Free Developmental Psychology MCQs with Answers
357 Developmental Psychology MCQs from Psychology, each with the correct answer and a written explanation of why it is correct. Free and unlimited, with no account needed.
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357 questions · page 13 of 18
- A. overextending the word
- B. babbling
- C. exhibiting developmental dysphasia
- D. exhibiting weak attachment to the father
Explanation: Overextension occurs when a child applies a word too broadly, such as using “daddy” for every bearded man.
Correct answer: overextending the word- A. genotyping
- B. crossing over
- C. mitosis
- D. meiosis
Explanation: Mitosis produces genetically matching body cells, preserving the original genetic material in each daughter cell.
Correct answer: mitosis243. In psychology the nature-nurture debate refers to the relative influences of __________________?
- A. paternal genes and maternal care
- B. genes and environment
- C. genotype and phenotype
- D. genotype and karyotype
Explanation: The nature-nurture debate concerns how heredity, represented by genes, and experience or environment jointly influence development and…
Correct answer: genes and environment- A. accommodation
- B. object prominence
- C. conservation
- D. assimilation
Explanation: Assimilation occurs when a child interprets a new object using an existing schema, here treating the unfamiliar cow as a familiar dog.
Correct answer: assimilation- A. motor
- B. social
- C. emotional
- D. cognitive
Explanation: Piaget is best known for explaining cognitive development, including how children's reasoning changes through stages.
Correct answer: cognitive- A. a recessive gene
- B. a missing sex chromosome
- C. an extra autosome or part of one
- D. an extra sex chromosome or part of one
Explanation: Down syndrome usually results from trisomy 21, meaning an extra copy of an autosome.
Correct answer: an extra autosome or part of one- A. identity and independence
- B. intimacy and identity
- C. intimacy and generativity
- D. independence and generativity
Explanation: Erikson linked young adulthood with intimacy and middle adulthood with generativity, making these the two major adult concerns.
Correct answer: intimacy and generativity- A. chromosomes
- B. phenotypes
- C. genotypes
- D. zygotes
Explanation: Chromosomes are DNA-containing structures that organize and carry genetic information.
Correct answer: chromosomes- A. mistrust
- B. guilt
- C. inferiority
- D. identity
Explanation: Erikson's opposite outcomes are isolation versus intimacy in young adulthood and role confusion versus identity in adolescence.
Correct answer: identity- A. egocentric thought
- B. preoperational stage
- C. sensorimotor stage
- D. formal stage
Explanation: Piaget called ages roughly two to seven the preoperational stage, when language and symbolic thought expand but logical operations are not…
Correct answer: preoperational stage- A. Horney
- B. Piaget
- C. Erikson
- D. Freud
Explanation: Erikson described adolescence as the stage of identity versus role confusion, making identity crisis a central adolescent problem.
Correct answer: Erikson- A. dominant
- B. co-dominant
- C. incompletely dominant
- D. recessive
Explanation: A dominant characteristic can be expressed when only one copy of the relevant allele is present.
Correct answer: dominant- A. hypothetical reasoning
- B. deductive thinking
- C. concrete operations
- D. egocentric thinking
Explanation: Middle childhood corresponds to Piaget's concrete operational stage, when children become capable of logical reasoning about tangible…
Correct answer: concrete operations- A. primary sex characteristic
- B. secondary sex characteristic
- C. latent stage trait
- D. sex-linked trait
Explanation: Facial hair is a secondary sex characteristic because it appears at puberty and helps distinguish physical sexual maturation without being…
Correct answer: secondary sex characteristic- A. Skinner
- B. Bruner
- C. Miller
- D. Brown
Explanation: Bruner examined how infants develop representational systems, including imagery and language, and how these systems become interconnected.
Correct answer: Bruner- A. nativist
- B. empiricist
- C. cognitive
- D. culture-bound
Explanation: Chomsky argued that humans possess an inborn language capacity, so his rationalist account is called the nativist approach.
Correct answer: nativist- A. severe memory loss
- B. eccentricity
- C. loss of speed of information processing
- D. loss of vocabulary
Explanation: Normal ageing commonly brings a gradual reduction in the speed of processing information, even when knowledge and vocabulary remain…
Correct answer: loss of speed of information processing- A. generalization
- B. accommodation
- C. assimilation
- D. transition
Explanation: Assimilation occurs when a child interprets a new object using an existing schema, such as treating an unfamiliar toy as something to eat.
Correct answer: assimilation- A. Macoby
- B. Gellman
- C. Piaget
- D. Spock
Explanation: Piaget proposed distinct qualitative stages, with children’s reasoning changing in an organised sequence.
Correct answer: Piaget260. Which of the following theorists most strongly stressed the importance of maturation in development?
- A. Jean Piaget
- B. John Locke
- C. Arnold Gesell
- D. Lev Vygotsky
Explanation: Arnold Gesell explained development primarily through biological maturation and proposed that behaviour unfolds according to an innate…
Correct answer: Arnold Gesell