Faculté des sciences sociales | Faculty of Social Sciences

PSY 2114 – Lifespan

Midterm Exam
Dr. Mary-Theresa Howard
Fall, 2021

Please answer all of the following questions using the movies, text, slides and notes. Please use
point form:

1. Describe the ecological theory of psychosocial development. (10 marks)

2. Name and explain the risk factors in prenatal development. (10 marks)

3. Describe in DETAIL the Theory of Mind. (10 marks)

4. Describe Piaget’s theory of thinking. (10 marks.

5. Describe in detail Bowlby’s theory of attachment. (10 marks)

6. Define and describe in detail intellectual disability and learning disability. (10 marks)

7. Describe the main socializers of children. (10 marks).

8. Describe eating behaviours. (10 marks).

Answers
1. Describe the ecological theory of psychosocial development.
According to Erik Erikson, personality development is determined by the interaction of an
internal maturational plan and external societal demands. It emphasizes that the trek to adulthood
is difficult because the path is strewn with challenges.
According to Erikson, there are 8 stages of psychosocial development and all of them involve
individuals being at different ages and having struggles based on their current age group. For
example, one of the struggles of an adolescent is trying to find a sense of self and belonging in
the world whereas one of the struggles of a young adult would be to commit to a loving
relationship. He also believed that present and future behavior must have its roots in the past
because later stages are built on the foundation laid in previous stages. Take Freud for example,
“intense studies a child seems to have fed into his self-image as someone destined for greatness.”
also the fact that he grew up surrounded by a cosmopolitan mix of voices and cultures had an effect on the
way he viewed the world as an adult.

2. Name and explain the risk factors in prenatal development

Nutrition, stress, mothers age

Stress: when a pregnant woman experiences stress, her body secretes hormones that reduce the
flow of oxygen to the fetus while increasing its heart rate and activity level, it also weakens the
immune system which can cause harm to the pregnancy.

Mothers age: Prenatal development is most likely to proceed normally when women are between
20 and 35 years of age. Having children past the age of 35 can increase risk of child having birth
defects. In the video Birth defects can be found in a person’s DNA and are usually as a result of
an unusual number of chromosomes. Eg down syndrome was found to be caused by an extra
chromosome 21

Nutrition: Most pregnant women need to increase their intake of calories by about 10% to 20% to
meet the needs of pre- natal development. Not having a good diet and lacking certain nutrients
during pregnancy can cause certain disorders in the baby.

3. Describe in DETAIL the Theory of Mind

It is a naive understanding of the relations between mind and behaviour. It is the theory that
children understand that thoughts, beliefs, and intentions often cause people to behave as they do.
There are five stages to this theory; In the first phase, children know that people can have
different beliefs e.g. a child that found the cookies in the jar knows they are there, whereas a
child who did not see the cookies being placed does not know they are in the jar. The second
phase Children understand that behavior is based on a per-son’s beliefs about events and
situations, even when those beliefs are wrong. the third phase; children understand that people
have desires and that these desires can cause behavior. Fourth stage; Children understand that
people may feel one emotion but show another and the last stage; children understand that
behavior is often based on a person’s beliefs about events and situations. For example, Charlotte
holds the belief that her mother may not love her because her mother is not there for her as she
should and when they tested the “approach avoidance” on charlotte she did not approach her
mom. According to Howard “It's very much like as we approach, we're not sure if it's going to go
well.”

4. Describe Piaget’s theory of thinking

Piaget believed that children naturally try to make sense of their world. For example, infants
want to know about people or to know what happens when they do something like turn a
doorknob etc. They try to understand how things work in the world. Piaget also felt that at a few
key stages in development, infants begin to generate knowledge in new ways. For example,
Reuben is very curious when in the ICU and he sees the baby sleeping in the incubator and wants
to touch it, Robert tells him “Don’t worry it’s just a doll”. But he still goes ahead to touch it
because he’s curious as to what would happen if he touches this doll.

5. Describe in detail Bowlby’s theory of attachment. (10 marks)

According to Bowlby, children who form an attachment to an adult that is, an enduring
socioemotional relationship are more likely to survive. Bowlby described four phases in the
growth of attachment:

 Pre-attachment (birth to 6–8 weeks): during prenatal development and soon after birth,
infants rapidly learn to recognize their mothers by smell and sound

 Attachment in the making (6–8 weeks to 6–8 months) babies begin to behave differently
in the presence of familiar caregivers and unfamiliar adults .

 True attachment (6–8 months to 18 months) : By approximately 7 or 8 months, most

infants have singled out the attachment figure . for example charlotte is uncertain of who
her father is because he is not around often so her mother has become her ‘attachment
figure’

 Reciprocal relationships (18 months on) : they begin to understand parents’ feelings and
goals and sometimes use this knowledge to guide their own behavior

6. Define and describe in detail intellectual disability and learning disability. (10
marks)Intellectual disability are limitations in intellectual ability as well as problems
adapting to an environment, with both emerging before 18 years of age. while learning
disability have normal intelligence but have difficulty mastering an academic subject and
 are not suffering from other conditions that could explain poor performance, such as sensory
impairment or inadequate instruction. E.g. dyslexia, dyscalculia, ADHD.
It's estimated that about 80% of ADHD is caused genetically, making it the most hereditary 
related of all psychiatric illnesses, a lot of people with ADHD have a hard time focusing or
even remembering things and are impulsive and have higher tendencies to be wreck less
drivers.

7. Describe the main socializers of children. (10 marks).

The main socializers of children is their family, to be precise, the parents. Parents influence
their children both directly and indirectly. The style of parenting has a huge effect on the
kids and also the relationship between the parents for a example a child that has loving and
very involved parents will generally be happy whereas a child whose parents are always
fighting could possibly have behavioural problems just like charlotte in the video, her
mother kept complaining that she never listens and is grumpy all the time and this is due to
the environment created by charlottes parents between each other.

8. Describe eating behaviours. (10 marks).

Eating behaviours are people’s relationship with food with regard to how one views oneself.
Anorexia Nervosa: this is when a person has a below healthy BMI and constantly sees
themselves as fat and refuses to eat even when hungry. It usually occurs in girls between
from 16 and above and from the videos most people with anorexia nervosa are over
achievers and yet never feel like they are doing good enough. Also, for some it is a way of
taking control of their lives.

Bulimia Nervosa: This is when a person has binging episodes and afterward would secretly
vomit the food to avoid digesting the excess calories. From the videos,
the person with bulimia nervosa is abnormally preoccupied with body weight and shape. 
They have a distorted body image and an intense fear of becoming fat. They lose
control of their eating and go on binges. They then use inappropriate behaviors to rid 
themselves of the excess calories.