• • Define “temperament” using the reading.

• • Describe two contrasting examples of infant temperaments and how each might lead to either secure or insecure attachment.

• • Analyze how understanding temperament could help caregivers support a child’s socio-emotional development.

Why is it important to distinguish between attachment behavior driven by nourishment versus body contact?

• • Explain the older belief about attachment based on nourishment, and the updated finding based on body contact.

• • Provide an example from the reading that supports the updated explanation.

• • Evaluate how this shift in understanding has changed how psychologists and parents view infant-caregiver bonding.

Predict what challenges might arise for a child raised in a neglectful parenting environment, based on the reading.

• • Define the neglectful parenting style using the reading.

• • Predict two emotional or social challenges that may occur for a child raised in this environment, based on developmental patterns discussed.

• • Argue whether early intervention could reverse the effects of neglectful parenting and support your claim with evidence.

Using Carl Jung’s idea of legacy and human connection from the reading’s conclusion, reflect on how parenting influences society.

• • Restate Jung’s perspective as it appears in the reading.

• • Provide one example from the reading that illustrates how parenting affects long-term development in children.

• • Reflect on how this broader view of parenting might influence societal values or public policy related to child development.