Developmental Psychology Quiz
From a baby's first attachment to a teenager's search for identity, developmental psychology tracks how we grow and change. Test yourself on the major theorists and milestones in twelve questions.
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Developmental psychology follows the whole human story, from infancy through old age, asking how thinking, emotion, attachment, and morality unfold over time. Its big names, Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky, and Ainsworth, anchor nearly every intro and AP Psychology course.
This field is central to careers that work with children and families, including school psychology and child psychology.
All 12 questions and answers
- In Piaget's theory, object permanence develops during which stage? Answer: Sensorimotor
Object permanence, understanding that things still exist when hidden, develops in the sensorimotor stage during the first two years.
- Erikson's first psychosocial stage, in infancy, centers on... Answer: Trust vs. mistrust
In the first year, babies learn whether the world is dependable. Consistent care builds trust, the foundation Erikson placed first.
- Harlow's experiments with monkeys and wire vs. cloth mothers showed the importance of... Answer: Contact comfort in attachment
Harlow's monkeys clung to the soft cloth mother over the wire one that fed them, showing that comfort and warmth matter for attachment, not just food.
- Mary Ainsworth's 'Strange Situation' procedure measures... Answer: A child's attachment style
The Strange Situation observes how infants react to separations and reunions with a caregiver to classify attachment as secure or insecure.
- Authoritative parenting is best described as... Answer: High warmth and high structure
Authoritative parents combine warmth with clear, reasonable expectations. This style is linked to the best child outcomes in research.
- Vygotsky emphasized that learning is driven by... Answer: Social interaction and guidance from others
Vygotsky stressed the social side of development, including the zone of proximal development and scaffolding by more skilled partners.
- Kohlberg is known for his stages of... Answer: Moral development
Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning progresses through preconventional, conventional, and postconventional levels.
- The ability to understand that others have beliefs and views different from your own is called... Answer: Theory of mind
Theory of mind usually develops in early childhood and lets children grasp that others can think, feel, and believe differently than they do.
- Understanding that the amount of liquid stays the same when poured into a different glass is... Answer: Conservation
Conservation is the realization that quantity stays constant despite changes in shape or appearance, a hallmark of Piaget's concrete operational stage.
- The nature vs. nurture debate is about the relative influence of... Answer: Genes and environment
Nature vs. nurture asks how much our genes versus our experiences shape who we become. Modern psychology sees the two as deeply intertwined.
- A critical or sensitive period is... Answer: A window when development is especially open to certain input
Critical and sensitive periods are windows, like early language learning, when the brain is especially primed to acquire certain abilities.
- Stranger anxiety in infants typically emerges around... Answer: 8 months of age
Stranger anxiety usually appears around 8 months, as infants develop attachment to familiar caregivers and notice unfamiliar faces.