PSYC 102 EXAM QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS WITH
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS GRADED A++ LATEST UPDATE
Nativism (innate)
children are born with specific abilities or will naturally gain them with maturity (e.g.
perceiving colors, puberty)
Empiricism (learned)
children must learn certain skills with experience and practice and would never gain
them without such experience (e.g. reading)
Stage-theories
children develop though a series of universal stages; different abilities come from
different stages
Continuous-theories
development is fluid and continuous and any ability can emerge at any time (more
broadly accepted)
Every child uniquely develops based on their genetics and environments
Cross-sectional design (+ pros and cons)
recruit participants of different ages/cohorts at the same time and measure them
simultaneously
Can be used with ANY experimental study mentioned at the start of the course:
, naturalistic observation, correlational study, experiments, case study, etc.
Pros: easy to do
Cons: cohort effects
Cohort Effects
a third-variable problem in cross-sectional research; differences between younger and
older generations can be due to changes in socialization, life events, nutrition, or
experience rather than age
Longitudinal design (+ pros and cons)
recruit one group of participants and then re-test them as they get older, comparing their
performance to their past selves
Pros: removes cohort effects (since the same group of people are tracked over time)
Cons: time-intensive, expensive, people dropping out of the study before its done
(attrition)
Developmental psychologists want most studies to be what type? What are most
studies in developmental psychology?
Developmental psychologists want most studies to be longitudinal, but most are cross-
sectional
Looking preference (+ two examples of studies)
a baby can choose to look at one of two things, and a preference for one display over
another is measured
COMPLETE SOLUTIONS GRADED A++ LATEST UPDATE
Nativism (innate)
children are born with specific abilities or will naturally gain them with maturity (e.g.
perceiving colors, puberty)
Empiricism (learned)
children must learn certain skills with experience and practice and would never gain
them without such experience (e.g. reading)
Stage-theories
children develop though a series of universal stages; different abilities come from
different stages
Continuous-theories
development is fluid and continuous and any ability can emerge at any time (more
broadly accepted)
Every child uniquely develops based on their genetics and environments
Cross-sectional design (+ pros and cons)
recruit participants of different ages/cohorts at the same time and measure them
simultaneously
Can be used with ANY experimental study mentioned at the start of the course:
, naturalistic observation, correlational study, experiments, case study, etc.
Pros: easy to do
Cons: cohort effects
Cohort Effects
a third-variable problem in cross-sectional research; differences between younger and
older generations can be due to changes in socialization, life events, nutrition, or
experience rather than age
Longitudinal design (+ pros and cons)
recruit one group of participants and then re-test them as they get older, comparing their
performance to their past selves
Pros: removes cohort effects (since the same group of people are tracked over time)
Cons: time-intensive, expensive, people dropping out of the study before its done
(attrition)
Developmental psychologists want most studies to be what type? What are most
studies in developmental psychology?
Developmental psychologists want most studies to be longitudinal, but most are cross-
sectional
Looking preference (+ two examples of studies)
a baby can choose to look at one of two things, and a preference for one display over
another is measured
