Adolescence: Biological, Cognitive, and Social changes PSYC 206: Life-Span Development Lecture 17 Aylin Küntay
Adolescence • includes greatest biological transitions since birth, resulting in reproductive capacity • new social configurations for girls and boys • periods of changes in relationships with parents • heightened emotional instability • cognitive changes that lead to self-conscious thought and logical reasoning ability – some theorists claim that “higher” human traits such as abstract thought, imagination, and self-control emerge during adolescence
Puberty • a series of biological events that transform individuals from physical immaturity to physical and reproductive maturity • the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland to produce greater amounts of growth hormone – stimulates the growth of all body tissue; growth spurt • the pituitary gland also produces hormones that stimulates the primary sex organs (ovaries and testes) – these hormones stimulate the sex organs to produce estrogen and progesterone in girls and testosterone in boys • both hormones are present in both sexes-- to a greater or lesser amount
Growth spurt • reach 98% of their adult height during this stage • the brain grows little although the skull bones thicken and the head increases in size
Sexual development • the primary sexual organs, those involves in reproduction, become mature during puberty – production of semen and sperm cells and release of mature ova • secondary sexual characteristics-- the outward signs that distinguish males from females appear • girls experience menarche, and boys semarche – ovulation typically begins 12 to 18 months after menarche
Wide variation in the timing of puberty • both genetics and environment have a role in this – genetics: the average difference between identical twins reaching menarche is 2 months; for fraternal twins, it is 8 months – environment: athletes and dancers reach menarche later… those who experience family conflict later • the age of menarche and puberty have been gradually declining during the last 150 years. . .
Psychological accompaniments of physical changes • in many societies, individuals may not discuss publicly and comfortably the events of puberty • Brooks-Gunn studies girls’ reactions to their first menstruation – 20% reported feeling positive – 40% mixed feelings: both excited and scared – 20% reported unpleasant feelings: these girls were likely to have been unprepared for menarche, to have reached it early, or to have been told about it by someone they dislike • both boys and girls are initially secretive about their bodily changes – girls may initially tell only their mothers, but eventually to their peers to a greater extent than boys, thus receiving a greater amount of social support
Developmental Impact of Puberty • During adolescence, girls gain 24+ lbs. of body fat, – Media, however, portrays the ideal woman with a thin, prepubertal body shape – Consequently, many adolescent girls are dissatisfied with their body image… – Can lead to eating disorders (e. g. , anorexia nervosa, bulimia)
Relationship of pubertal change to body image
Changes in Social relationships • peer interaction occupies more time and is less under the guidance and control of adults than it was before during childhood • peers during adolescence tend to be more similar in social class and ethnic background than they were during middle childhood – participation in common activity gives way to factors such as similarity of attitudes and values, loyalty and intimacy • loyalty and intimacy are especially important to girls, who engage in a lot of self-disclosure with peers
New Relationship with Peers 1. Peer interaction increases – Twice as much time outside school with peers as with parents and other adults 2. Peer groups function with less guidance and control from adults and range beyond local neighborhood 3. Gender reorientation as they seek out members of the opposite sex 4. Peer groups increase in size, while friendships increase in intensity
Friendships • Group of two – smallest unit of interaction • Basis: Participation in common activities (e. g. , organized play) – which is primary factor in middle childhood, is supplemented in adolescence by common interests, similarity of attitudes and values, loyalty, and intimacy – Girls: More intense friendships; want friends in whom they can confide in – Boys: More numerous friendships; want friends who will support them when they get in trouble
Cliques and crowds • two new kinds of peer groups become important during adolescence – family-sized cliques that are made up of people who hang out frequently – larger crowds who may or may not spend much time together-reputation-based collectives • Coleman conducted a study to determine the factors that determine membership in high-prestige groups in US high schools – asked “what does it take to get into the leading crowd in this school? ” – for both boys and girls, “having a good personality” ranked the highest – boys also considered a good reputation, participation in athletics, good looks, nice clothes, and good grades as important – girls also ranked good looks, nice clothes, and good reputation high
Adolescent cognition • Keating: characteristics of adolescent thinking that distinguish it from middlechildhood – thinking about possibilities not present to the senses – thinking ahead, rather than considering only the present – thinking about hypotheses, considering “what if” – thinking about thought, including second-order thinking – thinking beyond conventional limits about such topics as politics, morality, and religion
Piaget’s view of adolescent thought • a new level of logical thought characterizes a new stage, the formal operational stage – abstract: no longer limited to actual concrete experience as the foundation of thought • can think about make-believe situations, hypothetical possibilities, or purely abstract propositions and can reason about them
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development Sensorimotor (Birth - 2) Infants’ achievements consist largely of coordinating their sensory perceptions and simple motor behaviors. Preoperational Objects and events no longer have to be present to be thought about, but children often fail to distinguish their point of view (2 - 6) from that of others’, become easily captured by surface appearances, and are often confused about causal relations. Concrete operational (6 - 12) Operational thinking allows children mentally to combine, separate, order, and transform objects and actions. Such operations are considered concrete because they are still carried out in the presence of the objects and events being thought about. Formal operational (12 - 19) Acquires the ability to think systematically about all logical relations within a problem. Displays keen interest in abstract ideas and in the process of thinking itself.
Combination of chemicals problem • give 4 bottles containing clear liquids (1, 2, 3, 4) and another bottle containing an indicator (g) • experimenter demonstrates the effect of a drop of g in 2 different beakers (A and B) with different solutions in them: A turns yellow, B doesn’t • 7 -year-olds and 14 -year-olds are asked to try out various combinations to determine what turns the color of the liquid to yellow – 1 x 3 x g is the right combination to get yellow color • the 7 -year-old tries one chemical at a time: 4 x g, then 2 x g, and 3 x g… and says that he tried them all… despite experimenter’s prompting to use combinations from different bottles • the 14 -year-old quickly realizes after trying single chemicals that he should systematically explore all logical possibilities of combinations… demonstrating formal operational reasoning
Deductive reasoning • a consequence of second-order thinking: ability to form logical proofs in which conclusions follow from premises – All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; Socrates is mortal • deriving logical necessary conclusions from given propositions becomes available in adolescence • being able to operate on abstract propositions… without having to observe things happening in the here-and-now
Universality of formal operations? • some studies have found formal operational thinking among only a minority of subjects • e. g. , Capon and Kuhn found only 20% of adult shoppers used the principle of price to weight ratio in judging the best buy – which of the two sizes of garlic powder is a better buy? • 100 grams priced at $1. 36 or 150 grams priced at $2. 11? • e. g. , Scribner found that illiterate Kpelle farmers in Liberia do not demonstrate deductive reasoning – Researcher: All Kpelle men are rice farmers. Mr. Smith is not a rice farmer. Is he a Kpelle man? – Kpelle farmer: I don’t know the man. I have not laid eyes on the man myself.
Universality: gender differences? • a great deal of interest in whether sex differences exist in formal operational reasoning • Linn and Hyde conducted a meta-analysis of studies involving f. o. tasks – while in many studies there were no sex differences in performance, when sex differences did occur they generally favored males • Peskin suggested this may be because of most f. o. tasks are science-oriented and of little interest to females – changed the content of combination-of-chemicals task to a logically identical combination-of-spices task… to achieve an unusually tasting dish – among girls with little interest in science, performance was better with these “female-oriented” f. o. tasks – males and females have equal capacity for f. o. reasoning, but the extent to which the capacity develops depends on experience
Universality: cross-cultural differences? • like the Kpelle farmers case, some adults in some societies do not demonstrate formal operations, at least in testing situations very different from their everyday life • Piaget considered 2 possible explanations: – a certain amount of stimulation is necessary for f. o. thought to develop and life in small, traditional societies do not provide such stimulation – all normal people may attain formal operations, but may manifest this mode of thought “in different areas according to their aptitudes and their professional specializations” – in the end Piaget found the second explanation a more likely one
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development • Preconventional morality: Materialistic – Childhood – Stage 1: Punishment orientation. Objective responsibility. – Stage 2: Tit-for-tat exchange of rewards and benefits. Aware of various perspectives, but no way to resolve conflicts • Conventional morality: – Adolescence – Stage 3: Good-Child Morality. Conventional stereotypes of “good” and “bad” persons of parents, teachers, etc. Concern with meeting the expectations of significant others. – Stage 4: Law-and-order stage. Societal perspective. Respect for authority and concerns with maintaining the social order. Moral behavior is behavior that maintains the social conventions.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development • Postconventional morality: Adults and very rarely – Stage 5: Social contact reasoning. People refer to the values of the social system for moral principles. But they are open to changing the terms of the existing social contract if the change will bring about more overall utility – Stage 6: Universal ethical principles. Moral principles are thought to transcend the rules of individual societies. • Both stage 4 and stage 3 reasoning are present during adolescence – stage 3 reasoning is the dominant mode of reasoning until people reach their middle 20 s
Self integration: development of identity • a new kind of self-description appears during adolescence – personal identity is defined in terms of beliefs, values, and life plans – 9 -year-olds and 17 -year-olds when asked to write about “who am I? ” (Montemayor & Eisen) • the use of terms describing the physical self declines • tendency to refer to their interpersonal style (e. g. , shy, friendly) or their emotional traits (e. g. , happy, calm) increases – young children describe themselves in terms of concrete objective categories (address, physical appearance, possessions) while adolescents describe themselves with more abstract and subjective descriptions (personal beliefs, interpersonal style)
9 -year-old description (Montemayor & Eisen) • My name is Bruce C. I have brown eyes. I have brown hair. I have brown eyebrows. I’m nine years old. I LOVE! Sports. I have seven people in my family. I have great! eye site. I have lots! of friends. I live on 1923 Pinecrest Dr. I am going on 10 in September. I’m a boy. I have an uncle who is almost 7 feet tall. My school is Pinecrest. My teacher is Mrs. V. I play Hockey! I’am almost the smartest boy in class. I LOVE! food. I love fresh air. I LOVE School.
17 -year-old description (Montemayor & Eisen) • I am a human being. I am a girl. I am an individual. I don’t know who I am a moody person. I am an indecisive person. I am an ambitious person. I am a very curious person. I am a loner. I am a Democrat. I am a liberal person. I am a radical. I am a conservative. I am an atheist. I am not a classifiable person (i. e. , I don’t want to be. )
Identity formation • Erikson saw identity formation as the fundamental task of adolescence – adolescents must resolve their identities in both the individual and the social spheres and establish the ¨the identity of these two identities¨ • the identity forming process depends on – – how one judges others how others judge you how you judge the judgment processes of others consider the social categories available in the culture when forming judgments • Arif annesine fena hakaret etti, cok kaba adam. Ben de aynı şeyi yaparsam ben de mi kaba olurum? – Your judgment of Arif is to related to your own identity…you consider your own and other people’s judgments simultaneously
Identity formation • Marcia et al. used interviews to elicit info about the degree to which young people have adopted and committed themselves to well-thought-out views on politics, religion, occupation, friendship, dating, and sex roles • they obtained 4 patterns of identity formation – identity achievement: have experienced a decisionmaking period and decided on their views – foreclosure: had not gone through an identity crisis themselves but had simply adopted their parents’ identity patterns – moratorium: experiencing an identity crisis at the time of interview – identity diffusions: they had tried on several identities but had not settled on one
Identity formation • many studies have indicated that, as they grow older, more and more adolescents can be classified in the identity achievement category and fewer in the identity diffusion category • Grotesvant and Copper examined the relation between identity achievement scores and family interaction – family interaction task: in which a mother, a father, and an adolescent are asked to make plans for a 2 -week vacation together – the discussions were scored with respect to how they express their individual preferences (individuality) and their responsiveness to others’ preferences (connectedness) – family systems which offer support and security while allowing adolescents to create distinct identities are the most effective in promoting identity achievement
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