PSY 230 Chapter 8

Body Image

-adolescents are more concerned about their overall appearance -girls worry more than boys about appearance and are particularly likely to be unhappy with their looks when appearance is a frequent topic of conversation with friends, leading girls to spend more time comparing their own appearance with that of their peers -Peers have relatively little influence on boys' satisfaction with their looks; instead, boys are unhappy with their appearance when they expect to have an idealized strong, muscular body but do not

Heinz Dilemma

Kholberg's Famous Dilemma

Preconventional Level

-First Level of Kholberg's Moral Reasoning -moral reasoning is based on external forces (controlled almost exclusively by rewards and punishments) Stage 1: -obedience orientation characteristic of Kohlberg's stage 1, in which moral reasoning is based on the belief that adults know what is right and wrong -stage 1 individuals do what authorities say is right to avoid being punished Stage 2: -instrumental orientation characteristic of Kohlberg's stage 2, in which moral reasoning is based on the aim of looking out for one's own needs -Stage 2 individuals are nice to others because they expect the favor to be returned in the future

Growth of Limbic vs the Frontal System

-Functional maturity over time -Limbic system grows fast between ages 10-15 -Not until 25 that they Frontal system catches up -have about 10 years of risk taking

A concrete operational thinker and a formal operational thinker are given the following logical statements: 1. If you drop a 20-pound bowling ball on your foot, it will tickle. 2. You drop a 20-pound bowling ball on your foot. What reaction would you expect?

Only the formal operational thinker would conclude that "your foot would tickle."

Obesity

body mass index adjusted ratio of weight to height; used to define "overweight" -Childhood obesity in the United States has reached epidemic proportions the number of overweight children has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has tripled. 1/6 child/adolescent is overweight -unpopular, low self esteem, at risk for many medical problems throughout life, including high blood pressure and diabetes Factors: -Heredity -Parents—Many parents urge their children to "clean their plates" even when the children are no longer hungry -Sedentary life style -Too little sleep -The most effective weight-loss programs focus on changing children's eating habits and encouraging them to become more active.

In a study on math ability and stereotype threat researchers found

Best performance when children were required to list their race before solving the problems and were told that the problems would help them to learn.

Threats to Adolescent Well-Being

-1 U.S. adolescent out of 1,000 dies, most often in accidents that involve automobiles or firearms. -pattern of adolescent death depends to a large extent on gender and ethnicity -boys, most deaths are due to accidents involving motor vehicles or firearms. For European American, Latino American, and Asian American boys, motor vehicles are more deadly than guns, but the reverse is true for African American boys -girls, most deaths are due to natural causes or accidents involving motor vehicles. For European American girls, motor vehicle accidents account for nearly half of all deaths; for African American girls, natural causes account for nearly half of all deaths; and for Latina American and Asian American girls, natural causes and motor vehicles account for about the same number of deaths and together account for about two-thirds of all deaths -Far too many adolescents are killed because they drive too fast, drive while drunk or texting, or drive without wearing a seat belt -deaths due to guns are often linked to "all-too-easy" access to firearms in the home -Adolescent deaths from accidents can be explained in part because adolescents take risks that adults often find unacceptable ex: driving recklessly, unprotected sex, illegal drug use -Adolescents overestimate the actual likelihood of harm associated with many risky behaviors, but dont believe it'll happen to them -adolescents find the rewards associated with risky behavior far more appealing than adults do

Moodiness

-Adolescents are often thought to be extraordinarily moody -the source of teenage moodiness is often presumed to be the influx of hormones associated with puberty—"hormones running wild.". adolescents are moodier than children or adults, but this is not primarily due to hormones. hormone levels are associated with greater irritability and greater impulsivity, but the correlations tend to be small -mood shifted frequently from positive to negative, sometimes several times in a single day. Mood shifts were associated with changes in activities and social settings. Teens are more likely to report being in a good mood when hanging out with friends or when recreating; they tend to report being in a bad mood when in adult-regulated settings. Because adolescents often change activities and social settings many times in a single day, they appear to be moodier than adults.

Working Memory and Processing

-Adolescents have a hard drive that is the same size as an adults, they can hold as much memory as an adult can -Time it takes to process information drops as you get older, kids get faster as they grow

Problem Solving and Reasoning

-Adolescents typically solve problems more readily than children, in part because their approach is more sophisticated -Children rely on heuristics (rules of thumb that are fast and require little effort) to solve problems -adolescents are more likely to solve problems analytically—determining an answer mathematically or logically depending on the nature of the problem -Adolescents are also are better skilled at finding weaknesses in arguments -Logical reasoning: pinpoint flaws in arguments. Scientific reasoning: dolescents recognize the hazards in making generalizations from extremely small samples -When evidence is inconsistent with adolescents' beliefs, they may dismiss the evidence as being irrelevant or try to reinterpret the evidence to make it consistent with their beliefs -adolescents use their reasoning skills selectively, raising their standards to dismiss findings that threaten their beliefs and lowering them to admit findings compatible with their beliefs.

Content Knowledge, Strategies, and Metacognitive Skill

-As children move into adolescence, they acquire adultlike levels of knowledge and understanding. Ex: children may enjoy topics but in adolescence they can acquire true expertise -As their content knowledge increases, adolescents also become better skilled at identifying strategies appropriate for a specific task, then monitoring the chosen strategy to verify that it is working. Ex: highlight information in a text, make lists, master study planning -Metacognitive sills: skills for organizing, guiding, and controlling ones own thinking, actions, and learning processes

Brain Growth in Adolescence

-At the beginning of adolescence, the brain is nearly full size—it's about 95% of the size and weight of an adult's brain -adolescence is important for fine-tuning the brain's functioning -2 features of brain development that begin in early life and are nearly complete in adolescence: myelination, which is the acquisition of fatty insulation that makes neurons transmit information faster, and synaptic pruning, which is the weeding out of unnecessary connections between neurons -different regions in the adolescent brain are well connected and information is rapidly conveyed between them, which means that adolescents can process information more efficiently than the child -distinguishing feature of the adolescent brain is that some, but not all, brain regions reach maturity: brain systems that are sensitive to reward (especially to rewards from peers) may reach maturity in adolescence but the systems responsible for self-control aren't fully specialized until adulthood -The reward- and pleasure-seeking systems are more mature than the systems for controlling behavior. Consequently, even though adolescents may know that behaviors involve risk, the anticipated rewards and pleasure of risky behavior trumps the ability to control oneself

Physical Fitness

-Being physically active promotes mental and physical health during adolescence and throughout adulthood. -"Regular activity" typically means exercising for 30 minutes at least three times a week at a pace that keeps an adolescent's heart rate at about 140 beats per minute -evidence indicates that most adolescents rarely get enough exercise -Many teenagers get exercise by participating in organized sports. Today, approximately 4.3 million boys and 3 million girls participate in sports -Sports can enhance participants' self-esteem and can help them to learn initiative they can also provide adolescents a chance to learn important social skills, such as how to work effectively as part of a group, often in complementary roles. -benefits of participating in sports are balanced by potential hazards. About 15% of high school athletes will be injured, requiring some medical treatment. Usually not serious -several studies have linked youth participation in sports to delinquent and antisocial behavior. outcomes are usually positive when sports participation is combined with participation in activities that involve adults, such as school, religious, or youth groups -A more serious problem is the use of illegal drugs (steroids) to improve performance. steroid use can damage the liver, reproductive system, skeleton, and cardiovascular system, associated with mood swings, aggression, and depression

Kholberg's Theory: Moral Reasoning

-Kohlberg created stories in which decisions were difficult because every alternative involved some undesirable consequences. In fact, there is no "correct" answer—that's why the stories are referred to as moral "dilemmas." -Kohlberg was more interested in the reasoning used to justify a decision than the decision itself -Kohlberg analyzed children's, adolescents', and adults' responses to a large number of dilemmas and identified three levels of moral reasoning (preconventional, conventional, and post conventional), each divided into two substages (6 Stages total) -earliest stages: moral reasoning is based on external forces (reward or punishment) -advanced levels: moral reasoning is based on a personal, internal moral code and is unaffected by others' views or society's expectations Preconventional Level: Punishment and Reward Stage 1: Obedience to authority Stage 2: Nice behavior in exchange for future favors Conventional Level: Social Norms Stage 3: Live up to others' expectations Stage 4: Follow rules to maintain social order Postconventional Level: Moral Codes Stage 5: Adhere to a social contract when it is valid Stage 6: Personal moral system based on abstract principles

Support for Kohlberg's Theory

-Kohlberg proposed that individuals move through the six stages only in the order listed. Consequently, older and more sophisticated thinkers should be more advanced in their moral development, and they usually are -longitudinal studies show that individuals progress through each stage in sequence, rarely skipping stages -Research shows: Less advanced moral reasoning reflects the influence of external forces. more advanced reasoning is based on a personal moral code -dolescents who defend their principles in difficult situations tend to be more advanced in Kohlberg's stages

Metacognition and Metamemory

-Metacognition: knowing what you know and what you dont know -Metamemory: monitoring how you learn and how well your memory functions (what strategies work for you and what strategies dont). Choose a strategy to learn, implement it, evaluate how well it worked (what grade did you get on the test?), adjust strategy as needed

Response to Menarche and Spermarche

-Most girls are moderately pleased at this new sign of maturity but moderately irritated by the inconvenience and messiness of menstruation -Menarche is usually a private occasion for adolescents living in industrialized countries (tell mom right away and friends after 2-3 cycles), but in traditional cultures, it is often celebrated -Most boys know about spontaneous ejaculations beforehand, and they get their information by reading, not by asking parents. When boys are prepared for spermarche, they feel more positively about it. Nevertheless, boys rarely tell parents or friends about this new development

Conventional Level

-Second Level of Kholberg's Moral Reasoning -moral reasoning is based on society's norms. moral reasoning is largely determined by others' expectations of them Stage 3: -interpersonal norms characteristic of Kohlberg's stage 3, in which moral reasoning is based on winning the approval of others -The aim is to win the approval of other people by behaving as "good boys" and "good girls" would Stage 4: -social system morality characteristic of Kohlberg's stage 4, in which moral reasoning is based on maintenance of order in society -social roles, expectations, and laws exist to maintain order within society and to promote the good of all people

Brain Growth In Adolescences

-The limbic system (pleasure): matures earlier than the frontal cortex (inhibition/ability to plan) -The system for reward and pleasure-seeking is more mature than the system for inhibiting impulses

Nutrition

-The physical growth associated with puberty means that the body has special nutritional needs. A typical teenage girl should consume about 2,200 calories per day; a typical boy should consume about 2,700 calories. -Teenagers also need calcium for bone growth and iron to make extra hemoglobin -Boys need additional hemoglobin because of their increased muscle mass; girls need hemoglobin to replace that lost during menstruation.

Postconventional Level

-Third Level of Kholberg's Moral Reasoning -morality is based on a personal moral code. The emphasis is no longer on external forces such as punishment, reward, or social roles Stage 5: -social contract characteristic of Kohlberg's Stage 5, in which moral reasoning is based on the belief that laws are for the good of all members of society -agree that members of social groups adhere to a social contract because a common set of expectations and laws benefits all group members. If lows no longer promote welfare of individuals they become invalid Stage 6: -universal ethical principles characteristic of Kohlberg's stage 6, in which moral reasoning is based on moral principles that apply to all -Abstract principles such as justice, compassion, and equality form the basis of a personal code that may conflict with society's expectations and laws

Promoting Moral Reasoning

-Whether it is based on justice or care, most cultures and most parents want to encourage adolescents to think carefully about moral issues -being exposed to more advanced moral reasoning is sufficient to promote developmental change. Ex. adolescents notice that older friends do not wait to be rewarded to help others -Such experiences apparently cause adolescents to reevaluate their reasoning on moral issues and propel them toward more sophisticated thinking. -Discussion can be particularly effective in revealing shortcomings in moral reasoning -When people reason about moral issues with others whose reasoning is at a higher level, the usual result is that individuals reasoning at lower levels improve -Adolescents' moral reasoning (and moral behavior) is also influenced by their involvement in religion. Adolescents who are more involved in religion have greater concern for others and place more emphasis on helping them. From interacting with individuals in this network, earning their trust, and sharing their values, adolescents gain a sense of responsibility to and concern for others

Working Memory and Processing Speed

-Working memory is the site of ongoing cognitive processing, and processing speed is the speed with which individuals complete basic cognitive processes. -achieve adult like levels in adolescence -Working Memory: teenagers are better able than children to store information needed for ongoing cognitive processes -Processing Speed: exemplified by performance on a simple response-time task in which individuals press a button as rapidly as possible in response to a visual stimulus. Time needed to respond drops as you progress through childhood -Change in working memory and processing speed means that compared with children, adolescents process information very efficiently. This reflects the maturational changes to the brain (increases in myelination)

Anorexia and Bulimia

-anorexia nervosa persistent refusal to eat accompanied by an irrational fear of being overweight. grossly distorted image of their body and claim to be overweight despite being painfully thin. Can lead to heart damage, 15% die -bulimia nervosadisease in which people alternate between binge eating—periods when they eat uncontrollably—and purging with laxatives or self-induced vomiting -Both disorders primarily affect females and emerge in adolescence -heredity puts some girls at risk, and molecular genetic studies have implicated genes that regulate both anxiety and food intake -History of eating problems (picky, or pica) greater risk for this -the most important risk factor for adolescents is being overly concerned about one's body and weight and having a history of dieting -overprotective parenting is associated with adolescents becoming anorexic but not bulimic. In contrast, obesity in childhood is associated with adolescent bulimia but not anorexia. -boys make up about 10% of diagnosed cases of eating disorders known risk factors are childhood obesity, low self-esteem, pressure from parents and peers to lose weight, and participation in sports that emphasize being lean

Content Knowledge

-by having increased knowledge you have the ability to obtain even more (expert level) -we attach new information to old information (this is how knowledge is built)

Puberty

-collection of physical changes that marks the onset of adolescence, including a growth spurt and the growth of breasts or testes -denotes two general types of physical changes that mark the transition from childhood to young adulthood 1. bodily changes, including a dramatic increase in height and weight, as well as changes in the body's fat and muscle content 2. sexual maturation, including change in the reproductive organs and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics such as facial and body hair and growth of the breasts.

Physical Growth

-in an average year, a typical 6- to 10-year-old gains about 5 to 7 pounds and grows 2 to 3 inches -during the peak of the adolescent growth spurt, a girl may gain as much as 14 to 15 pounds in a year and a boy 16 to 17 pounds -girls typically begin their growth spurt about two years before boys do -Growth spurt: Girls (11-15) Boys (13-17) -head, hands, and feet usually begin to grow first, followed by growth in the arms and legs. The trunk and shoulders are the last to grow -Muscle fibers become thicker and denser during adolescence, producing substantial increases in strength. However, muscle growth is more pronounced in boys than in girls. Heart and lung capacity increases more in adolescent boys than in adolescent girls -Body fat also increases during adolescence, but more rapidly in girls than in boys -explains why the typical adolescent boy is stronger, is quicker, and has greater endurance than the typical adolescent girl.

Concerns about Kohlber's Theory

-moral reasoning is not as consistent as would be expected from the theory. EX: Teenagers reasoning at the conventional level should always base their moral decisions on others' expectations; in reality, however, such consistency is not the norm. Moral reasoning may be advanced on some problems but is much less sophisticated on others -concern is Kohlberg's claim that the sequence of stages is universal: All people in all cultures should progress through the six-stage sequence. moral reasoning in other cultures is often not described well by Kohlberg's theory -the bases of moral reasoning are not universal as Kohlberg claimed; instead, they reflect cultural values. -Kohlberg's theory is most useful in understanding moral reasoning in cultures with Western philosophical and religious traditions -Gilligan's claim: Kohlberg's emphasis on justice applies more to males than to females, whose reasoning about moral issues is often rooted in concern for others. "ethic of care" leads females to put a priority on fulfilling obligations to other people and those obligations guide their moral decision making -Research yields little evidence supporting Gilligan's claim that females and males differ in the bases of their moral reasoning. In meta analysis: differences were small and do not indicate that females' moral reasoning is predominated by a concern with care or that males' moral reasoning is predominated by a concern with justice -Gilligan's theory is important in emphasizing that moral reasoning is broader than Kohlberg claimed: Most people think about moral issues in terms of both justice and caring, depending on the nature of the moral dilemma and the context

Mechanisms of Maturation

-pituitary gland is the key player: It helps to regulate physical development by releasing growth hormone. In addition, the pituitary regulates pubertal changes by signaling other glands to secrete hormones -estrogen is often described as a "female hormone" and androgen (testosterone) as a "male hormone," but estrogen and androgen are present in both boys and girls in small amounts -timing of pubertal events is regulated, in part, by genetics -genetic forces are strongly influenced by the environment, particularly an adolescent's nutrition and health. puberty occurs earlier in adolescents who are well nourished and healthy than in adolescents who are not -Cross-cultural comparisons reveal that menarche occurs earlier in areas of the world where nutrition and health care are adequate. girls from developing countries who are adopted into affluent homes experience puberty earlier than peers in their home countries -average age of menarche was 17 in 1840 compared with about 13 today. This drop reflects improvements in nutrition and better health care over this period. the genetic lower limit for menarche is, on average, about 13 years -Menarche occurs at younger ages in girls who experience chronic stress or who are depressed. hormones elicited by this stress may help to activate the hormones that trigger menarche -paternal investment theory emphasizes the role of fathers in determining the timing of puberty. when girls' childhood experiences indicate that fathers are invested in child rearing, this may delay the timing of maturation. fathers are uninvolved, this may trigger early maturation.

Rate of Maturation

-puberty begins at age 10 in the average girl and age 12 in the average boy, for many children, puberty begins months or even years before or after these norms -Maturing early can be harmful for girls. Girls who mature early often lack self-confidence, are less popular, are more likely to be depressed and have behavior problems, and are more likely to smoke and drink -may lead girls to relationships with older boys, and these girls are ill-prepared to cope with the demands of these relationships -when early-maturing girls have warm, supportive parents, they are less likely to suffer the harmful consequences of early maturation -Early-maturing boys are at risk for psychological disorders such as depression; they are also more prone to substance abuse and to sexual activity -Being physically advanced for their age may cause early-maturing boys to have problems with their peers who have not yet matured (leading to depression) and cause them to spend more time with older boys (exposing them to risky behavior). -Late-maturing girls fare well; late-maturing boys are at somewhat greater risk for depression

How does information processing Improve in Adolescence?

-the ability to process information is equal between adolescents and adults (memory, knowledge, and metacognition)

Sexual Maturation

primary sex characteristics refer to organs that are directly involved in reproduction. These include the ovaries, uterus, and vagina in girls and the scrotum, testes, and penis in boys secondary sex characteristics physical signs of maturity not directly linked to the reproductive organs. These include the growth of breasts and the widening of the pelvis in girls, the appearance of facial hair and the broadening of shoulders in boys, and the appearance of body hair and changes in voice and skin in both boys and girls. Menarche the onset of menstruation, typically occurs at about age 13. Early menstrual cycles are usually irregular and without ovulation. Spermarche about age 13, the first spontaneous ejaculation of sperm-laden fluid. Initial ejaculations often contain relatively few sperm; only months or sometimes years later are there sufficient sperm to fertilize an egg