ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING FINAL
EXAM SCRIPT 2026 VERIFIED QUESTIONS
WITH DETAILED SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
◉ Contextual Influences on Development. Answer: Incorporates the
effects of sex, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, and culture.
◉ Developmental Science. Answer: A term that is gradually replacing
the term developmental psychology as the focus on life span
development continues to encompass a broader variety of domains than
a sole focus on the psychology of the individual.
◉ Geriatrics. Answer: The medical specialty in aging; an
interdisciplinary field that draws from biology, sociology, anthropology,
the humanities, and other behavioral and social sciences.
◉ Niche-Picking. Answer: The proposal that genetic and environmental
factors work together to influence the direction of a child's life.
◉ Organismic Model. Answer: Proposed that heredity drives the course
of development throughout life; changes over time occur because the
individual is programmed to exhibit certain behaviors at certain ages
,with distinct differences between stages of life. Qualitative; active;
biological (intrinsic).
◉ Mechanistic Model. Answer: Proposes that people's behavior changes
gradually over time, shaped by the outside forces that cause them to
adapt to their environments; growth throughout life occurs through the
individual's exposure to experiences that present new learning
opportunities. Quantitative; passive; external (environmental).
◉ Interactionist Model. Answer: Not only do genetics and environment
interact in complex ways to produce their effects on the individual, but
that individuals actively shape their own development; most similar to
nice-picking because it proposes that you can shape and be shaped by
your own environments. Multidirectional, multidimensional, active,
reciprocal.
◉ Plasticity in Development. Answer: The course of development may
be altered, depending on the nature of the individual's specific
interactions in the environment.
◉ Reciprocity in Development. Answer: People both influence and are
influenced by the events in their lives; people are not only shaped by
their experiences, but also shape many of the experiences that affect
them.
, ◉ Ecological Perspective. Answer: Proposed by developmental theorist
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1994), identifies multiple levels of the
environment as they affect the individuals over time; defines five levels
of the environment or "systems", all of which interact in their influence
on the individual and influence development in different ways.
Center to outside: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem
◉ Microsystem. Answer: In the center of the ecological model; the
setting in which people have their daily interactions and which therefore
have the most direct impact on their lives.
◉ Mesosystem. Answer: The realm of the environment in which
interactions take place among two or more microsystems (ex: home
difficulties carrying over into co-worker relationships).
◉ Exosystem. Answer: Includes the environments that people do not
closely experience on a regular basis but that impact them nevertheless.
These environments include such institutions such as the workplace and
community centers as well as extended family, whom may not be seen
often.
◉ Macrosystem. Answer: Includes the larger social institutions ranging
from a country's economy to its laws and social norms; influences the
individual directly through the exosystem.
EXAM SCRIPT 2026 VERIFIED QUESTIONS
WITH DETAILED SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
◉ Contextual Influences on Development. Answer: Incorporates the
effects of sex, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, and culture.
◉ Developmental Science. Answer: A term that is gradually replacing
the term developmental psychology as the focus on life span
development continues to encompass a broader variety of domains than
a sole focus on the psychology of the individual.
◉ Geriatrics. Answer: The medical specialty in aging; an
interdisciplinary field that draws from biology, sociology, anthropology,
the humanities, and other behavioral and social sciences.
◉ Niche-Picking. Answer: The proposal that genetic and environmental
factors work together to influence the direction of a child's life.
◉ Organismic Model. Answer: Proposed that heredity drives the course
of development throughout life; changes over time occur because the
individual is programmed to exhibit certain behaviors at certain ages
,with distinct differences between stages of life. Qualitative; active;
biological (intrinsic).
◉ Mechanistic Model. Answer: Proposes that people's behavior changes
gradually over time, shaped by the outside forces that cause them to
adapt to their environments; growth throughout life occurs through the
individual's exposure to experiences that present new learning
opportunities. Quantitative; passive; external (environmental).
◉ Interactionist Model. Answer: Not only do genetics and environment
interact in complex ways to produce their effects on the individual, but
that individuals actively shape their own development; most similar to
nice-picking because it proposes that you can shape and be shaped by
your own environments. Multidirectional, multidimensional, active,
reciprocal.
◉ Plasticity in Development. Answer: The course of development may
be altered, depending on the nature of the individual's specific
interactions in the environment.
◉ Reciprocity in Development. Answer: People both influence and are
influenced by the events in their lives; people are not only shaped by
their experiences, but also shape many of the experiences that affect
them.
, ◉ Ecological Perspective. Answer: Proposed by developmental theorist
Urie Bronfenbrenner (1994), identifies multiple levels of the
environment as they affect the individuals over time; defines five levels
of the environment or "systems", all of which interact in their influence
on the individual and influence development in different ways.
Center to outside: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem
◉ Microsystem. Answer: In the center of the ecological model; the
setting in which people have their daily interactions and which therefore
have the most direct impact on their lives.
◉ Mesosystem. Answer: The realm of the environment in which
interactions take place among two or more microsystems (ex: home
difficulties carrying over into co-worker relationships).
◉ Exosystem. Answer: Includes the environments that people do not
closely experience on a regular basis but that impact them nevertheless.
These environments include such institutions such as the workplace and
community centers as well as extended family, whom may not be seen
often.
◉ Macrosystem. Answer: Includes the larger social institutions ranging
from a country's economy to its laws and social norms; influences the
individual directly through the exosystem.
