(From a Science Quiz That Appeared in the Weekly Magazine

question 94

Multiple Choice

(From a science quiz that appeared in the weekly magazine The Economist.) Economic history is easier to write than the history of the universe. Nevertheless, most cosmologists now think that when the universe was formed,

• A)first there was inflation, which caused the Big Bang, then recession.
• B)first there was a Big Bang and then inflation (of space)which caused recession (of all matter, away from the Big Bang).
• C)first there was a Big Bang. There has not been any inflation yet, but if it comes it will cause recession.

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Definitions:

Pervasive

Having the tendency to spread widely throughout an area or group of people.

Latency Period

A phase in psychosexual development, occurring from about age 6 to puberty, characterized by a decrease in sexual interests and activities.

Psychosexual Stages

Psychosexual Stages is a Freudian theory describing how personality development occurs in five stages (oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital) associated with erogenous zones.

Phallic Stage

In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the third stage of psychosexual development (ages 3-6) where the libido's focus is on the genital area, and the child develops sexual identification with the same-sex parent.