Life Span Development Quiz

Which of the following best describes the main focus of developmental psychology?

• How genes influence behavior in non-human animals

• How people grow and change across the lifespan

• How society controls population growth

• How psychological disorders are diagnosed

A researcher compares the memory performance of 10-, 20-, and 30-year-olds at one time. What type of study is this?

• Longitudinal

• Sequential

• Cross-sectional

• Experimental

Which statement about the continuity vs. stages issue is most accurate?

• Development happens in sudden, dramatic leaps only.

• Development always follows the same fixed stages.

• Some changes are gradual, while others occur in distinct steps.

• Development stops after adolescence.

A researcher follows a group of 100 children from age 5 to age 25, testing their reasoning skills every five years. This design is:

• Longitudinal

• Cross-sectional

• Time-lag

• Experimental

Which of the following best defines a critical period in development?

• A time when growth slows down

• A time when a certain event must occur for normal development

• A time when the brain loses plasticity

• A time when personality becomes fixed

If a psychologist finds that people born after 2010 perform differently on memory tests than those born before 1980—because of differences in technology exposure—this illustrates a:

• Time-of-measurement effect

• Sampling bias

• Cohort effect

• Longitudinal confound

Which of the following is an example of plasticity?

• A child’s attachment forming during infancy

• A teenager learning to drive

• An older adult recovering language ability after a stroke

• A toddler learning to walk

Which research design combines both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods?

• Correlational

• Experimental

• Sequential

• Quasi-experimental

Why is most developmental research considered quasi-experimental rather than “true” experimental?

• It involves laboratory animals.

• Researchers cannot randomly assign people to age groups.

• It never uses control groups.

• It always uses surveys instead of experiments.

Twin studies are often used to explore which major question in psychology?

• How lifespan has increased over time

• How personality changes with age

• How heredity and environment interact

• How cohort effects influence intelligence