Child Development Test - 8

The correlational method is a research technique used to determine the degree of relationship between two variables. It measures whether changes in one variable are associated with changes in another, without manipulating either variable or establishing causation.

The self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when expectations about someone's behavior influence that person's actions in ways that confirm the original expectations. The teacher's belief about student ability subtly changed their behavior toward each group, causing the 'bright' group to perform better despite equal initial ability.

Random assignment means every participant has an equal probability of being placed in any experimental condition. This procedure uses chance (like coin flips or random number generators) to determine group assignment, creating roughly equivalent groups by distributing confounding variables evenly across conditions.

Naturalistic observation involves observing behavior in natural settings without researcher interference. While it captures authentic behavior, it cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships because variables are not controlled, only observed. The lack of experimental manipulation means you can see correlations but cannot determine what causes what.

The psychologist observed a correlation between REM sleep and dream reports through direct observation of eye movements. When subjects woke during REM and reported dreaming, she logically deduced that dreams occur during REM sleep periods. This is deduction from direct observation, not pure speculation or prior prediction.

The APA ethical principles emphasize treating research participants with respect for their dignity and worth. This includes informed consent, confidentiality, and minimizing harm. Deception is sometimes permitted with justification, data is not made public, and counselling cannot undo all harm. Respect for participants' dignity is fundamental.

Random selection from the larger population is the gold standard for creating representative samples. It gives each member an equal chance of being chosen, minimizing selection bias. Volunteer samples are biased, coercion is unethical, and mail-order lists are not representative.

The three major ethical concerns in psychological research are deception, lasting harm to subjects, and invasion of privacy. Deception involves misleading participants, lasting harm refers to enduring negative effects, and privacy invasion involves unauthorized disclosure of personal information. These form the core of the APA ethical framework.

A superordinate goal is a shared objective that requires cooperation between groups to achieve. Protecting clean water supplies benefits entire communities and regions, requiring collaborative effort across groups. Getting good grades, making money, and making friends are typically individual or competitive goals, not superordinate ones that unite groups.

Cognitive dissonance theory states that when our actions conflict with our beliefs or when we hold contradictory thoughts, we experience psychological discomfort. To reduce this dissonance, we change our attitudes to align with our behavior. Option C correctly identifies this mechanism - clashing thoughts create discomfort that motivates attitude change.

Dissociation refers to a split in consciousness where awareness becomes divided or detached. Hypnotic induction commonly produces dissociative experiences - people may feel separated from their thoughts, feelings, or actions. Amphetamine intoxication and withdrawal are arousal states, not dissociation. Relaxation training actually increases integrated awareness.

Tolerance is the reduced response to a drug that occurs with repeated use. The body adapts to the drug, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effect. Withdrawal is the unpleasant reaction when stopping use, addiction is compulsive use despite harm, and dependence is the need for the drug to function normally.

Physical addiction involves physiological dependence where the body has adapted to a drug and reacts negatively when it's withheld. Physical cravings and withdrawal symptoms (unpleasant reactions when stopping) are the hallmark signs. Drug tolerance is reduced response, while psychological/emotional dependence are mental rather than physical components.

Insomnia is characterized by difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, resulting in poor sleep quality. The question describes waking several times and trouble returning to sleep, which is maintenance insomnia. Narcolepsy involves sudden sleep attacks, sleep apnea involves breathing interruptions, and somnambulism is sleepwalking.

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden, irresistible sleep attacks lasting from minutes to half an hour. The question directly describes this symptom pattern. Hypersomnia is excessive sleepiness without sudden attacks, sleep apnea involves breathing problems, and sleepwalking disorder occurs during actual sleep.

Wechsler defined intelligence as the global and aggregate capacity of an individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment. Option C captures this key aspect of Wechsler's definition, which focuses on practical adaptive abilities rather than specific isolated skills like naturalistic intelligence or spatial abilities.

Binet's approach was to identify items that could be answered by an average child of a particular age level. This method established age-based norms where success on items appropriate for one's age indicated normal development, while performance on items for older ages suggested giftedness.

Test-retest reliability involves administering the same test to the same participants on two occasions and measuring the correlation between scores. This directly assesses the consistency of measurement over time, unlike content validity (which concerns validity) or negative correlation (which indicates poor reliability).

Terman's longitudinal study of gifted children (who began with IQ > 135) found that they were generally successful in their adult occupations and personal lives. They did not show higher rates of mental illness, nor did they fail to reach their potential as was previously feared.

Inspection time measures the minimum stimulus duration needed for accurate discrimination. Research shows that individuals with higher IQs require shorter inspection times to make accurate judgments, meaning faster processing speed is associated with greater intelligence.

Aptitude refers to the capacity or potential for learning specific abilities or skills, distinct from achievement (what has already been learned) or intelligence (general cognitive capacity). Aptitude tests predict future performance in particular areas after appropriate training.

Organic mental retardation results from physical brain damage or disruption, whether from birth injuries, fetal damage, infections, or other biological causes. This distinguishes it from familial retardation, which has genetic or environmental causes without specific physical damage to brain tissue.

An operational definition specifies a concept by the operations used to measure it. The items selected for an intelligence test constitute an operational definition because intelligence is defined as whatever those specific test items measure, making it concrete and observable.

Morphine, cocaine, and heroin are all physically addictive substances that produce tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. Morphine and heroin are opioids, while cocaine is a stimulant, but all three create physiological dependence and withdrawal syndromes.