Development across the Life Span 337Practice Quiz How much do you remember?
Pick the best answer.
- One way researchers study newborn development involves
measuring how long infants continue to focus upon a nonchanging
stimulus. This technique is referred to as
a. adaptation. c. longitudinal study.
b. habituation. d. a cross-sectional design. - In which of Piaget’s stages would a child be who has just developed
the ability to conserve?
a. sensorimotor c. concrete operations
b. preoperational d. formal operations - Vygotsky defines __ as the process of helping less as the
learner improves at a given task.
a. scaffolding c. zone of proximal development
b. habituation d. metamemory - What kind of attachment, according to Ainsworth, is shown by a
baby who clings to his or her mother, gets upset when the mother
leaves, and demands to be picked up but at the same time kicks
and pushes her away?
a. secure c. ambivalent
b. avoidant d. disorganized–disoriented- Studies by Harry Harlow showed that the most important element
to developing attachment is
a. feeding. c. mental challenges.
b. physical contact. d. sleep. - According to Erikson, which stage results in a sense of indepen-
dence because of one’s ability to control their own actions?
a. trust versus mistrust
b. autonomy versus shame and doubt
c. initiative versus guilt
d. generativity versus stagnation
APA Goal 2: Scientific Reasoning and
Critical Thinking: The Facts About
Immunizations
Addresses APA Objective 2.1: Use scientific reasoning to
interpret psychological phenomena; 2.3: Engage in innovative and
integrative thinking and problem-solving.You’d think that by now, people would be well aware that immunizations do not cause autism
or a host of other problems and that in fact immunization is a very good thing. Sadly, there
is still a big problem with people failing to vaccinate their children against deadly diseases
because they have been listening to the wrong people and reading the wrong information. In
December of 2015, news outlets reported that an Australian elementary school (known for its
tolerance of parents who do not want to vaccinate their children) had suffered an outbreak of
chicken pox (Campbell, 2015). The school had only a 73 percent vaccination rate, compared to
92 percent in the surrounding community. At least 80 of the 320 students (roughly 25 percent)
were affected, including some who had been vaccinated (they would get only mild cases of
chicken pox, however). Because so many unvaccinated children attend the school, this par-
ticular population lost its “herd immunity”—the immunity a population gains over time as a
significant majority of its members become immune to a particular disease (Plotkin et al., 2011).
Why do parents fail to vaccinate? Primarily, it’s a failure of critical thinking. Think back
to the Applying Psychology section of Chapter One of this text. to Learning
Objective 1.12. The first criterion of critical thinking was “there are very few ‘truths’ that do
not need to be subjected to testing.” The link between vaccines and autism, for example,
has been well studied and tested over many years, and the findings are clear: There is NO
link (Burns, 2010; CDC, 2004, 2011, 2013; Gilberg & Coleman, 2000; Johnson & Myers,
2007; Madsen et al., 2002; Mars et al., 1998; Offit & Bell, 1998; Stratton et al., 2001a,
2001b; Taylor et al., 1999; Thompson et al., 2007).
But the people involved in the antivaccination movement get their information not from
scientifically rigorous studies but from anecdotes and Internet blogs. The second criterion
of critical thinking was: All evidence is not equal in quality. Testimonials, anecdotes, and the
ravings of people on the Internet are not good evidence.