TEST BANK FOR CLARKE-STEWART & PARKE SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 8. PEERS: A WORLD OF THEIR OWN

Note: the highlighted items are included in the practice exam questions provided for students
in the Student Resources available at www.wiley.com/college/clarke.

Page numbers in the text are indicated in parentheses () at the end of each multiple choice,
true/false, and short answer test item. Correct answers are indicated with asterisks (*).

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. Compared with relationships with adults, relationships with peers are: (a) less close (b) less
free (c) less equal (d) *more equal (227)

2. Relationships with peers: (a) are less likely to involve conflict and shared positive emotions
than relationships with adults (b) *offer children new opportunities for interpersonal exploration
(c) inhibit the growth of social competence (d) are usually conflict free (227)

3. The term used to describe children of roughly the same age is: (a) a clique (b) a crowd (c)
friends (d) *peers (228)

4. The term used to describe peers with whom the child has a special relationship: (a) a clique (b)
a crowd (c) *friends (d) peers (228)

5. During the first 6 months of life babies look at each other and are responsive to each other’s
behaviors. These behaviors are not truly social because: (a) there is no communication (b) *there
is no recognition of the peer as a social partner (c) there is no verbal communication (d) the child
has not developed a sense of self (228)

6. At what age are interactions with peers characterized by touching and looking at peers and
responding to peers crying? (a) *0-6 months (b) 6-12 months (c) 1-2 years (d) 2-3 years (228)

7. At what age are interactions with peers characterized by a stable preference for same-gender
playmates and a main friendship goal of coordinated and successful play? (a) 2-3 years (b) 4-5
years (c) *6-7 years (d) 7-9 years (229)

8. Make-believe activity in which objects are used symbolically is called: (a) parallel play (b)
*pretend play (c) cooperative play (d) associative play (230)

9. Interaction in which young children share toys, materials, and sometimes conversation but are
not engaged in a joint project is termed: (a) parallel play (b) pretend play (c) cooperative play (d)
*associative play (230)
10. Interaction in which young children share goals and work together to achieve them is labeled:
(a) parallel play (b) pretend play (c) *cooperative play (d) associative play (230)

11. Interaction in which young children are doing the same thing, often side by side, but are not
engaged with each other has been described as: (a) *parallel play (b) pretend play (c) cooperative
play (d) associative play (230)

12. Pretend play: (a) is particularly important in the development of academic competence in
early childhood (b) *permits children to experience the roles and feelings of others (c) hinders
children’s capacity to function as part of a social group (d) all of the above (230)

13. At its peak, pretend play involves: (a) *highly coordinated fantasies (b) slow transitions
between multiple roles (c) standardized or routine-guided transformations of objects and
situations (d) all of the above (230)

14. Pretend play is most common in: (a) Mexico (b) India (c) *the U.S. (d) Russia (230-231)

15. The nature of peer interactions from 1 to 12 years includes increases in: (a) physical
aggression (b) egotistic behavior (c) *generosity (d) both a and b (231)

16. Which of the following is true regarding the importance of peers’ gender: (a) up to age 7,
children are equally likely to choose same-gender or opposite-gender companions for play (b) up
to age 3 or 4, boys and girls increasingly choose playmates of the same gender and exclude
children of the other gender (c) there are no exceptions to the gender-exclusivity rule (d) *after
ages 5 or 6 children choose same gender play partners (232)

17. Compared with girls’ play, boys’ play: (a) is less structured (b) involves exchange of more
information (c) *is less intimate (d) usually involves one other person (232)

18. In mixed-gender groups: (a) boys are less competitive than in dyads (b) girls are less
competitive than in dyads (c) *girls become more active and boisterous than in same-gender
groups (d) girls and boys adopt play styles that are the same as in same gender groups (232)

19. Interactions with peers during adolescence: (a) are more infrequent than interactions with
adults (b) *are under relatively limited adult guidance (c) are equally salient across cultures (d)
always involve members of the opposite gender (233)

20. During interactions with peers during adolescence peers are especially likely to influence: (a)
adolescents’ educational plans (b) adolescents’ religious beliefs (c) *whether the adolescent uses
controlled substances (d) adolescents’ level of volunteer work (233)

21. Which of the following is true regarding peers acting as social models: (a) children as young
as 2 years old imitate each other (b) older children learn about social rules by watching their
peers (c) peer models can be positive or negative (d) *all of the above (233)
22. Children are more likely to imitate peers who are: (a) same-age (b) of equal status (c) *more
prestigious (d) opposite gender (233)

23. The term used to describe peers actively reinforcing each others’ behavior through rewards
and punishments is: (a) social comparison (b) modeling (c) homophily (d) *peer pressure (234)

24. The process by which people evaluate their own abilities, values, and other qualities by
comparing themselves with others, usually their peers is: (a) *social comparison (b) modeling (c)
homophily (d) peer pressure (234)

25. The importance of cultural contexts in peer behaviors is exemplified by the finding that: (a)
regardless of age, U.S. children reject peers who are shy and sensitive, whereas Chinese children
accept them (b) *for younger children, U.S. children reject peers who are shy and sensitive,
whereas Chinese children accept them (c) for older children, U.S. children reject peers who are
shy and sensitive, whereas Chinese children accept them (d) for girls, U.S. children reject peers
who are shy and sensitive, whereas Chinese children accept them (234-235)

26. Youngsters who are liked by many peers and disliked by very few are labeled: (a)
controversial (b) secure (c) dominant (d) *popular (235)

27. Youngsters who have some friends but who are not as well liked as popular children are
labeled: (a) controversial (b) secure (c) dominant (d) *average (236)

28. Youngsters who are often socially isolated and, although they are not necessarily disliked,
have few friends are labeled: (a) controversial (b) *neglected (c) rejected (d) average (236)

29. Youngsters who are liked by many peers but also disliked by many are labeled: (a)
*controversial (b) neglected (c) rejected (d) bullies (236)

30. Youngsters who are disliked by many peers and liked by few are labeled: (a) controversial (b)
neglected (c) *rejected (d) none of the above (236)

31. A procedure for determining a child’s status within his or her peer group in which each child
in the group either nominates others whom she or he likes best and least or rates each child in the
group for desirability as a companion is termed: (a) social comparison (b) *sociometric
technique (c) perceived popularity (d) dominance hierarchy (235)

32. Youngsters who are not accepted by their peers because of their low level of self-control and
high level of aggression are labeled: (a) controversial (b) neglected (c) nonaggressive-rejected
(d) *aggressive-rejected (237)

33. Youngsters who are excluded by their peers and who tend to be anxious, withdrawn, and
socially unskilled are labeled: (a) controversial (b) neglected (c) *nonaggressive-rejected (d)
aggressive-rejected (237)
34. When asked to decide how to solve a social dilemma involving anther child in a video,
youngsters who were rated as less socially competent by their teachers were observed to: (a)
generate too many competent responses to choose from (b) choose appropriate responses but not
execute them (c) be good at noticing and interpreting cues correctly (d) *none of the above (237-
238)

35. Which of the following accurately describes the association between deficits in social
understanding and actual peer rejection? (a) deficits in social understanding do not predict peer
rejection (b) peer rejection does not predict deficits in social understanding (c) there is no
association between deficits in social understanding and actual peer rejection (d) *deficits in
social understanding predict children’s level of social rejection (238)

36. A strength of the step-by-step social information processing approach is the following: (a)
children do not always respond reflexively and methodically (b) children make many social
decisions outside of conscious awareness (c) *the model accounts for behavior in new or
ambiguous situations (d) the model is useful for assessing children with difficult temperaments
(238)

37. A weakness of the step-by-step social information processing approach is the following: (a)
the model does not apply to children who are temperamentally more reflective and rational (b)
*children sometimes make social decisions without conscious awareness (c) the model is not
useful for describing children’s behavior in new or ambiguous situations (d) assessing the steps
involved in the approach is difficult (239)

38. Acceptance by peers is more likely when: (a) *the child is more physically attractive (b) the
child has a unique name or clothing that sets him or her apart and therefore focuses positive peer
attention (c) the child pursues low-cost indirect social goals (d) the child suffers from a physical
or mental handicap, because classmates feel sympathetic (239-240)

39. Peer rejection is worse when the school-age child: (a) is rejected by a casual acquaintance as
opposed to a close friend or family member (b) approaches social situations as an opportunity to
learn things instead of an evaluation of his or her ‘okayness’ (c) *lacks social support (d) is
rejected by children of the opposite gender (241)

40. Studies of the neurological bases of social pain find that in terms of fMRI patterns: (a) social
pain activates the area that is linked to the uncomfortable feeling of physical pain (b) social pain
activates the area that is linked to regulating feelings of physical pain (c) reactions to being
rejected in a virtual environment are similar to reactions to social rejection in the real world (d)
*all of the above (242)

41. Studies of rejection and loneliness suggest that: (a) aggressive-rejected children typically feel
lonelier than nonaggressive-rejected children (b) *rejected children who have at least one friend
are less lonely than those who are totally friendless (c) rejection is not associated with other
outcomes beyond loneliness (d) loneliness is reduced only if the rejected child has two or more
friends (243)
42. A relationship of shared dislike between two people is termed: (a) dominance hierarchy (b)
social antagonism (c) *mutual antipathy (d) dyadic antagonism (243)

43. Research on mutual antipathies finds that: (a) girls are more likely than boys to have mutual
dislikes with same-gender peers (b) *boys who have same-gender mutual antipathies at age 10
are more likely to have problems with substance addiction and delinquency (c) boys who have
same-gender mutual antipathies at age 10 are more likely to have lower achievement (d) mutual
antipathies have no long term consequences for children’s adjustment (243)

44. The tendency to interpret peers’ behavior on the basis of past encounters and feelings is
called: (a) social comparison (b) social antagonism (c) negative gossip (d) *reputational bias
(245)

45. Which of the following is accurate regarding peer status stability? (a) the child’s reputation
does not contribute to stability in peer status (b) the child’s behaviors do not contribute to
stability in peer status (c) the child’s characteristics do not contribute to stability in peer status (d)
*rejected children have the most stable peer status across time (245)

46. Which of the following is not a way in which parents help children develop better peer
relationships? (a) parents are teachers (b) parents are coaches (c) *parents are replacements (d)
parents are social arrangers (245)

47. Parents indirectly contribute to children’s peer relationships through: (a) their warmth and
acceptance (b) their negative and controlling behavior (c) the quality of attachment with the child
(d) *all of the above (245)

48. Specific social skills that children learn through interactions with their parents include: (a)
displaying emotions (b) *making accurate judgments about peoples’ intentions and behaviors (c)
gaining an understanding of social networks (d) the best ways to compete with other children
(246)

49. Which of the following is not accurate regarding parents’ contribution to children’s social
understanding: (a) the ability to encode and decode emotional signals is acquired to some extent
in the context of parent-child play (b) *only mothers make a clear contribution to their children’s
social understanding (c) parent responsiveness and warmth predict children’s attentional abilities
and, in turn, higher peer competence (d) parents teach their children working models of social
relationships (246)

50. Children are thought to transfer the strategies they acquire in the family to their interactions
with peers via: (a) internal mental representations (b) working models (c) scripts or cognitive
maps (d) *all of the above (246)

51. Parents who coach their children are particularly effective when: (a) *parents themselves are
socially skilled (b) parents do not appeal to prepared scripts (c) parents are physically present
during the interaction with peers (d) parents are in happy marriages (247)
52. If you hoped to establish good relations with a new peer group, the wisest strategy might be: (a) to
avoid others' bids for attention at first, thus playing somewhat "hard to get" (b) to immediately introduce
yourself to these peers and win acceptance by noting your previous accomplishments (c) *to observe the
aggregation, understand its activities, and slowly work your way into the group (d) to gain status
immediately by challenging the group leader to prove his/her worth to you (236-237)

53. When coaching their children, mothers of children with high peer status: (a) *suggest
positive social strategies (b) suggest fewer rule-oriented strategies (c) suggest avoidance
strategies (e.g., ignore peers’ unfriendly behavior) (d) suggest assertive, dominant strategies
(247)

54. When coaching their children during a game with peers, mothers of children with low peer
status often: (a) take control of the game (b) disrupt the child’s play (c) avoid supervising the
group (d) *all of the above (246-247)

55. Which of the following statements regarding neighborhood characteristics and peer relations
is not accurate: (a) parents help children by selecting housing where there are suitable playmates
(b) *parents help children by selecting housing where there is less poverty (c) parents help
children by selecting housing where there are good play facilities (d) parents help children by
selecting housing where there is less violence (247)

56. When parents arrange social activities for very young children: (a) children end up with a
smaller group of playmates (b) children are less capable of making friends themselves (c)
*children are better liked by their peers (d) children resent their parent’s intrusion in their social
lives (247)

57. Which of the following is accurate regarding parent monitoring of children’s activities? (a)
monitoring is solely the parents’ responsibility (b) monitoring becomes less important in
adolescence (c) parents are less likely to know about their children’s activities if the children are
sociable (d) *successful monitoring requires parents to be realistic about their children’s ability
to take responsibility and regulate their impulses (247-248)

58. Which of the following is accurate regarding peer rejection of abused children? (a) parental
abuse is equally detrimental to peer acceptance regardless of severity or duration (b) parent abuse
affects children’s capacity to form friendships but not their capacity to maintain friendships (c)
*abused children have difficulty especially if the abuse occurred during the preschool years (d)
abused children are rejected because of their superior emotion recognition skills (248)

59. Interventions designed to help children who are lonely have focused on communication with
peers including: (a) *asking questions in a positive tone (b) waiting for peers to offer suggestions
(c) replacing general statements of support with focused expressions of the child’s goals (d)
hovering at the edge of a social group they wish to join (248-249)

60. Interventions in which children are assigned to either a learning goal condition or a
performance goal condition suggest that: (a) *the children given the learning goal are more
persistent and successful because of higher social self-efficacy (b) the children given the learning
goal are more persistent and successful because of higher peer acceptance (c) the children given
the performance goal are more persistent and successful because of higher social self-efficacy (d)
the children given the performance goal are more persistent and successful because of higher
peer acceptance (249)

61. Rejected children can be helped to increase their social competence by: (a) repeated exposure
to global, generalized messages about social skills (b) learning to seek support and validation for
their own ideas (c) *playing games and sports (d) hanging around other rejected children (249)

62. Researchers trying to improve children’s social acceptance: (a) do not focus on the
accompanying deficits in attention, self-regulation, and academics because these decrease the
effectiveness of their interventions (b) do not focus on the accompanying deficits in attention,
self-regulation, and academics because these may enhance the effectiveness of their
interventions, but make it difficult to identify the actual mechanism of change (c) focus on the
accompanying deficits in attention, self-regulation, and academics because these are easier to
improve than social acceptance (d) *focus on the accompanying deficits in attention, self-
regulation, and academics because these enhance the effectiveness of their interventions (248-
249)

63. Unpopular children can improve their social skills and experience peer acceptance by: (a)
limiting their interactions to same-age peers (b) limiting their interactions to same-sex peers (c)
*transitioning from elementary school to middle school (d) limiting their interactions to older
peers (250)

64. The tendency of individuals to associate and bond with others who are similar to them is
described as: (a) a clique (b) a gang (c) social comparison (d) *homophily (250)

65. Children who are more successful at forming friendships have more advanced: (a)
perspective-taking ability (b) understanding of other people’s intentions and emotions (c)
regulation of their own emotional states (d) *all of the above (251)

66. Which of the following is true regarding preschool children’s friendships? (a) children’s
behavior towards friends and non-friends is actually quite similar (b) children direct more social
overtures towards non-friends in an effort to establish new friendships (c) children understand
that friends will keep playing even if disagreements arise and consequently tend to cooperate
more with non-friends (d) *as many as one-quarter of children do not form friendships (250)

67. Adverse or detrimental information shared about another child with a peer: (a) dominance
hierarchy (b) mutual antipathy (c) *negative gossip (d) reputational antipathy (251)

68. The honest sharing of information of a very personal nature, often with a focus on problem-
solving, is a central means by which adolescents and others develop friendships. This is called:
(a) self-exploration (b) *self-disclosure (c) facilitative gossip (d) verbal intimacy (251)
69. The correct developmental sequence in the stages of expectations of friends is: (a) normative,
reward-cost, empathic (b) empathic, reward-cost, normative (c) *reward-cost, normative,
empathic (d) empathic, normative, reward-cost (252)

70. The stage of friendship expectations characterized by an expectation of similar values and
attitudes towards rules and sanctions (but not necessarily a wider range of topics) is: (a)
normative (b) empathic (c) facilitative (d) *reward-cost (252)

71. The peer relationships formed by the Jewish children at Bulldog Banks during World War II
showed that: (a) children without friends suffer serious developmental problems that are not
easily reversed (b) although children without friends suffer serious developmental problems,
these are easily reversed by acquiring friends (c) children’s friendships can provide fun and
games in a stressful environment (d) *children’s friendships can provide comfort and care (253)

72. The friendship patterns represented by children who engaged in playful teasing at summer
camp were: (a) friendless and declining (b) static and growing (c) *rotating and declining (d)
friendless and growing (253-254)

73. Gender differences in friendship behaviors include: (a) boys’ same-gender friendships are
more fragile than girls (b) unlike girls, boys tend to form their friendships in isolation from the
larger group (c) *in girls’ friendships there is more conversation about personal problems and
negative feelings (d) girls prefer to interact with a large group of friends rather than friendship
dyads (254)

74. The cluster of peer acquaintances who are familiar with and interact with one another at
different times for common play or task-oriented purposes is labeled: (a) social system (b) crowd
(c) clique (d) *peer group network (256)

75. An ordering of individuals in a group from most to least dominant is referred to as a/an: (a)
ordered social ladder (b) *dominance hierarchy (c) social influence structure (d) peer group
network (256)

76. A peer group formed on the basis of friendship is called a: (a) social system (b) crowd (c)
*clique (d) peer group network (257)

77. A collection of people whom others have stereotyped on the basis of their perceived shared
attitudes or activities is called a: (a) social system (b) *crowd (c) clique (d) peer group network
(257)

78. A group of adolescents or adults who form an allegiance for a common purpose: (a) social
system (b) combination (c) clique (d) *gang (257)

79. Children who end up in gangs in adolescence or adulthood are more likely to: (a) have
neglectful parents (b) come from dysfunctional families (c) live in communities surrounded by
drugs and crime (d) *all of the above (257)
80. In research by Eccles and her colleagues, 10th graders who identified themselves as
_________ were found to have the most financial success when assessed again at age 24: (a)
basket-cases (b) brains (c) princesses (d) *jocks (258)

TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS

1. T/F: Interactions with peers are rarely one-sided because they involve reciprocal liking and
mutual respect (false) (228)

2. T/F: For many years, psychologists ignored or denied the possibility that very young children
are capable of having social interactions with each other (true) (228)

3. T/F: Young children who frequently initiate conflicts with peers are also the most sociable and
the most likely to initiate peer interactions (true) (236)

4. T/F: It does not affect adolescents’ social if their peers’ parents are authoritarian (false) (245)

5. T/F: Companionship with same-age peers decreases over the school years (false) (232)

6. T/F: Physical pain and social pain have similar neurological bases (true) (242)

7. T/F: Sociometric status is stable in part due to reputation bias (true) (245)

8. T/F: Adolescents whose parents are frequently in conflict express more hostility in their
romantic relationships (true) (255)

9. T/F: Adolescents who are at low risk for delinquent behavior actively thwart their parents’
efforts to monitor them (false) (247)

10. T/F: Rejected children need to be taught global generalized social skills because they usually
already know how to interact with others and try hard to do so (false) (237)

11. T/F: The friendship pattern represented by children who report the highest level of loneliness
is the decline pattern (false) (253-254)

12. T/F: The reason crowd identity in 10th grade had lasting predictive effects is that adolescents
identified with crowds that fit their preferred behavioral patterns and these patterns of behavior
carried forward into adulthood (true) (257)

13. T/F: One problem with dominance hierarchies is that they increase the amount of observed
aggression (false) (257)

14. T/F: In late adolescence the importance of social crowds increases (false) (257)
15. T/F: Peer group networks tend to distract teens away from early romantic pairings (false)
(256)

16. T/F: Adolescents who have close relationships with their parents tend to have better romantic
relationships (true) (255)

17. T/F: When problems arise between friends, girls are more likely to divulge intimate secrets
about their friend to others, whereas boys are more likely to confront the friend directly (true)
(254)

18. T/F: Friends disagree less than nonfriends, but their conflicts are more heated (false) (252)

19. T/F: The role of friendship as promoting emotional intimacy may be a more common aspect
of friendship expectations in affluent Western cultures than in non Western cultures (true) (252)

20. T/F: Even 1- and 2-year-old children form friendships which often last more than a year
(true) (250)

SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS

1. What are 5 sociometric categories for children? Which category is most stable? (235-236)

2. What are 3 ways that parents influence their children’s relationships with their peers? (245-
246)

3. How are children’s peers different from their families? (227)

4. Name 4 types of preschool play described by Parten (230-231)

5. List 3 consequences of being rejected by peers (242-243)

6. Describe three processes by which peers act as socializers of children’s social development
(233-234)

7. Describe the differences between a peer and a friend (228)

8. List the stages of friendship expectations (252)

9. Describe 3 methods for testing peer sociometric status (235-236)

10. List 3 temperamental correlates of peer acceptance /rejection (237)

11. How do the social goals of rejected and popular children differ? (239)

12. List 3 consequences of mutual antipathies (243)

13. List 3 ingredients in a successful peer intervention program aimed at improving children’s
social skills (248-249)

14. List 3 ways in which boys’ and girls’ friendships differ (254)

15. Distinguish between crowds and cliques and indicate at what point in development they are
most prominent (257)

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the ways in which parents influence their children’s peer relationships and how this
shifts across development.

2. Discuss the benefits of friendship for children’s social development.

3. What is the importance of romantic ties in children’s social development?

4. Boys and girls have different types of relationships with their peers. Discuss.

5. Discuss the development of the dark side of peer relationships by examining of the role of
enemies in social development.

6. Peers form relationships in groups, including crowds, cliques, and hierarchies. Why is this
group level of analysis important for the study of social development?

8. What are the short-term and long-term consequences of peer rejection?

9. You have been hired by the local school board to help neglected and rejected children improve
their relationships with their peers. What kinds of programs would you recommend?

10. How is the social information processing approach useful in understanding peer acceptance?