Exam 2: Theories

Tim watches his dad mow the lawn. After a few minutes, Tim takes a toy lawnmower and begins following his dad, row by row. Tim is _____ his dad's behavior.

According to Piaget, when new experiences are reinterpreted to fit into old ideas, it is called _____.

Robin has always had a difficult time remembering things. She went to a psychologist and underwent tests which concluded that the way she senses input and then stores the information is interfering with her ability to recall the information. This explanation for Robin's memory difficulties is consistent with _____.

The process by which living creatures (including people) adjust to their environment through accumulations of beneficial genetic mutations over generations is referred to as _____.

Sally has a dog at home, so she knows about dogs. She is walking down the street and sees an animal walking toward her. The animal has four legs, fur, a tail, and is barking. Sally knows that these are characteristics of a dog, given her knowledge of dogs. She quickly concludes that this animal is a dog. This example illustrates the Piagetian concept of _____.

For centuries, men have needed women to be sexually faithful to ensure that her children are also his offspring. Which theory is consistent with this explanation for faithfulness among romantic partners?

Which psychoanalytic theorist identified unique stages of development from birth through late adulthood?

The teacher praised students for their good work on a spelling test. The teacher hopes that the praise will encourage students to study hard for the next spelling test. In this example, praise is operating as a _____.

Jason learned that emotions impact performance. From this, he developed the idea that students who are sad when they take a test will perform poorly compared to those who take the test while happy. In this example, Jason used a theory to produce a _____.

Sally is helping her mom make a cake. Her mom helps Sally pick out the right ingredients, measure them, and mix them together. According to Vygotsky, Sally is engaging in _____.

A balloon popped and made Bobby cry. It happened again when he was at a friend's birthday party. Now when Bobby sees a balloon, he starts to cry. Bobby cries in response to the balloon because of _____.

Ingrid's parents discovered that she had skipped school and met up with her friends. In response, they restricted her from spending time with her friends. Two days later, they discovered that Ingrid had snuck out to meet her friends. Although they intended the restriction as a punishment, Ingrid interpreted it as a reward. How can you tell?

Define Vygotsky's zone of proximal development and how it relates to learning. Provide two examples.

Dr. Fine is trying to explain childhood aggression. He says that children might learn aggression by observing it, but they also may be expressing aggression because being aggressive may allow them to survive long enough to reproduce. In explaining childhood aggression, Dr. Fine is using the _____ perspective.

Which of the following has been revealed through brain imagery studies?

Each developmental theory has received severe criticism. The theory of _____ has been criticized for being too mechanistic.

The benefit of an eclectic approach is that it _____.

Piaget's stages of cognitive development include the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and _____ operational stages.

Though many of the theorists who followed Freud's psychoanalytic theory modified and expanded his ideas, they agreed on the importance of _____.

Information-processing theory seeks to explore _____.