Psychology 360

Item Analysis

Breadth of knowledge outcome 1

Proficiency outcomes 1,4,5
  1. A study comparing the television-viewing habits of three different age groups (cohorts) of children is an example of the
  1. cross-sectional method of studying development
  2. longitudinal method of studying development
  3. sequential method of studying development
  4. experimental method of studying development

% of students who answered correctly: 95%
  1. Inherent to the cross-sectional method is the possibility of confounding of age and cohort. This means that it is difficult to know for sure whether effects were due to
  1. age or differences between groups in the experiences they had during the time period in which they grew up (e.g., 1970s vs. 1990s)
  2. age or differences in ethnic background
  3. age or differences between groups in their interpretation of experiences
  4. age or observer bias

% of students who answered correctly: 78%

Breadth of knowledge outcome 2

Proficiency outcomes 1,4,5

3. According to Freud, the personality component that emerges as children internalize the moral standards and values of their parents is the
  1. superego
  2. ego
  3. id
  4. collective unconscious

% of students who answered correctly: 37%

4. Newt has just found his 8-year-old daughter smoking a cigarette in her bedroom. He is very angry and cannot understand where she learned to smoke since he doesn’t smoke and actively campaigns against smoking. When Newt asks his daughter where she learned to smoke, she replies that she saw her baby sitter smoking and thought it would be run to try it. Bandura would use this story to support his belief
  1. that behavior can only be modified through direct environmental consequences
  2. that children learn from watching other people
  3. that most behavior is unconsciously motivated
  4. that children play a passive role in their own development

% of students who answered correctly: 91%

5. Piaget was a

  1. stage theorist who maintained that children played an active role in their own development
  2. stage theorist who maintained that children played a passive role in their own development
  3. non-stage theorist who maintained that children played an active role in their own development
  4. non-stage theorist who maintained that children played a passive role in their own development

% of students who answered correctly: 49%

6. According to the empiricist (learning theory) perspective, children develop language skills
  1. through reinforcement, shaping, and imitation
  2. because they possess a language acquisition device (LAD)
  3. as their information-processing skills improve
  4. only after myelinization is complete in the temporal lobes of the brain

% of students who answered correctly: 81%

7. Both Piaget’s and Kohlberg’s theories of moral development focus on the

  1. affective components underlying moral growth
  2. cognitive components underlying moral growth
  3. behavioral components underlying moral growth
  4. social and cultural components underlying moral growth

% of students who answered correctly: 70%

Breadth of knowledge outcome 3

Proficiency outcomes 1,4,5

8. The position that most developmentalists today take on the nature/nurture controversy is that
  1. nature is the predominant factor in development
  2. nurture is the predominant factor in development
  3. neither nature nor nurture is a particularly important factor in development
  4. both nature and nurture contribute interdependently in development

% of students who answered correctly: 85%

9. If identical twins reared together are more alike on a characteristic than identical twins reared apart, we can infer that
  1. heredity plays a role in that particular characteristic
  2. environment plays a role in that particular characteristic
  3. heredity plays no role in that particular characteristic
  4. environment plays no role in that particular characteristic

% of students who answered correctly: 94%