LIFESPAN DEVELOPMENT, A TOPICAL
APPROACH UNIT 1 EXAM (CH 1-4)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 100% PASS
2026/2027
What is Bronfenbrenner's theory (aka ecological/systems framework)? - ANS Five levels of
environment simultaneously influence individuals:
a. Microsystem - everyday, immediate environment in which children lead their daily lives;
homes, caregivers, friends, teachers
b. Mesosystem - connects various aspects of microsystem: binds kids to parents, students to
teachers, employees to bosses, friends to friends
c. exosystem-represents broader influences with societal institutions; local gov't, community,
schools, churches, local media
d. macrosystem-larger cultural influences including society in general, types of goverments,
religious & political value systems
e. chronosystem-unlies all of previous systems and involves passage of time and historical
events (9/11) and more gradual historical changes
What is the core belief of Freud's psychoanalytic theory? - ANS Unconscious forces act to
determine personality & behavior
Define lifespan development - ANS field of study that examines patterns of growth, change &
stability that occur from birth, throughout a persons' life, into and during old age.
@2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED 1
, What type of theory is attributed to Vygotsky? - ANS Sociocultural theory emphasizes how
cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions btwn members of a culture
What is the theory behind cognitive development? - ANS Piaget's theory is based on
approach to development - all children pass through a series of four universal stages from birth
thru adolescence: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational & formal operational.
Movement from one stage to next occurs when child reaches appropriate level of physical
maturation & exposure to experience. Without such experience, Piaget assumed child incapable
of reaching cognitive potential
How is personality development defined? - ANS Development involves the ways that
enduring characteristics which differentiate one person from another change over the lifespan
How is social development defined? - ANS the way in which individuals' interactions with
other and their social relationships grow, change & remain stable over the lifespan
What is the evolutionary perspective? - ANS theory that seeks to identify behavior that is a
result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors
What are Piaget's two basic stages of cognitive development? - ANS Assimilation and
Accommodation
- Assimilation is the process in which people understand a new experience in terms of current
stage of cognitive development and existing ways of thinking
- accommodation refers to changes in existing ways of thinking in response to encounters with
new stimuli or events.
What type of learning is modeling? - ANS Learning behavior by observing the behavior of
another person
@2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED 2
APPROACH UNIT 1 EXAM (CH 1-4)
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 100% PASS
2026/2027
What is Bronfenbrenner's theory (aka ecological/systems framework)? - ANS Five levels of
environment simultaneously influence individuals:
a. Microsystem - everyday, immediate environment in which children lead their daily lives;
homes, caregivers, friends, teachers
b. Mesosystem - connects various aspects of microsystem: binds kids to parents, students to
teachers, employees to bosses, friends to friends
c. exosystem-represents broader influences with societal institutions; local gov't, community,
schools, churches, local media
d. macrosystem-larger cultural influences including society in general, types of goverments,
religious & political value systems
e. chronosystem-unlies all of previous systems and involves passage of time and historical
events (9/11) and more gradual historical changes
What is the core belief of Freud's psychoanalytic theory? - ANS Unconscious forces act to
determine personality & behavior
Define lifespan development - ANS field of study that examines patterns of growth, change &
stability that occur from birth, throughout a persons' life, into and during old age.
@2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED 1
, What type of theory is attributed to Vygotsky? - ANS Sociocultural theory emphasizes how
cognitive development proceeds as a result of social interactions btwn members of a culture
What is the theory behind cognitive development? - ANS Piaget's theory is based on
approach to development - all children pass through a series of four universal stages from birth
thru adolescence: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational & formal operational.
Movement from one stage to next occurs when child reaches appropriate level of physical
maturation & exposure to experience. Without such experience, Piaget assumed child incapable
of reaching cognitive potential
How is personality development defined? - ANS Development involves the ways that
enduring characteristics which differentiate one person from another change over the lifespan
How is social development defined? - ANS the way in which individuals' interactions with
other and their social relationships grow, change & remain stable over the lifespan
What is the evolutionary perspective? - ANS theory that seeks to identify behavior that is a
result of our genetic inheritance from our ancestors
What are Piaget's two basic stages of cognitive development? - ANS Assimilation and
Accommodation
- Assimilation is the process in which people understand a new experience in terms of current
stage of cognitive development and existing ways of thinking
- accommodation refers to changes in existing ways of thinking in response to encounters with
new stimuli or events.
What type of learning is modeling? - ANS Learning behavior by observing the behavior of
another person
@2026 ALLRIGHTS RESERVED 2
