2025 Lifespan Development Final
Exam with All Correct Answers 2026
Updated.
Emerging Adulthood - Answer The period of life between the ages of 18 & 25. It is now
widely thought of as a separate developmental stage.
Extreme Sports - Answer Forms of recreation that include apparent risk in injury or death
and are attractive and thrilling as a result.
Drug Abuse / Addiction - Answer The ingestion of a drug to the extent that it impairs the
user's biological or psychological well-being.
Postformal Thought - Answer A proposed adult stage of cognitive development, following
Piaget's four stages. Postformal thought goes beyond adolescent thinking by being more
practical, more flexible, & more dialectical (more capable of combining contradictory elements
into a comprehensive whole).
Stereotype Threat - Answer The possibility that one's appearance or behavior will be
misread to confirm another person's oversimplified, prejudiced attitudes.
Massification - Answer The idea that establishing higher learning institutions & encouraging
college enrollment could benefit everyone, leading to marked increases in the number of
emerging adults in college.
Ethnic Identity - Answer The development of ethnic & racial identity.
Personality in Emerging Adulthood - Answer Continuity & change are evident. This age is
characterized by years of freedom from a settled lifestyle. New characteristics appear &
negative traits diminish.
Psychological Disorders - Answer The rate of emotional disorders rises in emerging
adulthood. The causes are thought to include psychological vulnerability, combined with one's
own identity apart from the family. (schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, suicide, drug addiction)
, Choice Overload - Answer Having so many options that a thoughtful choice becomes
difficult, & regret after making a choice is more likely.
Cohabitation - Answer An arrangement in which a couple live together in a committed
romantic relationship but are not formally married.
Linked Lives - Answer Lives in which the success, health, & well-being of each family member
are connected to those of other members, including members of another generation, as in the
relationship between parents & children.
Senescence - Answer A gradual physical decline related to aging. It occurs in everyone & in
every body part, but the rate of decline is highly variable within & between persons.
Organ Reserve - Answer The extra capacity built into each organ, such as the heart & lungs,
that allows a person to cope with extraordinary demands or to withstand organ strain.
Homeostasis - Answer The adjustment of all the body's systems to keep physiological
functions in a state of equilibrium, moment by moment. As the body ages, it takes longer for
these homeostatic adjustments to occur, so it becomes harder for older bodies to adapt to
stress.
Allostasis - Answer A dynamic body adjustment, related to homeostasis, that over time
affects overall physiology. The main difference is that while homeostasis requires an immediate
response, allostasis requires longer-term adjustment.
Infertility - Answer The inability to conceive a child after trying for at least a year.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) - Answer A technique in which ova (egg cells) are surgically
removed from a woman & fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. After the original fertilized cells
have divided several times, they are inserted into the woman's uterus.
Menopause - Answer The time in middle age, usually around 50, when a woman's menstrual
periods cease & the production of estrogen, progesterone, & testosterone drops. Strictly
speaking, menopause is dated 1 year after a woman's last menstrual period.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) - Answer Taking hormones to compensate for
Exam with All Correct Answers 2026
Updated.
Emerging Adulthood - Answer The period of life between the ages of 18 & 25. It is now
widely thought of as a separate developmental stage.
Extreme Sports - Answer Forms of recreation that include apparent risk in injury or death
and are attractive and thrilling as a result.
Drug Abuse / Addiction - Answer The ingestion of a drug to the extent that it impairs the
user's biological or psychological well-being.
Postformal Thought - Answer A proposed adult stage of cognitive development, following
Piaget's four stages. Postformal thought goes beyond adolescent thinking by being more
practical, more flexible, & more dialectical (more capable of combining contradictory elements
into a comprehensive whole).
Stereotype Threat - Answer The possibility that one's appearance or behavior will be
misread to confirm another person's oversimplified, prejudiced attitudes.
Massification - Answer The idea that establishing higher learning institutions & encouraging
college enrollment could benefit everyone, leading to marked increases in the number of
emerging adults in college.
Ethnic Identity - Answer The development of ethnic & racial identity.
Personality in Emerging Adulthood - Answer Continuity & change are evident. This age is
characterized by years of freedom from a settled lifestyle. New characteristics appear &
negative traits diminish.
Psychological Disorders - Answer The rate of emotional disorders rises in emerging
adulthood. The causes are thought to include psychological vulnerability, combined with one's
own identity apart from the family. (schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, suicide, drug addiction)
, Choice Overload - Answer Having so many options that a thoughtful choice becomes
difficult, & regret after making a choice is more likely.
Cohabitation - Answer An arrangement in which a couple live together in a committed
romantic relationship but are not formally married.
Linked Lives - Answer Lives in which the success, health, & well-being of each family member
are connected to those of other members, including members of another generation, as in the
relationship between parents & children.
Senescence - Answer A gradual physical decline related to aging. It occurs in everyone & in
every body part, but the rate of decline is highly variable within & between persons.
Organ Reserve - Answer The extra capacity built into each organ, such as the heart & lungs,
that allows a person to cope with extraordinary demands or to withstand organ strain.
Homeostasis - Answer The adjustment of all the body's systems to keep physiological
functions in a state of equilibrium, moment by moment. As the body ages, it takes longer for
these homeostatic adjustments to occur, so it becomes harder for older bodies to adapt to
stress.
Allostasis - Answer A dynamic body adjustment, related to homeostasis, that over time
affects overall physiology. The main difference is that while homeostasis requires an immediate
response, allostasis requires longer-term adjustment.
Infertility - Answer The inability to conceive a child after trying for at least a year.
In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) - Answer A technique in which ova (egg cells) are surgically
removed from a woman & fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. After the original fertilized cells
have divided several times, they are inserted into the woman's uterus.
Menopause - Answer The time in middle age, usually around 50, when a woman's menstrual
periods cease & the production of estrogen, progesterone, & testosterone drops. Strictly
speaking, menopause is dated 1 year after a woman's last menstrual period.
Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) - Answer Taking hormones to compensate for
