AP®︎ Psychology: Topic 3.6 Practice Test
Prepare for your quiz, test, or the AP exam with focused practice questions on Topic 3.6 of AP Psychology – Social-Emotional Development Across the Lifespan.
Questions List
Topic 3.6
Question 1 Easy
This question tests the following: 3.6.A.1
Which system in the ecological systems theory involves direct contact with the individual?
What You’re Being Tested On:
Explore the learning objectives taken directly from the College Board’s AP® Psychology Curriculum. Ensure you’re prepared for the exact topics covered on the AP® exam, in-class tests, and quizzes, and gain confidence in your mastery of the material.
Topic 3.6: Social-Emotional Development Across the Lifespan
Learning Objective: 3.6.A
Explain how social development relates to behavior and mental processes.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.1
The ecological systems theory explores how the social environment influences development. The five systems in this theory are as follows: Microsystem (groups that have direct contact with the individual) Mesosystem (the relationships between groups in the microsystem) Exosystem (indirect factors in an individual’s life) Macrosystem (cultural events that affect the individuals and others around them) Chronosystem (the individual’s current stage of life).
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.2
Research has identified different parenting styles of caregivers, including authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive. Cultural differences exist in the ways these parenting styles affect outcomes in caregivers and children.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.3
Research has identified different attachment styles demonstrated by infants and children, which vary by culture. The types of attachment infants and children display include secure and insecure (avoidant, anxious, and disorganized). Temperament is related to how children attach to caregivers.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.3.i
Separation anxiety occurs when children express heightened anxiety or fear when away from a caregiver or in the presence of a stranger.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.3.ii
Studies with monkeys demonstrate the importance of comfort over food in attachment.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.4
Developmental psychologists study how peer relationships develop over time.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.4.i
Children engage with peers via play (parallel and pretend).
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.4.ii
Adolescents gradually rely more on peer relationships as they age. As adolescents interact with peers, they demonstrate a type of egocentrism that is often demonstrated via the imaginary audience and the personal fable.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.5
Developmental psychologists study how adults develop socially over time.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.5.i
Culture plays a role in determining when adulthood begins and when major life events occur (social clock). Some cultures allow for a time of emerging adulthood as a transition from adolescence to adulthood.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.5.ii
Relationships with other adults result in adults forming families or family-like relationships that should provide mutual support and care. Childhood attachment styles can affect how adults form attachments to other adults.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.6
The stage theory of psychosocial development, which was a reconceptualization of the psychosexual theory, proposes that people must resolve psychosocial conflicts at each stage of the lifespan. The stages are as follows: Trust and mistrust Autonomy and shame and doubt Initiative and guilt Industry and inferiority Identity and role confusion Intimacy and isolation Generativity and stagnation Integrity and despair Exclusion Statement: The psychosexual stage theory of development is outside of the scope of the AP Psychology Exam.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.7
The experience of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has effects on relationships people form throughout the lifespan. Sociocultural differences exist in what is considered an ACE and how ACEs affect outcomes people may experience.
Essential Knowledge: 3.6.A.8
Adolescents develop a sense of identity for who they will be as an adult through the processes of achievement, diffusion, foreclosure, and moratorium. Identity development also includes processes for developing identities such as racial/ethnic identity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious identity, occupational identity, and familial identity, often through considering possible selves.
