1. Your friend has just celebrated her 21st birthday, and she is concerned that “it is all downhill from here.” Based on what you have learned, give your friend three positive facts about the physical effects of emerging adulthood.
2. Define homeostasis, and give an example of how it works and how it changes with age.
3. Give an example of a potential positive outcome of emerging adult’s increased willingness to take risks. Give an example of a potential negative outcome of emerging adult’s increased willingness to take risks.
4. What evidence is there to support the existence of a fifth stage of cognitive development?
5. Define stereotype threat. Given that women are less likely to participate in technological fields, how might you use stereotype threat to explain this low participation?
6. Identify the role played by exploration and the development of values as emerging adults attempt to achieve a vocational identity. Describe the typical employment pattern during emerging adulthood.
7. Describe Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation.
8. What are the differences between women’s friendships and men’s friendships?
9. Define cohabitation, give two reasons that people may decide to cohabit, and identify potential outcomes of the situation.
Answer Key
1. Positive facts include (1) increased physical strength; (2) that every body system—including the digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and sexual-reproductive systems—functions optimally at the beginning of adulthood; and that (3) some childhood ailments are outgrown. (4) Organ reserve is at its peak, and (5) young adults rarely experience serious diseases such as cancer since organ reserve, homeostasis, and allostasis all work in harmony. (6) Emerging adults recover quickly from exercising too long, staying awake all night, or drinking too much alcohol.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Give positive facts Gives three positive facts Gives two positive facts Gives one or no positive facts
2. Homeostasis is a balance between various parts of the body systems that keeps every physical function in sync with every other. Homeostasis works quickest in early adulthood, partly because all the organs have power in reserve for sudden demands. For example, if the air temperature rises, people sweat, move slowly, and thirst for cold drinks—three aspects of body functioning that cool them. Because homeostasis takes longer, the body dissipates heat less efficiently with age. Sometimes the demands temporarily overwhelm the heart, kidneys, or other organs.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Define homeostasis Defines homeostasis Gives a vague definition of homeostasis Does not define homeostasis
Indicate factors that impact homeostasis Gives a good example and explanation Gives vague example and explanation Does not give an example or explain how it changes
3. The emerging adult’s willingness to take chances sometimes is beneficial. For example, enrolling in college, moving to a new state or nation, getting married, and having a baby are all risky behaviors. So is starting a business, filming a documentary, entering an athletic contest, enlisting in the military, or joining the Peace Corps. Emerging adults do all these more than older adults, and societies benefit.
However, risk taking is often destructive. Although their bodies are strong and their reactions quick, emerging adults nonetheless have more serious accidents than do people of any other age. The same impulses that are admired by the young in extreme sports also lead to actions that are clearly destructive, not only for individuals but for the community. The most studied of these are sexual risks and drug abuse. Both promiscuity and drug use increase in emerging adulthood, which suggests that one might lead to the other.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Give an example of one positive outcome Gives a good example and explanation Gives vague example and explanation Does not give an example or explain how it changes
Give one example of one negative outcome Gives a good example and explanation Gives vague example and explanation Does not give an example or explain
4. Evidence for a fifth stage has been observed in the fact that, unlike adolescent thinkers, postformal thinkers are less impulsive and reactive. They take a more flexible and comprehensive approach, with forethought, noting difficulties and anticipating problems, instead of denying, avoiding, or procrastinating. Additional evidence is the fact that neurological maturity is not achieved until one’s early 20s, and new dendrites connect throughout life. For example, in one study, researchers found increases in the brain areas that integrate emotion and cognition—namely, the cingulate, caudate, and insula—between the beginning and end of 18-year-old’s first year of college. Other studies have found that the frontal cortex demonstrated many changes in particular parts, as did the areas for processing—a crucial aspect of young adult learning. Finally, social understanding tends to improve throughout life.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
List evidence for postformal thought stage Lists two pieces of evidence for postformal thought Lists one piece of evidence for postformal thought Does not list any evidence for postformal thought
5. Stereotype threat is the fear that one’s appearance or behavior will be misused to confirm another person’s oversimplified, prejudiced attitude. In other words, the worry that others will view you poorly can create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Hundreds of studies have confirmed that stereotype threat arouses emotions that can disrupt cognition and emotional regulation: Women underperform in math, older people act more forgetful, bilingual students stumble with English, and every member of a stigmatized minority in every nation performs less well.
There are three ways in which stereotype threat might affect women’s participation in technological fields. Some women might be afraid to pursue fields associated with technology—an area sometimes thought to be a weakness for women—because (1) they believe that they will do poorly and their performance will be proof of the stereotype. (2) Women may actually believe the stereotype that they are technologically inept, and/or (3) they may tell themselves that technological abilities are unimportant and, as a result, devalue these skills.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Define stereotype threat Defines stereotype threat Is vague about stereotype threat Does not define stereotype threat
Detail how stereotype threat might explain the dearth of women in technological fields Details three ways in which stereotype threat might explain the dearth of women in technological fields Details two ways in which stereotype threat might explain the dearth of women in technological fields Details one or no ways in which stereotype threat might explain the dearth of women in technological fields
6. Readiness to seek a new job is less problematic for young workers because exploration is part of their identity search. They want interesting work with coworkers who share their values, and they do not want to climb a particular vocational ladder, rung by rung. Emerging adulthood is a crucial time for developing values regarding work, such as whether job security and salary (extrinsic rewards) are more important than joy of doing the work one loves (intrinsic rewards).
Current emerging adults often quit one job and seek another. Between ages 18 and 25, the average U.S. worker changes jobs every year, with the college-educated worker changing jobs more than those who are less educated.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Identify emerging adults’ focus on exploration and values in achieving a vocation Identifies the importance of exploration, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards in forming work values Identifies the importance of exploration, and identifies adequately one aspect of forming work values Identifies one or no important factors in forming work values
Describe the typical employment pattern Describes the typical employment pattern, including the statistic listed in bold above Describes the typical employment pattern without including the statistic listed above Does not describe the typical employment pattern
7. In Erikson’s theory, after achieving identity, people experience the intimacy versus isolation crisis. This crisis arises from the powerful desire to share one’s personal life with someone else. Without such intimacy, adults suffer from loneliness and isolation. The urge for social connection is a powerful human impulse. Therefore, adults seek to become friends, lovers, companions, and partners.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Describe the crisis behind Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation Describes the crisis behind Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation Is vague about the crisis behind Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation Does not describe the crisis behind Erikson’s stage of intimacy versus isolation
8. Women’s friendships are typically more intimate and emotional. Women expect to share secrets and engage in self-disclosing talk (including difficulties with their health, romances, and relatives) with their friends. Women reveal their weaknesses and problems and receive an attentive and sympathetic ear, a shoulder to cry on.
By contrast, men are less likely to touch each other except in aggressive activities, such as competitive athletics or military combat. The butt-slapping or body-slamming immediately after a sports victory, or the sobbing in a buddy’s arms in the aftermath of a battlefield loss, are rare in everyday life. By contrast, many women routinely hug friends in greeting or farewell.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Detail the differences between men’s and women’s friendships Details the differences between men’s and women’s friendships including expectations of friends Details the differences between men’s and women’s friendships without including expectations of friends Does not detail the differences between men’s and women’s friendships
9. Cohabitation is a couple living together in a committed romantic relationship without being married. People cohabitate (1) as a prelude to marriage, a way to make sure they are compatible, or (2) to avoid old traditions and allow them to have the advantages of marriage without the legal and institutional trappings. Past U.S. research indicated that cohabitants were more likely to divorce. Today, the research finds that cohabitation has one decided advantage and one decided disadvantage. The advantage is financial: People save money by living together. The disadvantage occurs if children are born: Cohabiting partners are less committed to the long decades of child rearing, and their children are less likely to excel in school, graduate, and go to college.
Good (5 pts) Fair (3 pts) Weak (1-0 pts)
Define cohabitation and give reasons why people do it Defines cohabitation and gives both reasons why people do it Defines cohabitation and gives one reason why people do it Defines cohabitation but does not offer any reasons why people do it
Identify potential outcomes of cohabitation Identifies both the advantage and disadvantage of cohabitation Identifies either the advantage or the disadvantage of cohabitation Does not identify either the advantage or disadvantage of cohabitation
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