WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 1
Understanding How and Why
What are the five steps of the scientific method?||(1) Pose a question; (2) develop a hypothesis; (3) test the hypothesis (usually by doing research); (4) draw conclusions; and (5) report the results.
Why is replication important?||Replication confirms, modifies, or refutes the conclusions of a scientific study.
What basic question is at the heart of the nature–nurture controversy?||The basic question is: How much of any characteristic, behavior, or emotion is the result of genes, and how much is the result of experience?
What is the difference between “genetics” and “epigenetics?”||The term “genetics” refers to the influence of genes. “Epigenetics” is a new discipline that explores the many ways environmental factors affect genes and genetic expression.
How might differential susceptibility apply to understanding students’ varied responses to a low exam grade?||This concept applies here because it explains that people vary in how sensitive they are to particular experiences, depending on their genetic makeup. Some students might take a poor grade to mean that they are failures, while others shrug off the low grade and know to try harder next time.
What are the three domains of development?||The three domains are biological, cognitive, and psychosocial.
How does multidisciplinary research connect with the three domains?||The interaction between and among domains is essential to understanding the whole developing person. Every individual is a tapestry of many-colored threads, and every aspect of growth touches on all three domains.
The Life-Span Perspective
How can both continuity and discontinuity be true for human development?||Development is multi-directional; if human traits were all charted over time from birth to death, some traits would appear while others disappear, with increases, decreases, and zigzags.
What are some of the contexts of your life?||Development takes place within many contexts, including one’s physical surroundings (climate, noise, population density, etc.) and family configurations (married couple, single parent, cohabiting couple, extended family, etc.).
How does the exosystem affect children’s schooling?||Exosystems (community structures, and local educational, medical, employment, and communications systems) influence microsystems, which intimately and immediately shape human development. In this example, the school’s structure and administration (the exosystem) influence a child’s classroom and teacher (the microsystem), which intimately and immediately shape his or her development.
What are some cohort differences between your generation and the one of your parents?||Answers can include (but are not limited to) the values, events, technologies, and culture of each era.
What factors comprise a person’s SES (socioeconomic status)?||Answers can include (but are not limited to) income, occupation, education, neighborhood, and family size.
Can you think of an example (not one in the book) of a social construction?||Stereotypes—such as assuming from media coverage that Catholic priests are sexual predators (the vast majority of them are most certainly not)—are social constructions.
What is the difference between race and ethnicity?||The term race has been used to categorize people on the basis of physical differences, particularly outward appearance. Ethnicity is a different social construction, affected by the social context rather than a direct outcome of biology.
How does a culture pass on values to the next generation, according to Vygotsky?||Vygotsky believed mentors use the universal process of guided participation to teach children cultural knowledge, skills, and habits. Guided participation often happens informally, through mutual involvement in several widespread cultural practices with great importance for learning: narratives, routines, and play.
In what two contrasting ways is human development plastic?||The term plasticity denotes two complementary aspects of development: Human traits can be molded (as plastic can be), and yet people maintain a certain durability of identity (as plastic does).
What is implied when human development is described as dynamic?||Human development is an ongoing, ever-changing interaction between the body and mind and between the individual and every aspect of the environment.
Theories of Human Development
What is the role of the unconscious in Freud’s theory?||In Freud’s theory, our unconscious drives and motives influence every aspect of our thinking and behavior.
What are the stages envisioned by Freud?||Oral (birth to 1 year); anal (1 to 3 years); phallic (3 to 6 years); latency (6 to 11 years); genital (adolescence); and adulthood
How do Erikson’s stages differ from Freud’s?||Erikson’s stages differ significantly from Freud’s in that they emphasize family and culture, not sexual urges.
How is behaviorism a reaction to psychoanalytic theory?||Behaviorism arose in direct opposition to the psychoanalytic emphasis on unconscious, hidden urges. Behaviorists emphasize nurture, the specific, observable responses from other people and the environment to whatever a developing person does.
How do classical and operant conditioning differ?||In classical conditioning, one stimulus may be associated with another (tone-then-food sequence with Pavlov’s dogs). With operant conditioning, reinforcement and punishment may guide future behavior.
How is social learning connected to behaviorism?||The social learning theory is a major extension of behaviorism because it argues that humans are social beings—they learn from observation without personally receiving any reinforcement.
What is the basic idea of cognitive theory?||Cognitive theory focuses on changes in how people think over time. According to this theory, thoughts shape attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors.
How does information processing differ from Piaget’s theory?||Unlike Piaget’s stage theory, information processing provides a detailed description of the steps of cognition, with attention to perceptual and neurological processes.
According to Maslow, what are the needs of a person?||Physiological (needing food, water, warmth, and air); safety (feeling protected from injury and death); love and belonging (having loving friends, family, and a community); esteem (being respected by the wider community as well as by oneself); and self-actualization (becoming truly oneself, fulfilling one’s unique potential).
Why is humanism particularly relevant for the medical professions?||Medical professionals realize that pain can be physical (the first two levels) or social (the next two), and they are aware that their focus on physical health might overlook the person’s higher needs.
How does evolutionary theory apply to human development?||Evolutionary theory contends that to understand human development, one needs to recognize what was adaptive thousands of years ago. Some of the best human qualities, such as cooperation, spirituality, and self-sacrifice, may have originated thousands of years ago, when groups of people survived because they took care of one another.
Using the Scientific Method
Why do careful observations not prove “what causes what?”||Observation is crucial in developing hypotheses for the causes and sequences of behavior, but experiments are needed to determine cause-and-effect relationships.
Why do experimenters use a control (or comparison) group as well as an experimental group?||The purpose of an experiment is to find out whether an independent variable (the imposed treatment or special condition) affects the dependent variable (whatever they are studying); therefore, one needs to compare the impact of the independent variable on one group that receives the independent variable (the experimental group) and one group that does not (the control group).
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the survey method?||The biggest strengths of the survey method are that it is quick and direct. Its biggest weakness is that answers may not be accurate because people may lie, want to come across favorably, or be influenced by the wording of the questions.
Why would a scientist conduct a cross-sectional study?||It is the quickest and least expensive way to study development over time.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal research?||The biggest advantage of longitudinal research is that it is useful in tracing development over many years. Disadvantages include dropout of participants, participants becoming increasingly aware of the questions or the goals of the study, and the influence of the historical context.
Why do developmentalists prefer cross-sequential research, even though it takes longer and is more expensive?||This research allows researchers to study several groups of people of different ages and then follow those groups over the years. This type of research is the most time-consuming and complex, but it yields the best information.
Why does correlation not prove causation?||Just because two variables are correlated does not mean that one causes the other—even if it seems logical that it does. It proves only that the variables are connected somehow.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative research?||Quantitative research data can be categorized, ranked, or numbered and thus can be easily translated across cultures and for diverse populations. However, when data are presented in categories and numbers, some nuances and individual distinctions are lost.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research?||Qualitative research reflects cultural and contextual diversity, but it is also more vulnerable to bias and harder to replicate.
What is the role of the IRB?||An IRB, or Institutional Review Board, is a group that permits only research that follows certain guidelines. Most medical and educational institutions have an IRB to maintain strict ethical codes and standards.
Why should a study not be done without informed consent and confidentiality?||Participants must be kept confidential and give informed consent to prove they understand and agree to the research procedures and know what risks are involved. A dilemma occurs when severe consequences might follow either participation or non-participation.
What reasons might a political leader have to not fund developmental research?||A political leader may not want to fund this type of research because of potential unethical research. Some of the benefits (promotion, acclaim) of publishing remarkable, unreplicated findings encourage unethical research, such as slanting conclusions.
What is one additional question that you can think of about development that you think should be answered?||Possible examples may include but are not limited to the following: Do we know enough about prenatal drug use to protect every fetus? Do we know enough about dying to enable everyone to die with dignity? Do we know enough about poverty to enable everyone to be healthy?
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 2
Life Begins
What is the relationship among DNA, chromosomes, and genes?||All living things are composed of cells that promote growth and sustain life according to instructions in their molecules of DNA. Each molecule of DNA is called a chromosome. Chromosomes contain units of instructions called genes, with each gene located on a particular chromosome.
Why is it said that your parents could have given you millions of different siblings?||When a sperm and an ovum combine, the zygote they create is a new cell in which the genes on one of eight million possible sperm from the father interact with the genes on one of the eight million possible ova from the mother. This is how your parents could have given you an astronomical number of siblings, each unique.
What surprises came from the Human Genome Project?||One of the surprises from the Human Genome Project was that humans have far fewer than 100,000 genes, the number everyone believed throughout the twentieth century. People actually have between 18,000 and 23,000 genes, fewer than dogs and mice. The project also found that it is not always clear where one gene ends and another begins, and any two men or women of any ethnicity share 99.5 percent of their genetic code.
How is the sex of a zygote determined?||The sex of the zygote depends on which sperm penetrates the ovum—a Y sperm, creating a boy (XY), or an X sperm, creating a girl (XX).
How do monozygotic twins, dizygotic twins, and nontwin siblings differ?||Monozygotic twins, also known as identical twins, originate from one zygote that splits apart very early in development; as a result, they have identical genetic makeup. Dizygotic twins, also called fraternal twins, are formed when two separate sperm fertilize two separate ova at roughly the same time. Like nontwin siblings, they share half of their genes and can look quite similar. The main difference between dizygotic twins and nontwin siblings is whether or not they are in utero at the same time.
How could a child inherit a disease neither parent has?||If one of his parents is a carrier for that disease, he could inherit the disease. A carrier has a genotype that includes a gene that is not expressed in the phenotype. Such an unexpressed gene occurs in half the carrier’s gametes and therefore is passed on to half the carrier’s children.
How is diabetes both genetic and not genetic?||Although people can inherit genes that put them at risk for type 2 (non-juvenile) diabetes, not every one of them becomes diabetic. Their lifestyle—especially having excess body fat and getting little exercise—might activate their genetic risk. At some point, epigenetic changes make diabetes irreversible.
From Zygote to Newborn
What major event occurs to end the germinal period?||About ten days after conception, implantation occurs, in which the developing organism burrows into the tissue that lines the uterus, where it will be nourished. It is here that the formless mass of cells takes shape and becomes a new embryo.
What body parts develop during the embryonic period?||The brain and spinal column, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth start to form, as do the heart, arms, and legs. This is followed by the upper arm, forearm, palms, webbed fingers, legs, knees, feet, and webbed toes.
What crucial developments occur about halfway through the fetal period?||Mid-pregnancy (months four through six) is the period of the greatest brain growth of the entire life span. The brain increases about six times in size and develops many new neurons and synapses, as well as divides into hemispheres. The entire central nervous system begins to regulate basic body functions such as breathing and sucking. Advances in neurological functioning at the end of this trimester allow the fetus to reach the age of viability, which means that life outside the womb is possible.
What five vital signs does the Apgar scale measure?||Heart rate, respiratory effort, muscle tone, color, and reflexes
What are the advantages and disadvantages of cesarean sections?||Cesareans are usually safe for mother and baby, saving lives when the fetal head is too large for the pelvis. They are advantageous for hospitals and for women who want to plan when to give birth. In terms of disadvantages, C-sections increase medical complications after birth and reduce breast-feeding. Children born by Cesarean have double the rate of childhood obesity by age 3. This may be because of a lack of beneficial bacteria in the guts of babies delivered surgically.
In what ways do doulas support women before, during, and after labor?||Doulas time contractions, use massage, provide encouragement, and do whatever else is helpful to women in labor. In the United States, doulas typically help couples decide when to leave home, avoiding long waits between hospital admittance and birth. Laboring mothers and their doulas are often together from early labor to the first breastfeeding of the newborn.
What in the newborn’s appearance and behavior helps with parental bonding?||A newborn’s appearance (big hairless head, tiny toes, and so on) causes new parents to swoon and feel protective over their new baby. Newborns stare, cry, stop crying, and cuddle in their first hours of life, which aids in bonding.
How do fathers experience pregnancy and birth?||Many fathers experience biological symptoms of pregnancy and birth along with their partners. They may experience weight gain and indigestion during pregnancy and pain during labor, indicative of a phenomenon known as couvade.
What are the signs of postpartum depression?||A new mother might seem euphoric after birth—unable to sleep, stop talking, or keep from worrying. A crash might follow this high; she may have trouble caring for her newborn because she is overwhelmed by sadness and feelings of inadequacy.
Problems and Solutions
What are the consequences if an infant is born with trisomy-21?||Most people born with trisomy-21, also called Down syndrome, have specific facial characteristics including a thick tongue, round face, and slanted eyes. Many also have hearing problems, heart abnormalities, muscle weakness, and short stature. They are usually slower to develop intellectually, especially in language, though their eventual intellect varies.
Why are some recessive traits (such as sickle-cell) quite common?||The reason is evolutionary—carriers of certain recessive disorders were protected from deadly diseases. For example, sickle-cell carriers are unlikely to die from malaria, which was a major killer of those living in Africa.
How does the timing of exposure to a teratogen affect the risk of harm to the fetus?||Some teratogens cause damage only during a critical period of development. For example, rubella can cause blindness and deafness if the exposure occurs during the embryonic period; if later (in the first or second trimester), exposure can cause brain damage.
How do genes increase or decrease risk to a fetus?||Genes can influence the effects of teratogens. For example, the Y chromosome makes male fetuses more vulnerable. They are more likely to be spontaneously aborted or stillborn and more likely to be harmed by teratogens than female fetuses are. Maternal genes may be important during pregnancy. One allele results in low levels of folic acid in a woman’s bloodstream. Her deficiency, via the placenta, affects the embryo, which may develop neural-tube defects.
What are the potential consequences of drinking alcohol during pregnancy?||Early in pregnancy, an embryo exposed to heavy drinking can develop fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), which distorts the facial features, especially the eyes, ears, and upper lip. Later in pregnancy, alcohol is a behavioral teratogen, the cause of fetal alcohol effects (FAE), leading to hyperactivity, poor concentration, impaired spatial reasoning, and slow learning.
What are the benefits of prenatal care?||Prenatal care can help keep mother and baby healthy. Doctors can spot health problems early when they see mothers regularly. This allows doctors to treat them early. Doctors also can talk to pregnant women about things they can do to give their unborn babies a healthy start to life.
What are the differences among LBW, VLBW, and ELBW?||Low birthweight (LBW) is defined as weight less than 2,500 grams (5 pounds, 8 ounces). This group is further grouped into two subgroups: very low birthweight (VLBW), which is less than 1,500 grams (3 pounds, 5 ounces); and extremely low birthweight (ELBW), which is less than 1,000 grams (2 pounds, 3 ounces).
What would cause a newborn to be LBW?||Being born preterm, maternal or fetal illness, maternal psychoactive drug use, and maternal malnutrition can all cause a baby to be LBW.
What are the consequences of low birthweight in childhood and adulthood?||Many LBW infants are late in milestones such as smiling, holding a bottle, walking, and talking. Cognitive difficulties as well as visual and hearing impairments may emerge as time passes. Even in adulthood, some risks persist—those born LBW have higher rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
Nature and Nurture
How has our understanding of alcohol use disorder changed from earlier centuries?||For thousands of years, people considered the abuse of alcohol and other drugs to be a moral weakness, a social scourge, or a personality defect. We now know that the disorder is as much biological as cultural. Genes create an addictive pull that can be overpowering, extremely weak, or somewhere in between, as each person’s biochemistry reacts to alcohol differently.
What are the sex and gender differences in alcohol use disorder?||For biological reasons (body size, fat composition, metabolism), women become drunk on less alcohol than men, and women who are heavy drinkers double their risk of mortality compared to men. Many cultures encourage men to drink but not women.
What is the evidence that vision is inherited?||One study of British twins found that the Pax6 gene, which governs eye formation, has many alleles that make people somewhat nearsighted. Heritability is almost 90 percent, which means that if one monozygotic British twin was myopic (nearsighted), the other twin is almost always myopic, too.
What is the evidence that vision depends on outdoor play?||Many feel that nearsightedness is more prevalent than it used to be because of the amount of time we spend inside. National data collected of children playing sports have led ophthalmologists to suggest that the underlying cause of myopia among Americans is inadequate time spent in daylight.
Why do nations in East Asia have lower rates of alcohol use disorder and higher rates of nearsightedness than elsewhere?||Many East Asians sweat and become red-faced after just a few sips of alcohol, a physiological response that may lead to a psychological reaction—embarrassment and abstinence. This inherited “flushing” tendency not only makes alcohol addiction rare, but it also improves metabolism. Also, East Asian children are amazingly proficient in math and science. As their developing eyes focus on their books, those with a genetic vulnerability to myopia may lose acuity for objects far away.
How does age affect vision?||Newborns are only able to focus on things within one to three feet of their eyes. Vision improves steadily until about age 10. The eyeball changes shape at puberty, increasing myopia, and again in middle age, decreasing myopia.
How might an awareness of genetic risks influence parents’ behavior before, during, and after pregnancy?||Awareness of genetic risks alerts parents to set priorities and act on them, and it helps professionals advise pregnant women. Care must be taken to keep pregnancy and birth from being an anxious time, filled with restrictions and fears about diet, diseases, drugs, and other possible dangers. Indeed, stress reduces the chance of conception, increases the chance of prenatal damage, and slows down the birth process.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 3
Growth in Infancy
Why is it not a problem if an infant is consistently at the 20th percentile in height and weight?||Consistency is normal; inconsistency—when percentile changes markedly, either up or down—is not normal. If an average baby moves from the 50th to the 20th percentile, that could be the first sign of failure to thrive.
How do sleep patterns change over the first 18 months?||Hours of sleep decrease rapidly with maturity: The norm per day for the first two months is 14 ¼ hours; for the next three months, 13 ¼ hours; and between six and 17 months of age, 12 ¾ hours.
What are the reasons for and against co-sleeping?||Some mothers, especially those in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, support co-sleeping and believe that separating mother and child at night is cruel. Many believe it is also easier to breastfeed and tend to a waking infant while co-sleeping. Others believe that sleeping alone may encourage independence for both child and adult—a quality valued in some cultures. Studies show that SIDS is twice as likely when babies sleep beside their parents.
How does the brain change from birth to age 2?||In the first two years of life, the brain grows more rapidly than any other organ, being about 25 percent of adult weight at birth and almost 75 percent at age two. Brain circumference during this time also increases from about 14 to 19 inches.
How does communication occur within the central nervous system?||The cells of the central nervous system are called neurons. Each neuron has a single axon and numerous dendrites, which spread out like the branches of a tree, making connections with the dendrites and axons of other neurons. Neurons communicate by sending electrochemical impulses through their axons to synapses to be picked up by the dendrites of other neurons.
How can pruning increase brain potential?||Pruning is important for the initial organization of the brain; it also increases brainpower.
What is the difference between experience-expectant and experience-dependent brain function?||Brain development is experience-expectant when it must happen for normal brain maturation to occur. In contrast, certain facets of brain development are experience-dependent: They result from experiences that differ from one infant to another, resulting in brains that also differ.
What should caregivers remember about brain development when an infant cries?||Infants cry as a reflex to pain, but they are too immature to decide to stop crying.
How does an infant’s vision change over the first year?||Vision improves so rapidly in the first year that researchers find it difficult to describe the day-by-day improvements. By 2 months, infants stare at faces and begin to smile. Three-month-olds look closely at the eyes and mouth, smiling more at happy faces than at angry or expressionless ones. By 4 months, binocular vision develops. In addition, depth perception is usually present by 3 months, but understanding depth takes experience and more mobility.
How do infants’ senses strengthen their early social interactions?||Newborns and young babies’ strongest sense is hearing. Familiar, rhythmic sounds such as a heartbeat help soothe them, and the sounds of their caregivers’ voices get them accustomed to their native language. Infants’ rapidly improving vision means that they can be distracted by interesting sights when fussy and can offer social smiles to their caregivers by about 2 months. Taste and smell help them appreciate the smells and foods of their culture, first through breast milk and later through bites of the family dinner. Their sense of touch can help them relax through cradling, massage, rocking, etc.
In what two directions do infants’ gross motor skills emerge?||Gross motor skills proceed in a cephalocaudal (head-down) and proximodistal (center-out) direction.
Which fine motor skills are developed in infancy?||Newborns have a strong reflexive grasp but lack control. By 3 months, infants can touch objects dangling within reach. By 4 months, infants can sometimes grab, though their timing is often off. By 6 months, however, most babies can reach, grab, and grasp almost any object that is the proper size. Toward the end of the first year, finger skills improve as babies master the pincer grip.
Surviving in Good Health
Why do public health doctors wish that all infants worldwide would get immunized?||Immunization primes the body’s immune system to resist a particular disease. Within the past 50 years, immunization eliminated smallpox and dramatically reduced chicken pox, flu, measles, mumps, pneumonia, polio, rotavirus, tetanus, and whooping cough. Now, scientists seek to immunize against HIV/AIDS, malaria, Ebola, and other viral diseases.
Why would a parent blame immunization for autism spectrum disorder?||Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder may be angry or confused about how their child developed ASD. They may seek to blame something other than genes or teratogens, but the fear that infant immunization leads to ASD is unfounded. Children who are not immunized are no less likely to have autism spectrum disorder but are much more likely to become sick.
What is herd immunity?||When children are vaccinated and stop transmission of a disease, thus protecting others who are vulnerable, a phenomenon called herd immunity occurs. Public health doctors worry when too many parents avoid immunization, because herd immunity decreases as a result.
What are the reasons for exclusive breast-feeding for the first six months?||In infancy, breast milk provides antibodies against any disease to which the mother is immune and decreases allergies and asthma. Babies who are exclusively breast-fed for six months are less likely to become obese and thus less likely to develop diabetes and heart disease.
What is the relationship between malnutrition and disease?||Malnourished children have no body reserves to protect them against common diseases.
What diseases are caused directly by malnutrition?||During the first year, malnutrition can cause marasmus, which causes body tissues to waste away. After age 1, kwashiorkor can occur; with this disease, growth slows down, hair becomes thin, skin becomes splotchy, and the face, legs, and abdomen swell with fluid (edema).
What is the difference between stunting and wasting?||Stunting is failure of children to grow to a normal height for their age due to severe and chronic malnutrition. Wasting happens when children are severely underweight for their age as a result of malnutrition.
In what ways does malnutrition affect cognition?||Adults who suffered from wasting in their first year of life have lower IQs throughout life, even if they are well fed after infancy. Some of this is directly related to brain growth. In addition, a severely malnourished infant has less energy and reduced curiosity and therefore is not learning.
Infant Cognition
Why did Piaget call cognition in the first two years “sensorimotor intelligence?”||Piaget labeled cognition in the first two years sensorimotor intelligence because infants learn through their senses and motor skills.
How does stage one of sensorimotor intelligence lead to stage two?||Stage one, called the stage of reflexes, lasts only a month. It includes senses as well as motor reflexes, the foundations of infant thought. Soon sensation leads to perception, which ushers in stage two, first acquired adaptations (also called the stage of first habits).
In sensorimotor intelligence, what is the difference between stages three and four?||Babies in stage three are between 4 and 8 months old. This stage is about making interesting sights last and responding to people and objects. Stage-four babies are between 8 and 12 months old. This stage involves new adaptation and anticipation and becoming more deliberate and purposeful in responding to people and objects.
Why is the concept of object permanence important to an infant’s development?||Once an infant grasps the concept of object permanence, he or she is able to understand that objects or people continue to exist when they are no longer in sight.
What does the active experimentation of the stage-five toddler suggest for parents?||Parents need to be on their toes with a stage-five toddler around. These “little scientists” delight in squeezing all the toothpaste out of the tube, drawing on the wall, or uncovering an anthill—activities they have never seen an adult do. Their research method is trial and error, and their activities have become more expansive and creative.
Why did Piaget underestimate infant cognition?||Piaget’s methods for determining what infants could think relied only on direct observation of behavior. Today, scientists have many ways of measuring brain activity long before any observable evidence is apparent.
What conditions help 3-month-olds remember something?||Researchers find that reminders help infants remember. In addition, the context is crucial, especially for infants younger than 9 months old.
How does the infant brain respond to experiences?||The dendrites of several areas of the brain grow to reflect remembered experiences.
Language
What aspects of language develop in the first year?||By 6 months, babies start practicing sounds, repeating certain syllables in a phenomenon called babbling. Toward the end of the first year, babbling begins to sound like the infant’s native language; infants imitate what they hear in accents, cadence, consonants, and so on. Gestures also become more specific as a means of communication.
When does vocabulary develop slowly and when does it develop quickly?||Growth of vocabulary is slow for 13- to 18-month-olds; they typically only have about 50 words. After 18 months of age, toddlers experience a naming explosion, with three or more words learned per day.
What are the characteristics of the way adults talk to babies?||Adults everywhere use higher pitch, simpler words, repetition, varied speeds, and exaggerated emotional tones when they speak to infants. This is known as child-directed speech.
How would a caregiver who subscribes to the behaviorist theory of language learning respond when an infant babbles?||A behaviorist would respond to babbling with gestures and sounds, thus reinforcing speech.
What is typical of the first words that infants speak?||The average hearing baby utters a few words, usually at about 12 months, although the range for normal babies is 10–18 months. Spoken vocabulary increases gradually (perhaps one new word a week). Initially, the first words are merely labels for familiar things (mama and dada are common), but soon tone conveys meaning.
What indicates that toddlers use some grammar?||When infants start using two-word combinations, they use the proper word order. For example, no child asks, “Juice more.” Soon the child combines three words, usually in subject-verb-object order.
According to behaviorism, how do adults teach infants to talk?||Skinner believed that most parents are excellent instructors, replying to their infants’ gestures and sounds, thus reinforcing speech. According to behaviorists, if adults want children who speak, understand, and read well, they must talk and read to their infants.
According to sociocultural theory, why do infants try to communicate?||According to sociocultural theory, infants communicate because humans have evolved as social beings, dependent on one another for survival and joy. Each culture has practices that further social interaction; talking is one of those practices.
Do people really have a language acquisition device?||Though hypothesized, many scholars agree with Chomsky that an LAD enables children to derive the rules of grammar quickly and effectively from the speech they hear every day, regardless of dialect. Others believe that no single theory explains how babies learn language.
Why do developmentalists accept several theories of language development?||Current thinking is that children are not exclusively behaviorists, social learners, or innately driven, but all three. Some scholars, inspired by evolutionary theory, think that language is the crucial trait that makes humans unlike any other species—that “language is entwined with human life.” If that is true, then there must be many paths to language learning, to ensure that every human learns.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 4
Emotional Development
What are the first emotions to appear in infants?||Crying and contentment are present from birth. The social smile appears around 6 weeks of age. Infants express social joy and laughter between 2 and 4 months of age.
Why is it better for an infant to express anger than sadness?||Anger is usually triggered by frustration. Sadness, however, usually indicates withdrawal and is accompanied by an increase in the body’s production of cortisol, the primary stress hormone.
What do 1-year-olds fear?||Typical 1-year-old children fear strangers and separation from their caregivers. Many also fear anything unexpected, from the flush of the toilet to the pop of a jack-in-the-box.
How do emotions differ between the first and second year of life?||Emotions take on new strength during toddlerhood. For example, anger and fear become less frequent but more focused, targeted toward especially infuriating or terrifying experiences. Similarly, laughing and crying are louder and more discriminating. Social awareness develops, ushering in the new emotions of pride, shame, embarrassment, disgust, and guilt.
How do family interactions and culture shape toddlers’ emotions?||The expression of pride, shame, embarrassment, disgust, and guilt requires social awareness and self-awareness. Social awareness and self-awareness emerge from family interactions and are shaped by the culture. For example, North American parents encourage toddlers to feel proud of their accomplishments, but Asian families typically discourage pride and instead cultivate modesty and shame.
What evidence is there that toddlers become more aware of themselves?||Evidence can be found in the classic experiment in which 9- to 24-month-olds looked into a mirror after a dot of rouge had been surreptitiously put on their noses. If a child touched the red dot on his nose, it proved that he knew the mirror reflected his own face. None of the babies younger than 12 months did that, but the babies between 15 and 24 months were self-aware, touching their noses with curiosity and puzzlement.
What is known about the impact of brain maturation on emotions?||The social smile, laughter, fear, self-awareness, and anger appear as the cortex matures. The maturation of the anterior cingulate gyrus (a part of the cortex) is directly connected to emotional self-regulation, allowing a child to hide or express his or her feelings.
What is not yet known about how brain maturation affects emotions?||It is still unknown how infant brains are molded by their environment and culture and how this affects their expression of emotions.
How are memory and emotion connected?||All emotional reactions, particularly those connected to self-awareness, depend partly on memory. Memory is fragile at first and gradually improves over the first year. This explains why toddlers are more quickly angered than younger babies when teased by an older sibling. Unlike young infants, toddlers have vivid memories of the previous time a sibling frustrated them.
How does stress affect early brain development?||Excessive stress harms the developing brain. For example, the hypothalamus grows more slowly if an infant is often frightened.
What three dimensions of temperament are evident in children?||Effortful control (regulating attention and emotion, self-soothing); negative mood (fearful, angry, unhappy); exuberant (active, social, not shy)
What is the difference between temperament and personality?||Generally, personality traits (like honesty and humility) are learned, whereas temperamental traits (like aggression or shyness) are genetic. Of course, for every trait, nature and nurture interact.
Why are temperament traits more apparent in some people than others?||Although temperament originates with genes, the expression of emotions over the life span is modified by experience—the result of child-rearing methods, culture, and learning. This means that in some people, certain temperaments are more apparent.
The Development of Social Bonds
How might synchrony affect early emotional development?||Parental responsiveness during synchrony aids psychosocial and biological development by providing powerful learning experiences. With every parental interaction, infants learn to read another’s facial expression, body language, and emotions, thereby laying the foundation for the development of social skills.
What would an infant do to demonstrate attachment?||Infants show their attachment through proximity-seeking and contact-maintaining behaviors. Attachment needs are evident when a baby cries if the caregiver closes the door when going to the bathroom (lost proximity) or fusses if a back-facing car seat prevents the baby from seeing the parent (lost contact).
How would a caregiver try to maintain proximity and contact?||To maintain proximity, some caregivers may sing and talk to their infant when they are out of sight; they may also take their infants wherever they go, even the bathroom. Examples of contact-maintaining behaviors include caregivers absentmindedly smoothing their child’s hair or caressing their child’s hands.
How would a type B secure adult act in a romantic relationship?||They tend to have good relationships and good self-esteem.
How would a type A insecure adult act in a romantic relationship?||They tend to be aloof in personal relationships.
How would a type C insecure adult act in a romantic relationship?||Their relationships may be angry, stormy, and unpredictable.
How do negative circumstances (e.g., divorce, abuse, low SES) affect attachment?||Negative circumstances such as abuse, income loss, poverty, and low SES increase the likelihood of insecure attachment. Insecure attachment can correlate with later learning problems, delayed language, low school achievement, and hostile children. Although attachment patterns form in infancy, they are not set in stone; a securely attached infant may become insecure if the family context changes.
What can be done to improve the parent–child bond?||We know that secure attachment is more difficult to achieve when the parents were abused as children, when families are socially isolated, when mothers are young adolescents, or when infants are unusually difficult. All parents, but especially those classified as high-risk, can benefit from early support offered by skilled professionals. This may include counseling, parenting classes, and one-on-one education about childcare.
Whom do infants use as social references?||Typically, infants focus on their familiar caregivers, but they also use relatives, other children, and even strangers to help them assess objects and events. They are remarkably selective, noticing that some strangers are reliable references and others are not.
Why is allocare necessary for survival of the human species?||Evolutionary social scientists note that if mothers were the exclusive caregivers of each child until children were adults, a given woman could only rear one or two offspring—not enough for the species to survive. Allocare is necessary so that mothers can have more children than they can care for on their own.
How is father-care similar to mother-care?||Fathers enhance their children’s social and emotional development in many ways as mothers do, and synchrony, attachment, and social referencing are all apparent with fathers.
How does father-care differ from mother-care?||Fathers typically elicit more smiles and laughter from infants than mothers do, engaging more often in exciting and active play. Close father-infant relationships can also teach infants (especially boys) appropriate expressions of emotion, particularly anger. Teenagers are less likely to lash out at friends and authorities if, as infants, they experienced a warm, responsive relationship with their father.
What ethnic and cohort differences are apparent in father-care?||Within every ethnic group in the United States, contemporary fathers tend to be more involved with their infants than fathers once were. Fathers are also affected by income (stressed parents are less nurturing) and by where they live. As with humans of all age, social contexts are influential: Fathers are influenced by other fathers. Thus, fathers of every ethnic group are aware of what other men are doing, which affects their own behavior.
Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development
What might happen if a person is stuck in the oral stage?||This person may eat or drink to excess, chew tobacco, bite their nails, or talk excessively.
What might happen if a person is stuck in the anal stage?||This person may develop an anal personality, seeking self-control and regularity in all aspects of life.
How might the crisis of “trust versus mistrust” affect later life?||If positive social interactions in infancy inspire trust, later in life the child or adult will likely explore the social world with confidence. The inverse would be true for infants who develop mistrust at this stage; they would lack confidence in their engagement with the world and assume that their basic needs cannot be met.
How might the crisis of “autonomy versus shame and doubt” affect later life?||Toddlers want autonomy over their own actions and bodies. If this does not develop, then they feel ashamed and doubtful, and this may result in an adult who is suspicious and pessimistic or easily shamed. Children who develop autonomy will likely develop into confident adults.
How do behaviorists explain the development of emotions and personality?||Behaviorists believe a child’s emotions and personality are molded as parents reinforce or punish a child. In addition, behaviorists believe that infants absorb information from the people around them through social learning.
What emotional reactions might children learn from watching their parents?||Children may express emotions in various ways—from giggling to cursing—just as their parents or older siblings do. For example, a boy might develop a hot temper if his father’s outbursts seem to win his mother’s respect; a girl might be coy, or passive-aggressive, if that is what she has seen at home.
How would a child develop a working model about expressing emotions?||According to cognitive theory, the crucial idea is that an infant’s early experiences themselves are not necessarily pivotal, but the interpretation of those experiences is. Children may misinterpret their experiences, or parents may offer inaccurate explanations, and these form ideas that affect later thinking and behavior. For example, a 1-year-old girl might develop a model, based on her parents’ inconsistent responses to her, that people are unpredictable. She will continue to apply that model to everyone: Her childhood friendships will be insecure, and her adult relationships will be guarded.
What would change an adult’s working model?||A hopeful message from cognitive theory is that people can rethink and reorganize their thoughts, developing new models. A mistrustful girl might marry a faithful and loving man and gradually develop a new working model. Or, a person may assume that other people are trustworthy and be surprised if someone lies or betrays a confidence.
Infant Day Care
What are the advantages of nonmaternal day care for the infant?||It allows mothers to return to work and provides (in good environments) safe spaces, appropriate learning and playing equipment, and trained providers to interact with children. The advantages appear most obvious around preschool age.
What are the disadvantages of exclusive maternal care for the infant?||Possible disadvantages include a lack of paternal interaction with the infant, since in such a situation the father is usually working to support the family. Research also shows that for low-SES families, babies who are cared for exclusively by their mothers may be at a cognitive disadvantage, especially in language, to babies who attend center day care.
What might be the problem with infant day care?||One theory is that variations in day care arrangements are vast, and the quality of infant day care varies a great deal—some babies seem far more affected than others by the quality of the care they receive.
Why are the effects of center care in Norway different from those in the United States?||Longitudinal results in Norway find no detrimental results of infant center care that begins at age one. By kindergarten, Norwegian children in day care had slightly more conflicts with caregivers, but the authors suggest that may be the result of shy children becoming bolder as a result of day care. Studies from the United States show that children in early, extensive center care are somewhat more likely to develop externalizing problems by age five—hitting, yelling, and disobeying adults.
What are the costs and benefits of infant care by relatives?||Care by relatives may help the infant and the budget, but when it is the parents who are splitting the care, the arrangement may interfere with their ability to spend time together. Center day care is more expensive and varies greatly in quality. Grandmother care has been beneficial in most times and societies.
What do infants need, no matter who cares for them or where care occurs?||Consistent caregivers seem to be the most important factor, whether the caregiver is a family member or a professional.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 5
Body Changes
How are growth rates, body proportions, and motor skills related during early childhood?||From ages 2 to 6, weight and height increase, and the relation between the two changes. Mastery of gross and fine motor skills results not only from body growth and maturation but also from extensive, active play. Brain maturation, motivation, and guided practice undergird all these motor skills.
Why do many children in developed nations suffer from malnutrition?||Children are sometimes malnourished, even in nations with abundant food. The main reason is that small appetites are often satiated by unhealthy foods, crowding out needed vitamins.
What is changing in rates of early childhood obesity and why?||Obesity among young children in the United States has declined markedly, probably due to public education combined with parental action.
When (if ever) and why should a left-handed toddler be changed to a right-handed child?||For many reasons, developmentalists advise against switching a child’s handedness. Trying to change handedness may interfere with brain function and lateralization.
What do children need to learn various motor skills?||Usually, both sides of the brain are involved in every skill. That is why the maturation of the corpus callosum is crucial. For example, no 2-year-old can hop on one foot, but most 6-year-olds can—an example of brain balancing.
How does myelination advance skill development?||Myelination happens when the axons of the brain increase in myelin, which is a fatty coating that speeds signals between neurons. The motor and sensory areas of the brain show the greatest signs of early myelination, which would aid in skill development.
How is the corpus callosum crucial for learning?||Growth of the corpus callosum makes communication between hemispheres more efficient, allowing children to coordinate both sides of the brain and body.
What do impulse control and perseveration have in common?||Impulsiveness and perseveration are opposite manifestations of the same underlying cause—immaturity of the prefrontal cortex.
What is the limbic system?||The limbic system is the major system for emotions, and it has three parts: the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus.
What is the amygdala?||The amygdala is a tiny almond-shaped structure in the brain that registers emotions, particularly fear and anxiety.
What does the hippocampus do?||Located next to the amygdala, the hippocampus is the central processor of memory, especially for location.
What does the hypothalamus do?||The hypothalamus responds to signals from the amygdala and the hippocampus by producing cortisol, oxytocin, and other hormones that activate the brain and body.
Thinking During Early Childhood
How does preoperational thought differ from sensorimotor and from concrete operational thought?||Preoperational thought is Piaget’s term for cognitive development between the ages of 2 and 6; it includes language and imagination (which involve symbolic thought), but not yet logical, operational thinking. Sensorimotor thought occurs between birth and age 2; infants use senses and motor abilities to understand the world; learning is active, and there is no conceptual or reflective thought. Concrete operational thought happens between 6 and 11 years of age, where children understand and apply logical operations to interpret experiences objectively and rationally.
What barriers to logic exist at the preoperational stage?||Piaget noted four limitations that make logic difficult during this stage: centration, appearance, static reasoning, and irreversibility.
According to Vygotsky, what should parents and other caregivers do to encourage children’s learning?||Parents and other caregivers should be mentors to children, providing guidance by presenting challenges, offering assistance (without taking over), adding crucial information, and encouraging motivation.
How does scaffolding relate to a child’s zone of proximal development?||The zone of proximal development is an intellectual arena that includes the skills, knowledge, and concepts that a person is close to acquiring but cannot yet master without help. Scaffolding is temporary support that is tailed to a learner’s needs and abilities and aimed at helping the learner take the next step in learning something.
What evidence is there that children overimitate?||Overimitation was demonstrated in a series of experiments with 3- to 6-year-olds. In part of the study, one by one some children in each group observed an adult perform irrelevant actions, such as waving a red stick above a box three times and then using that stick to push down a knob to open the box (which could be easily and more efficiently opened by pulling down the same knob by hand). No matter what their cultural background, the children followed the adult example, waving the stick three times and not using their hands directly on the knob. Other children did not see the demonstration. When they were given the stick and asked to open the box, they simply pulled the knob. Then they observed an adult open the box with stick-waving and they copied those inefficient actions.
What aspects of children’s thought does theory-theory explain?||Theory-theory is the idea that children naturally construct theories to explain whatever they see and hear. In other words, the theory about how children think is that they construct a theory.
Before developing theory of mind, what do young children think about other people’s knowledge and emotions?||Children won’t have any hypothesis about how others may think or feel if they haven’t developed theory of mind.
How does theory of mind help a child interact with other people?||Theory of mind gives children the ability to exchange information, ideas, and points of view. It is crucial for most human societies.
Language Learning
What is the evidence that early childhood is a sensitive time for learning language?||Young children are called “language sponges” because they soak up every drop of language they encounter. The average child knows about 500 words at age two and more than 10,000 at age six. Brain maturation, myelination, scaffolding, and social interaction make early childhood an ideal time for learning language.
How does fast-mapping aid the language explosion?||Children develop an interconnected set of categories for words, a kind of grid or mental map, which makes speedy vocabulary acquisition, or fast-mapping, possible. Rather than figuring out the exact definition after hearing a word, children hear a word once and quickly stick it into a category in their mental language grid.
How does overregularization signify a cognitive advance?||Overregularization is evidence of increasing knowledge: Many children first say words correctly (feet, teeth, mice), repeating what they have heard. Later, when they grasp the systematic rules of grammar and try to apply them, they overregularize, saying “foots,” “tooths,” or “mouses.”
What does the research say about language learning by deaf children?||Today, deaf children learn how to communicate both through sign language and by reading spoken language. Current evidence suggests that early learning of one language, including sign language, makes it easier to learn other languages.
What evidence in language learning shows the limitations of logic in early childhood?||Logical extensions are evidence of the limits of logic. Children learn a word and use it to describe other objects that fall into their same “category.” For example, after learning the word for ketchup, a child may stat they had “ketchup soup” at preschool, when in fact it was actually tomato soup.
Why is early childhood the best time to learn a second (or third) language?||Neuroscience finds that when adults mastered two languages when they were young, both languages are located in the same areas of the brain with no impact on the cortex structure. Bilingual adults keep the two languages separate, activating one and temporarily inhibiting the other when speaking to a monolingual person.
What are the advantages of a child learning two languages?||In many African, Asian, and European nations, most schoolchildren are bilingual, and some are trilingual, and their fluency advances their intellectual achievement. Most published research finds that being bilingual benefits the brain lifelong, further evidence for plasticity. Indeed, the bilingual brain may provide some resistance to Alzheimer’s disease in old age.
How does book-reading to a toddler contribute to later literacy?||When adults read to young children, vocabulary, as well as familiarity with pages and print, will increase, thus allowing questions and conversation.
Early-Childhood Education
What do most early-education programs provide for children that most homes do not?||These environments allow for interaction with same-age peers, and such social interaction is crucial to development.
Why do early-education programs vary in quality and purpose?||Parents and cultures differ, so an excellent program for one child might be less effective for another. Quality depends on both funding and cost: Inadequate subsidies or the desire to keep day-care tuition affordable may both result in the hiring of fewer teachers, resulting in lower quality. The purpose of early-education programs may be to encourage children’s creative individuality, to prepare them for formal group education, or to remedy educational deficits of low-SES children—these different program goals dictate the type of care children receive, for better or for worse.
In child-centered programs, what do the teachers do?||Child-centered programs stress each child’s development and growth. Teachers in such programs assist children in artistic expression and exploring their own interests rather than providing authoritative direction.
Why are Montessori schools still functioning, 100 years after the first such schools opened?||The Montessori philosophy seems to work. A study of 5-year-old children in inner-city Milwaukee who were chosen by lottery to attend Montessori programs found that, compared to their peers in other schools, the children were advanced in pre-reading, math skills, and theory of mind. The probable explanation is that their Montessori tasks seem to bolster self-confidence, curiosity, and exploration, all of which transferred to academic tasks.
How does Reggio Emilia differ from most other early-education programs?||In Reggio Emilia, children are encouraged to master skills that are not usually taught in North American schools until around age seven, such as writing and using tools. Every school has a studio and an artist who encourages the children to be creative. Reggio Emilia programs have a low child-to-teacher ratio, ample space, and abundant materials for creative expression.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of teacher-directed preschools?||Teacher-directed preschools stress academics, usually with one adult teaching the entire group. Curriculum may include learning letters, numbers, shapes, and colors, and children are taught to sit quietly and follow a daily schedule. As a result, children may assimilate into the elementary school setting more quickly. However, creativity and problem-solving skills may lag behind children coming from child-centered programs.
What are the goals of Head Start?||Head Start is intended to prepare children in at-risk or low-income homes for success in reading and math during their elementary school years and to build a foundation for academic success in the future.
Who benefits most from Head Start?||DHHS research found that benefits were strongest for children with the lowest family incomes, for those living in rural areas, and for those with disabilities. These children were least likely to find other sources of early education.
What do the three small intervention programs have in common?||Each of these programs—Perry, Abecedarian, and Child–Parent Centers—focused on children from low-SES families. All three programs compared experimental groups of children with matched control groups, and all reached the same conclusion: Early education has substantial long-term benefits, most of which are apparent after third grade.
What are the long-term results of intervention preschools?||Research on preschool programs for children in low-income families has proven that high-quality early education benefits children by improving language learning, social skills, and prospects for the future.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 6
Emotional Development
How might protective optimism lead to a child’s acquisition of new skills and competencies?||Young children’s self-concepts are unrealistic. They believe that they are strong, smart, and good-looking—and thus that any goal is achievable. This protective optimism encourages children to try unfamiliar activities, make friends, begin school, and so on.
How would a child’s self-concept affect motivation?||As Erikson predicted, a child’s optimistic self-concept protects them from guilt and shame. If young children know the limits of their ability, they will not imagine becoming an NBA forward, a Grammy winner, or a billionaire inventor. Initiative is a driving force for young children, and that is as it should be.
What is an example (not in the text) of intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation?||Answers will vary, but a possible answer is mowing a lawn. An intrinsic motivation for mowing a lawn may be finding enjoyment in the fresh air and physical activity. An extrinsic motivation may be getting paid by a neighbor to keep his lawn mowed for him.
What are children thought to gain from play?||Many developmentalists believe that play is the most productive as well as the most enjoyable activity that children undertake. Social play is one way that children develop their minds and social skills. As they become better playmates, young people learn emotional regulation, empathy, and cultural understanding.
Why might playing with peers help children build muscles and develop self-control?||Peers provide an audience, role models, and sometimes competition. For instance, running skills develop best when children chase or race each other, not when a child runs alone. Active social play—not solitary play—correlates with peer acceptance and a healthy self-concept and may help regulate emotions and foster self-control.
What do children learn from rough-and-tumble play?||Many scientists think that rough-and-tumble play helps the prefrontal cortex develop, as children learn to regulate emotions, practice social skills, and strengthen their bodies. It may be that play in childhood, especially rough-and-tumble play between father and son, prevents antisocial behavior later on.
What do children learn from sociodramatic play?||Children learn to explore and rehearse social roles; to explain their ideas and persuade playmates; to practice emotional regulation by pretending to be afraid, angry, brave, and so on; and to develop self-concept in a nonthreatening context.
Why do many experts want to limit children’s screen time?||The more that children are glued to screens, especially when the screen is their own hand-held device, the less they spend in active, social play. Further, some of the most attractive media teaches aggression, reinforcing gender and ethnic stereotypes.
Challenges for Caregivers
Describe the characteristics of the parenting style that seems to promote the happiest, most successful children.||Authoritative parents produce the happiest, most successful children. These parents set limits but are still flexible. They encourage maturity, but they usually listen and give consequences if the child falls short. They consider themselves guides; they are not authorities and not friends.
What are the limitations of Baumrind’s description of parenting styles?||Recent scientists have criticized Baumrind’s classification schema. Some of their reasons include: (1) She did not consider socioeconomic differences; (2) she was unaware of cultural differences; (3) she focused more on parent attitudes than on parent actions; (4) she overlooked children’s temperamental differences; (5) she did not recognize that some “authoritarian” parents are also affectionate; and (6) she did not realize that some “permissive” parents provide extensive verbal guidance.
What seems to be the worst parenting style?||Neglectful/uninvolved seems to be the worst parenting style. These parents raise children who are immature, sad, lonely, and at risk of injury and abuse, not only in early childhood but also throughout their lives.
How does culture affect parenting style?||Culture affects caregiving style in a powerful way. In some nations, parents are expected to beat their children; in other nations, those actions are illegal. Some cultures advise parents to never praise their children; elsewhere, parents often tell their children they are wonderful, even when they are not. However, across all groups, parents usually show warmth to their children; harsh, cold parenting is likely harmful.
How does a child’s temperament interact with parenting style?||Recent research finds that a child’s temperament powerfully affects caregivers. For example, fearful children require reassurance, while impulsive ones need strong guidelines. Parents of such children may, to outsiders, seem permissive or authoritarian. Good caregivers treat each child as an individual who needs personalized care.
What does psychoanalytic theory say about the origins of sex differences and gender roles?||According to psychoanalytic theory, at the phallic stage children cope with guilt and fear through identification; that is, they try to become like the same-sex parent. Consequently, young boys copy their fathers’ mannerisms, opinions, actions, etc., and girls copy their mothers’. Both boys and girls exaggerate the male or female role.
What do behaviorists say about the origins of sex differences and gender roles?||Behaviorists believe that all roles are learned through ongoing reinforcement, punishment, and social learning. They suggest that authority figures reward gender-appropriate behavior and that children model themselves after the adults who care for them.
How does preoperational thought lead to sexism?||Although they may not think of sex as biological, many preschoolers are quite rigid about gender roles. By age 4, children are convinced that certain toys and roles are reserved for one sex or the other. According to research, even when parents discouraged stereotypes, their children’s gender schemas won out.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of encouraging children to be unisex?||Caregivers know they should not blindly follow the norms of their culture, yet they also know they need to provide guidance regarding male-female differences and everything else. Even when parents discourage gender stereotypes, preschool girls may want to wear only pink tutus and preschool boys will not wear anything with a hint of femininity.
Teaching Right and Wrong
What is the nature perspective on how people develop morals?||According to evolutionary theory, the survival of our species depended on protection, cooperation, and even sacrifice for one another. Humans needed group defense against harsh conditions and large predators. A moral sense evolved from that essential need to rely on other people. That is why the body produces hormones, specifically oxytocin, to push people toward trust, love, and morality.
What is the nurture perspective?||With the cognitive advances of early childhood, and increased interaction with peers, our innate moral emotions are strengthened. Children develop empathy, an understanding of other people’s feelings and concerns, and antipathy, a feeling of dislike or even hatred. Empathy leads to compassion and prosocial behavior—helpfulness and kindness without any obvious personal benefit. The opposite is antisocial behavior, hurting other people.
How might children develop empathy and antipathy as they play with one another?||With increasing social experiences and decreasing egocentrism, children develop empathy, which is an understanding of other people’s feelings and concerns. Some children limit empathy by avoiding contact with the person in need. Feeling distress may be a part of nature, but whether and how a child expresses it is nurture.
How might children develop antipathy?||Antipathy may originate in the brain in which an allele or gene may have gone awry. However, it more directly results from parents who do not discuss or respond to emotions.
What is the connection between empathy and prosocial behavior?||Research shows that when someone is hurt, crying, or in need of help, young humans and primates will spontaneously assist them. This is evidence of empathy, which leads to prosocial behavior. Prosocial behaviors are those that offer helpfulness and kindness without any obvious benefit to oneself.
What are the similarities and differences of the four kinds of aggression?||Instrumental and reactive aggression are related because the latter is a reaction to the former. Both instrumental and reactive aggression are common among young children; almost every child reacts with aggression when attacked; they become less often physical when children develop emotional regulation and theory of mind. The two types are different. Relational aggression and bullying aggression tend to happen more often and become more hurtful as children mature. Both of these types reduce self-esteem of the victims, but bullying aggression is worse: it impairs the development of the bullies themselves.
How does moral development relate to discipline?||Ideally, adults use discipline to guide children toward internalized standards of morality.
Why have many nations made corporal punishment illegal?||In several European nations, corporal punishment is illegal. Although some adults believe that physical punishment will teach a lesson of obedience, the lesson that children may learn is that “might makes right.” When they become bigger and stronger, they may use corporal punishment on others.
What are the arguments for and against psychological control?||Psychological control is a disciplinary technique that involves threatening to withdraw love and support and that relies on a child’s feelings of guilt and gratitude to the parents. Research shows that this technique is harmful even though it is not physical, and it can cause children to have negative emotions (depression, anger, and so on). It has some of the same consequences as corporal punishment.
When is time-out an effective punishment and when is it not?||During time-out, an adult requires a misbehaving child to sit quietly, without toys or playmates, for a short time. To be effective, a time-out must be brief; one minute for each year of the child’s age is a common suggestion. It is ineffective when the child’s misbehavior is the result of wanting to escape from the situation.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of using induction as punishment?||Induction, in which parents talk extensively to the offending child, helps the child to internalize parental standards. However, this strategy is time-consuming and may not be effective for children who haven’t yet developed theory of mind.
Harm to Children
How do the rates of accidental and disease death compare?||Far more children die from violence—either accidental or deliberate—than from any specific disease. In some nations, malnutrition, malaria, and other infectious diseases cause most infant and child deaths, but even in those nations, many children still suffer from accidental deaths, with motor-vehicle accidents being the most common.
Why are fewer children killed by cars and trucks than previously?||This has happened in large part because of mandated child-safety seats.
When was lead proven to be toxic to children’s brains?||Chemical analysis of blood and teeth, with careful longitudinal and replicated research, proved that lead was a poison for children. The United States banned lead in paint in 1978 and automobile fuel in 1996.
Why might poverty contribute to child maltreatment?||One argument may be that adults who were mistreated as children are more likely to mistreat their own. They also have a more difficult time finding and keeping steady work, thus causing financial strain.
Why is reported abuse so much higher than substantiated abuse?||The 5-to-1 ratio of reported versus substantiated cases occurs for the following reasons: (1) Each child is counted only once, so five verified reports about a single child result in one substantiated case; (2) substantiation requires proof—not every investigation finds unmistakable harm or a witness willing to testify; (3) many professionals are mandated reporters, required to report any signs of possible maltreatment, even when they doubt that abuse or neglect occurred; (4) some reports are “screened out,” which means that the agency decides the case does not come under their jurisdiction; and (5) a report may be deliberately false.
How do rates of neglect and physical abuse compare?||Neglect is the most common and most frequently fatal form of child maltreatment. In the United States, of all the substantiated cases of child maltreatment in 2013, 80 percent were neglect, while 18 percent were physical abuse.
Why have rates of sexual abuse declined?||Over the past two decades, reports in sexual abuse have declined. One likely reason is that national awareness has led first to more reporting and then to better prevention.
What can social programs do to achieve primary prevention of child maltreatment?||Social programs are instrumental in helping parents, neighbors, and professionals protect children. Neighborhood stability, parental education, income support, and fewer unwanted children all reduce maltreatment.
What are the short-term and long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment?||The immediate harm of maltreatment is obvious, as when a child is bruised, broken, afraid to talk, or failing in school. However, the effects (drug abuse, social isolation, poor health) are still evident in adulthood. Adults who were maltreated as children have trouble finding and keeping a job as well.
Why do developmentalists believe that tertiary prevention is too late?||Some developmentalists find it ironic that primary and secondary prevention are more effective in the long run, but projects are more likely to be funded and implemented if they begin with children who are already mistreated—which would be considered tertiary prevention.
What are the pros and cons of kinship care?||Children in kinship care do better, academically and emotionally, than children who continue to be mistreated by their biological parents. Supportive services are especially needed in kinship care, since the grandparent may also be the parent of the abusive adult and typically lives with the same poverty, racism, and violence that contributed to the original problems. Of course, all of this affects the foster child as well.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 7
A Healthy Time
How does growth during middle childhood compare with growth earlier or later?||In marked contrast to infancy or adolescence, middle childhood is a time of slow and steady growth, a little more than two inches and five pounds a year.
Why is middle childhood considered a healthy time?||During middle childhood, fatal diseases and accidents are rare; nature and nurture make these the healthiest years of life. Genetic diseases are more threatening in early infancy or old age, infectious diseases are kept away via immunization, and fatal accidents—although the most common cause of child death—are relatively uncommon.
How does physical activity affect the child’s education?||Exercise improves academic achievement, with direct benefits of better cerebral blood flow and more neurotransmitters and indirect benefits of better mood and energy. The concept of embodied cognition suggests that children learn by doing and that an active body promotes learning.
What are several reasons some children are less active than they should be?||Especially in the United States, children less often play outside in yards, vacant lots, and empty fields, which are less prevalent than in past generations. Parents also fear “stranger danger,” thinking that a stranger will hurt their child (which is exceedingly rare) and ignoring the many benefits of outside play. Indoor activities (homework, screen time) also crowd out outdoor play.
What suggests that obesity is caused more by culture than genetics?||Childhood obesity has more than doubled since 1980 in all three nations of North America. Genes, however, do not explain these marked increases, because genes change little over the generations.
What are the short-term and long-term effects of childhood obesity?||As excessive weight builds, future health risks increase, average achievement decreases, self-esteem falls, and loneliness rises. Context and culture are crucial to convincing children to change their habits.
Why is asthma more common now than it was?||A combination of sensitivity to allergens, early respiratory infections, and compromised lung function increases wheezing and shortness of breath, making asthma more likely. Some experts suggest a hygiene hypothesis: that children may be overprotected from viruses and bacteria. In their concern about hygiene, parents prevent exposure to minor infections, diseases, and pets that potentially could strengthen their child’s immunity.
Cognition
Why did Piaget call cognition in middle childhood concrete operational thought?||Children this age can apply logic to concrete (tangible) things. They cannot yet deal with abstractions or hypothetical situations.
What might be examples of classification in a category not listed in the text, such as transportation or plants?||Ground transportation could be classified as vehicles, mass transit, trains, or bicycles. Plants could be classified as edible and non-edible, or flowering and non-flowering.
How do Vygotsky and Piaget differ in their explanation of cognition in middle childhood?||Piaget contended that cognitive advances occur naturally, as a result of maturation and self-exploration. Vygotsky believed that cognitive advances rely on scaffolding by peers and mentors and guided participation in the zone of proximal development.
How are the children of Varanasi an example of Vygotsky’s theory?||Many Varanasi children have an extraordinary sense of spatial orientation. In Varanasi, everyone refers to direction to locate objects. From their early days, children learn north/south/east/west; by middle childhood, they have internalized a sense of direction.
How does selective attention make it easier for a child to sit in a classroom?||Selective attention is the ability to concentrate on some stimuli while ignoring others. This helps school-age children not only notice various stimuli but also select appropriate responses when several possibilities conflict. Selective attention improves with guidance and neurological maturation.
What does information processing add to traditional theories of cognitive development?||The basic assumption of the information processing approach is that, like computers, people can access large amounts of information. They seek specific units of information, analyze, and express their conclusions.
How does Siegler describe the process of learning math concepts?||Siegler compared the acquisition of knowledge to waves on a beach when the tide is rising. There is substantial ebb and flow, although eventually a new level is reached.
What aspects of memory improve markedly during middle childhood?||Working memory—the processing of current, conscious material. By the end of childhood, long-term memory is extensive.
Why does the knowledge base increase in middle childhood?||Three factors affect the knowledge base: past experience, current opportunity, and personal motivation. These factors are greater in middle childhood than ever before, allowing knowledge base to increase during this time.
How might advances in control processes and executive function help a student learn?||Control processes help a student learn because they require the brain to organize, prioritize, and direct mental operations. The ability to use them is called executive function. Executive function improves each year of middle childhood; for example, unlike first-graders, fourth-grade students can listen to the teacher talk about the river Nile, ignoring classmates who are chewing gum or passing notes.
Why does quicker reaction time improve the ability to learn?||Increasing myelination reduces reaction time every year from birth until about age 16. Faster reaction time helps students develop quicker responses and inhibitions.
Teaching and Learning
How does a child’s age affect the understanding of metaphors and jokes?||A child has to have a good grasp of pragmatics before he or she can appreciate metaphors or jokes that make a play on words.
Why would a child’s linguistic code be criticized by teachers but admired by friends?||The informal code used with friends often includes curse words, slang, gestures, and intentionally incorrect grammar. Peers approve of such violations, whereas adults wish to teach children the formal code of standard speech based on grammatical rules.
What factors in a child’s home and school affect language-learning ability?||In the United States, almost one out of four school-aged children speaks a language other than English at home. Schools vary in their curriculum for these students. The success of any method is affected by the literacy of the home environment (frequent reading, writing, and listening in any language helps); the warmth, training, and skill of the teacher; and the national context.
How does the hidden curriculum differ from the stated school curriculum?||The stated curriculum comes from the textbook. The hidden curriculum is what happens during the transmission of knowledge and may be a largely unconscious process.
What are the TIMSS and the PIRLS?||The Trends in Math and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international assessment of the math and science skills of fourth- and eighth-graders. The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is a planned five-year longitudinal study of trends for fourth-grade readers.
What nations score highest on international tests?||East Asian nations rank near the top on the TIMSS and PIRLS.
How do boys and girls differ in school achievement?||The PIRLS finds that in every nation, girls score higher than boys in verbal skills. Traditionally, boys have been ahead of girls in math and science, but in many nations, girls are now ahead in math, sometimes by a great deal. Classroom performance during elementary school shows more gender differences than tests do. Girls have higher report card grades overall, including higher grades in math and science. Then, at puberty, girls’ grades dip, especially in science.
What problems do the Common Core standards attempt to solve?||The Common Core standards were created to establish rigorous standards and appropriate assessments to meet the No Child Left Behind Act guidelines. These standards are very specific and precise; students either meet them or they do not.
How do charter schools, private schools, and home schools differ?||Charter schools are public schools with additional funding from private sources. They control student admission and expulsion and often have some exemptions from state regulations. Private schools are funded by tuition from families as well as private sources and can be religious or secular in nature. Home schooling is when parents educate their own children at home.
How do parents choose what school is best for their children?||Parents evaluate class size, homework load, and teacher-student ratios. They vote for particular policies, join PTAs, and try out different schools until they find the right fit.
Developmental Psychopathology
How do aptitude and achievement differ in theory and practice?||In theory, aptitude is the potential to master a specific skill or subject, such as the potential to become an accomplished musician, engineer, or student. Learning aptitude is usually measured by answers to a series of questions (such as on an IQ test). In theory, achievement is what has actually been learned, distinct from aptitude. School achievement tests compare scores to norms established for each grade.
Why might teachers need to know the theory of multiple intelligences?||Teachers need to be able to recognize their students’ strengths and weaknesses. For example, a student who is gifted spatially but not linguistically may be allowed to demonstrate his understanding of a historical event via a poster with drawings instead of writing a paper with footnotes.
How might a child’s culture affect the results of an IQ test?||Culture may drag IQ scores down. Perhaps a child is told “never talk to strangers.” That child might not answer the tester’s questions. Some experts try to use culture-free aptitude tests, asking children to identify pictures, draw shapes, repeat stories, hop on one foot, name their classmates, sort objects, and so on.
Why might a child with ADHD have difficulty learning?||Children with ADHD are so active and impulsive that they cannot sit still, are constantly fidgeting, talk when they should be listening, interrupt people all the time, and can’t stay on task.
How should specific learning disorders be recognized and remedied?||Children with specific learning disorders have difficulty mastering skills that most children acquire easily. For specific learning disorders, the problem may originate in the brain, but plasticity allows early remediation to improve brain connections before the young child’s eagerness to learn has been crushed by failure. Almost everyone can learn basic skills if they are given extensive and targeted teaching, encouragement, and practice.
What are three signs of autism spectrum disorder?||Autism spectrum disorder has three characteristics: (1) poor social understanding; (2) impaired language; and (3) unusual play patterns, such as fascination with trains, lights, or spinning objects.
How and when should children with special needs have special education?||According to the 1975 Education of All Handicapped Children Act, children with special needs must be educated in the “least restrictive environment.” The law has been revised, but the goal remains that children with special needs should not be segregated unless efforts to remediate problems within the regular classroom have failed.
Why might gifted children benefit, or be harmed, by special education?||All three types of gifted children—high-IQ, unusually talented, and unusually creative—might need to be educated apart from more ordinary children. On the other hand, some nations, and school districts within the United States, believe that all children should learn together. All children grow well and learn much in middle childhood, yet variations in health, disorders, and abilities are evident.
When is it better for children with special needs to be in a regular class?||Children with special needs usually learn in regular classes. Sometimes a class is an inclusion class, which means that children with special needs are included in the general classroom, with appropriate aids and services.
WHAT WILL YOU KNOW? ANSWERS: Chapter 8
The Nature of the Child
How do Erikson’s stages of cognition for preschool- and school-age children differ?||School-age children become consumed by a conflict between industry and inferiority, whereas preschool children are consumed by a conflict between initiative and guilt. School-age students enjoy practicing skills and collecting and organizing things. These children are intrinsically motivated to achieve, especially in school, and compare themselves to their peers. This leads to a reduction in self-esteem; they no longer have the “protective optimism” of the preschool years. School-age children are more sensitive to criticism than preschool children are, and it can lead to a feeling of inferiority.
Why is social comparison particularly powerful during middle childhood?||In preadolescence, the peer group becomes especially powerful because children compare themselves to others in order to form a realistic self-concept, incorporating comparison to peers and judgments from the overall society.
Why do cultures differ in how they value pride or humility?|| The answer to this question has to do with how the culture views the individual. For example, students in the Unites States are taught to value independence, cultivate pride, and be their own personal “best.” Children in collectivist cultures, like Japan, are taught to value the good of the group over the independence of the individual and to cultivate modesty.
What factors help a child become resilient?|| A child’s problem-solving ability, family consistency and care, and the presence of good schools and welcoming religious institutions all increase resilience. Children’s interpretation of events and personal strengths such as creativity and intelligence can also affect resilience.
Why and when might minor stresses be more harmful than major stresses?|| When “daily hassles” accumulate, they can become more devastating than an isolated major stress. Almost every child can withstand a single, major event, but repeated stresses make resilience difficult.
How might a child’s interpretation affect the ability to cope with repeated stress?|| When a child doesn’t take things personally or doesn’t view negative situations as permanent, it is much more likely that the child will be resilient.
What does the evidence say about how children respond to major disasters?||After major disasters, quickly returning to school routines is especially helpful because children benefit from routines and preparation for their future. Spiritual faith and religious rituals may help also children children cope with disaster.
Families and Children
Why do siblings raised together not share the exact same environment?|| The age of each child at the time of significant events, such as parental divorce, can cause different effects on each child. Each child has a different relationship with each parent, so that even though the children are raised in the same household with the same parents, the children’s experiences may vary.
What is the difference between family structure and family function?|| Family structure refers to the legal and genetic connections among people living in the same household, e.g., single-parent families, step-families, or three-generational families. Family function refers to how a family cares for its members; some families function well, whereas others are dysfunctional.
Why is a harmonious, stable home particularly important during middle childhood?|| Middle childhood is a time when children really need continuity, not change; it’s a time when they need peace, not conflict. Routine is important to children’s sense of security, so disruptions in home life are especially challenging for this age group.
Describe the characteristics of four different family structures.|| The family structures discussed in the text include (1) nuclear: two parents and their children; (2) single-parent: one parent and his or her children; (3) extended family: nuclear or single-parent family plus other relatives, such as grandparents (three or more generations living in one home); (4) polygamous: one husband with two or more wives and their children.
How do children benefit from a nuclear family structure?|| Nuclear families tend to function best, at least in part because the people who marry tend to be better educated and to stay married. Having married parents benefits children by increasing the likelihood of parental involvement and decreasing the likelihood of neglect and abuse. Household income for nuclear families is also higher than for single-parent families.
List three reasons why the single-parent structure might function less well than other family structures.|| (1) Lower income; (2) less stability; and (3) less parental availability to meet children’s needs.
In what ways are family structure and family function affected by culture?|| Two-parent families seem to function best worldwide, but adoptive, same-sex, and other non-married parents offer as much stability as married couples. Single parenthood is common among African Americans, and the community routinely supports single parents. Likewise, in many European countries single parents have many public resources available to them, whereas in other nations they may be shamed and unsupported. Furthermore, in contrast to U.S. data, researchers in India have found higher rates of psychological disorders among school-age children in nuclear families.
Using the family-stress model, explain how low family income might affect family function.|| The family-stress model says that the crucial question for any risk factor is whether it increases stress. If poverty increases stress, and the adults’ reactions are negative (tense, hostile), then family function may suffer.
How can researchers determine whether family conflict affects children directly, not merely through inherited genetic tendencies?||Researchers can employ a longitudinal study such as the one discussed in the text, in which several hundred pairs of identical and fraternal twins, all married with adolescent children, were studied. Each teenager was compared to his or her cousin, and researchers found that although genes were somewhat influential, whether the adolescents actually witnessed conflict was crucial.
The Peer Group
How does what children wear reflect the culture of children?|| The particular habits, styles, and values of a specific cohort affect the set of rules and rituals that characterize children as distinct from adults.
In what ways do friendships change from the beginning to the end of middle childhood?|| Friendships become more intense and intimate as social cognition and effortful control advance throughout childhood. Six-year-olds may be friends with anyone of the same sex and age who is willing to play with them cooperatively. By the end of the middle childhood, friends demand more of one another, including loyalty. Older children tend to choose best friends who share their interests, backgrounds, and values.
How is a child’s popularity affected by culture and cohort?|| Culture determines which qualities are desirable to other children; for example, shy children are popular in Shanghai but unpopular in North America. Cohort matters, too; that shy child in 1990 Shanghai who was popular would not be as popular in 2005 Shanghai, as Chinese culture has changed over time and come to value assertiveness more.
What changes in the criteria for popularity as children mature from early childhood to adolescence?||At every age, children who are outgoing, friendly, and cooperative are well liked. But by middle childhood, being dominant and somewhat aggressive also predicts popularity.
What are the different kinds of bullying?|| Four types of bullying are discussed in the text: (1) physical—hitting, pinching, shoving, or kicking; (2) verbal—teasing, taunting, or name-calling; (3) relational—destroying peer acceptance; and (4) cyber—bullying that uses cell phones, computers, and other electronic devices.
How do boy bullies differ from girl bullies?|| Boy bullies are usually physically bigger than their victims, and they rely on physical aggression toward smaller, weaker boys. Girl bullies tend to rely on verbal or relational aggression toward shyer, more soft-spoken girls. Both boy and girl bullies are similar in that they tend to torment children of the same gender as themselves.
What school characteristics make bullying more likely?||Research indicates that measures such as simply increasing students’ awareness of bullying, instituting zero tolerance for fighting, or putting bullies together in a therapy group or classroom are ineffective. Talking to the parents of the bully may also do more harm than good.
How might bullying be reduced?|| Teaching empathy through cooperative learning, encouraging friendship and school pride, and implementing a “whole school” approach seem to be most effective. Telling peers what to do if they witness bullying and to be empathetic to the victim rather than reinforce (approve of) the bully’s behavior also helps.
Children’s Moral Values
Using your own example, illustrate Kohlberg’s three levels of moral reasoning.||Answers will vary, but an example for each level is listed below.
(1) Preconventional moral reasoning: A child follows his teacher’s rules respectfully when other children are misbehaving because he knows his teacher will take notice and praise him in front of the other children.
(2) Conventional moral reasoning: A child refuses to cross the street while walking with her father because he is not at a designated crosswalk.
(3) Postconventional reasoning: A teenager declines to go deer hunting with a group of his close friends despite their repeated urging and teasing because he believes the practice of hunting is unethical.
What are the main criticisms of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?|| Kohlberg has been criticized for ignoring cultural and gender differences—not considering, for example, how females and some whole societies value social harmony over abstract justice.
When would family values overtake national values?||Answers may vary, but as children develop more prosocial values, they also realize that their own values (or those of their family) may conflict with another’s (or those of their culture or nation). They may disagree with their country’s decision to go to war, to cut assistance to the elderly or poor, etc.
How might children’s morality differ from adult morality?||When children’s values clash with adult values, children often side with their peers, perhaps lying to protect a friend. And while adults usually prize school and respect teachers, children may encourage each other to misbehave, cheat, etc. Children are also better at stopping bullying than are adults, because they expect bullies to conform to their rigid standards of behavior.
How might the morality of children help stop a bully?|| Most victimized children find ways to halt ongoing bullying, by ignoring, retaliating, defusing, or avoiding. Friends can defend each other and restore self-esteem. The school community as a whole needs to change. When the school climate encourages learning and cooperation, children with high self-esteem are unlikely to become bullies. If peers within a school are encouraged to notice bullying and to empathize with the victim and learn to stop admiring the bully, this aggression decreases.
What kind of punishment did Piaget think was more advanced morally?||He believed restitution—restoring what was lost—was more advanced.
What seems to advance moral thought during middle childhood?||When parents and teachers raise moral issues and let children discuss them, a process of individual reflection is stimulated that eventually advances morality.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 9
Puberty
What visible changes take place in puberty?|| For girls, the observable changes of puberty usually begin with nipple growth. Soon a few pubic hairs are visible, then peak growth spurt, widening of the hips, the first menstrual period (menarche), full pubic-hair pattern, and breast maturation. For boys, the usual sequence is growth of the testes, initial pubic-hair growth, growth of the penis, first ejaculation of seminal fluid, appearance of facial hair, peak growth spurt, deepening of the voice, and final pubic-hair growth.
How do hormones affect the physical and psychological aspects of puberty?|| In girls, estrogen triggers menarche and may contribute to depression. In boys, androgens produce sperm and trigger spermarche, and, in a small number of boys, may also contribute to the onset of schizophrenia. In both boys and girls, hormones awaken their interest in sex.
Why might some high schools adopt later start times?|| A phase delay in the sleep–wake cycles occurs in teens due to the hormones of the HPA axis during puberty. Thus, many teens are drowsy and have difficulty focusing in the morning. Adolescent learning is better in schools that start after 8 a.m.
What is the connection between body fat and onset of puberty in girls and in boys?|| Heavier girls reach menarche years earlier than malnourished girls do; most girls weigh at least 100 pounds before menarche. In boys, severe malnourishment always delays puberty, but body fat is not as influential.
Why might early puberty be difficult for girls?|| Early-maturing girls tend to have lower self-esteem, more depression, and poorer body image than do other girls. Because boys mature on average two years later than girls, they may tease an early-developing girl due to being unnerved by a sexual creature in their midst. Early-maturing girls also have more difficulties with self-image, tend to have older boyfriends, and are more susceptible to drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence.
What problems are common among early-maturing boys?|| Early-maturing boys in the twenty-first century are more aggressive, more likely to break the law, and more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.
What are the sex differences in the growth spurt?|| Girls experience their height growth spurt an average of two years before boys do. Girls’ height growth spurt usually precedes menarche, whereas boys’ height growth spurt usually follows spermarche.
How do the skin and hair change during puberty?|| The skin becomes oilier, sweatier, and more acne-prone. Hair becomes coarser and darker, and grows under the arms, on faces, and in the pubic area.
What is the difference between primary and secondary sex characteristics?||Primary sex characteristics are directly involved in reproduction, whereas secondary sex characteristics signify that the body is capable of reproduction.
What problems might occur if adolescents do not get enough iron or calcium?|| Insufficient iron can cause anemia in adolescents, restricting muscle growth and strength. Insufficient calcium can lead to osteoporosis later in life.
Why is body image often problematic in adolescence?|| Few teenagers welcome every change puberty causes in their bodies. Instead, they tend to focus on and exaggerate imperfections. Few adolescents are happy with their bodies, partly because almost none look like the bodies portrayed in the media.
What types of disordered eating are common in adolescence?||Overeating, eating erratically, or even ingesting drugs to lose weight is common among adolescents, especially girls. Boys may also overeat or eat erratically but are more likely to take steroids, creatine, etc. to increase their muscle mass.
What are the differences among anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder?||People suffering from anorexia nervosa refuse to eat normally because their body image is severely distorted; they may believe they are too fat when actually they are dangerously underweight. Those with bulimia consume thousands of calories but then vomit or use laxatives to control their weight, whereas those with binge eating disorder overeat without purging.
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Why does the limbic system develop before the prefrontal cortex?|| This happens because myelination and maturation begin in the lower and inner parts of the brain to the cortex, and from the back to the frontal cortex and then the prefrontal cortex. Hormones also play a part: they have a much greater affect on the amygdala than on the prefrontal cortex, which needs time to mature.
How might seeking sensations lead an adolescent to trouble?|| Because the frontal lobe is still maturing, emotions rule adolescent behavior and impulsivity reigns relatively unchecked by logical thought. Adolescents take risks, such as driving fast and texting while they are driving. Thoughtless impulses and poor decisions are almost always to blame when teenagers die in motor-vehicle accidents.
What are some of the benefits of adolescent brain function?|| (1) Faster reaction time; (2) increased positive emotions; (3) easier acquisition of new ideas; (4) enhanced moral development; and 5) willingness to question tradition and try new things.
How does adolescent egocentrism differ from early-childhood egocentrism?|| In early childhood, egocentrism refers to the inability to take another person’s perspective. Young adolescents not only think intensely about themselves but also think about what others think of them. Adolescents regard themselves as unique, special, and much more socially significant than they actually are.
What perceptions arise from belief in the imaginary audience?|| Adolescents believe that everyone is watching them, which makes them very self-conscious. They may become shy and awkward or try to fade into the background so no one notices them. Others may seek to be the center of attention and do things to draw attention to themselves.
What are the characteristics of formal operational thinking?|| As concrete operational thinkers, children draw conclusions on the basis of their own experiences and what they have been told. Formal operational adolescents imagine all possible determinants and systematically vary the factors one by one, observe the results, keep track of the results, and draw the appropriate conclusions. Formal operational thinking enables systematic, logical thinking as well as the ability to understand and manipulate abstract concepts. Teens become capable of deductive reasoning and hypothetical thinking.
What is the difference between inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning?|| In inductive reasoning (which is more likely to be used by children), many specific examples lead to a general conclusion. In deductive reasoning (of which adolescents are more capable), an abstract idea or premise is the starting point, and then logic is employed to draw a specific conclusion. Inductive reasoning is quick and automatic, but also more prone to error than deductive reasoning.
When might intuition and analysis lead to opposite conclusions?|| Intuition begins with a belief, assumption, or general rule. It is quick and powerful—a gut reaction. Analysis is formal, logical, hypothetical thinking. It involves rational analysis of many factors. Intuition causes one to focus on the most interesting part of the problem, whereas analysis leads one to consider all aspects of the problem. Decisions based on intuition may lead one to take risks or jump to conclusions that analysis would help avoid.
Why do most people prefer intuitive thinking, not analytic thought?|| People tend to use intuition in their everyday lives because it is faster and easier to rely on preexisting beliefs, assumptions, and rules than it is to reason deliberately.
What benefits come from adolescents’ use of technology?|| Research conducted before the technology explosion found that with education, conversation, and experience, adolescents move past egocentric thought. Social networking may speed up this process, as teens communicate daily with dozens of friends via e-mail, texting, and cell phones.
What problems do adults fear from teenage use of the Internet?|| Parents worry that their teenagers will be victimized by online sexual predators, even though in reality this is quite rare. They may also fear more likely dangers—becoming distracted by or even addicted to chat rooms and message boards, video games, and Internet gambling.
Why is cyberbullying particularly harmful during adolescence?|| Adolescents, especially those between ages 11 and 14, are often impulsive and low on judgment and believe in the imaginary audience. Consequently, they are more vulnerable to depression and suicide if they are victims of cyberbullying.
Why might sexting be a problem?|| (1) Pictures might be forwarded without the person’s knowledge, and (2) those who send erotic self-images risk serious depression if the reaction is negative.
How is the term digital native misleading?|| The term “native” implies that adolescents are adept with technology, whereas many are actually naive—they believe Web sites have privacy settings that do not exist or trust sites that are biased or misleading.
Teaching and Learning
What characteristics of middle schools make them more difficult for students than elementary schools?|| Having different teachers for each subject can make middle school teachers seem impersonal and distant; unlike elementary school, no one teacher is aware of a student’s overall academic performance and social behavior. Changing classes for each period can make personal recognition from authority figures difficult at a time when such recognition is important. This can contribute to students developing a feeling of alienation from school and teachers. Students already at risk for emotional problems may react to the transition by experiencing intense anxiety or depression.
How does the teacher–student relationship change from primary to secondary school?|| In primary school, one teacher has the same students all day long. But in middle school, teachers may have hundreds of students in their classrooms each day, making them more impersonal and less accessible.
How does puberty affect a person’s ability to learn?|| Early adolescents are egocentric, a quality that is mismatched with the impersonal context of middle school. While middle-schoolers are eager for attention and friendship, they have to change rooms, teachers, and classmates every 40 minutes. Recognition for academic achievement is harder to attain because teachers grade more harshly in middle school, and effort without accomplishment is not recognized—nor is achievement in after-school activities.
How do beliefs about intelligence affect motivation and learning?|| If they hold to the entity theory of intelligence, students believe that nothing they do can improve their academic skill. Entity belief can reduce motivation and learning. If they hold to the incremental theory of intelligence, students believe that effort is important to achievement. Incremental belief is associated with higher motivation and learning.
What evidence is there that standards for high school education are rising?|| In the United States, schools are increasing the number of students who take International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) classes, which are assessed by externally scored exams and satisfy some college requirements if students do well. Furthermore, almost half of all U.S. states now require students to pass an exit exam in order to graduate.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of high-stakes testing?|| The effect of such tests on education is in dispute. High school graduation rates in the United States are inching upward, with 72 percent of ninth-grade students staying in school to graduate four years later. The concern is that those who do not graduate become very discouraged about education and the tests may, in fact, have a negative impact on continuing education. Research also shows that too much testing reduces overall learning rather than increasing it.
Why do U.S. high schools strive to prepare everyone for college?|| Many teachers and parents in the United States believe that every student should go to college after graduating from high school, and suggesting that certain students should not go to college and instead take courses that prepare them for employment may be considered by some to be racist or classist.
What do high school students who do not go to college need to learn?|| They need practical experience—on-the-job training combined with academic courses that help them prepare for employment.
How does the PISA differ from other international tests?|| The PISA measures the students’ ability to use skills they learned in school to cope with real-life problems, rather than testing facts as the TIMSS does.
What characteristics are shared by nations with high PISA scores?|| (1) There is an overall appreciation for education among leaders, parents, and citizens, with individualized approaches to learning; (2) National educational standards are high and clear to all students; and (3) Teachers and administrators are valued, have considerable say in determining educational content, and are compensated sufficiently.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 10
Identity
What is Erikson’s fifth psychosocial crisis, and how is it resolved during adolescence?|| According to Erik Erikson, life’s fifth psychosocial crisis is identity versus role confusion. The complexities of finding one’s own identity are the primary task of adolescence. He said this crisis is resolved with identity achievement, when adolescents have reconsidered the goals and values of their parents and culture, accepting some and discarding others, forging their own identity.
How does identity foreclosure differ from identity moratorium?|| Identity foreclosure occurs when, in order to avoid the confusion of not knowing who they are, young people accept traditional roles and values. A more mature shelter is the moratorium, a time-out that includes some exploration, either in breadth or in depth.
What has changed over the past decades regarding political identity?|| Political party identification has weakened—more adults say they are independent rather than Democrat, Republican, etc.
What role do parents play in the formation of an adolescent’s religious and political identity?|| For most adolescents, their religious identity is similar to that of their parents and community. Few adolescents totally reject religion if they’ve grown up following a particular faith, especially if they have a good relationship with their parents. Most adolescents question specific beliefs as their cognitive processes allow for more reflective, less concrete assumptions. There is no “crisis of faith,” per se, unless unusual circumstances create it. Parents also influence their children’s political identity. More adults in the twenty-first century in the United States are saying they are independent rather than affiliating with a political party. Their teenage children reflect this new independence; some proudly say they do not care about politics, actually echoing their parents without realizing it.
Why is ethnic identity complicated for many young North Americans?|| About half of all U.S. and Canadian adolescents are of non-European heritage, often with ancestors from more than one ethnic group. But because the census and other records lump all people of African, Asian, or Latin American backgrounds together, teenagers establishing their personal identity become more specific.
Why is it premature for today’s adolescents to achieve their vocational identity?|| Choosing a future career made sense for teenagers a century ago, when most girls became housewives and most boys became farmers, small businessmen, or factory workers. Today, there are tens of thousands of careers, and no teenager can be expected to choose among them. Vocational identity takes years to establish, and most jobs demand quite specific skills and knowledge that are best learned on the job.
What assumptions about sexual identity did most adults hold 50 years ago?|| Fifty years ago, Erikson and other theorists thought of the two sexes as opposites. They assumed that adolescents who were confused about sexual identity would soon adopt “proper” male or female roles. Adolescence was once a time for “gender intensification,” when people increasingly identified as male or female—no longer.
Why is gender dysphoria, not gender identity disorder, described in the DSM-5?|| The term gender identity disorder implied that something was wrong with the individual if a person felt that their sex at birth was not their true gender identity, whereas gender dysphoria describes the distress that one may feel at their biological sex.
What behaviors might a teenage boy do if he has foreclosed on gender identity?||A teenage boy who has foreclosed on his gender identity might behave in an ultra-masculine manner—becoming more aggressive, more involved in sports or hunting, or more assertive with the opposite sex.
Human Relationships
How does the influence of peers and parents differ for adolescents?|| Disputes between parents and adolescents are common because the adolescent’s drive for independence, arising from biological as well as psychological impulses, clashes with the parents’ desire to maintain control. Adolescents rely on peers to help them navigate the physical changes of puberty, the intellectual challenges of high school, and the social changes of leaving childhood. For every adolescent, peer opinions and friends are vital. Adults sometimes fear peer pressure; that is, they fear that peers will push an adolescent to use drugs, break the law, or do other things their child would never do alone. But peers are more helpful than harmful, especially in early adolescence, when biological and social stresses can be overwhelming. Each young person must fashion his or her own identity, distinct from that of either society or parents. For this, peers may be pivotal.
When, and about what, are parents and adolescents most likely to argue?|| Adolescents are establishing their independence and asserting their autonomy while parents still want to maintain some control over their adolescents’ lives. Each generation misjudges the other: Parents think their offspring resent them more than they actually do, and adolescents imagine their parents want to dominate them more than they actually do. Unspoken concerns need to be aired so both generations better understand each other. Some bickering may indicate a healthy family, since close relationships almost always include conflict.
When is parental monitoring of adolescent activity beneficial and when is it not helpful?|| When parental monitoring grows out of a warm, supportive relationship, children are likely to become confident, well-educated adults who avoid drugs and risky sex. However, parental monitoring may be harmful when it derives from suspicion instead of from a warm connection.
Why do many adults misunderstand the role of peer pressure?|| Sometimes adults conceptualize adolescence as a time when peers and parents are at odds, or worse, as a time when peer influence overtakes parental influence. However, healthy communication and support from parents make constructive peer relationships more likely.
How do parents and society affect an adolescent’s development of ethnic identity?|| Peers may be particularly helpful for adolescents of minority and immigrant groups as they strive to achieve ethnic identity, attaining their own firm (not confused or foreclosed) understanding of what it means to be their ethnicity. The larger society provides stereotypes and prejudice, and parents ideally describe ethnic heroes and reasons to be proud.
How do friends help adolescents?|| Teenagers select friends whose values and interests they share, abandoning former friends who follow other paths. Then friends facilitate destructive or constructive behaviors. It is easier to do wrong or right with friends. Peer facilitation helps adolescents act in ways they are unlikely to act on their own. Adults are not as susceptible to peer facilitation.
How do adolescents choose romantic partners?|| Adolescents select romantic partners based on traits that their peers admire, which helps explain why adolescent couples tend to have less in common than adult couples.
How does culture affect sexual orientation?|| Culture determines the norms and standards associated with sexual orientation. Adolescents are aware of these norms and standards, which can influence the acceptance and expression of their own sexual orientation. Worldwide, many gay youths date members of the other sex to hide their orientation, and they are at higher risk for binge-drinking, suicidal thoughts, and drug use. Hiding one’s orientation is less common in communities in which same-sex partnerships are accepted, especially when parents affirm their offspring’s sexuality.
From whom do adolescents usually learn about sex?|| Adolescents learn about sex from the media, their peers, and their families, as well as their religious institutions. They also receive instruction from teachers at school.
What are national variations in sex education in schools?|| Some high schools provide comprehensive education, free condoms, and medical treatment; some teach abstinence as the only sexual strategy for adolescents; others provide nothing. If they begin early, many sex-education programs successfully delay the age at which adolescents become sexually active, and they increase condom use. But some programs have no impact. Students taught abstinence-only and students taught comprehensive sex education have similar sexual activity rates, although the comprehensive sex education students know slightly more about preventing disease and pregnancy.
Sadness and Anger
What is the difference between adolescent sadness and clinical depression?|| It is typical for an adolescent to be momentarily less happy and angrier than younger children. Clinical depression moves beyond sadness that is typical of adolescence and encompasses feelings of deep sadness and hopelessness that disrupts all normal regular activities.
Why do many adults think adolescent suicide is more common than it is?|| 1) The rate, low as it is, is much higher than it appeared to be 50 years ago. 2) Statistics on “youth” often include emerging adults aged 18 to 25, whose suicide rates are higher than those of adolescents. 3) Adolescent suicides capture media attention, and people of all ages make the logical error called base rate neglect. 4) Parasuicides may be more common in adolescence than later.
How can rumination contribute to gender differences in depression and suicide?|| A cognitive explanation for gender differences in depression focuses on rumination—talking about, remembering, and mentally replaying past experiences. Girls ruminate much more than boys, and rumination often leads to depression. For that reason, close mother–daughter relationships may be depressing if the pair ruminate about the mother’s problems.
What are gender differences in suicidal thoughts and in completed suicide?||Suicidal ideation and parasuicide are more common among adolescent girls than adolescent boys, whereas completed suicide is more common among adolescent girls than adolescent boys.
Why are cluster suicides more common in adolescence than in later life?|| Because they are not logical and analytical, adolescents are particularly affected when they hear about a suicide, either through the media or from peers. This makes them susceptible to cluster suicides, a term for the occurrence of several suicides within a group over a brief span of time.
What are the similarities between life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited offenders?|| Both involve antisocial behaviors and may result in criminal records. Most juvenile delinquents are adolescence-limited offenders, adolescents whose criminal activity stops by age 21. They break the law with their friends, facilitated by their chosen antisocial peers. More boys than girls are in this group. The other kind of delinquents are life-course-persistent offenders, people who break the law before and after adolescence as well as during it. Their law breaking is more often alone than as part of a gang, and the cause of their problems is neurological impairment.
What are the male/female differences between life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited offenders?|| More boys than girls are adolescence-limited offenders. The gender gap in lawbreaking is wider in early adolescence and in adulthood, when significantly more life-course-persistent offenders are male.
What factors affect whether a delinquent will stop his or her criminal behavior in adulthood?||Whether or not a delinquent adolescent is incarcerated appears to be the main factor that determines whether he or she will continue the criminal behavior into adulthood. Early intervention (at the first sign of trouble, not at the first arrest) may deter delinquency, as well.
Drug Use and Abuse
Why are psychoactive drugs particularly attractive in adolescence?|| Hormonal surges, the brain’s reward centers, and cognitive immaturity make adolescents particularly attracted to the sensations produced by drugs.
Why are psychoactive drugs particularly destructive in adolescence?|| Adolescents’ immature bodies and brains make drug use especially hazardous. Many researchers find that drug use before maturity is particularly likely to harm body and brain growth. However, adolescents are especially likely to deny that they ever could become addicted to drugs. Few adolescents notice when they or their friends move past use to abuse and then to addiction. Each drug is harmful in a particular way. Psychoactive drugs can damage the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, both of which are still developing during adolescence. In addition, the younger the adolescent user, the less likely he or she is to comprehend the risks related to drug abuse. Cigarettes, alcohol and, prescription medicines can be as addictive and damaging as marijuana, cocaine, and heroin.
What specific harm occurs with tobacco products?||Tobacco impairs digestion and nutrition, slowing down growth. And since internal organs continue to mature after the height spurt, drug-using teenagers who appear to be fully grown may damage their developing hearts, lungs, brains, and reproductive systems.
Why are developmentalists particularly worried about e-cigarettes?|| While e-cigarettes may be a healthier alternative to regular cigarettes, the data indicate that e-cigarettes increase the likelihood that users will eventually smoke regular cigarettes as well.
What methods to reduce adolescent drug use are successful?|| Publicity that appeals to younger people seems to help, as evidenced by the anti-smoking ad campaigns in Florida and California. Parental example, as well as societal changes such as higher prices, targeted warnings, and better law enforcement, also appear to make a difference.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 11
Body Development
Why is maximum physical strength usually attained in emerging adulthood?|| Every human body system is at optimal physical functioning during emerging adulthood. Many serious diseases have not yet developed, and some childhood ailments are outgrown. Physiologically, the early 20s are considered the prime of life.
What has changed, and what has not changed, in the past decades regarding sexual and reproductive development?|| Whereas in previous generations, when couples married around age 20 and had their first child within a few years of marriage, they are now more likely to wait to get married. This is in part due to modern contraception, which has enabled sex without marriage.
Why are STIs more common today than they were 50 years ago?|| There is a consequence of sexual freedom: the rise of STIs. The single best way to prevent STIs is lifelong monogamy, but most emerging adults practice serial monogamy, beginning a new relationship soon after one ends. At times a new sexual liaison overlaps an existing one, and sometimes a steady relationship is interspersed with a fling with someone else.
What are the social benefits of risk taking?|| Many occupations are filled with risk takers—police officers, military recruits, financial traders, etc. Facing fear is exhilarating and transformative, improving the individual’s self-esteem without harming anyone. We would all suffer if young adults were always timid, traditional, and afraid of innovation.
Why are some sports more attractive to emerging adults than to other adults?|| Emerging adults may take part in risky sports such as motocross or snowboarding because they seek an adrenaline rush. The desire to experience a thrill may also overwhelm their ability to evaluate the potential risks associated with the activity, making emerging adults less concerned with the possibility of injury or death.
Why are serious accidents more common in emerging adulthood than later?|| Many emerging adults bravely, or foolishly, risk their lives. The reasons for such risk-taking are social (showing off and vying for status) and biological (hormones, energy, and brain development).
Why are college students more likely to abuse drugs than those who are not in college?|| Drug abuse—particularly of alcohol and marijuana—is more common among college students than among their peers who are not in college. Being with peers, especially for college men, seems to encourage many kinds of drug abuse.
Cognitive Development
Why did scholars choose the term postformal to describe the fifth stage of cognition?|| The term postformal thought originated because several developmentalists agreed that Piaget’s fourth stage, formal operational thought, was inadequate to describe adult thinking.
How does postformal thinking differ from typical adolescent thought?|| In contrast to typical adolescent thought, postformal thought is more practical, more flexible, and is dialectical. It engages in problem finding in addition to the problem solving of adolescent thought, and has the ability to combine emotion and logic. Emerging adults tend to be more practical, creative, and innovative in thinking than adolescents. Emerging adults, in contrast to adolescents, combine both emotions and logic in thought.
Why might the threat of a stereotype affect cognition?|| The mere possibility of being negatively stereotyped arouses emotions that can disrupt cognition as well as emotional regulation. The worst part of stereotype threat is that it is self-handicapping. People alert to the possibility of prejudice and discrimination are not only hypersensitive when it occurs, but they also allow it to hijack their minds, undercutting their ability. Eventually they disengage, but their initial reaction may be to try harder to prove the stereotype wrong, and that extra effort may backfire.
Who is vulnerable to stereotype threat and why?|| Stereotype threat has been shown with hundreds of studies on dozens of stereotyped groups, of every ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, and age.
How do current college enrollment patterns differ from those of 50 years ago?|| College is no longer for the elite few. There is more gender, ethnic, economic, religious, and cultural diversity in the student body. Courses of study—and reasons for attending college—have changed, reflected in the fact that 50 years ago most colleges featured four-year liberal arts-focused programs, and today business is the most popular major. More students who are over age 24 now attend college, and many students attend college part-time.
How has college attendance changed internationally in recent decades?|| College attendance has increased dramatically in other nations, as a result of increased public funding for college. This is in contrast to the United States, which has steadily decreased its public funding for college in recent years.
Why do people disagree about the goals of a college education?|| Developmentalists, academics, and many college graduates may believe that the main purpose of a college education is to gain critical thinking and analytic skills, but adults who have never attended college believe that learning the skills needed to attain a high-paying job is more important. Parents and governments also disagree about the purpose of college, probably because they hope their financial contributions to students’ tuition and fees are a sound investment.
In what way does exposure to diversity affect college students’ learning?|| Exposure to diversity advances cognition, in that honest conversations among people of different backgrounds and varied perspectives lead to intellectual challenge and deeper thought.
Becoming Your Own Person
How is attending college a moratorium?|| A more mature response to the identity crisis is to seek a moratorium—postponing identity achievement while exploring possibilities. Attending college is a socially acceptable way to delay marriage and parenthood. This moratorium gives emerging adults some time to achieve political/ethnic identity and vocational identity.
Why is vocational identity particularly elusive in current times?|| Due to changes in the world of work (e.g., commitment to a particular career may limit vocational success) and the larger society (e.g., economic recessions), achieving a single vocational identity may not be possible or even desirable. Vocational flexibility may be required for future generations.
How does personality change from adolescence to adulthood?|| Personality is shaped lifelong by genes and early experiences. After adolescence, new personality dimensions may appear. The freedom of emerging adults allows shifts in attitude and personality. For most emerging adults, transitions that result from deliberate choices increase well-being. Personality can shift in adulthood due to genes, childhood experiences, and family circumstances.
What is the general trend of self-esteem during emerging adulthood?|| Self-esteem and happiness tend to increase during the emerging adulthood years.
What kinds of support do parents provide their young-adult children?|| Parents provide emotional support, financial support, tuition support, and housing.
What do emerging adults seek in a close relationship?|| Emerging adults emphasize the importance of friendship with their romantic partners. They expect shared confidences and loyalty from their romantic partners.
How has the process of mate selection changed over the past decades?|| The use of social media has dramatically changed the way emerging adults find romantic partners. Hookups—sexual relationships that are not intended to become a romance—have become more acceptable among emerging adults, as has cohabitation.
Why do many emerging adults cohabit instead of marrying?|| There are national differences in the acceptance and timing of cohabitation. Cohabitation can be viewed as a prelude to marriage, a way to see if couples are compatible, a substitute for marriage, or a practical way to save money by sharing living expenses.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of cohabitation?|| Cohabitation is advantageous for emerging adults who want to avoid old traditions and have the advantages of marriage without the legal and institutional trappings. But cohabiters are less likely to pool their money, less likely to have close relationships with their parents or their partner’s parents, less likely to take care of their partner’s health, more likely to be criminals, and more likely to break up.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 12
Growing Older
What diseases and conditions are less likely in people who exercise every day?|| People who exercise are more likely to have lower blood pressure, stronger hearts and lungs, and a reduced risk for the development of almost every disease, including depression, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, arthritis, and cancer.
What changes have occurred in adult exercise habits over recent decades?||Adults do not move their legs, arms, or even hands as much as adults did a century ago, thanks to modern technology such as the automobile and the TV. Fortunately, adults are becoming increasingly aware of the need to be active. More (51 percent) meet the U.S. weekly goal of 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of intense exercise than adults did 15 years ago.
Why does abuse of prescription drugs increase in adulthood?|| One reason is that such drugs are first given by a doctor to reduce pain, insomnia, or psychological distress. That makes it harder for adults to recognize the early signs of addiction, and thus some seek more prescriptions rather than trying to quit.
What are the trends in cigarette smoking in North America?|| In the United States, men have been quitting smoking for decades, which has decreased male lung cancer deaths. While men were quitting smoking, however, the number of women who smoke increased, which has increased female lung cancer rates. Fortunately, cigarette smoking has been declining over the past decade in North America for every gender and age group. In 1970, one-half of U.S. adult men and one-third of women smoked, but by 2010 only 22 percent of men and 18 percent of women did. Women are following the male pattern of quitting, and many offices, homes, and public places are now smoke-free.
What gender differences are apparent in rates of cigarette smoking?|| Recent data has shown that both sexes have decreased smoking but that fewer women have quit. Fifty years ago, five times as many U.S. men as women died of lung cancer. But because of cohort changes in when men and women started smoking, lung cancer now kills as many women as men.
How does the relationship between dose and health differ for tobacco and alcohol?|| Every bit of exposure to cigarette smoke makes cancer, heart disease, strokes, and emphysema more likely. No such linear harm results from drinking alcohol; in fact, some research reports that alcohol in moderation can be beneficial. Excessive drinking is always harmful, however.
Who is most likely to be harmed by alcohol abuse?|| The risk of accidental death while drunk is most common among young men; law enforcement has cut their drunk-driving rate in half. However, ongoing harm to families is more prevalent when men or women who are addicted to alcohol are middle-aged parents.
What factors (food- and nonfood-related) affect the rate of obesity?|| Too much meat, fat, and sugar and too little fiber are the main dietary culprits in the rate of obesity. Inadequate physical activity also affects the rate of obesity. Less than 50 percent of U.S. adults report that they engage in at least 20 minutes of daily exercise, and one study that used an objective assessment of adult movement found that fewer than 5 percent of U.S. adults get even 30 minutes per day of exercise.
What are the consequences of obesity, in the United States and elsewhere?|| Obesity increases the risk of almost every disease. Type 2 diabetes is just one example. Because genes for diabetes are often activated by body fat, it is increasing worldwide, causing eye, heart, and foot problems as well as early death.
What are the benefits of the Mediterranean diet?|| The Mediterranean diet, which is high in fiber and healthy fats, protects against heart disease without adding weight.
Who is most likely to benefit from or be harmed by surgery to reduce obesity?|| While the rate of complications is high for surgery, the greatest benefits seem to occur for people with diabetes: 70 percent find that their diabetes disappears, usually not to return.
Losses and Gains
How are people affected by the visible changes in the skin between ages 25 and 65?|| During adulthood the skin becomes dryer, rougher, thinner, less flexible, and wrinkled.
How does the ability to move the body change with age?|| In the aging body, muscles atrophy; joints lose flexibility; stiffness appears; bending is harder; balance is more difficult. Rising from sitting, twisting in a dance, hoping on one foot, or even walking “with a spring in your step” is not as easy. A strained back, neck, or other body part may occur.
How does the body shape change between ages 25 and 65?|| As adults age, they tend to lose height, specifically in the trunk of the body, and experience an increase in waist circumference. During adulthood muscles typically weaken; pockets of fat settle on the abdomen, upper arms, buttocks, and chin; and adults stoop slightly when they stand.
What is the relationship between cancer and aging?||Most cancers are affected by the health habits that increase allostatic load.
What is the relationship between income, education, and disease in adulthood?|| Money and education protect health, but it is not clear whether income or education is the main reason. Perhaps education teaches healthy habits. Or perhaps higher income allows access to better medical care as well as a home far from pollution and crime. Because low income may deprive one of access to education, it could be argued that economic factors are more important. Furthermore, diseases that were once associated with high income are now associated with low income. Individuals who are poor tend to have poorer eating habits and greater rates of obesity, more stress, bad health habits (e.g., smoking), less access to doctors, and lower-quality medical care.
How are couples affected by the changes in sexual responsiveness with age?|| Sexual arousal occurs more slowly with age, and orgasm takes longer. For some couples, these slowdowns are counterbalanced by reduced anxiety and better communication, as partners become more familiar with their own bodies and those of their mates. Distress at slower responsiveness seems less connected to physiological aging than to troubled interpersonal relationships and unrealistic fears and expectations. Some adults say that sexual responsiveness may improve with age; arousal and orgasm can continue throughout life. One study found that men and women who were in committed, monogamous relationships were likely to be “extremely satisfied” with sex.
What are the causes of infertility?||As with men, women’s fertility is affected by anything that impairs physical functioning—including disease, smoking, sedentary behavior, extreme dieting, and obesity. Many infertile women do not realize they have pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which creates scar tissue that may block the fallopian tubes, preventing sperm from reaching an ovum.
How easy or difficult is the process of artificial reproductive technology?||The ART process of in vitro fertilization (IVF) is more complicated than a typical conception. The woman must take hormones to increase the number of fully developed ova, and the man must ejaculate into a receptacle. Then surgeons remove several ova from one or both ovaries and technicians combine the ova and sperm in a laboratory dish, often inserting one active sperm into each normal ovum. Even with careful preparation, fewer than half of the inserted blastocysts successfully implant and grow to become newborns.
What are the sex differences in the decline of sex hormones with age?|| In women, the level of sex hormones circulating in the bloodstream declines suddenly, while the decline is gradual for men.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of menopause?|| Disadvantages are that sexual desire and frequency of intercourse decrease, and erratic moods and depression may increase. Relief that menstruation and the possibility of pregnancy have ended is among the advantages.
The Aging Brain
How is the brain affected by aging during adulthood?|| Like every other part of the body, the brain slows down with age. Neurons take longer to fire, and messages sent from the axon of one neuron are not picked up as quickly by the dendrites of other neurons. Reaction time lengthens.
How successful have neuroscientists been in finding g?|| Many neuroscientists search for genetic underpinnings of intellectual capacity, although they have not yet succeeded in finding g. Some aspects of brain function, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, hold promise. Many other scientists also seek one common factor that undergirds IQ—perhaps prenatal brain development, experiences in infancy, or physical health.
What are the age-related differences in fluid and crystallized intelligence?|| Crystallized intelligence increases with age, while fluid intelligence declines.
Why would someone want greater crystallized intelligence than fluid intelligence?|| Crystallized intelligence is the accumulation of facts, information, and knowledge as a result of education and experience. Intelligent adults read widely, think deeply, and remember what they learn, so their achievement reflects their aptitude. Greater vocabulary, knowledge base, and memory for important facts are all extremely important for practical intelligence.
Why would someone want greater fluid intelligence than crystallized intelligence?|| Fluid intelligence is quick and flexible, allowing people to learn anything, even things that are unfamiliar and unconnected to what they already know. People high in fluid intelligence can draw inferences, understand relationships between concepts, and readily process new ideas and facts in part because their working memory is large and flexible.
When would analytic intelligence be particularly useful?|| Analytic strengths are valuable in emerging adulthood, particularly in college, in graduate school, and in job training.
Would you like to be an adult high in one of Sternberg’s three intelligences but low in the other two? Why or why not?|| Answers will vary.
How might cognitive artifacts affect the economic wealth of a nation?|| Educated people are better able to use the cognitive artifacts of their society to advance their own intelligence. Then they develop more cognitive artifacts, and the whole community benefits. For instance, most developed nations provide free preschool and kindergarten to all children. That increases learning in the young, eventually advancing the nation.
Selecting and Protecting
In what situations is emotion-focused coping the best?|| When the situation cannot be changed, it is best to use emotion-focused coping, in which people try to change their emotional reactions to the situation.
In what situations is problem-focused coping the best?|| When the situation needs to change, problem-focused coping, in which people attack the stressor directly, is the best response.
What might a person do to optimize ability in some area not discussed in the book, such as playing the flute, or growing tomatoes, or building a cabinet?|| If individuals want to optimize their ability to learn a task, they must focus on that one chosen thing and then practice. Selective optimization means that each adult selects certain aspects of intelligence to optimize and neglects the rest. When adults are motivated to do well, few age-related deficits are apparent.
How does the saying “Can’t see the forest for the trees” relate to what you have learned about adult cognition?|| Novices follow formal procedures and rules (trees), whereas experts rely more on past experiences and immediate contexts (forest).
Explain how intuition might help or diminish ability.|| Intuitive reasoning allows experts to rely on context and experience to create responses that are less stereotypic than novices would create. Given time constraints that prevent conscious thought, experts are more accurate than novices in making judgments. However, if an expert has misjudged a situation, his or her intuition may lead to an erroneous conclusion.
How does automatic processing contribute to expertise?|| When experts are working in their area of expertise, they use automatic processing to utilize information rapidly and efficiently. Automatic processing allows them to see the “whole picture” and make fast—and generally accurate—decisions based on that.
In what occupations would age be an asset, and why?|| In occupations in which expertise is a factor, older workers will generally perform better than younger workers—if they are motivated to do their best.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 13
Personality Development in Adulthood
What are other names for Erikson’s intimacy stage?|| (1) affiliation; (2) emotional; and (3) communion
What are the descriptions of what Freud called the need to work?|| Freud said that adults need lieben und arbeiten—to love and to work. Erikson referred to generativity versus stagnation, maintaining that adults need to care for the next generation, either by raising their own children or by mentoring, teaching, and helping others.
What are thought to be the origins of personality?||Personality begins with genes.
Why does personality change as people grow older?||People try to shape their personality to the norms of their culture.
How might the personality trait of openness affect people’s choice of jobs, mates, lifestyle, and neighborhood?||People who are higher in openness tend to have higher IQs and more verbal fluency. They are more likely to consider all possible options and may therefore plan and choose more wisely in all aspects of their lives.
How might the personality trait of extraversion affect people’s choice of colleges, friends, and community involvement?||Extroverts are more active, assertive, and outgoing, and are therefore likely to attend better schools, have more friends, and be more of a leader overall.
How might the trait of conscientiousness affect a parent’s interactions with his or her children?||Conscientious parents may be more measured with their children, instilling discipline, stability, and routine without losing their tempers or making rash decisions.
Intimacy: Connecting with Others
What needs do long-term partners meet?|| Long-term partners meet needs for intimacy and also help to raise children, share resources, and provide care when needed.
How and why does marital happiness change from the wedding to old age?|| The honeymoon period tends to be the happiest time, but soon frustration increases as conflicts arise. Partnerships tend to be less happy after the first child is born, and again when children reach puberty. Divorce risk rises and then falls during these times. Happiness rises when children leave the nest and happiness continues to be high and steady after that, barring serious health problems.
How do same-sex marriages compare to heterosexual marriages?||Just like heterosexual couples, some same-sex couples are faithful and supportive of each other; their emotional well-being thrives on their intimacy and commitment, which increases over the decades. Others are conflicted: problems of finances, communication, and domestic abuse resemble those in heterosexual marriages.
What are the usual consequences of divorce?|| Consequences of divorce often include reduced income, family problems, lost friendships, and weakened relationships with one’s children. That said, if the divorce ends an abusive or difficult situation, it could improve life for at least one adult and for the children.
Why do remarriages have a higher divorce rate than first marriages?|| Personality tends to change only slightly over the lifespan; therefore, people who were chronically unhappy in their first marriage may also become unhappy in their second. In addition, if there are stepchildren, they add unexpected stresses, and stepparents may have difficulty letting the spouse’s former mate continue to care for their own children.
Why would people choose to live apart together (LAT)?||A couple’s decision to LAT is influenced by their families and cultures. For instance, cohabiters who have had children together are more likely to marry than those without, especially when the children start school. Many older parents maintain separate households because they do not want to upset their grown children. Finances also play a part; while most married couples pool their money, many cohabiting couples do not. LAT couples struggle with this aspect of their relationship, with the women particularly wanting to pay their own way.
Why do people need a “social convoy?”||A social convoy provides a protective layer of social relationships that guide, encourage, and socialize the individual.
What roles do friends play in a person’s life?|| Friends are chosen for the traits that make them reliable fellow travelers through life. Mutual loyalty and aid are expected from friends. Friends offer companionship, information, and laughter in daily life. Unlike family members, if friends are not supportive, the relationship ends.
What are the differences between friends and consequential strangers?|| Individuals choose their friends and develop an intimate connection with them. Consequential strangers are neighbors, coworkers, store clerks, local police officers, or members of a religious or other community group. A consequential stranger is not in a person’s closest convoy but is one who nonetheless has an impact on the person’s experience through at least one, and often repeated, interactions. Consequential strangers include people of diverse religions, ethnic groups, ages, and political opinions without the shared values, lifestyles, and background that are often the glue that keeps friendships close.
What is the usual relationship between adult children and their parents?|| The relationship between adult children and their parents becomes stronger, not weaker, as adult children live apart from their parents. The intergenerational support network is both durable and flexible. Due to the economic recession, more adult children 25 to 34 years old have been living with their parents than during the last major recession in 1980. Most of these modern young adults report feeling comfortable staying with their parents when they needed to.
What usually happens to sibling relationships over the course of adulthood?|| Marriage and childbearing in adulthood typically enhance closeness in sibling relationships. Parents want their children to know their aunts, uncles, and cousins, and that reduces sibling distance. Furthermore, adulthood frees siblings from forced cohabitation and rivalry, allowing them to differ without fighting.
Why do people have fictive kin?|| Some adults may become fictive kin in another family because they have been rejected by their original family, are far from home, or are changing their habits. Adults benefit from kin, fictive or not.
Generativity: The Work of Adulthood
What is the basic idea of generativity?|| Generativity refers to the need to be productive in a caring way. Without generativity, adults experience “a pervading sense of stagnation and personal impoverishment.” Adults satisfy their need to be generative in many ways, including through parenthood, caregiving, and employment.
In what ways does parenthood satisfy an adult’s need to be generative?|| Childbearing and rearing is a labor-intensive expression of generativity. Every parent is tested by the experience of raising children. Children sometimes reorder adult perspectives, as parents become less focused on their own personal identities or intimate relationships, focusing instead on their children.
What factors might make it difficult for foster children and foster parents to bond?|| Children may be put into foster care if birth parents are so neglectful or abusive that the children are seriously harmed by their care. In these cases the child’s early attachment to their birth parents can impede connection to the foster parent. Furthermore, a secure new attachment may be hampered if both adult and child know that their connection can be severed for reasons unrelated to caregiving quality or relationship strength.
How might each of the Big Five personality traits make it easier or more difficult to develop positive relationships with stepchildren?|| Someone high in openness may be more willing to deal with the new experience of stepparenting. A person high in conscientiousness might not like the disorder that stepchildren bring to a family. A person high in extroversion and/or agreeableness may have an easier time relating to and accepting stepchildren. A person high in neuroticism may not be able to tolerate the increased anxiety that may come with caring for stepchildren.
What advantages do adoptive parents have over foster parents or stepparents?|| Adoptive parents are legally connected to their child for life and typically they desperately wanted the child. Both of these factors may lead to a strong parent–child bond.
Is it a blessing or a burden that women are more often kinkeepers and caregivers than are men?|| The role of being the kinkeeper (a caregiver who takes responsibility for maintaining communication) may be burdensome, but caregiving provides both satisfaction and power. Kinkeepers may share the work; shared kinkeeping is an example of generativity.
Why are middle-aged adults mistakenly called the “sandwich generation?”|| Middle-aged adults are sometimes called the “sandwich generation” because they are expected to help both the older and younger generations. This metaphor may give a false impression because caregiving is beneficial; people feel useful when they help one another. In addition, it implies that the middle generation is the generation that gives aid to the other generations, when in fact the aid tends to run from the older generations to the younger generations at all levels.
What are some extrinsic and intrinsic rewards of work?|| Extrinsic rewards of work include tangible benefits such as salary, health insurance, and a pension or retirement savings. Intrinsic rewards of work are related to generativity; satisfaction, relationships with coworkers, and a sense of participation in meaningful activity.
What are the advantages of greater ethnic diversity at work?|| Greater ethnic diversity is a benefit to those people who would not have been hired in previous decades. The greater diversity also requires employers to be sensitive to differences they might not have noticed previously. Employees benefit from working with a variety of coworkers and supervisors.
Why is changing jobs stressful?|| 1) Seniority brings higher salaries, more respect, and greater expertise; workers who leave a job they have had for years lose these advantages. 2) Many skills required for employment were not taught decades ago, so older job seekers are less likely to be hired. 3) Age discrimination is illegal, but workers believe it is widespread. Even if it does not exist, stereotype threat undercuts successful job searching. 4) Relocation reduces long-standing intimacy and generativity.
How have innovations in work scheduling helped and harmed families?|| Flextime, telecommuting, part-time work, and self-employment may help adults balance work and family. Weekend work, mandatory overtime, night work, and other nonstandard schedules, especially when combined with overwork, correlate with personal, relational, and child-rearing difficulties.
Why, overall, might people be happier with current employment patterns than earlier ones?|| Non-standard work schedules allow for great flexibility, which is useful in many stages of adult life. When adults are the parents of young children, for example, flexibility in schedules allows one parent to be home while the other is at work. Today parents (often mothers, but not exclusively so) are likely to rearrange meal and sleeping schedules so that they spend time with their children.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 14
Prejudice and Predictions
How is ageism similar to racism?|| Ageism (the idea that age determines who you are) and racism (the idea that race determines who you are) are both forms of prejudice and stereotyping, which makes them social diseases that cause groups to treat each other based on superficial cues rather than on personal qualities. They both can lead to members of the stereotyped group accepting the stereotypes, to their own detriment. That can produce self-fulfilling prophecies and stereotype threat.
How is benevolent ageism harmful?|| Ageism often seems complimentary or solicitous. However, the effects of ageism, whether benevolent or not, are insidious, seeping into and eroding the older person’s feelings of competence. The resulting self-doubt fosters anxiety, morbidity, and even mortality.
What is elderspeak and how is it used?|| Elderspeak, like baby talk, uses simple, short sentences, slower talk, higher pitch, louder volume, and frequent repetition. It may include patronizing terms such as “honey” and “dear,” or may use nicknames (e.g., Billy) instead of surnames (e.g., Mr. White).
What is encouraging about the research on calorie restriction?||In several places, e.g., Okinawa, Denmark, Norway, Cuba, wartime occupation or other circumstances forced calorie reduction for almost everyone. While people were often hungry, fewer people died of disease.
What is discouraging about the research on calorie restriction?||In the examples in the text, populations benefited when everyone ate less, particularly less meat; but in all these nations, once more food was available, people eagerly ate more and disease deaths rose again. Apparently, most humans choose some wear and tear in order to live the life they want.
Regarding maximum and average life span, should both, neither, or only one be extended?||Answers will vary, but one might question whether it is ethical to strive for increased longevity for wealthy 80-year-olds when many low-SES infants, children, and young adults die—perhaps training doctors and nurses in the poorest nations and reducing SES disparities in wealthy nations are better goals. Furthermore, by extending life, nations are adding medical costs to society. Perhaps both the maximum and average life span are as long as they need to be.
What is the connection between telomeres and the Hayflick limit?||The Hayflick limit is the point at which the telomere (which becomes shorter with each cell duplication) is gone, duplication stops, and the creature dies.
Why might a society consider it harmful for people to live past a certain age?||Many worry that by extending life, nations are adding medical costs to society and that any lengthening of life will result in less public money for schools, colleges, and health care for those under age 65. Further, the effort to extend life spans may disproportionately favor European American, Protestant Christian, higher-SES individuals since they comprise the majority of older U.S. adults.
Selective Optimization with Compensation
How can couples continue to have satisfying sex lives in old age?|| Research suggests that couples should do more cuddling, kissing, caressing, desiring, and fantasizing as intercourse becomes less frequent.
What is the age-related relationship between intercourse and sexual satisfaction?|| Most people are sexually active throughout adulthood. Some continue to have intercourse long past age 65, but generally intercourse becomes less frequent and sometimes stops completely. However, sexual satisfaction often increases after middle age.
How should it be decided whether or not an elderly person should drive?|| New tests need to be designed that test judgment, reaction time, and peripheral vision. A national panel recommends simulated driving via a computer and video screen, with the prospective driver seated with a steering wheel, accelerator, and brakes. The results of this test could allow some 80-year-olds to renew their licenses, some to have their licenses revoked, and many to recognize that they are less proficient than they thought.
How does heart disease illustrate both primary and secondary aging?|| Primary aging: With age the heart pumps more slowly and the vascular network is less flexible, increasing the risk of stroke and heart attack. Secondary aging: A high allostatic load can increase the likelihood of heart disease.
What is the continued impact of the Tuskegee study?|| One lasting effect of the Tuskegee study is mistrust among African American men of doctors’ prescriptions of medications. That is said to be one reason heart disease kills more African American men, at younger ages, than African American women or men of other ethnic groups.
Why would a broken hip make death more likely?|| A fall that would merely bruise a young person may result in a broken hip, starting a cascade of medical problems. Immobility causes body systems to deteriorate, which explains why fractures once led to death for 10 percent of osteoporosis sufferers within a year, with a broken hip “a leading cause of morbidity and excess mortality among older adults.”
How does osteoporosis illustrate compression of morbidity?|| Before the twenty-first century, a broken wrist or hip in an elder led to morbidity, sometimes for months, especially when hospitalization and weeks or months of limited movement caused infections and stress. Now, early diagnosis via a bone density test detects bone weakening long before the first fracture. Doctors advise prevention, with weight-bearing and muscle-strengthening exercises and a lifelong diet with sufficient calcium and vitamin D. In addition, a dozen drugs reduce bone loss. If a hip bone breaks, an artificial hip restores mobility. Thus, morbidity as a result of osteoporosis has become compressed.
The Aging Brain
What aspects of the brain slow down with age?|| Age slows down the production of neurotransmitters. Neural fluid decreases, myelination thins, and cerebral blood circulates more slowly. The result is an overall brain slowdown, evident in reaction time, moving, talking, and thinking.
What does research find about the development of new neurons with age?|| Surprising many scientists is the finding that new neurons form and dendrites grow in adulthood. Neurons appear in two specific areas, the olfactory region (smelling) and the hippocampus (remembering). Additionally, old neurons can develop new dendrites, allowing adults to resist depression and anxiety.
How does sensory loss affect cognition?|| Information must cross the sensory threshold (the divide between what is sensed and what is not) in order to be perceived. A person may not recognize sensory losses because the brain automatically fills in missed sights and sounds. However, a longitudinal study reveals that the average cognitive scores of the adults with hearing loss (who were often unaware of it) were down 7 percent, while those with normal hearing lost 5 percent. Greater hearing losses correlated with greater cognitive declines.
Which kinds of things are harder to remember with age?|| Explicit memory (the recall of facts and information that has been stored) declines with age. Source amnesia (forgetting where the information came from) becomes more common with age, while prospective memory (ability to remember something that you’ve planned to do, such as a doctor’s appointment) fades with age.
Why is source memory particularly important in current times?||Memory for the origins of facts, ideas, or snippets of conversation is especially important in the twenty-first century, when video, audio, and print information inundates the mind. Source memory ensures that elders won’t, for example, believe a rumor or false political advertisement.
What aspects of memory are least likely to fade?||Implicit memory (recognition and habits) and memory as part of social learning are less likely to fade than other types of memory.
Why do some elderly people resist learning strategies for memory retrieval?|| Many older adults resist suggested strategies because they believe that declines are “inevitable or irreversible” and that no strategy can help.
Why is ecological validity especially important for prospective memory?|| The elderly tend to be handicapped by traditional testing. Ecological validity means doing measurements in everyday settings. Such testing conditions ensure that optimal performance is assessed. Awareness of the need for ecological validity has helped scientists restructure research on memory, finding fewer deficits in older adults than was previously believed. Indeed, age differences in prospective memory are readily apparent in laboratory tests but disappear in some naturalistic settings, a phenomenon called the “prospective memory-paradox.” Motivation seems crucial; elders are less likely to forget whatever they believe is important—phoning a child on his or her birthday, for instance.
Brain Diseases
What brain diseases or conditions correlate with loss of cognition?|| Neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) impair intellectual functioning caused by organic brain damage or disease. NCDs may be diagnosed as major or mild, depending on the severity of symptoms. Specific NCDs include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular disease, and frontotemporal NCDs. Loss of cognition can also be associated with disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
How does changing terminology reflect changing attitudes?|| Ageism is revealed in the older terminology surrounding neurocognitive disorders. Senile simply means “old,” but senility suggests severe mental impairment, which implies that old age always brings intellectual failure—an ageist myth. Dementia was a more precise term than senility for irreversible, pathological loss of brain functioning, but dementia also has inaccurate connotations (e.g., it is related to the Latin word for “mad” or “insane”). The DSM-5 replaces the term dementia with the term neurocognitive disorders (NCDs). Major NCD or mild NCD, depending on the severity of symptoms, better capture the range of cognitive impairment and provide the opportunity for early detection and treatment of cognitive decline.
How does exercise affect the brain?|| Exercise that improves blood circulation not only prevents cognitive loss but also builds capacity and repairs damage.
What changes in the prevalence of neurocognitive disorders have occurred in recent years?|| While the poorest nations have the lowest rates of major NCD, rates rise as public health, better education, and prosperity lead to increases in longevity. This has already occurred in China, where 9 million people had a major NCD in 2010, compared to only 4 million in 1990. Eventually, better education and public health will reduce the rate (if not the number) of cognitive impairments everywhere. In England and Wales the rate of major NCD for people over age 65 was 8.3 percent in 1991 but only 6.5 percent in 2011. Sweden had a similar decline.
What indicates that Alzheimer’s disease is partly genetic?|| Alzheimer’s disease is partly genetic. If it develops in middle age, the affected person either has trisomy-21 (Down syndrome) or has inherited one of three genes: amyloid precursor protein (APP), presenilin 1, or presenilin 2. For these people, the disease progresses quickly, reaching the last phase within three to five years.
How does the progression of Alzheimer’s differ from vascular disease?|| People may be unaware of the early stages of vascular disease because symptoms may vanish quickly and thus go unnoticed. The progression of Alzheimer’s disease is gradual, whereas the symptoms of vascular disease suddenly appear.
In what ways are frontotemporal NCDs worse than Alzheimer’s disease?|| In addition to the fact that they tend to affect people who are under age 70, frontotemporal NCDs may be worse than other types of NCDs because compassion, self-awareness, and judgment fade in a person who otherwise seems normal.
Why is Lewy body disease sometimes mistaken for Parkinson’s disease?|| Lewy bodies are also present in Parkinson’s disease, but in Lewy body disease they are more numerous and dispersed throughout the brain, interfering with communication between neurons.
How successful are scientists at preventing major NCD?|| Among professionals, hope is replacing despair. Earlier diagnosis seems possible; many drug and lifestyle treatments are under review. Early, accurate diagnosis, years before obvious symptoms appear, leads to more effective treatment.
What is the relationship between depression, anxiety, and neurocognitive disorders?||Ongoing, untreated depression increases the risk of major NCD, but the symptoms of both depression and anxiety are often opposite the symptoms of neurocognitive disorders. While people with untreated anxiety or depression may exaggerate minor memory losses or refuse to talk, those with early Alzheimer’s disease are often surprised when they cannot answer questions, and those with Lewy body disease or frontotemporal NCDs may talk too much without thinking.
Why is polypharmacy particularly common among the elderly?|| Because the average elderly person in the United States sees a physician more frequently than younger adults, a prescribing cascade (when many interacting drugs are prescribed) may occur. A related problem is that people of every age forget when to take which drugs. Finally, following recommendations from the radio, friends, and television ads, many of the elderly try supplements, compounds, and herbal preparations that contain mind-altering toxins. Some of the elderly believe that only illegal drugs are harmful to the mind, which makes alcohol and pill addiction harder to recognize in the elderly.
Older and Wiser?
How can older people help to improve their own cognitive abilities?|| Through cognitive skills training, older adults sometimes learn cognitive strategies and skills and maintain that learning if the strategies and skills are frequently used.
Why might older people become more creative, musical, and spiritual than before?|| In a study of extraordinarily creative people, almost none felt that their ability, their goals, or the quality of their work had been much impaired by age. Old age can be a time of emotional sensory awareness and enjoyment.
What educational opportunities are available for the elderly?|| In many nations, education programs have been created for the old, called Universities for the Third Age in Europe and Australia, and Road Scholar (formerly Exploritas) in the United States. Elderly people can also experience “emotional sensory awareness and enjoyment” through gardening, bird-watching, sculpting, painting, or making music, even if they have never done so before.
What happens with creative ability as people grow older?||Many well-known artists continue to work in late adulthood, sometimes producing their best work. In a study of extraordinarily creative people, almost none felt that their ability, their goals, or the quality of their work had been much impaired by age. The leader of that study observed, “Now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties, they may lack the fiery ambition of earlier years, but they are just as focused, efficient, and committed as before.”
What is the purpose of the life review?|| Through a life review, elderly people provide an account of their personal journey by writing or telling their story. They want others to know their history, not only their personal experiences but also those of their family, cohort, or ethnic group.
Why are scientists hesitant to say that wisdom comes from age?|| Contrary to these wishes and opinions, most objective research finds that wisdom does not necessarily increase with age. Starting at age 25 or so, some adults of every age are wise, but most, even at age 80, are not. An underlying research quandary is that a universal definition of wisdom is elusive.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Chapter 15
Theories of Late Adulthood
How does Erikson’s use of the word integrity differ from its usual meaning?||The word “integrity” is often used to mean honesty, but it also means a feeling of being whole, not scattered, and comfortable with oneself. In Erikson’s eighth stage, adults seek a feeling of wholeness and connectedness, feeling pride in their personal history. An inability to feel this would result in feelings of disconnectedness and despair.
How does hoarding relate to self theory?||Older adults may begin to cling to possessions as they try to maintain a sense of self and of autonomy as they age. Things accumulate because possessions are part of self-expression, and the elderly resist self-destruction.
What are the advantages of the positivity effect?||The positivity effect refers to elderly people’s tendency to perceive and remember positive events and to downplay negative ones. The positivity effect makes it easier for older adults to dismiss unpleasant or stressful events—or at least to not take them personally. Compensation occurs via selective recall: Unpleasant experiences are reinterpreted as inconsequential. People select positive emotions, perceptions, and memories.
What are the disadvantages of the positivity effect?||The positivity effect may explain why, in every nation and religion, older people tend to be more patriotic and devout than younger ones. They see their national history and religious beliefs in positive terms, and they are proud to be themselves. Of course, this same trait can keep them mired in their earlier prejudices—racist, sexist, or homophobic, for instance.
What are the problems with being female, according to stratification theory?||Irrational, gender-based fear may limit female independence from infancy to old age. Because women typically marry men a few years older than them, wives tend to outlive their husbands. If the marriage includes traditional gender roles, the husband may handle the finances, leaving his widow at risk for financial trouble.
What are the problems with being male, according to stratification theory?||Boys are taught to be stoic, repressing emotions and avoiding medical attention, which could lead them to early death.
How does immigrant status impair elderly people, according to stratification theory?||Most immigrants to North America come from non-Western cultures, where younger generations are expected to care for the elderly. Many older immigrants are poor, lonely, and dependent on their children, who live in homes and apartments not designed for extended families. That may lead to two harmful family dynamics: unwelcome closeness in crowded, multigenerational homes, and/or distressing distance between elders and their descendants.
Which type of stratification is most burdensome— economic, ethnic, or gender?||Economic stratification is the most harmful, and it is more apparent than either gender or ethnic stratification among the very old.
How can disengagement be mutual?||According to the disengagement theory, younger adult workers and parents disengage from the old, who themselves disengage, withdrawing from life’s actions.
If activity theory is correct, what does that suggest older adults should do?||They should remain active in a variety of social spheres, such as relatives, friends, and community groups. Being active correlates with happiness, intelligence, and health, according to research.
What data support stratification theory, and what data refute it?||Life expectancy data from California for various ethnicities and both genders by SES provide evidence for ethnic and income stratification. Data comparing the aged of various ethnic groups refute it: Although in childhood and adulthood African Americans have poorer health and higher death rate than European Americans, that inequality disappears at about age 80 and then reverses. The average African American centenarian lives seven months longer than does the average European American one. Other minority ethnic groups do even better: Older Asian Americans have a several year advantage.
Activities in Late Adulthood
Why would a person keep working after age 65?||A person may continue working based on financial need, because they like the status of the position, or because the job and community associated with work is something the person enjoys and values and is reluctant to give up.
How does retirement affect the health of people who have worked all their lives?||If retirees voluntarily leave their jobs and engage in activities and intellectual challenges, they become healthier and happier than they were before.
Who is more likely to volunteer and why?||According to official statistics, older adults volunteer less often than do middle-aged adults. This counts people who volunteer for organizations such as schools, churches, social service groups, etc. If we figured in assistance given to friends, neighbors or even strangers, elders could perhaps have higher rates than anyone else.
What are the benefits and liabilities for elders who want to age in place?||Many elders prefer to age in place, comfortable in the familiarity of their home and community. Such social ties lead to a greater sense of well-being. This can best be experienced if their dwelling is suitable to grow old in and if they have access to health care, reliable transportation, and safety and security.
How does religion affect the well-being of the aged?||Religious practice correlates with health because religions tend to encourage healthy behaviors, provide opportunities for social engagement, offer insight on the meaning of life, and give hope in death. Religious institutions often provide a host of social services that benefit the elderly, while also providing a sense of community.
How does the political activity of older and younger adults differ?||While older adults are less likely to be involved in campaigns and political activism, they are more likely to write to elected officials, to vote, and to follow current events.
Friends and Relatives
What is the usual relationship between older adults who have been partners for decades?||Outsiders might judge many long-term marriages as unequal, since one or the other spouse usually provides most of the money, or needs most of the care, or does most of the housework. Yet such disparities do not bother older partners, who accept each other’s dependencies, remembering times (perhaps decades ago) when the situation was reversed.
Who benefits most from relationships between older adults and their grown children?||Familism prompts family caregiving among all the relatives. One manifestation is filial responsibility, the obligation of adult children to care for their aging parents. This is a value in every nation, stronger in some cultures than in others. As family size shrinks, many older parents continue to feel responsible for their grown children. Both generations benefit from their relationship.
Which type of grandparenting seems to benefit both generations the most?||Companionate grandparents, who are fun, kind, and generous playmates for grandchildren and who provide babysitting and financial support for the family while still having their own independent lives, seem to benefit both generations the most.
Why do older people tend to have fewer friends as they age?||Some older friends die, and retirement usually means losing contact with most work friends.
Why are people who have never married not likely to be lonely and sick?||Recent data find that elders who never married are usually quite content, not lonely. Some of them have partners, of the same sex or other sex, and are cohabiting or living apart together, seemingly just as happy as traditionally married people. Further, having a smaller friendship circle is not a problem if a person has at least a few close friends—as most of the aged do.
How do demographic changes affect family relationships?||When demographics change, filial responsibility is impacted. Some people still romanticize elder care, believing that frail older adults should live with their caregiving children. That assumption worked when the demographic pyramid meant that each surviving elder had many descendants, but it may overburden beanpole families.
The Frail Elderly
What factors make an older person frail?||Frail elderly are people over age 65, and often over age 85, who are physically infirm, very ill, or cognitively disabled.
What are the basic differences between ADLs and IADLs?||ADLs (activities of daily life) include eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, and moving from a bed to a chair. IADLs (instrumental activities of daily life) include actions such as paying bills or driving a car, things that are important to independent living and that require some intellectual competence and forethought.
Why might IADLs be more important than ADLs in deciding how much care a person needs?||IADLs are actions important to independent living—like maintaining a budget—that require intellectual competence. The inability to perform IADLs makes a person frail, regardless of physical condition. Problems with IADLs often precede problems with ADLs, since planning and problem solving help frail elders maintain self-care.
What are the signs of frailty?||Frailty begins with an overall loss of energy and strength; it is systemic, often accompanied by weight loss and exhaustion.
What can be done to increase mobility in the aged?||One example is that physical therapists can teach specific exercises and movements to improve mobility.
How is cognitive decline related to prevention of frailty?||The social support networks that prevent physical decline can also aid in preventing mental decline.
What three factors increase the likelihood of elder abuse?||Elder abuse is most common if 1) the caregiver suffers from emotional problems or substance abuse; 2) the care receiver is frail, confused, and demanding; and 3) the care location is isolated, where visitors are few. In addition, relatives who have had little training are often required to provide substantial and nearly constant care without help or supervision; a lack of support, training, and respite are problems.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of assisted living for the elderly?||Advantages: Assisted-living residences provide private apartments for each person and allow pets and furnishings as in a traditional home. But assistance is available, in the form of communal meals, special transportation and activities, household cleaning, and medical assistance. Disadvantages: Standards vary or are nonexistent, and many places are unlicensed. Some regions of the world have many assisted-living options, while others have almost none.
When is a nursing home a good solution for the problems of the frail elderly?||It is a good solution for some elders, usually over 80 years old, frail and confused, with several medical problems. Some need such care for more than a year, and a very few stay for 10 years or more.
What factors distinguish a good nursing home from a bad one?||Good care allows independence, individual choice, and privacy. Continuity of care is crucial: An institution with a high rate of staff turnover is to be avoided. At every age, establishing relationships with other people is also crucial: If the residents feel that their caregivers are the same year after year, that improves well-being. The training and the workload of the staff, especially of the aides who provide frequent, personal care, is important: Such simple tasks as helping a frail person out of bed can be done clumsily, painfully, or skillfully.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? ANSWERS: Epilogue
Death and Hope
Why are people less familiar with death today than they were 100 years ago? What impact might this have?||One hundred years ago, death often took place at home, where the dying person was surrounded by family and friends. Today, death most often occurs in hospitals, removed from the view of everyday life. As death has become less familiar, it has become more feared.
According to the ancient Egyptians and Greeks, what determined a person’s fate after death?||The ancient Egyptians believed that one’s fate after death was dependent on a combination of the person’s actions during life, the circumstances of the death, and the propriety of the burial. The ancient Greeks believed that fate after death was dependent on the good and evil deeds a person committed while alive.
What is one example of contrasting rituals about death?||Multiple examples appear in the text. One example is that in many Muslim and Hindu cultures, a family member bathes the dead person’s body, while in some Native American traditions, no family member is to touch the body.
What should parents remember when talking with children about death?||Adults should consider a child’s stage of cognitive development when talking about death and should strive to answer honestly. Usually the death of a person or a pet closely involved in their daily lives has more of an impact than the death of a relative who is generally removed. Avoiding the topic may give the impression that death is too terrible to even discuss.
How does terror management theory explain young people’s risk taking?||Terror management theory helps explain some apparently illogical responses to death. With this in mind, young people may take extraordinary risks and then, when they survive, feel as though they have “proven” that they will not die.
How does parenthood affect people’s thoughts about their own death?||When people become parents, they often eliminate many risk-taking behaviors in favor of more cautious practices. They fear death in part because they do not want to abandon family members.
How do attitudes about death shift in late adulthood?||In late adulthood, anxiety about death decreases while hope increases. Many older adults express a belief in life after death. Priorities shift as well; many elderly people seek to allocate more of their time to their family.
In what ways do people change after a near-death experience?||After having a near-death experience, people tend to move toward the same realizations: 1) the limitations of social status; 2) the insignificance of material possessions; and 3) the narrowness of self-centeredness. People tend to emerge more loving and hopeful than they were before.
Choices in Dying
What is a good death?||A good death is typically thought to take place after a long life, peacefully, quickly, in a familiar place, surrounded by loved ones, and without pain or discomfort.
According to Kübler-Ross, what are the five stages of emotions associated with dying?||Kübler-Ross’s five stages of dying are: 1) denial; 2) anger; 3) bargaining; 4) depression; and 5) acceptance.
Why doesn’t everyone agree with Kübler-Ross’s stages?||Some people do not agree with her stages because not everyone moves through all five stages in this order—or at all.
What determines whether a dying person will receive hospice care?||Hospice patients must be terminally ill, with death anticipated within six months, and the patient and his or her family must be willing to accept death. In addition, where a person lives and even insurance (or ability to pay) are factors in determining if a person will receive hospice care.
What are the guiding principles of hospice care, and why is each important?||Two guiding principles for hospice care are that the dying person’s autonomy and decisions be respected, and that the needs of the mourners be met. By providing the kind of environment and pain management a patient desires, and by supporting mourners during and after the loss of a loved one, hospice aims to make the dying process easier and less frightening.
Why is the double effect legal everywhere, even though it speeds death?||Morphine and other opiates have a double effect: They relieve pain (a positive effect), but they also slow down respiration (a negative effect). A painkiller that reduces pain but also breathing is allowed by law, ethics, and medical practice.
What differences of opinion are there with respect to the definition of death?||While the prevailing opinion for decades was that death occurred when brain waves stopped, many doctors now argue that a person may still have primitive brain waves even after death. Researchers seek to more clearly distinguish between people in a permanent vegetative state and those in a coma, from which they may recover.
What is the difference between passive and active euthanasia?||In passive euthanasia, a person is allowed to die naturally, through the cessation of medical intervention. In active euthanasia, someone takes action to bring about another person’s death, with the intention of ending that person’s suffering.
What are the four conditions of physician-assisted “death with dignity” in Oregon?||1) The dying person must be an adult and an Oregon resident (which is important since physician-assisted death with dignity is illegal in other states); 2) the person must make the request twice orally and once in writing (which is important to help ensure that the person did not make the request simply as the result of a particularly bad day); 3) fifteen days must pass between the first request and the prescription (which is also important in making sure the person has had time to consider the decision); and 4) two physicians must confirm that the person is terminally ill, has less than six months to live, and is competent (which is important because the law is meant to help only those who are dying and can make the decision with a sound mind).
Why would a person who has a living will also need a health care proxy?||Living wills stipulate the medical interventions that people would like to have (or not have) if they are ever unconscious and unable to articulate these preferences for themselves. However, no document can completely cover every circumstance and situation. A health care proxy is a person designated to make medical decisions for another person; in the event that a situation that is not clearly identified in a living will emerges, the person’s health care proxy would be called upon to make decisions for the person.
Affirmation of Life
What is grief, and what are some of its signs?||Grief is the powerful sorrow one feels after the death of another. Signs include crying, sleeplessness, delusional thoughts, loneliness, denial, anger, and sorrow. However, grief is highly personal and can manifest itself in many ways.
List three types of complicated grief. Why is each type considered “complicated?”||Absent grief is that in which mourners do not or cannot grieve. Disenfranchised grief is that in which some people, even though they are bereaved, are prevented from participating in mourning. Incomplete grief is that in which circumstances interfere with or delay the process of grieving. All three types of grief are considered “complicated” because they impede the person’s future life, usually because he or she clings to sorrow or is buffeted by contradictory emotions.
What are the differences among grief, mourning, and bereavement?||Grief is the intense sorrow felt after someone dies. Bereavement is the period of grief following a loss. Mourning is the public or ritualistic expression of bereavement, meant to move survivors from a place of loss to reaffirmation.
How can a grieving person find meaning in death?||A grieving person may find meaning in death through engaging in political protests or connecting to causes aimed at improving life for others (for example, joining efforts to end gun violence or drunk driving or to find a cure for cancer), or in reflecting on and sharing the impact that the deceased had on his or her own life.
How might reactions such as talking to the deceased make it both easier and more difficult to adjust to the death of a loved one?||Talking to a deceased loved one is one way of creating a continuing bond, though how much such actions help a person deal with grief may be dependent on culture. In China, talking to a deceased person appears to help the healing process; in the United States, it may actually hinder it.
If a person still feels a loss six months after a death, is that pathological?||While most people are about as happy and productive six months after a death as they were before the death occurred, current research highlights a diversity of reactions after death. Research also points to the importance of knowing about a grieving person’s psychological history when analyzing his or her response to grief.
What should friends and relatives remember when helping someone who is grieving?||Those close to a grieving person should remember that grief involves a variety of complex and powerful emotions, and that there is no one “correct” way to grieve. It is important to listen and sympathize and not to judge, as individuals exhibit a diversity of responses to a loved one’s death.