Questions and Answers of Developmental Psychology

Did our fundamental drive for meaning lead to science?
What constraints are on your life? What has held you back if you ever wanted to change yourself—your study habits, your weight, your exercise patterns, perhaps something as seemingly simple as how
Why are people bothered by the idea that their behavior is predictable?
Why do we seldom experience the feeling of being predictable?
Will there be psychology (or perhaps any science at all) in heaven?
How is evidence for claims made in the Bible different from evidence in psychological science? How are they similar?
Should a Christian understanding of human behavior be different and/or require a different research methodology because Christians take spiritual realities seriously?
Can scientists who are Christians learn from non-Christians and vice versa? Why or why not?
What are some specific physical experiences (e.g., hunger, pain)or qualities (e.g., chronic anxiety) that have influenced how you have thought or felt?
How have relationships been influenced by your physical life, and how have relationships impacted who and what you are physically today?
What would you say to someone who says that “curing” almost any life problem involves becoming more spiritual and connecting more with God?
Did you have a strong opinion on this issue of body, mind, and soul, or had you seldom thought about it? Have your ideas started to change on the matter after reading these chapters (or any similar
Regardless of which view you agree with or even which one is ultimately true, summarize some potential dangers (i.e., potential downsides or negative implications) that can occur if you apply an
If someone is pronounced legally dead because they are “braindead,” but their heart is still beating, where is that “person”? Is their “soul” (i.e., personhood) “melting away,” is
In what ways do you feel burdened by your conscious awareness?
Think of experiences in which you explained your behavior after you had done something. Was your explanation true to what you were thinking going into the behavior? How would you know?
What percentage of your own behavior do you think results from unconscious processing? What evidence do you have for the remainder of your behavior being under conscious control?
Is sin offensive to God if a person did not make a conscious decision to commit the sin? That is, can something that is just a habit be a sin? Explain.
Psychologist Carl Rogers (and also Nathaniel Branden, who was instrumental in highlighting the importance of self-esteem)emphasized that humans needed to bring to consciousness all of their behavior
In the last anecdote of the chapter regarding Gord, we emphasize that his statement and stance are an initial decision that can help put into play unconscious behaviors that may follow. Think of an
Philippians 4:13 reads, “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” How might one’s perception of living be affected by embracing the apostle Paul’s claim in this passage?
Our sensory systems prioritize change and difference. How might this prioritization make it difficult to effectively notice areas of weakness in your life?
What Stroop-like effects do you experience in your life, where you wish to do one thing but are distracted by others? How do things that appeal to a sinful nature detract from Christians’living
Do we have responsibility for our behavior if we’re not even aware of it?
The Bible directs Christians toward what they should pay attention to. Philippians 4:8 reads, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is
Can you think of ways that you have been influenced by subtle rewards or punishments that come through everyday experiences? In those situations, did it feel to you as though you were the passive
How has modeling from others influenced how you behave?How might the examples of your own behavior influence how others learn or behave?
Can you think of situations where you came to a deeper understanding of some issue or problem through “relationality”—in other words in the context of community or social interaction?
Think of concrete ways in which the “direction of your heart”might have influenced what you learned or how you understood what you learned.
Researchers are increasingly discovering ways of altering memory through the use of drugs, both to help people to remember and to aid them in selective forgetting (i.e., in patients with
How can human forgetting be a blessing (thinking again of people suffering post-traumatic stress disorder)? Can you think of situations where remembering can be a burden?
How does the Lord’s Supper (also known as Communion or the Eucharist) utilize declarative and nondeclarative memory? Look particularly to 1 Corinthians 11:17–34 for the apostle Paul’s
What are some examples of worship rituals or family rituals that bind Christians or families together, giving a shared church or family memory?
How does God’s forgiveness and forgetting differ from human forgiveness and forgetting? Must they differ, based on how humans differ from God?
In Isaiah 49:16, speaking to Israel, God says, “I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” What does such striking language say about God’s memory and commitment to his people?
Greg Boyle writes, “How much greater is the God we have than the one we think we have.”41 In what ways do you stereotype God? What are the consequences of that?
How can belief bias (the tendency to accept conclusions based on how believable those conclusions are, rather than based on whether they are logically valid) be influenced by others? How could a
Is knowledge different from belief? If so, what are the differences?
We’ve emphasized that fellow Christians can be helpful guides for Christians who want to change biases and behaviors. What are some necessary conditions for this to work well? Perhaps consult an
Are people’s beliefs about God based more on System 1 or System 2 thinking?
Explaining behavior in terms of only nature or nurture (or some combination of the two) leaves us with explanations that are deterministic. How might understanding an aspect of one’s personality be
If babies are “born believers,” what becomes of that natural belief through childhood and into adulthood? Regarding your own life, how have parents and/or communities in which you have lived
Think about the telos of your development to this point. Do you agree or disagree that all humans have a need for a forwardmoving development into something better? What future goal(s)are you
Identify the telos of developmental theories described in developmental psychology or introductory psychology textbooks, such as Piaget’s theory of cognitive development or Kohlberg’s theory of
What are some ways that meaning seeking has changed over the course of your life? What are the “big questions” you face now, and how do they differ from the ones you faced earlier in life?How do
Think about how emotions influence small and large decisions you make (i.e., choosing an outfit to wear, which person to talk to, which career to select, etc.). Identify times when these emotions
How have emotions been beneficial to you in your interpersonal relationships, spiritual life, or worship experiences? Would you have been diminished in each of these areas if you had not been able to
Have there been times in your life where you really “lost it”emotionally (i.e., strong anger, extreme anxiety, or intense sadness)? Were you surprised at your own response? Did you feel “out of
How could you have “reframed” your experience in question number 3? How could you have responded more constructively?
Can you think of times when group conformity pressure caused you to do something dreadfully stupid or bad? Can you think of times when social pressure had a very positive influence on your thoughts
Have you experienced times where you had a “coming together of minds” or became like-minded with other individuals? Did you find that the experience drew you closer to those people?
If you are part of a church community, can you cite examples of how your church community fosters “being a body”? Can you think of ways your church fosters individualism?
How do we manage to form healthy groups and positive, close relationships without forming an in-group/out-group bias?
If you have an annoying or bad habit that you would like to change, how could you utilize group influence or community to foster a change?
If you feel that a community is influencing you in a very negative way, how can you avoid or change that influence?
Think of an attitude that you hold that does not prompt you to do a corresponding behavior. Reflect on which of the three reasons for attitudes diverging from behavior may be causing this for you (it
Think of a behavior that could positively or negatively influence a Christian attitude. The example can be from your life(something you have done yourself), from someone you know, or hypothetical.
Identify a specific hypocrisy (or be bold and ask someone else to point one out for you). Reflect on why your behavior goes against your expressed attitude.
Some people currently describe themselves as “spiritual but not religious” regarding their faith—that is, they have a favorable affect and cognition toward God, but reject the behavior
C. S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did.”46 How might loving one another be better thought of as an act than a
Are there times you feel the same as everyone else? Are there times you feel very unique and different? Which of these experiences do you prefer?
Are there personality traits that you possess that you greatly value? What do you think are the origins of these traits—your parents, your upbringing, your unconscious, your relationships, your own
Is it better to simply accept and like yourself just the way you are, or is it important to change who you are?
Are there personality traits in yourself or others that you have seen remain the same over a long period of time? Are there personality traits that you have seen change over time?
If you take Paul Vitz’s “covenant theory” of personality seriously, how would this influence the way you might change your own personality?
Have you ever contemplated your long-term life goals—not only career or family goals but also goals for the type of person you would like to be? How might you determine if these goals are right for
If you or someone you know has experienced some form of psychological disorder or mental illness, how did others respond? Was there acceptance, blame, curiosity, or simply ignoring of the issue? How
If you are part of a Christian community, how would most people in your community explain or account for psychological disorders? Do you mostly agree or disagree with these views?Why? Have your views
List some of the ways that sin or brokenness influences mental illness/health. Have you or someone you know experienced some or many of these influences?
How do you explain the type of suffering that some people experience with mental illness? Why does God allow people to have these difficulties?
If you have experience with mental illness, are there things that others did that made the situation better or worse? What are ways that you can be supportive of others struggling with mental
If you or someone you know well has experienced psychotherapy, what was their experience like—positive, helpful, challenging, or negative?
If you answered yes to question 1 and you are familiar with the way the therapy was conducted, do you think it matched up with the list of qualities that may define Christian psychotherapy? If yes,
Think about various attitudes that Christians have expressed about therapy (that were described early in this chapter). Where would you, your family, or your community (i.e., church, home, school,
Some Christians have said that you “only need the Bible” when it comes to tackling personal problems. According to the authors, what are some possible counterarguments for that statement?
Are you someone whom others would describe as “a good listener” with whom others share their problems, or can you think of others described in that way? In what ways is that type of support
In being supportive of others, where would difficulties arise in trying to balance accountability and responsibility with relationality, support and care, and empathy?
What happens after damage limited to area MT? What may occur if MT is intact but area V1 is damaged?a. Damage to MT causes prosopagnosia. If MT is intact but V1 is damaged, the person can perceive
Why is it difficult to watch your own eyes move when looking in the mirror?a. The eye movements are too fast to see.b. The eye movements are too small to see.c. During a saccadic eye movement, the
Which part of the visual cortex is most important for color vision, especially color constancy?a. The fusiform gyrusb. The dorsal streamc. Area V4d. Area MT
What impairment is typical after damage to the fusiform gyrus?a. Loss of color perceptionb. Impaired perception of movementc. Impaired ability to use vision in aiming arm and leg movementsd.
Visual agnosia usually results from damage to which part of the cortex?a. Occipital cortexb. Temporal cortexc. Parietal cortexd. Frontal cortex
Within the visual system of the brain, the ventral stream is more important for _______ and the dorsal stream is more important for _______.a. perceiving brightness . . . perceiving colorb.
Under what circumstance does someone with an intact brain become motion blind, and what accounts for the motion blindness?
When you move your eyes, why does it not seem as if the world is moving?
Area V4 is important for color constancy. What is color constancy?
The ability to recognize faces correlates with the strength of connections between which brain areas?
The brain has no specialized areas for perceiving flowers, clothes, or food. For what items does it have specialized areas?
Suppose someone can describe an object in detail but stumbles and fumbles when trying to walk toward it and pick it up. Which is probably damaged, the dorsal path or the ventral path?
If someone is born with dense cataracts on both eyes, and the cataracts are removed years later, which of these aspects of vision remains permanently impaired?a. Perception of the size of an objectb.
Why is it important to correct astigmatism early?a. If uncorrected, the eyeball becomes even more asymmetrical over time.b. Treatment is less expensive for children than for adults.c. The visual
What early experience is necessary to maintain binocular input to the neurons of the visual cortex?a. Cortical cells will always maintain binocular responsiveness, regardless of their experience.b.
If a kitten has one eye shut for its first few weeks of life, its visual cortex becomes insensitive to that eye. Why?a. The receptors die.b. Any axon that is not used for that long becomes unable to
What is the evidence that certain types of feature detectors operate in the human visual cortex?a. When you examine Mooney faces, at first you see only meaningless blobs, but with time and effort you
What do cells within a column of the visual cortex have in common?a. They all have action potentials of the same amplitude and velocity.b. They are all the same shape.c. They are all simple cells, as
How could a researcher determine whether a given neuron in the visual cortex is simple or complex?a. If it responds to a line or edge, it is a simple cell.If it responds only to more complex shapes,
What is meant by blindsight?a. Some people with damage to the primary visual cortex accurately guess the location or other properties of objects they say they don’t see.b. Blind people learn to
If you were in a darkened room and researchers wanted to know whether you were having visual fantasies (without asking you), they could measure activity in which brain area?a. The retinab. The
In contrast to parvocellular neurons, magnocellular neurons are more sensitive to _____.a. colorb. small detailsc. movementd. the fovea
As we progress from bipolar cells to ganglion cells to later cells in the visual system, what happens to the size of receptive fields?a. They become larger.b. They become smaller.c. They stay the

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