Chapter 8

A. How do working memory and processing speed change in adolescence?

For information-processing theorists, adolescence does not represent a distinct, qualitatively different stage of cognitive development

Responses to spermarche

a) Boys can feel more positively about it b) Boys rarely tell parents or friends about this new development

Obesity

a) Children and adolescents who are in the upper 5% of their BMI are defined as being overweight. b) The U.S. Surgeon General announced in 2001 that childhood obesity had reached epidemic proportions. One child or adolescent out of every seven is overweight.

Support for Kohlberg's theory

a) Individuals move through the six stages in the order listed—and only in that order. b) Support for Kohlberg's invariant sequence of stages comes from longitudinal studies measuring individuals' level of reasoning over several years. c) Additional support for Kohlberg's theory comes from research on the link between moral reasoning and moral behavior.

Rates of maturation in boys

1. Puberty begins at age 12 in the average boy. a) An early-maturing boy might begin puberty at age 11, while a late-maturing boy might start at age 15 or 16. -Boys who mature early are at risk for depression, are more prone to substance abuse, and are more prone to participate in early sexual activity

Nutrition

1. Puberty brings special nutritional needs, including hemoglobin (for increased muscle mass and menstruation), iron, and calcium. a) Without adequate iron, teens are often listless and moody. b) Without adequate calcium, bones may not develop fully, placing them at risk later in life for osteoporosis.

Physical fitness

1. __ regularly reduce their risk for many health problems. Most adolescents do not get enough exercise. 2. Many teenagers engage in organized sports, which can enhance self-esteem, provide an opportunity to learn social skills, and learn initiative. 3. Sports can also lead to injuries, use of performance-enhancing drugs, and antisocial behavior.

Puberty

1. consists of a series of bodily changes occurring in early adolescence, including a period of rapid growth. Two general types of physical changes mark the transition from childhood to young adulthood: physical changes and sexual maturation. 2. Body parts don't mature at the same rate a) Head, hands, and feet usually begin to grow first. b) Trunk and shoulders are the last to grow. 3. Gender differences a) Body fat increases more rapidly in girls. b) Heart and lung capacity increases more in boys.

factors that contribute to eating disorders

(1) heredity (2) psychosocial factors (a) Adverse life experiences (b) Negative self-esteem or mood or anxiety disorders (c) Being overly concerned about one's body and weight and dieting (d) Internalizing the thin body that is often thought to be ideal in Western cultures

Conventional Level

- adolescents and adults look to society's norms for moral guidance. (1) Stage 3 - Interpersonal Norms - moral reasoning is based on winning the approval of others. (2) Stage 4 - Social System Morality - adolescents and adults believe that social roles, expectations, and laws exist to maintain order within society and to promote the good of all people.

Preconventional

- at this level, moral reasoning is based on external forces. (1) Stage 1 - Obedience Orientation - obedience to authority (a) Obedience is almost exclusively controlled by rewards and punishments. (b) Stage I individuals do what authorities say is right to avoid being punished. (2) Stage 2 - Instrumental Orientation - people look out for their own needs. (a) People are nice to others because they expect the favor to be returned in the future.

Postconventional Level

- moral reasoning is based on a personal moral code. Emphasis is no longer on external forces. (1) Stage 5 - Social Contract - moral reasoning is based on the belief that laws are for the good of all members of society. (2) Stage 6 - Universal Ethical Principles - abstract principles such as justice, compassion, and equality form the basis of a personal code that may sometimes conflict with society's expectations and laws.

pituitary gland

1. It signals the adrenal glands to release androgens. 2. It signals the ovaries to release estrogen. 3. It signals the testes to release the androgen hormone testosterone.

Kohlberg's Theory

1. Lawrence Kohlberg developed a theory of moral reasoning based on how children, adolescents, and adults respond to a large number of moral dilemmas. Kohlberg identified three levels of moral reasoning -preconventional -conventional -postconventual

Content knowledge, strategies, and metacognitive skills

1. Adolescents acquire adult-like levels of knowledge and understanding, which has an indirect effect on cognitive processing, enabling adolescents to learn, understand, and remember more of new experiences. 1. As their content knowledge increases, adolescents become much better skilled at identifying strategies appropriate for a specific task.

Body image

1. Adolescents are much more concerned about their overall appearance. 2. Generally, girls worry more than boys about appearance and are more likely to be dissatisfied with their appearance. 3. Boys are unhappy with their appearance when they expect to have an idealized strong muscular body, but don't.

Problem solving and reasoning

1. Adolescents often solve problems more readily than children, and do so analytically. 2. Adolescents have better formal operation thinking and greater working memory capacity. 3. Adolescents have more sophisticated approaches to reasoning and problem solving, and are better skilled at finding weaknesses in arguments. 4. Adolescents use their thinking skills selectively. a) More when their beliefs are threatened b) Less when their beliefs are supported

Working memory and processing speed

1. Adolescents' working memory has about the same capacity as adults' working memory. 2. The change in working memory and processing speed that occurs in childhood means that adolescents process information more efficiently. 3. Increased myelination during adolescence allows nerve impulses to travel more rapidly.

Deaths and teens

1. Every year, approximately one adolescent out of 2,000 dies, usually from an accident. The pattern of death depends on gender and ethnicity. a) The most common cause of death is motor vehicle accidents (boys and girls) or firearms (boys). b) The next most common cause of death for boys and girls is suicide.

A. Promoting moral reasoning

1. Exposure to more advanced moral reasoning through observations of others' thinking and discussion of moral issues with peers, teachers, and parents helps adolescents reevaluate their thinking and become more sophisticated. 2. Involvement in religion influences moral reasoning through specific religious values, as well as involvement in a larger community. 3. Adolescents who are free to express their own opinions and discuss moral issues with their parents have more mature moral reasoning.

The timing of pubertal events is regulated partially by genetics

1. Genetic forces are strongly influenced by the environment, particularly an adolescent's nutrition and health. a) Menarche occurs earlier in areas of where nutrition and health care are adequate. 2. Genetic influence is also shown by the fact that a mother's age at menarche is related to her daughter's age at menarche. 3. Social environment influences the onset of puberty. Menarche occurs at younger ages in girls who experience chronic stress or depression

Responses to menarche

1. Girls usually tell their mothers first and tell their friends after two or three menstrual periods. 2. Menarche is usually a private occasion for adolescents living in industrialized countries, but it is often celebrated in traditional cultures.

Moodiness

1. Hormones are not responsible for teenage moodiness. a) Mood shifts are more often associated with changes in activities and social settings. b) Teens are more likely to report being in a good mood when with friends or when recreating and a bad mood when in adult-regulated settings.

Rates of maturation in girls

Puberty begins at age 10 in the average girl a) An early-maturing girl might start puberty at age nine, while a late-maturing girl might start at 14 or 15.

Limitations of Kohlberg's theory

a) Moral reasoning is not as consistent as would be expected from theory. b) Another concern is Kohlberg's claim that his sequence of stages is universal. Moral reasoning in other cultures is often not described well by Kohlberg's theory. (1) Cultural differences in moral reasoning (a) Not all cultures and religions share the emphasis on individual rights and justice reflected traditionally in American culture.Even research on Western cultures does not consistently support the theory's emphasis on justice. (b) The theory does not factor in the impact of membership in social groups

Brain Growth in Adolescence

a) Myelination - the acquisition of fatty insulation that makes neurons transmit information faster. b) Synaptic pruning - the weeding out of unnecessary connections between neurons. c) Not all brain regions reach maturity (1) Brain systems sensitive to reward reach maturity. (2) Brain systems responsible for self-control aren't fully specialized until adulthood.

treating obesity

a) The focus of the program is to change eating habits, encourage activity, and discourage sedentary behavior. b) Children learn to monitor their eating, exercise, and sedentary behavior. c) Parents are trained to help children set realistic eating goals and use behavioral principles to help children meet these goals.

Bulimia nervosa

a) ___ involves alternating between binge eating periods and purging through self-induced vomiting or with laxatives. (1) During binge eating, adolescents with bulimia consume two days' worth of calories in two hours or less. (2) They then purge once or twice daily.

Anorexia nervosa

a) a disorder marked by a persistent refusal to eat and an irrational fear of being overweight. (1) Individuals with __ have a grossly distorted image of their own body and claim to be overweight despite being painfully thin. (2) This is a very serious disorder, and it can lead to death if untreated.

Girls who mature early

a) often lack self-confidence and are less popular, are more likely to be depressed and have behavior problems, and more likely to smoke and drink. (1) Early maturation can have life-changing effect on early-maturing girls who are pressured into sex early and become mothers while still teenagers. (2) These harmful outcomes are more likely when living in poverty, or experiencing harsh punishment from parents.

Sexual maturation

occurs in a predicable sequence and includes two key changes: a) Primary sex characteristics, which refer to organs directly involved in reproduction. b) Secondary sex characteristics, which are physical signs of maturity not directly linked to the reproductive organs. c) For girls, puberty begins with growth of the breasts, a growth spurt, and menarche, which is the onset of menstruation, typically occurring around age 13. d) For boys, puberty usually commences with the growth of the testes and scrotum, followed by the appearance of pubic hair, the start of the growth spurt, and growth of the penis. Around 13 years of age, most boys reach spermarche, the first spontaneous ejaculation of sperm-laden fluid.