Free Developmental Psychology MCQs with Answers

• A. from the center of the body to the extremities
• B. from the past to the future
• C. from the head to the toes
• D. from birth to death

Explanation: Cephalocaudal development proceeds from the head downward toward the feet, so infants generally gain control of the head and upper body…

• A. genes
• B. chromosomes
• C. zygotes
• D. gametes

Explanation: Chromosomes are the structures in cells that carry genetic material, and typical human body cells contain 46 chromosomes arranged in 23…

• A. grasping
• B. rooting
• C. Babinski
• D. Moro

Explanation: The Moro reflex is an infant’s startle response to a sudden loud sound or loss of support, involving extension and spreading of the arms…

• A. readiness
• B. maturation
• C. mobility
• D. heredity

Explanation: Maturation refers to biologically programmed physical growth and development, including changes that unfold with age.

• A. carcinogens
• B. teratogens
• C. chorionic villi
• D. antigens

Explanation: Teratogens are environmental substances or conditions that can damage the developing embryo or fetus and cause birth defects, such as…

• A. language development
• B. sexual development
• C. social development
• D. cognitive development

Explanation: Piaget is best known for explaining how children’s thinking develops through stages, from sensorimotor intelligence to formal operational…

• A. sensorimotor
• B. preoperational
• C. concrete operational
• D. formal operations

Explanation: The sensorimotor stage spans infancy, when children learn through sensory experiences and purposeful motor actions.

• A. have limited sense abilities at birth and cannot feel pain at all
• B. can follow a moving object with their eyes
• C. cannot learn and must depend on the adaptive reflexes in order to survive
• D. have extremely poor hearing

Explanation: Newborns can track a slowly moving object with their eyes, although their visual abilities are still immature.

• A. warning their body
• B. comforting their body
• C. calling attention to objects
• D. praising their body

Explanation: A short, sharp rhythm in caregiver speech commonly serves as an alert or warning signal to the infant.

• A. separation anxiety
• B. learning to walk
• C. imprinting
• D. language development

Explanation: Separation anxiety is a strong behavioral sign that a child has formed an attachment, because distress occurs when the attachment figure…

• A. perceptual set
• B. telegraphic readiness
• C. learning set
• D. biological predisposition

Explanation: Chomsky argued that humans possess an inborn biological predisposition for language, often described through the language acquisition…

• A. identity moratorium
• B. identity foreclosure
• C. identity achievement
• D. identity diffusion

Explanation: Identity moratorium involves actively exploring possible careers, values, and lifestyles without yet making a firm commitment.

• A. playing with the infant
• B. feeding and care giving their infants
• C. providing routine child care
• D. that does not involve visual contact with the infant

Explanation: Compared with mothers, fathers traditionally spend a greater proportion of infant interaction in play and stimulation.

• A. XYX
• B. XXX
• C. XX
• D. XY

Explanation: The usual male sex-chromosome pattern is XY, while the usual female pattern is XX.

• A. assimilation; accommodation
• B. male testes; adrenal glands
• C. male testes; female ovaries
• D. female ovaries; depended male voice

Explanation: Primary sex characteristics are reproductive organs, such as the ovaries, whereas secondary characteristics develop at puberty without…

• A. early; early
• B. early; late
• C. late; early
• D. late; late

Explanation: Early-maturing girls and late-maturing boys tend to experience greater distress because their physical development differs from that of…

• A. object permanence
• B. operationalization
• C. maturation
• D. assimilation

Explanation: Assimilation occurs when a child applies an existing mental schema to a new but similar situation, such as using the shoelace-tying schema…

• A. the acquisition of socially acceptable behaviors
• B. the learning of social norms
• C. the physical and sexual development of early adolescence
• D. biological growth process that are relatively uninfluenced by experience

Explanation: Maturation is biologically programmed growth that unfolds with relatively little dependence on learning or experience.

• A. infancy; childhood
• B. infancy; adolescence
• C. adulthood; childhood
• D. childhood; adolescence

Explanation: Erikson places the development of basic trust in infancy and the development of identity primarily in adolescence.

• A. Learned
• B. Inborn
• C. Unlearned
• D. Inborn and unlearned

Explanation: Physical differences such as body structure and many physical characteristics are biologically based, so they are described as both inborn…