Chapter 15: Adolescence Cognitive Development

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using inductive reasoning?

Its big advantages is it gives a way to identify patterns. The disadvantage is that it is not always possible to test the pattern in all possible cases.

Choosing Vocations

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Students who develop a vision of their future may select courses that will help them achieve their goal. Students need to know that college is not the only option—but additional training is most often necessary.

High School

-College-bound -Teachers assume students have mastered formal thinking, instead of teaching how to do it. -Classes assessed by externally scored exams do not assure college readiness. -High-stakes test -Involves evaluation that is critical in determining success or failure -Determines whether a student will graduate or be promoted

Imaginary audience (Adolescent Thinking)

-Imaginary audience -Involves thinking intensely about themselves and about what other people think of them -Involved thinking about themselves as much more unique, special, and admired or disliked than they actually are Leads to interpretation of everyone else's behavior as a personal judgment

Sexting

-Involves sending sexual photographs Dangers -Pictures are often forwarded without the naked person's knowledge

Egocentrism reassessed

-Previous research suggests egocentrism fosters adolescent risk taking. -Current perspectives propose egocentrism may be protective. -Adolescents who feel psychologically invincible tend to be resilient.

How does adolescent egocentrism differ from early childhood egocentrism?

Adolescent egocentrism is a characteristic of adolescent thinking that leads young people (ages 10 to 13) to focus on themselves to the exclusion of others. Early childhood egocentrism is children's tendency to think about the world entirely from their own personal perspective.

Two modes of thinking

-intuitive thinking -analytical thinking

Cyber danger

Adolescent cognitive growth benefits from shared experiences and opinions. Often, communication via the Internet bolsters fragile self-esteem. Adolescents sometimes share personal information online without thinking about the possible consequences.

How does egocentrism account for the clashing priorities of parents and adolescents?

Adolescent egocentrism leads them to try reckless things such as drugs, that adults are against. Adult egocentrism assumes adolescents share their values. When adolescents don't share the adult's values they but heads.

Invincibility fable

Adolescent's egocentric conviction that he or she cannot be overcome or even harmed by anything that might defeat a normal mortal, such as unprotected sex, drug abuse, or high-speed driving

What are the advantages and disadvantages of high-stakes testing?

Advantages: It tracks students progress and growth. Helps determine if a student is ready to move on and graduate. Disadvantages: It narrows students learning, and prevents teachers teaching other subjects. They are restricted to the content on the test. Fewer students graduate because they drop out in fear they will not pass.

Personal fable

Aspect of adolescent egocentrism characterized by an adolescent's belief that his or her thoughts, feelings, or experiences are unique, more wonderful or awful than anyone else's

Learning via electronic technology

Before technology explosion: Egocentric thought decreases with education, conversation, and experience.

Cyberbullying

Bullying that occurs via Internet insults and rumors, texting, anonymous phone calls, and video embarrassment Anonymity provided by electronic technology often brings out the worst in people. Cyberbullying may contribute to dangerous, self-destructive behavior of victim.

Inductive (or bottom-up) reasoning

Children, as concrete operational thinkers, are likely to draw conclusions on the basis of their own experiences and what they have been told.

Inductive reasoning

Conclusion reached after many of the following. Note that the problem is that the adolescent's nimble mind can rationalize many specifics. Only when the evidence is overwhelming is the conclusion reached.

Logic and Self

Egocentrism to abstract logic occurs between ages 11 and 18 Brain maturation Intense conversations Schooling Moral challenges Increased independence

School Transitions

Entering a new school Transitioning from one school to another often affects the ability to function and learn. -Changing schools just when the growth spurt is occurring and sexual characteristics are developing is bound to create stress. -The first year in any new school (middle school, high school, or college) correlates with increased bullying, decreased achievement, depression, and eating disorders.

Teaching and Learning

Entity approach to intelligence -Sees ability as innate, a fixed quantity present at birth -Rejects idea that effort enhances achievement An incremental approach to intelligence -Holds that intelligence can be directly increased by effort -Suggests that children can master whatever they seek to learn if they pay attention, participate in class, study, and complete their homework

Piaget: Formal operational thought

Fourth and final stage of cognitive development Characterized by more systematic logic and the ability to think about abstract ideas Examples seen in comparison between primary school and high school

Hypothetical thought

Includes reasoning that uses propositions and possibilities that may not reflect reality Transforms perceptions

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)

International test taken by 15-year-olds in 50 nations that is designed to measure problem solving and cognition in daily life Overall, U.S. students did worse on the PISA than on the PIRLS or TIMSS.

What mode of thinking- intuitive or analytic- do most people prefer, and why?

Intuitive because logic is more difficult and it takes longer to decide rather than action on your emotions.

Better thinking

Intuitive decisions are not always best. With maturity, adolescents gradually balance formal analytic thinking and emotional, experiential thinking.

Deductive reasoning

Involves reasoning from a general statement, premise, or principle, through logical steps, to figure out (deduce) specifics Sometimes called top-down reasoning

Inductive reasoning

Involves reasoning from one or more specific experiences or facts to a general conclusion; may be less cognitively advanced than deduction Sometimes called bottom-up reasoning

How do video games affect student learning?

It stops kids from doing homework, they do poorly on assignments, students get lower grades, and have more physical fights than those who didn't play video games.

Dual processing and the brain

Limbic system activated by puberty; prefrontal cortex matures more gradually. Cortical regions involving impulse control continue to develop through early adulthood. Adolescent brain gives fewer signals of caution/inhibition than adult brain. Subcortical regions involving sensation seeking develop rapidly after puberty.

What benefits come from adolescents' use of technology?

Online social networking speeds up the process of moving past egocentric thought, online connections reduces social isolation by bringing friends together, and it allows students to grasp new concepts.

Correlates that contribute to high achievement on the PISA

Overall, all stakeholders value education, and individualized learning approaches are used. Standards are high and clear. Teachers and administrators are valued. Learning is prioritized across the entire system.

How does the PISA differ from other international tests?

PISA is linked directly to broad literacy of subjects while others are linked by a curriculum framework. Tests students in math, science, and literacy in the context of everyday situations.

Secondary education

Period after primary education (elementary or grade school) and before tertiary education (college) Usually occurs from about age 12 to age 18, although the age range varies somewhat by school and by nation

Preferring emotions

Rational judgment is difficult when egocentric emotions dominate. Experience in decision making and thinking facilitates more accurate use of analysis.

Middle school

School for children in the grades between elementary school and high school Usually begins with grade 5 or 6 and ends with grade 8 Increasing behavioral problems; many students dislike middle school -Student-teacher relationships undercut -Exposure to more teachers and peers; often impersonal and distant -Less learning and more risk -Less parental help -Finding acclaim -Public acclaim difficult; many students seek peer acceptance Coping with middle school -Blaming others -Entity approach to intelligence Incremental approach to intelligence

Adolescent imaginary audience can go viral.

Texting -Texts and e-mailed rumors and insults can reach thousands. -Cyberbullying is particularly prevalent between ages 11 and 14. -It may be worst when the imaginary audience is strong, the identity is forming, and impulsive thoughts precede analytic ones. -Adolescent victims are likely to suffer from depression and may commit suicide.

How does being a young adolescent affect a person's ability to learn?

The egocentric and intuitive way young adolescents think may stop them from achieving in school.

What are the main perceptions that arise from the belief in an imaginary audience?

The imaginary audience can cause teenagers to enter a crowded room as if they are the most attractive human beings alive or they might avoid scrutiny lest someone notice a blemish on their chin or make fun of their braces.

Deductive reasoning

The principle is the starting point, not the end point.

What characteristics of middle schools make them more difficult for students than elementary schools?

They aren't as connected with their teachers because they now have more than 2-3 teachers and that teacher has dozens-100s of students

Who is most apt and least apt to be involved in cyberbullying?

Those most likely to engage in cyberbullying are likely bullies or victims of bullying already. Cyberbullying does not create bullies; it just gives existing bullies another outlet for projecting their insecurities on others.

Intuitive thought

Thought that arises from an emotion or a hunch, beyond rational explanation, and is influenced by past experiences and cultural assumptions

Analytic thought

Thought that results from analysis, such as a systematic ranking of pros and cons, risks and consequences, possibilities and facts Analytic thought depends on logic and rationality.

Digital Natives

Today's teenagers are digital natives who take technology for granted. Many have been networking since childhood. Within nations, the digital divide is shrinking, though digital differences remain. Low-income families continue to be less likely to have high-speed Internet at home. Adolescents from low-SES neighborhoods are less likely to use the Internet. The most notable digital divide is age.

Inductive vs. Deductive Reasoning

We are able to think both intuitively and analytically, but adolescents tend to rely more on intuitive thinking than do adults. As we age, we move toward more analytical processing.

When might intuition and analysis lead to contrasting conclusions?

When it comes to dating and religion.

When is intuitive thinking better than analytic thinking?

When the person has to make a complex decision such as whom to marry or which investment to make.

How do individual beliefs about intelligence affect motivation and learning?

more prone to anger, violence, and drug use, so they are not as focused, they have higher stress, and fear of failure

Why are the personal fable and invincibility fables called "fables"?

they are not true conclusions