human growth and development

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Test InformationGuide:College-LevelExaminationProgram®

2011-12

Human Growthand Development

© 2011 The College Board. All rights reserved. College Board, College-Level ExaminationProgram, CLEP, and the acorn logo are registered trademarks of the College Board.

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CLEP TEST INFORMATION GUIDEFOR HUMAN GROWTH ANDDEVELOPMENT

History of CLEP

Since 1967, the College-Level Examination Program(CLEP®) has provided over six million people withthe opportunity to reach their educational goals.CLEP participants have received college credit forknowledge and expertise they have gained throughprior course work, independent study or work andlife experience.

Over the years, the CLEP examinations have evolvedto keep pace with changing curricula and pedagogy.Typically, the examinations represent material taughtin introductory college-level courses from all areasof the college curriculum. Students may choose from33 different subject areas in which to demonstratetheir mastery of college-level material.

Today, more than 2,900 colleges and universitiesrecognize and grant credit for CLEP.

Philosophy of CLEP

Promoting access to higher education is CLEP’sfoundation. CLEP offers students an opportunity todemonstrate and receive validation of theircollege-level skills and knowledge. Students whoachieve an appropriate score on a CLEP exam canenrich their college experience with higher-levelcourses in their major field of study, expand theirhorizons by taking a wider array of electives andavoid repetition of material that they already know.

CLEP Participants

CLEP’s test-taking population includes people of allages and walks of life. Traditional 18- to 22-year-oldstudents, adults just entering or returning to school,homeschoolers and international students who needto quantify their knowledge have all been assisted byCLEP in earning their college degrees. Currently,58 percent of CLEP’s test-takers are women and52 percent are 23 years of age or older.

For over 30 years, the College Board has worked toprovide government-funded credit-by-examopportunities to the military through CLEP. Militaryservice members are fully funded for their CLEP examfees. Exams are administered at military installations

worldwide through computer-based testing programsand also — in forward-deployed areas — throughpaper-based testing. Approximately one-third of allCLEP candidates are military service members.

2010-11 National CLEP Candidates by Age*

These data are based on 100% of CLEP test-takers who responded to this survey question during their examinations.

*

Under 189%

18-22 years39%

23-29 years22%

30 years and older30%

2010-11 National CLEP Candidates by Gender

41%

58%

Computer-Based CLEP Testing

The computer-based format of CLEP exams allowsfor a number of key features. These include:

• a variety of question formats that ensure effectiveassessment

• real-time score reporting that gives students andcolleges the ability to make immediate credit-granting decisions (except College Composition,which requires faculty scoring of essays twice amonth)

• a uniform recommended credit-granting score of50 for all exams

• “rights-only” scoring, which awards one point percorrect answer

• pretest questions that are not scored but providecurrent candidate population data and allow forrapid expansion of question pools

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CLEP Exam Development

Content development for each of the CLEP examsis directed by a test development committee. Eachcommittee is composed of faculty from a widevariety of institutions who are currently teachingthe relevant college undergraduate courses. Thecommittee members establish the test specificationsbased on feedback from a national curriculumsurvey; recommend credit-granting scores andstandards; develop and select test questions; reviewstatistical data and prepare descriptive material foruse by faculty (Test Information Guides) and studentsplanning to take the tests (CLEP Official Study Guide).

College faculty also participate in CLEP in otherways: they convene periodically as part ofstandard-setting panels to determine therecommended level of student competency for thegranting of college credit; they are called upon towrite exam questions and to review forms and theyhelp to ensure the continuing relevance of the CLEPexaminations through the curriculum surveys.

The Curriculum Survey

The first step in the construction of a CLEP exam isa curriculum survey. Its main purpose is to obtaininformation needed to develop test-contentspecifications that reflect the current collegecurriculum and to recognize anticipated changes inthe field. The surveys of college faculty areconducted in each subject every three to five yearsdepending on the discipline. Specifically, the surveygathers information on:

• the major content and skill areas covered in theequivalent course and the proportion of the coursedevoted to each area

• specific topics taught and the emphasis given toeach topic

• specific skills students are expected to acquire andthe relative emphasis given to them

• recent and anticipated changes in course content,skills and topics

• the primary textbooks and supplementary learningresources used

• titles and lengths of college courses thatcorrespond to the CLEP exam

The Committee

The College Board appoints standing committees ofcollege faculty for each test title in the CLEP battery.Committee members usually serve a term of up tofour years. Each committee works with contentspecialists at Educational Testing Service to establishtest specifications and develop the tests. Listedbelow are the current committee members and theirinstitutional affiliations.

Megan Bradley,Chair

Frostburg State University

Thomas Coyle University of Texas atSan Antonio

Rita Casey Wayne State University

The primary objective of the committee is to producetests with good content validity. CLEP tests must berigorous and relevant to the discipline and theappropriate courses. While the consensus of thecommittee members is that this test has high contentvalidity for a typical introductory Human Growthand Development course or curriculum, the validityof the content for a specific course or curriculum isbest determined locally through careful review andcomparison of test content, with instructional contentcovered in a particular course or curriculum.

The Committee Meeting

The exam is developed from a pool of questionswritten by committee members and outside questionwriters. All questions that will be scored on a CLEPexam have been pretested; those that pass a rigorousstatistical analysis for content relevance, difficulty,fairness and correlation with assessment criteria areadded to the pool. These questions are compiled bytest development specialists according to the testspecifications, and are presented to all the committeemembers for a final review. Before convening at atwo- or three-day committee meeting, the membershave a chance to review the test specifications andthe pool of questions available for possible inclusionin the exam.

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At the meeting, the committee determines whetherthe questions are appropriate for the test and, if not,whether they need to be reworked and pretestedagain to ensure that they are accurate andunambiguous. Finally, draft forms of the exam arereviewed to ensure comparable levels of difficulty andcontent specifications on the various test forms. Thecommittee is also responsible for writing anddeveloping pretest questions. These questions areadministered to candidates who take the examinationand provide valuable statistical feedback on studentperformance under operational conditions.

Once the questions are developed and pretested,tests are assembled in one of two ways. In somecases, test forms are assembled in their entirety.These forms are of comparable difficulty and aretherefore interchangeable. More commonly,questions are assembled into smaller,content-specific units called testlets, which can thenbe combined in different ways to create multiple testforms. This method allows many different forms tobe assembled from a pool of questions.

Test Specifications

Test content specifications are determined primarilythrough the curriculum survey, the expertise of thecommittee and test development specialists, therecommendations of appropriate councils andconferences, textbook reviews and other appropriatesources of information. Content specifications takeinto account:

• the purpose of the test

• the intended test-taker population

• the titles and descriptions of courses the test isdesigned to reflect

• the specific subject matter and abilities to be tested

• the length of the test, types of questions andinstructions to be used

Recommendation of the AmericanCouncil on Education (ACE)

The American Council on Education’s CollegeCredit Recommendation Service (ACE CREDIT)has evaluated CLEP processes and procedures for

developing, administering and scoring the exams.Effective July 2001, ACE recommended a uniformcredit-granting score of 50 across all subjects, withthe exception of four-semester language exams,which represents the performance of students whoearn a grade of C in the corresponding collegecourse.

The American Council on Education, the majorcoordinating body for all the nation’s higher educationinstitutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifyingvoice on key higher education issues and to influencepublic policy through advocacy, research and programinitiatives. For more information, visit the ACECREDIT website at www.acenet.edu/acecredit.

CLEP Credit Granting

CLEP uses a common recommended credit-grantingscore of 50 for all CLEP exams.

This common credit-granting score does not mean,however, that the standards for all CLEP exams arethe same. When a new or revised version of a test isintroduced, the program conducts a standard settingto determine the recommended credit-granting score(“cut score”).

A standard-setting panel, consisting of 15–20 facultymembers from colleges and universities across thecountry who are currently teaching the course, isappointed to give its expert judgment on the level ofstudent performance that would be necessary toreceive college credit in the course. The panelreviews the test and test specifications and definesthe capabilities of the typical A student, as well asthose of the typical B, C and D students.* Expectedindividual student performance is rated by eachpanelist on each question. The combined average ofthe ratings is used to determine a recommendednumber of examination questions that must beanswered correctly to mirror classroom performanceof typical B and C students in the related course. Thepanel’s findings are given to members of the testdevelopment committee who, with the help ofEducational Testing Service and College Boardpsychometric specialists, make a final determinationon which raw scores are equivalent to B and C levelsof performance.

*Student performance for the language exams (French, German and Spanish)is defined only at the B and C levels.

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Human Growth and Development

Description of the Examination

The Human Growth and Development examination(Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Adulthood andAging) covers material that is generally taught in aone-semester introductory course in developmentalpsychology or human development. An understandingof the major theories and research related to the broadcategories of physical development, cognitivedevelopment and social development is required,as is the ability to apply this knowledge.

The examination contains approximately90 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.Some of them are pretest questions that will notbe scored. Any time candidates spend on tutorialsand providing personal information is in additionto the actual testing time.

Knowledge and Skills Required

Questions on the Human Growth and Developmentexamination require candidates to demonstrate oneor more of the following abilities.

• Knowledge of basic facts and terminology• Understanding of generally accepted concepts

and principles• Understanding of theories and recurrent

developmental issues• Applications of knowledge to particular

problems or situations

The subject matter of the Human Growth andDevelopment examination is drawn from thefollowing categories. For each category, severalkey words and phrases identify topics with whichcandidates should be familiar. The percentages nextto the main categories indicate the approximatepercentage of exam questions on that topic.

10% Theoretical PerspectivesCognitive developmentalEvolutionaryLearningPsychodynamicSocial cognitiveSociocultural

5% Research Strategies and MethodologyCase studyCorrelationalCross-sectionalCross sequentialExperimentalLongitudinalObservational

10% Biological Development Throughoutthe Life SpanDevelopment of the brain and

nervous systemHeredity, genetics and genetic testingHormonal influencesInfluences of drugsMotor developmentNutritional influencesPerinatal influencesPhysical growth and maturation, agingPrenatal influencesSexual maturationTeratogens

7% Perceptual Development Throughoutthe Life SpanSensitive periodsSensorimotor activitiesSensory acuitySensory deprivation

12% Cognitive Development Throughoutthe Life SpanAttentionEnvironmental influencesExecutive functionExpertiseInformation processingMemoryPiaget, JeanPlayProblem solving and planningThinkingVygotsky, LevWisdom

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H U M A N G R O W T H A N D D E V E L O P M E N T

8% Language DevelopmentBilingualismDevelopment of syntaxEnvironmental, cultural and genetic

influencesLanguage and thoughtPragmaticsSemantic developmentVocalization and sound

4% Intelligence Throughout the Life SpanConcepts of intelligence and creativityDevelopmental stability and changeHeredity and environment

10% Social Development Throughoutthe Life SpanAggressionAttachmentGenderInterpersonal relationshipsMoral developmentProsocial behaviorRisk and resilienceSelfSocial cognitionWellness

8% Family, Home and Society Throughoutthe Life SpanAbuse and neglectBronfenbrenner, UrieDeath and dyingFamily relationshipsFamily structuresMedia and technologyMulticultural perspectivesParenting stylesSocial and class influences

8% Personality and EmotionAttribution stylesDevelopment of emotionsEmotional expression and regulationEmotional intelligenceErikson, ErikFreud, SigmundStability and changeTemperament

8% LearningClassical conditioningDiscrimination and generalizationHabituationOperant conditioningSocial learning and modeling

5% Schooling, Work and InterventionsApplications of developmental principlesFacilitation of role transitionsIntervention programs and servicesLearning stylesOccupational developmentPreschool care, day care and elder careRetirement

5% Atypical DevelopmentAntisocial behaviorAsocial behavior, fears, phobias and

obsessionsAttention-deficit/hyperactivity disorderAutism spectrum disordersChronic illnesses and physical disabilitiesCognitive disorders, including dementiaGenetic disordersGiftednessLearning disabilitiesMental retardationMood disordersTrauma-based syndromes

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Sample Test Questions

The following sample questions do not appear onan actual CLEP examination. They are intended togive potential test-takers an indication of the formatand difficulty level of the examination and toprovide content for practice and review. Knowingthe correct answers to all of the sample questionsis not a guarantee of satisfactory performance onthe exam.

Directions: Each of the questions or incompletestatements below is followed by five suggestedanswers or completions. Select the one that isbest in each case.

1. The first negative emotion clearly exhibitedduring infancy is

(A) fear(B) anger(C) guilt(D) distress(E) jealousy

2. According to behavioral psychologists, whichof the following treatments would most likelyextinguish disruptive behavior in preschoolchildren?

(A) Threatening to isolate them immediatelyafter such behavior

(B) Ignoring them so that they do not receivethe reinforcement they are seeking

(C) Punishing them immediately so theyunderstand what they did wrong

(D) Discouraging them but not punishing them(E) Reasoning with them and explaining that

their behavior is wrong

3. The length of time that it takes to toilet train achild depends mostly on which of the following?

(A) Presence or absence of older siblings(B) Severity of the training practices the

caregivers use(C) Verbal ability of the caregivers(D) The child’s feeding regimen in infancy(E) Age at which the child begins toilet training

4. A defining characteristic of children withautism is

(A) obsessive attachment to their mothers(B) lack of motor coordination(C) unresponsiveness to others(D) hyperactivity(E) physical abnormality

5. Anxiety over performance can positivelymotivate school achievement in childrenas long as the degree of anxiety is

(A) very high(B) high(C) moderate(D) low(E) very low

6. According to Jean Piaget, cognitive developmentbegins with which of the following?

(A) Preoperations(B) Concrete operations(C) Intuitive thought(D) Sensorimotor activities(E) Formal operations

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7. Social-class differences in vocabularydevelopment result from social-classdifferences in the amount of

(A) maternal anxiety(B) verbal stimulation(C) paternal illness(D) sibling rivalry(E) marital discord

8. Studies in which the same people are testedat different ages are called

(A) longitudinal(B) cross-sectional(C) normative(D) naturalistic(E) experimental

9. Which of the following is most central to theconcept of sensitive period?

(A) Growth spurts must occur at specific ages.(B) Children who do not develop at the same

time as their peers experience distress.(C) A given function emerges automatically

during a particular time period regardlessof learning experiences.

(D) Particular experiences are especiallyinfluential at a certain time in development.

(E) Children go through a negativistic stageas a part of their cognitive development.

10. Jimmy saw his favorite candy for sale in thestore. He had no money, so he planned to steal it.However, he changed his mind and decided notto do it, because stealing is wrong. According toSigmund Freud’s theory, which part of Jimmy’spersonality prevented him from stealing?

(A) Id(B) Ego(C) Superego(D) Anima(E) Collective unconscious

11. If reinforcement is to be most effective in thelearning of a new behavior, the reinforcementshould be

(A) provided as sparingly as possible(B) administered on an intermittent schedule(C) used primarily with high achievers(D) delayed until the end of the learning period(E) provided soon after the desired behavior

occurs

12. In Harry Harlow’s experiments, infant monkeysraised with only wire or cloth “mothers” wereLEAST fearful in strange situations in thepresence of

(A) the “mother” who had provided food(B) the “mother” who had provided contact

comfort(C) the “mother” who had provided primary

drive reduction(D) other young monkeys(E) their biological mothers

13. A sudden, loud noise made in the vicinity of anewborn infant is likely to elicit which of thefollowing reflexes?

(A) Babinski(B) Moro(C) Rooting(D) Palmar grasp(E) Stepping

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14. On which of the following types of problemswould you expect a four-year-old child and aseven-year-old child to perform most similarly?

(A) Conservation of number(B) Classification(C) Transformation(D) Object permanence(E) Superordinate concepts

15. Red-green color blindness is best described as

(A) a sex-linked recessive trait(B) a sex-linked dominant trait(C) an autosomal recessive trait(D) an autosomal dominant trait(E) a trait resulting from chromosomal breakage

16. Over summer vacation, Gwen sees a boy sheknows from school, but she is having difficultyremembering his name. Which of her memoryprocesses is failing in this situation?

(A) Storage(B) Retrieval(C) Encoding(D) Short-term memory(E) Sensory memory

17. Which of the following theorists did NOTdevelop a stage theory?

(A) Sigmund Freud(B) Jean Piaget(C) B. F. Skinner(D) Lawrence Kohlberg(E) Erik Erikson

18. Which of the following is true of malemenopause?

(A) It is a purely physical phenomenon.(B) It is usually a result of too little exercise.(C) It is commonly a cause of work-related

problems.(D) It is differentially damaging to the male

psyche depending on age.(E) It is physically impossible because males

do not menstruate.

19. According to psychoanalytic theory, which ofthe following mechanisms (and the attitudeaccompanying it) would be most important forhealthy resolution of a little boy’s Oedipuscomplex?

(A) Identification with the father (“I amlike Daddy.”)

(B) Object-choice of the father (“I loveDaddy best.”)

(C) Identification with the mother (“I amlike Mommy.”)

(D) Object-choice of the mother (“I loveMommy best.”)

(E) Projection onto the mother (“Mommyloves me best.”)

20. In accounting for the rapid expansion of achild’s early vocabulary, Susan Carey arguedthat a major role must be played by the child’sown active cognitive processing. Adults simplycannot teach a child exactly what referent everyword picks out. Carey coined which one of thefollowing terms to denote this concept?

(A) Fast mapping(B) Lexical conventionality(C) Lexical contrast(D) Linguistic empiricism(E) Metacognition

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21. Heather is currently taking courses in severaldifferent academic departments and doingvolunteer work to help identify and developher interests. She also spends a lot of timethinking about her values and goals but hasnot chosen a career path. Heather’s identitystatus is referred to as

(A) fixation(B) identity achievement(C) identity diffusion(D) identity foreclosure(E) identity moratorium

22. According to Lev Vygotsky, the range betweenwhat a child can do alone and what a child cando with assistance is referred to as

(A) higher mental functions(B) scaffolding(C) inner speech(D) egocentric speech(E) the zone of proximal development

23. A researcher is evaluating the effects of threedifferent types of parent-education programson adolescent mothers’ interactions with theirtoddlers. What is the independent variable inthis investigation?

(A) Adolescent mothers’ interactions withtheir toddlers

(B) Level of parent-child communication(C) Type of parent education program(D) Child’s attachment to the mother(E) Child’s socioeconomic status

24. Kimiko is interested in children’s relationshipswith same-sex and opposite-sex peers. Sheobserves children’s behavior in their normal,everyday environment (for example, at school).She records each time a child speaks to or playswith another child and whether that other child isthe same or opposite sex. She uses a stopwatchto record how long the children play with theirpeers. This research method is

(A) a clinical interview(B) a structured interview(C) a naturalistic observation(D) a structured observation(E) an ethnography

25. The developing organism is most vulnerable tothe effects of teratogens during the period of the

(A) ovum(B) zygote(C) embryo(D) fetus(E) neonate

26. With regard to sexual maturity, femalesgenerally mature

(A) two years earlier than males do(B) four years earlier than males do(C) two years later than males do(D) four years later than males do(E) at approximately the same age as males

27. Carolyn tripped on the carpet and fell. Whenshe got up, she looked at her mother, who waslaughing, and she laughed, too. This is anexample of

(A) empathy(B) sympathy(C) social referencing(D) display rules(E) semantics

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28. Proximodistal development is exemplified bywhich of the following?

(A) Control of gross arm movements prior tofine motor control of the fingers

(B) Control of the lower extremities prior tocontrol of the head

(C) Refinement of perceptual abilities priorto walking

(D) Acquisition of differential skills priorto acquisition of complex skills

(E) Maturation of neural pathways in thecerebrum prior to maturation of theneural pathways of the midbrain

29. A researcher was interested in determining theheritability of a specific trait. He measured thetrait in a group of same-sex dizygotic (DZ)twins and a group of monozygotic (MZ) twins.Half of the pairs of twins in each group werereared together, and half were reared apart. Thefigure above shows the correlations between themeasures of the trait for the DZ and MZ twinsby rearing condition. Which of the followingstatements most accurately describes the impactof genes and environment on the trait?

(A) Both genes and the environment influencethe trait.

(B) Genetic but not environmental factors affectthe trait.

(C) Environmental but not genetic factors affectthe trait.

(D) Prenatal influences have stronger effects ondevelopment of the trait than do either genesor the environment.

(E) The environment influences the trait amongthe DZ but not the MZ twins.

30. Newborn infants were given either smoothor knobby pacifiers to suck. They were laterallowed to look at both types of pacifiers. Theylooked longer at the type of pacifier they hadpreviously sucked. This finding indicates thatnewborn infants have

(A) categorical perception(B) intermodal perception(C) shape constancy(D) depth perception(E) object permanence

31. Which of the following senses is the LEASTwell developed at birth?

(A) Vision(B) Hearing(C) Smell(D) Touch(E) Taste

32. Order the types of play below from the leastcognitively mature to the most cognitivelymature.

I. Cooperative playII. Pretend play

III. Functional play

(A) I, II, III(B) II, I, III(C) II, III, I(D) III, I, II(E) III, II, I

33. A child explains thunder as “the clouds yellingat each other.” This is an example of

(A) conservation(B) reversibility(C) animistic reasoning(D) egoistic thinking(E) logical inference

Together Apart Rearing Condition

Cor

rela

tion

DZ MZ

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

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34. The stage of formal operations is characterized by

(A) the application of logical thought toconcrete objects and situations

(B) intuitive and animistic thought(C) abstract thought and hypothetical

problem solving(D) the development of transductive reasoning(E) the ability to conserve

35. Katie, a preschooler, sees a llama at the zoofor the first time and calls it a sheep. This is anexample of

(A) semantic overextension(B) chaining(C) fast mapping(D) divergent thinking(E) an expressive style

36. In ecological systems theory, the exosystemincludes

(A) values and beliefs of the culture in which achild is developing, such as the acceptanceof violence

(B) settings in which a child spends time,such as classrooms and neighborhoodplay groups

(C) social settings that indirectly influencea child, such as parents’ workplaces

(D) connections among the different settings inwhich a child develops, such as the homeand the school

(E) transitions that occur over time, suchas a major change in the family’seconomic situation

37. A theory of language development that proposesan innate language acquisition device would beclassified as which of the following?

(A) Nativist(B) Interactionist(C) Empiricist(D) Contextual(E) Functionalist

38. A child who has an IQ of 55 to 70 and delayedsocial development is classified as having a

(A) mild intellectual disability(B) moderate intellectual disability(C) severe intellectual disability(D) profound intellectual disability(E) learning disability

39. Which of the following infant measures bestpredicts childhood IQ?

(A) Performance on the Mental Scale of theBayley Scales of Infant Development

(B) Speed of habituation and dishabituationto visual stimuli

(C) Age in months at which the child beginswalking and talking

(D) Percent of time spent in REM sleep(E) Birth weight

40. A toddler with a secure attachment to aprimary caregiver would be expected to

(A) avoid the caregiver when they werereunited after a brief separation

(B) stay in the caregiver’s lap rather thanexplore a new environment

(C) cry when the caregiver left the toddlerwith a babysitter

(D) have a close bond with only one parent orprimary caregiver

(E) respond equally well to the caregiver and toa strange adult

41. A boy who believes that he will become a girl ifhe wears his sister’s clothes has not achieved theconcept of

(A) androgyny(B) gender stability(C) gender labeling(D) gender constancy(E) gender schema

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42. The process by which fluid from the uterus istaken early in pregnancy to determine whetherthe developing fetus has a genetic anomaly iscalled

(A) amniocentesis(B) chorionic villus sampling(C) positron-emission tomography(D) insemination(E) ultrasound

43. Although Elizabeth’s seven-year-old son wantsto stay up past his bedtime to watch a televisionspecial, she insists that he go to bed at the usualtime. She explains that he will be too tired todo well in school if he does not get his rest, andshe promises to record the show for him. DianaBaumrind would classify Elizabeth’s parentingstyle as which of the following?

(A) Secure(B) Uninvolved(C) Authoritarian(D) Authoritative(E) Permissive

44. Research on children without siblings revealsthat they

(A) have lower levels of self-esteem(B) demonstrate lower levels of prosocial

behavior(C) do better in school(D) are less popular with peers(E) are less emotionally secure

45. The three behavioral styles identified byAlexander Thomas and Stella Chess in theirearly research on infant temperament are

(A) sanguine, melancholic, choleric(B) easy, difficult, slow to warm up(C) secure, avoidant, ambivalent(D) emotional, sociable, inhibited(E) introverted, extroverted, agreeable

46. Time out is a disciplinary technique that isbased on the principles of

(A) operant conditioning(B) classical conditioning(C) observational learning(D) information processing(E) habituation

47. A mother nags her son until he cleans his room.A few weeks later, the son spontaneously cleanshis room because he does not want to be nagged.The mother’s nagging is an example of

(A) positive reinforcement(B) negative reinforcement(C) vicarious reinforcement(D) vicarious punishment(E) punishment

48. Information-processing theorists argue that oneof the major changes that takes place from twoto five years of age is

(A) an increase in the ability to form abstractthoughts and use logical reasoning

(B) an increase in the complexity and powerof working memory

(C) a decrease in the complexity of schemataassociated with everyday experiences

(D) a decrease in fluid intelligence(E) a decrease in the storage capacity of

long-term memory

49. According to research, all of the followingstatements comparing Head Start participantswith their nonparticipating peers are trueEXCEPT that Head Start participants are

(A) less likely to become pregnant as teenagers(B) likely to score higher on IQ tests as

adolescents(C) less likely to be placed in special education

classes(D) less likely to be retained in a grade(E) more likely to graduate from high school

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50. Keisha politely asks her teacher to please passher the scissors but at home demands that herlittle brother give them to her immediately.Keisha is demonstrating her understandingof which aspect of knowledge?

(A) Phonology(B) Semantics(C) Syntax(D) Pragmatics(E) Overregularization

51. Which of the following is the symptom mostclosely associated with Alzheimer’s disease?

(A) Manic-depressive behavior(B) Sensory impairment(C) Loss of ability to walk(D) Loss of memory(E) Loss of reflexes

52. One of the major criticisms of the stages ofdying identified by Elisabeth Kübler-Rossis that

(A) there are too many stages in her theory(B) there are not enough stages in her theory(C) not everyone goes through the stages in the

order she describes(D) she does not adequately suggest how people

try to cope with each stage(E) the stages vary by sex

53. Instruction by teachers who employ Piagetianprinciples is most likely to be characterized bywhich of the following?

(A) Use of lecture as the dominant form ofinstruction

(B) Reliance on drill and repetition(C) Encouragement of active experimentation(D) Encouragement of private speech(E) Discouragement of group activities

54. Which of the following theorists advanced theconcept of the identity crisis?

(A) Jean Piaget(B) Sigmund Freud(C) Lev Vygotsky(D) B. F. Skinner(E) Erik Erikson

55. When Frank was a child, he moved to a newhouse near a major airport. At first, he wasunable to sleep because of the loud noisecreated by the airplanes. Over time, however,he was no longer disturbed by the plane noise.A behaviorist would most likely describe thechange in Frank’s behavior as which of thefollowing?

(A) Habituation(B) Superstition(C) Shaping(D) Operant conditioning(E) Response generalization

56. Which of the following grammatical morphemeswould a child be likely to acquire last?

(A) Article (“a cookie”)(B) Plural (“two cookies”)(C) Present progressive (“I am walking”)(D) Simple past (“Joey walked”)(E) Contraction (“that’s Joey”)

57. According to Robert Sternberg’s triangulartheory, which of the following are the threemajor components of adult love?

(A) Friendship . . compassion . . commitment(B) Commitment . . intimacy . . compassion(C) Intimacy . . commitment . . passion(D) Compassion . . friendship . . passion(E) Compassion . . infatuation . . intimacy

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58. The term “sandwich generation” refers to

(A) the current middle-adulthood generationthat feels squeezed between childrenand aging parents, both of whom thatgeneration must care for

(B) young adults who return to live with theirparents after college or after having livedaway from home for some other reason

(C) the current generation of children whoare fed mostly sandwiches because theirparents are working and cannot preparemeals for them

(D) the current middle-adulthood generationthat survives mostly on sandwiches andfast food eaten on the run because life istoo busy for sit-down meals at home

(E) a political term from the 1950s used bypacifists who felt that the federal governmentshould generate food for poor children ratherthan produce nuclear weapons

59. What is the most commonly diagnosed mentaldisorder among individuals in very lateadulthood?

(A) Schizophrenia(B) Dementia(C) Generalized anxiety disorder(D) Hypochondriasis(E) Mood disorder

60. A researcher compares church attendancebetween people born in the 1940s and peopleborn in the 1960s. The groups of people arecalled

(A) cohorts(B) alliances(C) support systems(D) reference groups(E) cliques

61. Eighteen-month-old Michael sees his motherabout to put his juice away, and he yells out,“More juice!” Michael’s expression is anexample of

(A) a holophrase(B) receptive language(C) private speech(D) motherese(E) telegraphic speech

62. According to psychologists, which type ofaggression do adolescent girls use morefrequently than do adolescent boys?

(A) Instrumental(B) Relational(C) Physical(D) Emotional self-regulated(E) Instinctive

63. According to Lawrence Kohlberg, parentscan best foster their children’s moraldevelopment by

(A) setting high expectations for moral behavior(B) promptly and consistently punishing their

children’s misbehavior(C) providing models of moral behavior(D) directly teaching their children what to do

when they face specific moral dilemmas(E) exposing their children to more advanced

moral reasoning by discussion of both sidesof moral dilemmas

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64. When there is an extremely weak relationshipbetween two behavioral variables, the correlationcoefficient will be

(A) much lower than zero(B) close to zero(C) close to +1(D) close to −1(E) much higher than +1

65. Two young boys sitting next to each other, eachdrawing a separate picture with his own set ofcrayons, are engaging in which type of play?

(A) Cooperative(B) Independent(C) Parallel(D) Onlooker(E) Associative

66. An intelligence test requires individuals tocreate synonyms for words from a prepared list.If change in performance on this test throughoutthe life span were studied longitudinally, themost likely result would be scores that

(A) steadily increase(B) steadily decline(C) peak in middle adulthood, then decline

rapidly(D) peak in early childhood and late adulthood,

with a decline in between(E) remain steady

67. What two developmental milestones occuraround the age of one year?

(A) Walking and speaking first words(B) Crawling and gesturing to communicate(C) Running and climbing on furniture(D) Throwing and catching a ball with two

hands(E) Smiling and pulling to a stand

68. In the United States, marital satisfaction is atits lowest at which stage of life?

(A) Immediately following the wedding(B) Before children are born(C) When children are very young(D) When children leave home(E) Retirement

69. An infant who is fed a balanced diet yet is notgaining enough weight would most likely bediagnosed with

(A) non-organic failure-to-thrive(B) marasmus(C) kwashiorkor(D) autism(E) Klinefelter syndrome

70. Drazen, a child with attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder (ADHD) and oppositionaldefiant disorder (ODD), is likely to be ratedby his peers as being in which of the followingpeer status categories?

(A) Average(B) Rejected aggressive(C) Rejected withdrawn(D) Neglected(E) Popular

71. Which type of mental ability is generallyassumed to increase over the life span of anindividual?

(A) Fluid intelligence(B) Crystallized intelligence(C) Abstract thinking(D) Deductive reasoning(E) Inductive reasoning

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72. According to research on the Big Five model ofpersonality, which personality trait tends toincrease for both men and women over theirlifespans?

(A) Aggressiveness(B) Conscientiousness(C) Extraversion(D) Neuroticism(E) Openness

73. A parent who is teaching a child to write adjustshis level of support to match the child’s existingcompetence in writing. Which of the followingconcepts best describes the parent’s behavior?

(A) Conservation(B) Egocentrism(C) Metacognition(D) Scaffolding(E) Priming

74. Both stunted growth and delayed menarche arestrongly influenced by

(A) lower-middle-class status(B) use of day care(C) malnutrition(D) a nuclear family structure(E) high protein intake

75. A preschool teacher always washes her handsright before serving a snack to the children.Over time, the children begin to salivate everytime they see the teacher washing her hands.According to classical conditioning theory,the teacher’s hand washing represents

(A) extinction(B) a conditioned response(C) a conditioned stimulus(D) an unconditioned response(E) an unconditioned stimulus

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Study Resources

Most textbooks used in college-level human growthand development courses cover the topics in theoutline given earlier, but the approaches to certaintopics and the emphases given to them may differ.To prepare for the Human Growth and Developmentexam, it is advisable to study one or more collegetextbooks, which can be found in most collegebookstores. When selecting a textbook, check thetable of contents against the knowledge and skillsrequired for this test.

You may also find it helpful to supplement yourreading with books and articles listed in thebibliographies found in most developmentalpsychology textbooks.

Parents and others who work with children mayhave gained some preparation for this test throughexperience. However, knowledge of the basic facts,theories, and principles of child psychology andlifespan development is necessary to providebackground for taking the exam.

Visit www.collegeboard.org/clepprep for additionalhuman growth and development resources. Youcan also find suggestions for exam preparation inChapter IV of the Official Study Guide. In addition,many college faculty post their course materials ontheir schools’ websites.

Answer Key

1. D 2. B 3. E 4. C 5. C 6. D 7. B 8. A 9. D 10. C 11. E 12. B 13. B 14. D 15. A 16. B 17. C 18. E 19. A 20. A 21. E 22. E 23. C 24. C 25. C 26. A 27. C 28. A 29. A 30. B 31. A 32. E 33. C 34. C 35. A 36. C 37. A 38. A

39. B 40. C 41. D 42. A 43. D 44. C 45. B 46. A 47. B 48. B 49. B 50. D 51. D 52. C 53. C 54. E 55. A 56. E 57. C 58. A 59. B 60. A 61. E 62. B 63. E 64. B 65. C 66. A 67. A 68. C 69. A 70. B 71. B 72. B 73. D 74. C 75. C

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Test Measurement Overview

Format

There are multiple forms of the computer-based test,each containing a predetermined set of scoredquestions. The examinations are not adaptive. Theremay be some overlap between different forms of atest: any of the forms may have a few questions,many questions, or no questions in common. Someoverlap may be necessary for statistical reasons.

In the computer-based test, not all questionscontribute to the candidate’s score. Some of thequestions presented to the candidate are beingpretested for use in future editions of the testsand will not count toward his or her score.

Scoring Information

CLEP examinations are scored without a penalty forincorrect guessing. The candidate’s raw score issimply the number of questions answered correctly.However, this raw score is not reported; the rawscores are translated into a scaled score by a processthat adjusts for differences in the difficulty of thequestions on the various forms of the test.

Scaled Scores

The scaled scores are reported on a scale of 20–80.Because the different forms of the tests are notalways exactly equal in difficulty, raw-to-scaleconversions may in some cases differ from form toform. The easier a form is judged to be, the higherthe raw score required to attain a given scaled score.Table 1 indicates the relationship between numbercorrect (raw score) and scaled score across all forms.

The Recommended Credit-GrantingScore

Table 1 also indicates the recommendedcredit-granting score, which represents theperformance of students earning a grade of C in thecorresponding course. The recommended B-levelscore represents B-level performance in equivalentcourse work. These scores were established as theresult of a Standard Setting Study, the most recenthaving been conducted in 2010. The recommendedcredit-granting scores are based upon the judgmentsof a panel of experts currently teaching equivalentcourses at various colleges and universities. These

experts evaluate each question in order to determinethe raw scores that would correspond to B and Clevels of performance. Their judgments are thenreviewed by a test development committee, which,in consultation with test content and psychometricspecialists, makes a final determination. Thestandard-setting study is described more fully inthe earlier section entitled “CLEP Credit Granting”on page 4.

Panel members participating in the most recentstudy were:

Janet Belsky Middle Tennessee StateUniversity

Benjamin Brown University of Arkansasat Monticello

Myra Beth Bundy Eastern Kentucky UniversityRita Casey Wayne State UniversityK. Laurie Dickson Northern Arizona UniversityJennifer Dyer-

SeymourCalifornia State University —

Monterey BayKrista Forrest University of Nebraska

at KearneyMark Hartlaub Texas A&M University —

Corpus ChristiKaren Hayes Guilford CollegeBob Humphries Walsh UniversitySammy Lonich California University

of PennsylvaniaNancy Melucci Long Beach City CollegeLeanne Olson Wisconsin Lutheran CollegeJulie Patrick West Virginia UniversityJutta Street Campbell UniversityJennifer Van Reet Providence CollegeChristine Ziegler Kennesaw State University

To establish the exact correspondences between rawand scaled scores, a scaled score of 50 is assigned tothe raw score that corresponds to the recommendedcredit-granting score for C-level performance. Thena high (but in some cases, possibly less than perfect)raw score will be selected and assigned a scaledscore of 80. These two points — 50 and 80 —determine a function that generates a raw-to-scaleconversion for the test.

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Table 1: Human Growth and DevelopmentInterpretive Score Data

American Council on Education (ACE) Recommended Number of Semester Hours of Credit: 3

Course Grade Scaled Score Number Correct80 79-8079 -78 -77 -76 7875 -74 7773 7772 7671 7670 7569 -68 7467 7366 7265 7164 7063 6962 67-6861 66-6760 6559 63-64

B 58 61-6257 59-6156 58-5955 56-5754 54-5553 52-5352 50-5151 47-49

C 50* 45-4749 43-4548 41-4247 39-4046 37-3845 35-3644 33-3443 31-3242 29-3041 28-2940 26-2739 2538 23-2437 22-2336 2135 2034 1933 1832 1731 1630 15-1629 1528 1427 1426 1325 1324 1223 1222 1221 -20 0-11

*Credit-granting score recommended by ACE.Note: The number-correct scores for each scaled score on different forms may vary depending on form diffi culty.

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Validity

Validity is a characteristic of a particular use of thetest scores of a group of examinees. If the scoresare used to make inferences about the examinees’knowledge of a particular subject, the validity of thescores for that purpose is the extent to which thoseinferences can be trusted to be accurate.

One type of evidence for the validity of test scores iscalled content-related evidence of validity. It isusually based upon the judgments of a set of expertswho evaluate the extent to which the content of thetest is appropriate for the inferences to be madeabout the examinees’ knowledge. The committeethat developed the CLEP Human Growth andDevelopment examination selected the content ofthe test to reflect the content of Human Growthand Development courses at most colleges, asdetermined by a curriculum survey. Since collegesdiffer somewhat in the content of the courses theyoffer, faculty members should, and are urged to,review the content outline and the sample questionsto ensure that the test covers core content appropriateto the courses at their college.

Another type of evidence for test-score validity iscalled criterion-related evidence of validity. Itconsists of statistical evidence that examinees whoscore high on the test also do well on other measuresof the knowledge or skills the test is being used tomeasure. Criterion-related evidence for the validityof CLEP scores can be obtained by studiescomparing students’ CLEP scores with the gradesthey received in corresponding classes, or othermeasures of achievement or ability. CLEP and theCollege Board conduct these studies, calledAdmitted Class Evaluation Service or ACES, forindividual colleges that meet certain criteria at thecollege’s request. Please contact CLEP for moreinformation.

Reliability

The reliability of the test scores of a group ofexaminees is commonly described by two statistics:the reliability coefficient and the standard error ofmeasurement (SEM). The reliability coefficient isthe correlation between the scores those examineesget (or would get) on two independent replicationsof the measurement process. The reliabilitycoefficient is intended to indicate the stability/consistency of the candidates’ test scores, and isoften expressed as a number ranging from .00 to1.00. A value of .00 indicates total lack of stability,while a value of 1.00 indicates perfect stability. Thereliability coefficient can be interpreted as thecorrelation between the scores examinees wouldearn on two forms of the test that had no questionsin common.

Statisticians use an internal-consistency measure tocalculate the reliability coefficients for the CLEPexam. This involves looking at the statisticalrelationships among responses to individualmultiple-choice questions to estimate the reliabilityof the total test score. The formula used is known asKuder-Richardson 20, or KR-20, which is equivalentto a more general formula called coefficient alpha.The SEM is an index of the extent to which students’obtained scores tend to vary from their true scores.1

It is expressed in score units of the test. Intervalsextending one standard error above and below thetrue score (see below) for a test-taker will include68 percent of that test-taker’s obtained scores.Similarly, intervals extending two standard errorsabove and below the true score will include 95 percentof the test-taker’s obtained scores. The standard errorof measurement is inversely related to the reliabilitycoefficient. If the reliability of the test were 1.00 (ifit perfectly measured the candidate’s knowledge),the standard error of measurement would be zero.

Scores on the CLEP examination in HumanGrowth and Development are estimated to havea reliability coefficient of 0.87. The standard errorof measurement is 1.38 scaled-score points.1 True score is a hypothetical concept indicating what an individual’s score on

a test would be if there were no errors introduced by the measuring process.It is thought of as the hypothetical average of an infinite number of obtainedscores for a test-taker with the effect of practice removed.

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