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NCE Practice Test with Explanations
Questions With Verified Answers
Susie is playing with blocks and is trying to build a tower; she tries but cannot build a tower.
Susie's mother helps her build a four-block tower. Later, Susie builds a four-block tower without
her mother's help. According to Vygotsky, the inability to build the tower on
her own is known as:
a. scaffolding
b. the zone of proximal development
c. assisted discovery
d. learning by imitation - answer✔b. the zone of proximal development
"Scaffolding" is a term used by Vygotsky that explains what Susie's mother is doing.
She is adjusting her level of support to Susie based on Susie's level of performance. The zone of
proximal development involves a range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to do alone but
possible to do with the help of adults or other, more-skilled children. "Assisted discovery" is
another term used by Vygotsky to describe learning situations that a teacher sets up within a
classroom so that children are guided into discovering learning. Learning by imitation is a type
of learning that involves a child watching someone perform a task and later performing the task
by herself.
According to Erickson, when an individual fails to develop a strong sense of identity, the
individual will have troubles with the development of:
a. autonomy
b. initiative
c. intimacy
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d. integrity - answer✔c. . intimacy
In Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, individuals who fail to achieve the goal of the
lower level of development will have problems attaining the developmental task at the next stage
of development. In the example above, the individual failed to achieve identity, which occurs
during adolescence. Therefore, in young adulthood, the individual will have problems attaining
intimacy, which is the developmental task to be achieved at this level. For autonomy, the
individual would have to have failed to attain basic trust; for initiative, the individual would have
to have failed to attain autonomy; and for integrity, the individual would have to have failed to
attain generativity.
Which of the following is the correct sequence of stages in Freud's theory of personality
development?
a. Oral, genital, latency, anal, phallic
b. Genital, anal, phallic, oral, latency
c. Latency, phallic, oral, anal, genital
d. Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital - answer✔d. Oral, anal, phallic, latency, genital
The best way to remember Freud's psychosexual stages of development is to think about what
key tasks individuals do throughout childhood. The first thing infants do is suck (oral). Next,
babies begin toilet training (anal), then discover the difference between boys and girls (phallic).
Next, children spend time growing physically and cognitively but are latent in the psychosexual
realm (not focusing on anything sexual); finally, puberty sets in and they begin to think about sex
again and are focused on their own genitals.
Jacob's father tells Jacob to clean his room. When Jacob asks why, his father responds, "Because
I said so." The father's response is most representative of which parenting style?
a. Uninvolved
b. Authoritarian
c. Authoritative
d. Permissive - answer✔b. Authoritarian
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The authoritarian parenting style uses coercive techniques and psychological control to discipline
children, whereas the authoritative parenting style emphasizes some control but allows for some
independence. The uninvolved parenting style rarely uses any control and the parent seems to be
indifferent to the child's level of independence. In the permissive parenting style, the parents are
typically overindulgent with the child. They exert very little control and are lenient when it
comes to granting independence to the child.
Harry Harlow used baby monkeys and several different kinds of "surrogate mothers" to
investigate which factors are important in early development and attachment. According to his
findings, baby monkeys:
a. preferred a soft terrycloth "mother" to a wire-mesh "mother" that held a bottle
b. preferred a wire-mesh "mother" that held a bottle to a soft terrycloth "mother"
c. showed no preference
d. preferred neither "mother" - answer✔a. preferred a soft terrycloth "mother" to a wire-mesh
"mother" that held a bottle
In Harry Harlow's experiments, he found that baby monkeys preferred physical comfort to
hunger satisfaction. In other words, the baby monkeys wanted to be close to a soft terrycloth
"mother" rather than a wire-mesh "mother," even though the latter presented food. Therefore,
attachment involves more than hunger satisfaction. It involves having close contact with a
"loving" caregiver.
Which of the following is a myth about suicide in the United States?
a. Male suicide is four times higher than that among females.
b. It occurs in age groups of 90 years and up.
c. Psychiatrists, physicians, and dentists are most prone.
d. Asking someone about suicide may push that person over the edge. - answer✔d. Asking
someone about suicide may push that person over the edge.
If someone is thinking about suicide, asking that person about suicide will not plant the seed or
push her into committing suicide. It is important that as a counselor, you ask clients about suicide
so that they can get the help they need. It is necessary to assess suicidality whenever you suspect
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that someone is contemplating it or behaving in ways that may suggest that she is contemplating
it. It is best practice to assess for suicidality at each session with your clients. Suicide knows no
age boundaries. Females attempt suicide at a rate three times higher than males, but males are
successful more often, usually because
they use more lethal methods than females.
Cody does what his parents say because he doesn't want to lose his television privileges.
This is an example of what level in Kohlberg's theory of moral development?
a. Integrity versus despair
b. Preconventional
c. Conventional
d. Postconventional - answer✔b. Preconventional
Integrity versus despair is one of the stages in Erickson's psychosocial developmental theory.
Kohlberg postulated that in the first level, preconventional, individuals are concerned with
consequences imposed upon them for wrongdoing. Thus, in the example, Cody wanted to avoid
being punished by having his television privileges taken away. At the conventional level, an
individual wants to conform to societal rules so that authority rules and order is maintained. At
the postconventional level, individuals define morality in terms of universal values and altruism.
Josie likes to play peek-a-boo with her little brother, Jack. According to Piaget, Jack finds this
game fun because he has acquired ____________, which is one of the primary tasks of the
sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.
a. conservation
b. dual representation
c. object permanence
d. reversibility - answer✔c. object permanence
Piaget proposed that there are four stages of cognitive development. The first stage is the
sensorimotor stage, whereby the infant or toddler recognizes that even though
