Lifespan Development Midterm Exam
Brian is 2.5 years old. He dwells in his own imaginary world and represents objects that
are not present. He often scribbles patterns on walls that represent cloud, trees, birds,
and so on. Brian's behavior indicates that he is in Piaget's _____ of cognitive
development.
symbolic function substage
18-month-old Alan hates spinach but says, "Yum!" when he sees his mother eating her
favorite spinach casserole. This indicates that
he recognizes that someone else may have different desires from his own.
Kevin is just learning to walk. He can take a few steps by himself if he uses both hands
to hold on to a piece of furniture for support. He can walk to the middle of a room only if
one of his parents holds his hands. Which of the following represents the lower limit of
Kevin's zone of proximal development (ZPD) for walking?
Kevin walking alone by holding on to a piece of furniture with his hands
Jim, a 3-year-old boy, gets a box of colorful blocks as a birthday gift from his uncle. He
is excited to see the gift and demands to play with the blocks immediately. In the
context of physical and cognitive development in early childhood, when playing with the
blocks, Jim is most likely to
place each block on top of the other with intense concentration.
Toby is three years old. His parents are concerned because he always runs and jumps
around. He cannot sit still. Even when watching his favorite cartoon on TV, he fidgets
and wiggles. It is especially frustrating for his parents when Toby does not sit still
through dinner. Which of the following should Toby's parents do?
They should avoid panicking as Toby's behavior is normal for kids in his age group.
Dorothy is enrolled in a preschool where she spends much of her time in unstructured
activities. She plays with the toys she chooses, and her teacher acts as a facilitator
rather than a director. Which of the following approaches is Dorothy's preschool using?
the Montessori approach
Russell conducts an experiment to study children's theory of mind. He selects
participants and divides them into two groups. The first group consists of 3-year-olds,
whereas the second group consists of 5-year-olds. Russell takes a box of crayons and
places candies in them. He opens the box and shows it to both groups. Next, he asks
the first group what a child who has never seen the box will think is actually inside the
box. The group replies, "Candies!" To the same question, the second group replies,
"Crayons!" This scenario illustrates that
,children younger than 4 years old do not understand that it is possible to have a false
belief.
Irene conducts a laboratory experiment to test the memory of children. She rapidly
reads out a list of colors to three children aged 4, 6, and 13 years. The children are then
asked to repeat the names of the colors. Irene notices that the 6-year-old and the 13-
year-old are able to recall more colors than the 4-year-old. This experiment illustrates
that
memory span varies from one individual to another.
Who among the following five-year-olds is most likely to be the tallest?
Tyrone who is an African American, urban, middle-socioeconomic-status, firstborn boy.
Over the past week, Walter has been learning to tie his shoelaces. Initially, his mother
held his hands and worked his fingers through the process. Now that Walter is better at
it, she only guides him verbally. This is an example of _____.
Scaffolding
Which of the following scenarios best represents Lev Vygotsky's view of mental and
behavioral development?
An instructor helps students with laboratory work showing them how to do things the
students cannot do yet.
Sandra is informed by a pediatrician that her four-year-old son, Manuel, has gained six
pounds over the last one year. Sandra should
be content that this is normal for Manuel's age.
Patsy is a 5-year-old girl. She participates in a laboratory experiment in which random
alphabets are rapidly read out to her. After 20 seconds, she is asked to recall those
alphabets. In the context of information processing, this experiment has been conducted
to assess Patsy's
short-term memory.
Olivia, 3-year-old girl, loves to play with her toy train. She names it Max and takes it with
her everywhere. One day, while drinking milk, she spills the milk on the floor. To avoid
being scolded, Olivia tells her mother that Max has spilled the milk. Another day, she
blames Max for soiling her dress. In the context of cognitive development in early
childhood, this scenario illustrates the concept of
animism.
Fred and Wayne are 4-year-olds. When they are together, they often wrestle, run, race,
push, and shove each other. Although their activities often aggravate their parents,
these activities will
help the boys develop their gross motor skills.
, Three-year-old Ruth draws a picture with lavender, purple, and blue colors intermixed
with green, yellow, and brown. "It is a boat in the ocean at sunset, with whales jumping
all around it!" she explains to her teacher. Which of the following does this explain?
the symbolic function substage
Ted is in a Tools of the Mind classroom. His teacher guides him in planning his own
message by drawing a line to stand for each word he says. Ted then repeats the
message, pointing to each line as he says the word. Finally, he writes on the lines,
trying to represent each word with some letters or symbols. This process is called
scaffolding writing.
Karla is a single mother of a 5-year-old son. She works in a bakery on a meager salary.
Recently, she found out about a government-funded program that provides children
from low-income families with the opportunity to acquire the skills important for success
in school. The program aims to improve substandard education and alleviate poverty.
Karla decides to apply for the program. The program being referred to in this scenario is
Project Head Start
Natalie is 4 years old. When she buttons her shirt, she talks to herself and describes the
steps. This helps her in self-regulating and guiding her behavior. In the context of
cognitive and physical development in early childhood, this scenario illustrates the
concept of
private speech.
Irene is a 3-year-old girl. Her father takes her to a nearby park in the evening. In the
context of the development of gross motor skills in children her age, identify an activity
that Irene is mostly likely to do at the park.
She will hop and jump just for the sheer delight of performing these activities.
Dante is a 10-year-old boy who likes to play soccer during recess. One day, a friend
teaches him a different set of rules about the game. Dante accepts the rules and now
plays soccer in a new way. Dante is in which stage of moral development?
autonomous morality
Marjorie's son places last in a running race in his school. This makes him upset. He
comes home and tells his mother about the result of the competition. His mother initially
ignores him thinking that he will stop thinking about the competition. Later, when she
sees that her son is still upset, she tries to distract him from the negative emotion by
trying to change it. Marjorie's way of talking to her son about his negative emotions
indicates that Marjorie is a(n) _____.
emotion-dismissing parent
Carl and Tulip are getting a divorce and want to know how they can best communicate
the news to their young children. Ellen Galinsky and Judy David would suggest that
the children be told that they are not the cause of the separation.
