Adolescence: Physical, cognitive, and social development

Adolescent Physical Development

Adolescence is defined as the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty until independence. as it says above, Adolescence begin with puberty - during this tie the body and brain are developing physically. boys mature early, and are stronger or more athletic during their early teen years, tend to be more popular, self-assured and independent. Girls who mature early can be out of sync with their emotional maturity and their friend's development, which cam cause them to suffer teasing or sexual harassment.

Adolescent Social Development

Erik Erikson (1963) states that each stage of life has its own Psychosocial task that needs to be resolved to move on to the next stage.

Erikson And adolescents

Erikson saw this a little differently - some adolescents form identity early by adopting their parents' values and expectations - others may adopt an indetity in opposition to their parents, but in conformity with a peer group (joke, preps, geeks, band kids, debaters, etc) A key task of adolescence is to achieve a purpose pr identity. ( the identity crisis) - this is difficult in high school and early in college, but is usually achievable by the end of your college years.

Kolberg

For kolberg these levels form a "moral ladder" Critics claim the pre conventional stage in culturally limited as it appears mostly among people that favor individualism.

Carol Giligan vs. Kohlberg

Gillian thought at Harvard in 1968 where she worked with Erik Erikson and Lawrence Kohlberg. - she criticized them both because she felt that their theories were based on their own experiences and biased towards women. Rather than morality based on justice or complying with a set of rules, she saw women's moral development in the frame of caring and relationships.

Moral Intuition

Jonathan Haidt believes that morality is rooted in Moral Intuitions - these quick gut feelings - when we feel bad seeing degrading or subhuman acts, feel good seeing generosity. This is the Social Intuitionist Model - in it, moral judgements are made based on socially derived institutions. - you search for evidence, weigh the evidence, coordinate it with past theories then reach a decision -it is immediate as stated above. - model suggests moral reasoning is rationalizations to justify your instinctive reactions. The trolley paradox

Gilligan's Theory of Moral Development

Pre conventional - person cares only for themselves in order to ensure survival transitional phase - a person's attitude is considered selfish and the person sees the connection between themselves and others conventional - more care shown for other people as seen in the role of mother and wife -characterized by self-sacrifice transitional phase -tensions between caring for others and caring for self are faced Post conventional -acceptance of the principal of care for self and others in shown -shown people never reach this level.

Kohlberg's Stages of moral development

Preconventional Morality - before age 9 - stage 1: Obey rules to avoid punishment. - stage 2: self-interest driven - "What's in it for me?" Conventional Morality -early adolescence -stage 3: Morality driven by the desire to gain social approval -stage 4: Morality driven by authority and to maintain social order. Post-conventional morality -adolescence and beyond -stage 5: social contract driven - basic rights and rules for society Stage 6: universal principles - more reasoning is abstract and laws must be grounded in justice.

Erikson's Theory of Phsychosocial Development

Stage 1 - Infancy to 1 year trust vs mistrust - if needs are met (care and affection), infants will develop a sense of trust. A lack of this will lead to mistrust. Stage 2 - Toddlerhood q to 3 years Autonomy vs. shame and doubt - children learn to exercise their personal control over physical skills and gain a sense of independence, which leads to autonomy. Failure results in feelings of shame and doubt. stage 3 - preschool 3 to 6 years initiative vs. guilt - preschoolers leapt to assert over their environment, initiate tasks and carry out plans. Success leads to sense of purpose. Children who push too hard can experience disapproval which will lead to guilt. Stage 4 - elementary School 6 years to puberty - competence (Industry) vs Inferiority - children learn the joy of applying themselves to new social and academic tasks. Success leads to competence. failure results in feelings of inferiority. Stage 5 - Adolescence teen years into 20s - identity vs. Role Confusion - teenagers need to develop a sense of self and personal indentity. Success allows you to stay true to yourself, but failure leads to role confusion or a weak sense of self. Stage 6 - young Adulthood 20s to early 40s -intimacy vs. isolation -young adults need to form loving relationships with other people and gain the capacity for intimate love. If they fail to do so, they will feel socially isolated. stage 7 - middle adulthood 40s to 60s -generativity vs. stagnation -adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast themselves (children, work, or otherwise). Success leads to accomplishment. Failure results in stagnation or shallow involvement in the world. Stage 8 - late adulthood late 60s and up -integrity vs. despair - older adults need to look back on their lives and feel a sense of fulfillment. Success leads to feeling of wisdom and satisfaction. Failure results in bitterness and despair.

Morality

developing morality Piaget believed that children's moral judgements build on their cognitive development. Agreeing with this, Lawrence Kohlberg decide to study moral development. - he did this by asking children, adolescents, and adults more dilemmas and then analyzed their answers for evidence of stages if moral thinking.

Adolescents

during adolescence, adolescents seek to find their identity. - this Is their sense of self - it is found by testing and integrating various roles. Adults and adolescents from group identities based on how we differ from those around us. - this is the "we" aspect of our self concept - the answer to "who am I".

Physical development

during puberty the brain is also growing and maturing - series of unused connections from childhood are pruned. - frontal lobes continue to develop. - Myelin grows which helps to speed transmission. Although the brain is maturing, the emotional limbic system and hormones develop faster. - this is why adolescents often are impulsive and emotional. - when it comes to things like smoking teens generally weigh the immediate benefits more heavily rather than long term consequences.

Adolescent cognitive development

early teen years, reasoning is often self-focused. "you will never understand how I feel" at this time adolescent begin to also think about what others are thinking of them. Imaginary Audience - egocentric state where people believe that multitudes of people are enthusiastically watching them. Personal Fable - connected to the imaginary audience, wherein someone thinks they are the center of attention often attribute to adolescents. This is the time that adolescents readily use their abstract reasoning, as Piaget stated.

The Heinz Dilemma

frequently used example in ethics and morality classes. It is also often related to Kolberg's theory of Moral Development.

Experience and the Brain

studies show that sights, smells, touches. etc help fuel Brian maturation. -study by Rosenberg shows that rest in enrich evident had larger brains and synapses than rats in impoverished condition. Normal distribution in the early yeas will help a child's brain grow, but it does not stop maturing until long past childhood.

Heiz Dilemma Again...

the response is not important, but rather the jusitification. It all can linked to Kolbergs stages -example - he should not steal the medicine because he would get in trouble.