Did You Know...?
Theories of Development, Prenatal Development, and Birth

Read each true/false statement and test your answers by placing your cursor over the question mark.

	The scientific study of human development is the study of how and why people change as they grow older, as well as how and why they remain the same.
	Our most cherished assumptions are based on objective reality.
	Children who sleep with their parents are taught to depend on their parents for protection and typically become bold and independent as adults.
	Culture, ethnicity, race, and SES are often impossible to disentangle.
	Understanding development at any age requires a consideration of the interplay of the biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial domains of development.
	Most developmental psychologists prefer not to use the scientific method in studying human development.
	For the most accurate results, scientific observation should be performed in a laboratory.
	When two variables are correlated, it means that one caused the other.
	A controlled experiment is always the best way to investigate a developmental issue.
	Developmental psychologists almost never base their research on the study of one group of people over a long period of time.
	Developmental theories generally have few practical applications.
	Proponents of behaviorism believe that all behavior arises directly from operant or classical conditioning.
	Piaget believed that how people think and how they understand the world depends on their age.
	Psychoanalytic theory, behaviorism, and cognitive theory are considered “grand” because of their comprehensiveness.
	Developmental psychologists are increasingly aware of the bidirectional influence of culture and person.
	The newest theory of development stresses the ongoing interaction between genes and environmental forces.
	Few developmental psychologists today believe that humans have instincts or abilities that arise from our species’ biological heritage.
	All developmental theories attempt to explain the broad spectrum of human development.
	Most developmentalists incorporate ideas from several theories into their thinking.
	Most psychologists agree that the nature-nurture controversy has been laid to rest.
	At the end of the third month, the fetus has all its body parts.
	Fetuses respond to voices they hear in the womb.
	When drugs such as marijuana and alcohol are taken together, a higher dosage of each is required before either becomes harmful.
	Fortunately, fetuses whose mothers carry the virus that causes AIDS develop a natural immunity and thus are at very low risk of contracting AIDS from their mothers.
	Even moderate drinking (1/2 ounce or more per day) by a pregnant women may be harmful to the developing organism.
	Officially, a baby’s “due date” is established as 266 days after conception.
	Cesarean sections account for less than 10% of all births in the United States.
	Today, most U.S. births occur at home.
	Preterm babies are often late to communicate and smile.
	In both humans and other animals, there is a critical period for the formation of the parent-newborn bond.