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NCE Practice Test Answer Key/Explanations
1. B. "Scaffolding" is a term used by Vygotsky that explains what Susie's mother is doing. She is adjusting her level of support to Susie based on Susie's level of performance. The zone of proximal development involves a range of tasks that are too difficult for the child to do alone but possible to do with the help of adults or other, more-skilled children. "Assisted discovery" is another term used by Vygotsky to describe learning situations that a teacher sets up within a classroom so that children are guided into discovering learning. Learning by imitation is a type of learning that involves a child watching someone perform a task and later performing the task by herself.
2. C. In Erickson's theory of psychosocial development, individuals who fail to achieve the goal of the lower level of development will have problems attaining the developmental task at the next stage of development. In the example above, the individual failed to achieve identity, which occurs during adolescence. Therefore, in young adulthood, the individual will have problems attaining intimacy, which is the developmental task to be achieved at this level. For autonomy, the individual would have to have failed to attain basic trust; for initiative, the individual would have to have failed to attain autonomy; and for integrity, the individual would have to have failed to attain generativity.
3. D. The best way to remember Freud's psychosexual stages of development is to think about what key tasks individuals do throughout childhood. The first thing infants do is suck (oral). Next, babies begin toilet training (anal), then discover the difference between boys and girls (phallic). Next, children spend time growing physically and cognitively but are latent in the psychosexual realm (not focusing on anything sexual); finally, puberty sets in and they begin to think about sex again and are focused on their own genitals.
4. B. The authoritarian parenting style uses coercive techniques and psychological control to discipline children, whereas the authoritative parenting style emphasizes some control but allows for some independence. The uninvolved parenting style rarely uses any control and the parent seems to be indifferent to the child's level of independence. In the permissive parenting style, the parents are typically overindulgent with the child. They exert very little control and are lenient when it comes to granting independence to the child.
5. A. In Harry Harlow's experiments, he found that baby monkeys preferred physicalcomfort to hunger satisfaction. In other words, the baby monkeys wanted to be close to a soft terrycloth "mother" rather than a wire-mesh "mother," even though the latter presented food. Therefore, attachment involves more than hunger satisfaction. It involves having close contact with a "loving" caregiver.
6. D. If someone is thinking about suicide, asking that person about suicide will not plant the seed or push her into committing suicide. It is important that as a counselor, you ask clients about suicide so that they can get the help they need. It is necessary to assess suicidality whenever you suspect that someone is contemplating it or behaving in ways that may suggest that she is contemplating it. It is best practice to assess for suicidality at each session with your clients. Suicide knows no age boundaries. Females attempt suicide at arate three times higher than males, but males are successful more often, usually because they use more lethal methods than females.
7. B. Integrity versus despair is one of the stages in Erickson's psychosocial developmental theory. Kohlberg postulated that in the first level, preconventional, individuals are concerned with consequences imposed upon them for wrongdoing. Thus, in the example, Cody wanted to avoid being punished by having his television privileges taken away. At the conventional level, an individual wants to conform to societal rules so that authority rules and order is maintained. At the postconventional level, individuals define morality in terms of universal values and altruism.
8. C. Piaget proposed that there are four stages of cognitive development. The first stage is the sensorimotor stage, whereby the infant or toddler recognizes that even though something is out of sight, it still exists. Piaget's second stage of cognitive development is the preoperational stage (early childhood years) in which children begin to recognize that something can be an object as well as a symbol (dual representation). The third stage of cognitive development according to Piaget is called the concrete operational stage, during which children 6 to 11 years old develop the capacity of both conservation (object permanence, or the understanding that physical characteristics of objects remain the same even if the appearance is different) and reversibility (the ability to think through a series of steps and then to reverse the process mentally).
9. A. When you think about attachment and bonding, think about John Bowlby (1907 - 1990). Adler is associated with birth order and family constellation, while Freud is associated with psychosexual development. Piaget is associated with cognitive development.
10. D. One of the clues in this example is Henry's age. Another clue is Henry's discussion about his life successes and regrets, not finding another mate, being successful in school, or contributing to society. Erikson's generativity stage involves middle-aged adults who are launching their children, dealing with an empty nest, and working toward retirement. His ego integrity stage involves older adults who review their lives, looking at successes and regrets.