Ch. 3- The Brain and Cognitive Development

Are intelligence and creativity related?

Although most creative adolescents are quite intelligent, the reverse is not necessarily true (Lubart, 2003). Many highly intelligent adolescents are not very creative.

Two types of social thinking

David Elkind (1976) argues that adolescent egocentrism can be dissected into two types of social thinking—imaginary audience and personal fable.

Adolescent egocentrism

The heightened self-consciousness of adolescents, which is reflected in their belief that others are as interested in them as they are in themselves, and in their sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability.

Prefrontal cortex

The highest level of the frontal lobes that is involved in reasoning, decision making, and self-control—continue through the emerging adult years, approximately 18 to 25 years of age

Amygdala

The limbic system structure that is especially involved in emotion

Schema

A mental concept or framework that is useful in organizing and interpreting information. Piaget was especially interested in how children and adolescents use schemas to organize and make sense out of their current experiences.

Convergent thinking

A pattern of thinking in which individuals produce one correct answer; characteristic of the items on conventional intelligence tests.

Good strategies for increasing adolescents' creative-thinking skills

Here are some good strategies for increasing adolescents' creative-thinking skills: Have adolescents engage in brainstorming and come up with as many ideas as possible. Brainstorming is a technique in which individuals are encouraged to come up with creative ideas in a group, play off each other's ideas, and say practically anything that comes to mind. However, recognize that some adolescents are more creative when they work alone. Indeed, one review of research on brainstorming concluded that for many individuals, working alone can generate more ideas and better ideas than working in groups (Rickards & deCock, 2003). One reason for this is that in groups, some individuals contribute only a few ideas, whereas others do most of the creative thinking. Nonetheless, there may be benefits to brainstorming, such as team building, that support its use. Introduce adolescents to environments that stimulate creativity. Some settings nourish creativity; others depress it (Baer & Kaufman, 2013). People who encourage creativity often rely on adolescents' natural curiosity. They provide exercises and activities that stimulate adolescents to find insightful solutions to problems, rather than asking a lot of questions that require rote answers. Adults also encourage creativity by taking adolescents to locations where creativity is valued. Don't overcontrol. Teresa Amabile (1993) says that telling individuals exactly how to do things leaves them feeling that any originality is a mistake and any exploration is a waste of time. Letting adolescents select their interests and supporting their inclinations are less likely to destroy their natural curiosity than dictating which activities they should engage in. Build adolescents' confidence. To expand adolescents' creativity, encourage them to believe in their own ability to create something innovative and worthwhile. Building adolescents' confidence in their creative skills aligns with Bandura's (2012) concept of self-efficacy, the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes. Encourage internal motivation. The excessive use of prizes such as gold stars or money can stifle creativity by undermining the intrinsic pleasure adolescents derive from creative activities. Creative adolescents' motivation is the satisfaction generated by the work itself. Competition for prizes and formal evaluations often undermine intrinsic motivation and creativity (Amabile & Hennessey, 1992; Hennessey, 2011). Guide adolescents to be persistent and to delay gratification. Most highly successful creative products take years to develop. Most creative individuals work on ideas and projects for months and years without being rewarded for their efforts (Sternberg & Williams, 1996). Adolescents don't become experts at sports, music, or art overnight. It usually takes many years of working at something to become an expert at it; the same is true for a creative thinker who produces a unique, worthwhile product. Encourage adolescents to take intellectual risks. Creative individuals take intellectual risks and seek to discover or invent something never before discovered or invented (Sternberg & Williams, 1996). They risk spending extensive time on an idea or project that may not work. Adolescents' creativity benefits when they are not afraid of failing or getting something wrong (Baer & Kaufman, 2013). Introduce adolescents to creative people. Think about some of the most creative people in your community. Teachers can invite these people to their classrooms and ask them to describe what helps them become creative or to demonstrate their creative skills. A writer, poet, musician, scientist, and many others can bring their props and productions to the class, turning it into a theater for stimulating students' creativity.

Early formal operational thought

Adolescents' newfound ability to think in hypothetical ways produces unconstrained thoughts with unlimited possibilities. In this early period, flights of fantasy may submerge reality and the world is perceived subjectively and idealistically. Assimilation is the dominant process in this subperiod.

Students becoming more creative

An important teaching goal is to help students become more creative. Teachers need to recognize that students will show more creativity in some domains than in others (Kaufman & Sternberg, 2012, 2013). A student who shows creative-thinking skills in mathematics may not exhibit these skills in art, for example.

Mental age (MA)

An individual's level of mental development relative to that of others, a concept developed by Binet

Social constructivist approach

Approach that emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction. Vygotsky's theory

Late formal operational thought

As adolescents test their reasoning against experience, intellectual balance is restored. Through accommodation, adolescents begin to adjust to the upheaval they have experienced. Late formal thought may appear in the middle adolescent years.

Cautions about IQ that can help you avoid the pitfalls of using information about an adolescent's intelligence in negative ways

Avoid stereotyping and expectations. A special concern is that the scores on an IQ test easily can lead to stereotypes and expectations about adolescents. Sweeping generalizations are too often made on the basis of an IQ score. An IQ test should always be considered a measure of current performance. It is not a measure of fixed potential. Maturational changes and enriched environmental experiences can advance an adolescent's intelligence. Know that IQ is not a sole indicator of competence. Another concern about IQ tests occurs when they are used as the main or sole assessment of competence. A high IQ is not the ultimate human value. It is important to consider not only students' competence in such areas as verbal skills but also their practical skills, their relationship skills, and their moral values (Mayer & others, 2011).

Similarities between Sternberg and Gardner's theories

Both Gardner's and Sternberg's theories include one or more categories related to social intelligence. In Gardner's theory, the categories are interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence; in Sternberg's theory, practical intelligence

Control Attention and Reduce Interfering Thoughts

Controlling attention is a key aspect of learning and thinking in adolescence and emerging adulthood (Rueda & Posner, 2013). Distractions that can interfere with attention in adolescence and emerging adulthood come from the external environment (other students talking while the student is trying to listen to a lecture, or the student turning on a laptop during a lecture and looking at a new friend request on Facebook, for example) or intrusive distractions from competing thoughts in the individual's mind. Self-oriented thoughts, such as worrying, self-doubt, and intense emotionally laden thoughts may especially interfere with focusing attention on thinking tasks (Walsh, 2011).

Executive function

Especially important in adolescent cognition are higher-order, complex cognitive processes, an umbrella-like concept where cognitive processes are linked to the development of the brain's prefrontal cortex and involve managing one's thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and exercise self-control (Carlson, Claxton, & Moses, 2015; Fuhs & Others, 2014; Muller & Kerns, 2015; Peng & Fuchs, 2014). Executive function is hard at work when adolescents are making decisions, thinking critically, and engaged in thinking about thinking.

Analysis of Vygotsky's theory

Even though their theories were proposed at about the same time, most of the world learned about Vygotsky's theory later than they learned about Piaget's theory, so Vygotsky's theory has not yet been evaluated as thoroughly. Vygotsky's view of the importance of sociocultural influences on children's development fits with the current belief that it is important to evaluate the contextual factors in learning (Crosnoe & Benner, 2015; Murry & others, 2015).

Cultural and Educational Influences

Finally, culture and education exert stronger influences on development than Piaget envisioned (Gauvain & Perez, 2015). For example, the age at which individuals acquire conservation skills is associated to some extent with the degree to which their culture provides relevant educational practice (Cole, 2006). In many developing countries, educational opportunities are limited and formal operational thought is rare. You will read shortly about Lev Vygotsky's theory of cognitive development, in which culture is given a more prominent role than in Piaget's theory.

Gardner's Eight Frames of Mind

Howard Gardner (1983, 1993, 2002, 2014) suggests there are eight types of intelligence, or "frames of mind." These are described here, with examples of the types of vocations in which they are reflected as strengths (Campbell, Campbell, & Dickinson, 2004): Verbal. The ability to think in words and use language to express meaning (occupations: authors, journalists, speakers) Mathematical. The ability to carry out mathematical operations (occupations: scientists, engineers, accountants) Spatial. The ability to think three-dimensionally (occupations: architects, artists, sailors) Bodily-kinesthetic. The ability to manipulate objects and be physically adept (occupations: surgeons, craftspeople, dancers, athletes) Musical. A sensitivity to pitch, melody, rhythm, and tone (occupations: composers, musicians). Interpersonal. The ability to understand and effectively interact with others (occupations: successful teachers, mental health professionals) Intrapersonal. The ability to understand oneself (occupations: theologians, psychologists) Naturalist: The ability to observe patterns in nature and understand natural and human-made systems (occupations: farmers, botanists, ecologists, landscapers)

Cognition and Emotion

Labouvie-Vief and her colleagues (Labouvie-Vief, 2009; Labouvie-Vief, Gruhn, & Studer, 2010) also argue that to understand cognitive changes in adulthood it is necessary to consider how emotional maturity might affect cognitive development. They conclude that although emerging and young adults become more aware that emotions influence their thinking, at this point thinking is often swayed too strongly by negative emotions that can produce distorted and self-serving perspectives. In this research, a subset of emerging adults who are high in empathy, flexibility, and autonomy are more likely to engage in complex, integrated cognitive-emotional thinking. Labouvie-Vief and her colleagues have found that the ability to think in this cognitively and emotionally balanced, advanced manner increases in middle adulthood. Further, they emphasize that in middle age, individuals become more inwardly reflective and less context-dependent in their thinking than they were as young adults. In the work of Labouvie-Vief and her colleagues, we see the effort to discover connections between cognitive and socioemotional development, which is an increasing trend in the field of life-span development.

Metacognition skills

Metacognitive skills have been taught to students to help them solve problems. In one study, for each of 30 daily lessons involving verbal math problems, a teacher guided low-achieving students in learning to recognize when they did not know the meaning of a word, did not have all the necessary information to solve a problem, did not know how to subdivide a problem into specific steps, or did not know how to carry out a computation (Cardelle-Elawar, 1992). After completing these lessons, the students who had received the metacognitive training had better math achievement and better attitudes toward math.

Social cognition

Refers to the way individuals conceptualize and reason about their social worlds—the people they watch and interact with, their relationships with those people, the groups they participate in, and the way they reason about themselves and others.

School environments and creativity

School environments that encourage independent work, are stimulating but not distracting, and make resources readily available are likely to encourage students' creativity. There is mounting concern that the U.S. government's No Child Left Behind legislation has harmed the development of students' creative thinking by focusing attention on memorization of materials to do well on standardized tests (Kaufman & Sternberg, 2012, 2013).

Three important memory systems

Short-term memory Working memory Long-term memory

Pruning

That is, in the language of neuroscience, these connections will be "pruned." What results from this pruning is that by the end of adolescence individuals have "fewer, more selective, more effective neuronal connections than they did as children" (Kuhn, 2009, p. 153). And this pruning indicates that the activities adolescents choose to engage in and not to engage in influence which neural connections will be strengthened and which will disappear.

Sustained attention

The ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time. Staying focused on reading this chapter from start to finish without interruption is an example of sustained attention.

Emotional intelligence

The ability to perceive and express emotion accurately and adaptively (such as taking the perspective of others), to understand emotion and emotional knowledge (such as understanding the roles that emotions play in friendship and marriage), to use feelings to facilitate thought (such as being in a positive mood, which is linked to creative thinking), and to manage emotions in oneself and others (such as being able to control one's anger). Has been popularized by Daniel Goleman (1995) in his book Emotional Intelligence. The concept of emotional intelligence was initially developed by Peter Salovey and John Mayer (1990), In one study, assessment of emotional intelligence predicted high school students' final grades in their courses (Gil-Olarte Marquez, Palomera Martin, & Brackett, 2006).

The Flynn Effect

The worldwide increase in intelligence test scores that has occurred over a short time frame has been called the Flynn effect after the researcher who discovered it—James Flynn (1999, 2007, 2011, 2013).

Critical thinking

Thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating evidence

Synapses

Tiny gaps between dentrites and axons of different neurons

Mindfulness

Being alert, mentally present, and cognitively flexible while going through life's everyday activities and tasks—is an important aspect of thinking critically. Mindful adolescents maintain an active awareness of the circumstances in their life and are motivated to find the best solutions to tasks. They create new ideas, are open to new information, and operate from multiple perspectives. By contrast, adolescents who are not mindful are entrapped in old ideas, engage in automatic behavior, and operate from a single perspective.

Metacognition

Cognition about cognition, or "knowing about knowing", Metacognition can take many forms. It includes thinking about and knowing when and where to use particular strategies for learning or for solving problems (Carretti & others, 2014; Destan & others, 2014). Conceptualization of metacognition includes several dimensions of executive function, such as planning (deciding on how much time to focus on the task, for example), evaluation (monitoring progress toward task completion, for example), and self-regulation (modifying strategies while working on the task, for example) (Dimmitt & McCormick, 2012).

Be Cognitively Flexible

Cognitive flexibility involves being aware that options and alternatives are available and adapting to the situation. Before adolescents and emerging adults adapt their behavior in a situation, they need to become aware that they ought to change their way of thinking and be motivated to do so. Having confidence in their ability to adapt their thinking to a particular situation, an aspect of self-efficacy, also is important in being cognitively flexible (Bandura, 2012).

Divided attention

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time. An example of divided attention is text messaging while listening to an instructor's lecture.

The Neuroconstructivist View

n the increasingly popular neuroconstructivist view, (a) biological processes (genes, for example) and environmental experiences (enriched or impoverished, for example) influence the brain's development; (b) the brain has plasticity and is context dependent; and (c) development of the brain is linked closely with cognitive development. These factors constrain or advance the construction of cognitive skills (Monahan & others, 2015; Westermann, Thomas, & Karmiloff-Smith, 2011). The neuroconstructivist view emphasizes the importance of interactions between experiences and gene expression in the brain's development, much as the epigenetic view proposes (Dennis & others, 2014; Holman & de Villers-Sidani, 2014).

Corpus callosum

A large bundle of axon fibers that connects the brain's left and right hemispheres, thickens in adolescence, and this thickening improves adolescents' ability to process information

Divergent thinking

A pattern of thinking in which individuals produce many answers to the same question; more characteristic of creativity than convergent thinking.

Intelligence quotient (IQ),

A person's mental age divided by chronological age (CA), multiplied by 100 created by William Stern

Triarchic theory of intelligence

A theory by Robert Sternberg which states that intelligence comes in three forms: (1) analytical intelligence, which refers to the ability to analyze, judge, evaluate, compare, and contrast; (2) creative intelligence, which consists of the ability to create, design, invent, originate, and imagine; and (3) practical intelligence, which involves the ability to use, apply, implement, and put ideas into practice. Sternberg (2014a, b, 2015a, b, c) says that students with different triarchic patterns perform differently in school. Students with high analytic ability tend to be favored in conventional schools. They often do well in classes in which the teacher lectures and gives objective tests. They often are considered smart students, typically get good grades, do well on traditional IQ tests and the SAT, and later gain admission to competitive colleges.Students who are high in creative intelligence often are not in the top rung of their class. Creatively intelligent students might not conform to the expectations that teachers have about how assignments should be done. They give unique answers, for which they might get reprimanded or marked down. Like students high in creative intelligence, students who are practically intelligent often do not relate well to the demands of school. However, these students frequently do well outside the classroom's walls. Their social skills and common sense may allow them to become successful managers, entrepreneurs, or politicians, despite undistinguished school records.

Biological changes or environmental experiences shape the brain

A topic of some controversy involves which comes first—biological changes in the brain or experiences that stimulate these changes (Lerner, Boyd, & Du, 2008). Consider a study in which the prefrontal cortex thickened and more brain connections formed when adolescents resisted peer pressure (Paus & others, 2007). A recent study also found that adolescents from Mexican backgrounds with greater family obligation values showed decreased activation in the brain's regions (ventral striatum) involving reward sensitivity, which was linked to less real-life risk-taking behavior, and increased activation in the brain's regions (prefrontal cortex) involving cognitive control, which was associated with better decision-making skills (Telzer & others, 2014). Scientists have yet to determine whether the brain changes come first or whether the brain changes are caused by experiences with peers, parents, and others. Once again, we encounter the nature-nurture issue that is so prominent in examining development through the life span. Nonetheless, there is adequate evidence that environmental experiences make important contributions to the brain's development (Monahan & others, 2015; Zelazo, 2013). According to leading expert Jay Giedd (2007, pp. 1-2D), "Biology doesn't make teens rebellious or have purple hair or take drugs. It does not mean you are going to do drugs, but it gives you more of a chance to do that."

Psypsychometric/intelligence view

A view that emphasizes the importance of individual differences in intelligence; many advocates of this view also argue that intelligence should be assessed with intelligence tests.

Developmental Changes

Adolescence is an important transitional period in the development of critical thinking (Keating, 1990). In one study of fifth-, eighth-, and eleventh-graders, critical thinking increased with age but still occurred only in 43 percent of eleventh-graders (Klaczynski & Narasimham, 1998). Many adolescents showed self-serving biases in their thinking. Among the cognitive changes that allow improved critical thinking during adolescence are the following: Increased speed, automaticity, and capacity of information processing, which free cognitive resources for other purposes Greater breadth of content knowledge in a variety of domains Increased ability to construct new combinations of knowledge A greater range and more spontaneous use of strategies and procedures for obtaining and applying knowledge, such as planning, considering the alternatives, and cognitive monitoring

Structural changes in the brain during adolescence

Among the most important structural changes in the brain during adolescence are those involving the corpus callosum, the prefrontal cortex, the limbic system, and the amygdala

Education can help shape adolescents' brains

Another commonly promoted link between neuroscience and brain education is the assertion that most of the key changes in the brain occur prior to adolescence (Fischer & Immordino-Yang, 2008). However, recent research on the plasticity of the adolescent's brain and the continuing development of the prefrontal cortex through adolescence support the view that education can benefit adolescents considerably (Blakemore & Mills, 2014; Giedd, 2012). In this regard, higher-level cognitive functioning, especially in managing one's thoughts, engaging in goal-directed behavior, and controlling emotions, as discussed later in this chapter, are especially important potential areas of change in adolescence (Bradshaw & others, 2012).

Increased tendency to think about thought itself in adolescents

Another indication of the abstract quality of adolescents' thought is their increased tendency to think about thought itself. As one adolescent commented, "I began thinking about why I was thinking what I was. Then I began thinking about why I was thinking about why I was thinking about what I was." If this statement sounds abstract, it is, and it characterizes the adolescent's enhanced focus on thought and its abstract qualities

Equilibration

Another process Piaget identified, is a shift in thought from one state to another. At times adolescents experience cognitive conflict or a sense of disequilibrium in their attempt to understand the world. Eventually they resolve the conflict and reach a balance, or equilibrium, of thought. Piaget maintained that individuals move back and forth between states of cognitive equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Environment's influence on intelligence

Another way to study the environment's influence on intelligence is to compare adolescents who have experienced different amounts of schooling. Schooling does influence intelligence, with the largest effects occurring when adolescents have had no formal education for an extended period, which is linked to lower intelligence (Ceci & Gilstrap, 2000).

Adolescents' information processing and thinking

Deanna Kuhn (2009) has discussed some important characteristics of adolescents' information processing and thinking. In her view, in the later years of childhood, and continuing in adolescence, individuals approach cognitive levels that may or may not be achieved, in contrast with the largely universal cognitive levels that young children attain. By adolescence, considerable variation in cognitive functioning is present across individuals. This variability supports the argument that adolescents are producers of their own development to a greater extent than are children.

Wisdom

Expert knowledge about the practical aspects of life that permits excellent judgment about important matters.

Expertise

Expertise Recently psychologists have shown increased interest in exploring the differences between experts and novices in a specific knowledge domain (Guida & others, 2012). An expert is the opposite of a novice (someone who is just beginning to learn a content area). What is it, exactly, that experts do so well? They are better than novices at the following activities (National Research Council, 1999): Detecting features and meaningful patterns of information Accumulating more content knowledge and organizing it in a manner that shows an understanding of the topic Retrieving important aspects of knowledge with little effort In areas where children and adolescents are experts, their memory is often extremely good. In fact, it often exceeds that of adults who are novices in that content area. This superiority was documented in a study of 10-year-old chess experts (Chi, 1978). These children were excellent chess players, but not especially brilliant in other ways. As with most 10-year-olds, their memory spans for digits were shorter than an adult's. However, when they were presented with chessboards, they remembered the configurations far better than did the adults who were novices at chess

Selective attention

Focusing on a specific aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant. Focusing on one voice among many in a crowded room is an example of selective attention.

Postformal thought

Has the following characteristics: Reflective, relativistic, and contextual: As young adults engage in solving problems, they might think deeply about many aspects of work, politics, relationships, and other areas of life (Labouvie-Vief, 1986). They find that what might be the best solution to a problem at work (with a boss or co-worker) might not be the best solution at home (with a romantic partner). Thus, postformal thought holds that the correct answer to a problem requires reflective thinking and may vary from one situation to another. Some psychologists argue that reflective thinking continues to increase and becomes more internal and less contextual in middle age (Labouvie-Vief, Gruhn, & Studer, 2010; Mascalo & Fischer, 2010). Provisional: Many young adults also become more skeptical about the truth and seem unwilling to accept an answer as final. Thus, they come to see the search for truth as an ongoing and perhaps never-ending process. Realistic: Young adults understand that thinking can't always be abstract. In many instances, it must be realistic and pragmatic. Recognized: as being influenced by emotion. Emerging and young adults are more likely than adolescents to understand that their thinking is influenced by emotions. However, too often negative emotions produce thinking that is distorted and self-serving at this point in development.

Specific genes linked to intelligence?

Have scientists been able to pinpoint specific genes that are linked to intelligence? A recent research review concluded that there may be more than 1,000 genes that affect intelligence, each possibly having a small influence on an individual's intelligence (Davies & others, 2011). However, researchers have not been able to identify the specific genes that contribute in significant ways to intelligence (Deary, 2012).

Domain-specific thinking skills for adolescents

However, it also is very important to teach domain-specific thinking skills to adolescents (Mayer, 2012). In this regard, a review concluded that one of educational psychology's greatest accomplishments is the teaching of domain-specific thinking skills (Mayer & Wittrock, 2006). Thus, a rich tradition in quality education programs has been the teaching of thinking skills within specific subjects, such as writing, mathematics, science, and history (Allington, 2015; Chapin, 2015; Posamentier & Smith, 2015). Researchers have found that "it is possible to analyze and teach the underlying cognitive processes required in tasks such as comprehending a passage, writing an essay, solving an arithmetic word problem, answering a scientific question, or explaining an historical event ..." (Mayer & Wittrock, 2006).

The Binet Tests

In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a method of identifying children who were unable to learn in school. School officials wanted to reduce crowding by placing students who did not benefit from regular classroom teaching in special schools. Binet and his student Theophile Simon developed an intelligence test to meet this request. The test is called the 1905 Scale. It consisted of 30 questions on topics ranging from the ability to touch one's ear to the ability to draw designs from memory and to define abstract concepts.

Comparsions of Piaget and Vygotsky's theories

In moving from Piaget to Vygotsky, the conceptual shift is from the individual to collaboration, social interaction, and sociocultural activity (Gauvain & Perez, 2015). The end point of cognitive development for Piaget is formal operational thought. For Vygotsky, the end point can differ, depending on which skills are considered to be the most important in a particular culture. For Piaget, children construct knowledge by transforming, organizing, and reorganizing previous knowledge. For Vygotsky, children and adolescents construct knowledge through social interaction (Mahn & John-Steiner, 2013). The implication of Piaget's theory for teaching is that children need support to explore their world and discover knowledge. The main implication of Vygotsky's theory for teaching is that students need many opportunities to learn with the teacher and more-skilled peers. In both Piaget's and Vygotsky's theories, teachers serve as facilitators and guides, rather than as directors and molders of learning.

Two characteristics of information processing

Information processing is influenced by both the capacity and the speed of processing. These two characteristics are often referred to as cognitive resources, and adolescents—especially older adolescents—are better than children at managing and deploying these resources in controlled and purposeful ways (Kuhn & Franklin, 2006). Most information-processing psychologists argue that an increase in capacity improves processing of information (Halford & Andrews, 2011). For example, as adolescents' information-processing capacity increases, they likely can hold in mind several dimensions of a topic or problem simultaneously, whereas younger children are more prone to focus on only one dimension.

Cognitive control

Involves effective control and flexible thinking in a number of areas, including controlling attention, reducing interfering thoughts, and being cognitively flexible. Cognitive control also has been referred to as inhibitory control or effortful control to emphasize the ability to resist a strong inclination to do one thing but instead to do what is most effective (Fino & others, 2014). Think about all the times adolescents and emerging adults need to engage in cognitive control, such as the following activities (Galinsky, 2010): making a real effort to stick with a task, avoiding interfering thoughts or environmental events, and instead doing what is most effective; stopping and thinking before acting to avoid blurting out something that they might later wish they hadn't said; continuing to work on something that is important but boring when there is something a lot more fun to do, but inhibiting their behavior and doing the boring but important task, saying to themselves, "I have to show the self-discipline to finish this." A longitudinal study of an important dimension of executive function—inhibitory control—found that 3- to 11-year-old children who early in development showed better inhibitory control (able to wait their turn, not easily distracted, more persistent, and less impulsive) were more likely to still be in school, less likely to engage in risk-taking behavior, and less likely to be taking drugs in adolescence (Moffitt & others, 2011). Thirty years after they were initially assessed, the children with better inhibitory control had better physical and mental health (they were less likely to be overweight, for example), earned more money in their career, were more law-abiding, and were happier (Moffitt, 2012; Moffitt & others, 2011).

Executive attention

Involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or difficult circumstances. An example of executive attention is effectively deploying attention to engage in the aforementioned cognitive tasks while writing a 10-page paper for a history course.

Development of emotions and passions

Leading researcher Charles Nelson (2003) points out that although adolescents are capable of very strong emotions, their prefrontal cortex hasn't adequately developed to the point at which they can control these passions. It is as if the prefrontal cortex doesn't yet have the brakes to slow down the limbic system's emotional intensity and reward focus. Another researcher describes adolescence as a period that combines "early activation of strong 'turbo-charged' feelings with a relatively un-skilled set of 'driving skills' or cognitive abilities to modulate strong emotions and motivations" (Dahl, 2004, p. 18).

Neuroscience of Intelligence

Might intelligence be linked to specific regions of the brain? Early consensus was that the frontal lobes are the likely location of intelligence. Today, some experts continue to emphasize that the highest level of thinking skills involved in intelligence are linked to the prefrontal cortex (Sternberg & Sternberg, 2013). However, other researchers recently have found that intelligence is distributed more widely across brain regions (Lee & others, 2012; Sepulcre & others, 2012). The most prominent finding from brain-imaging studies is that a distributed neural network involving the frontal and parietal lobes is related to higher intelligence (Margolis & others, 2013; Vakhtin & others, 2014) (see Figure 15). A recent study revealed that the frontoparietal network is responsible for cognitive control and connectivity to brain regions outside the network (Cole & others, 2012). Albert Einstein's total brain size was average, but a region of his brain's parietal lobe that is very active in processing math and spatial information was 15 percent larger than average (Witelson, Kigar, & Harvey, 1999). Other brain regions that have been linked to higher intelligence (although at a lower level of significance than the frontal/parietal lobe network) include the temporal and occipital lobes, as well as the cerebellum (Luders & others, 2009).

Emotion when making decisions

Most people make better decisions when they are calm rather than emotionally aroused, which may especially be true for adolescents (Rivers, Reyna, & Mills, 2008; Steinberg & others, 2009). Recall from our discussion of brain development earlier in the chapter that adolescents have a tendency to be emotionally intense. Thus, the same adolescent who makes a wise decision when calm may make an unwise decision when emotionally aroused (Giedd, 2012). In the heat of the moment, then, adolescents' emotions are especially likely to overwhelm their decision-making ability.

Neurons

Nerve cells, are the nervous system's basic units. A neuron has three basic parts: the cell body, dendrites, and axon. The dendrite is the receiving part of the neuron, and the axon carries information away from the cell body to other cells

Past views on the brain

Not long ago, scientists thought that our genes primarily determine how our brains are "wired" and that the cells in the brain responsible for processing information just develop on their own with little or no input from environmental experiences. According to that view, whatever brain your genes have provided to you, you are essentially stuck with it. That view of the brain, however, turned out to be wrong. Instead, it is clear that the brain has plasticity and its development depends on context (Casey, 2015). The brain depends on experiences to determine how connections are made (Monahan & others, 2015; Stiles & others, 2015; Zelazo, 2013). Before birth, it appears that genes mainly direct basic wiring patterns in the formation of the brain. Neurons grow and travel to distant places awaiting further instructions. After birth, the inflowing stream of sights, sounds, smells, touches, language, and eye contact helps to shape the brain's neural connections. Throughout the human life span, experiences continue to influence the functioning of the brain (Park & others, 2014).

The Wechsler Scales

Not only do the Wechsler scales provide an overall IQ, but they also yield a number of additional composite scores (for example, the Verbal Comprehension Index, the Working Memory Index, and the Processing Speed Index), allowing the examiner to quickly see patterns of strengths and weaknesses in different areas of the student's intelligence.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

One of Vygotsky's most important concepts which refers to the range of tasks that are too difficult for an individual to master alone, but that can be mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled peers. Thus, the lower level of the ZPD is the level of problem solving reached by an adolescent working independently. The upper limit is the level of thinking the adolescent can accept with the assistance of an able instructor (see Figure 5). Vygotsky's emphasis on the ZPD underscored his belief in the importance of social influences on cognitive development (Daniels, 2011).

Heredity and the Environment

One strategy for examining the role of heredity in intelligence is to compare the IQs of identical and fraternal twins. Identical twins have exactly the same genetic makeup, but fraternal twins do not. If intelligence is genetically determined, say some investigators, identical twins' IQs should be more similar than the intelligence of fraternal twins. Researchers have found that the IQs of identical twins are more similar than those of fraternal twins, but in some studies the difference is not very large (Grigorenko, 2000)

Decision Making

One study documents that older adolescents are better at decision making than younger adolescents are (Lewis, 1981). Eighth-, tenth-, and twelfth-grade students were presented with dilemmas involving the choice of a medical procedure. The oldest students were most likely to spontaneously mention a variety of risks, to recommend consultation with an outside specialist, and to anticipate future consequences. For example, when asked a question about whether to have cosmetic surgery, a twelfth-grader said that different aspects of the situation need to be examined along with its effects on the individual's future, especially relationships with other people. In contrast, an eighth-grader presented a more limited view, commenting on the surgery's effects on getting turned down for a date, the money involved, and being teased by peers. Being able to make competent decisions does not guarantee that individuals will make them in everyday life, where breadth of experience often comes into play. As an example, driver-training courses improve adolescents' cognitive and motor skills to levels equal to, or sometimes superior to, those of adults. However, driver training has not been effective in reducing adolescents' high rate of traffic accidents, although recently researchers have found that implementing a graduated driver licensing (GDL) program can reduce crash and fatality rates for adolescent drivers (Keating, 2007). GDL components include a learner's holding period, practice-driving certification, night-driving restriction, and passenger restriction. In addition to GDL, parental monitoring and expectations can reduce adolescents' driving accidents (Keating & Halpern-Felsher, 2008). For example, parents can restrict and monitor the presence of adolescents' peers in the vehicle

Formal Operational Stage

Piaget's fourth and final stage of cognitive development. Piaget argued that this stage emerges at 11 to 15 years of age. Adolescents' developing power of thought opens up new cognitive and social horizons. What are the characteristics of formal operational thought? Most significantly, formal operational thought is more abstract than concrete operational thought. Adolescents are no longer limited to actual, concrete experiences as anchors for thought. They can conjure up make-believe situations—events that are purely hypothetical possibilities or strictly abstract propositions—and try to reason logically about them.

Hypothetical-deductive reasoning

Piaget's term for adolescents' ability, in the formal operational stage, to develop hypotheses, or best guesses, about ways to solve problems; they then systematically deduce, or conclude, the best path to follow in solving the problem.

Piaget's Theory

Piaget's theory is the best-known, most widely discussed theory of adolescent cognitive development. According to his theory, adolescents are motivated to understand their world because doing so is biologically adaptive. Adolescents actively construct their own cognitive worlds; information doesn't just pour into their minds from the environment. To make sense of the world, adolescents organize their experiences, separating important ideas from less important ones and connecting one idea to another. They also adapt their thinking to include new ideas because the additional information furthers their understanding.

Imaginary audience

Refers to the aspect of adolescent egocentrism that involves attention-getting behavior—the attempt to be noticed, visible, and "onstage." An adolescent boy might think that others are as aware of a few hairs that are out of place as he is. An adolescent girl walks into her classroom and thinks that all eyes are riveted on her complexion. Adolescents especially sense that they are onstage in early adolescence, believing they are the main actors and all others are the audience. You may recall the story of my daughter, Tracy, from the beginning of the chapter. Tracy was exhibiting adolescent egocentrism when she perceived that every person in the restaurant was looking at her single out-of-place hair.

Experience and Plasticity

Scientists are especially interested in the extent to which environmental experiences influence the brain's development. They also want to know how much plasticity the brain retains as individuals progress through childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (Casey, 2015; Nudo & McNeal, 2013). One analysis indicated that early adolescence is a time of considerable plasticity in the brain (Gogtay & Thompson, 2010).

Fuzzy-trace theory dual-process model

States that decision making is influenced by two cognitive systems—"verbatim" analytical thinking (literal and precise) and gist-based intuition (simple, bottom-line meaning)—which operate in parallel. According to this theory, it is gist-based intuition that benefits adolescents' decision making most. In this view, adolescents don't benefit from engaging in reflective, detailed, higher-level cognitive analysis about a decision, especially in high-risk, real-world contexts where analysis would cause them to get bogged down in trivial detail. In such contexts, adolescents need to rely on the simple, bottom-line reality that some circumstances are so dangerous that they must be avoided at all costs.

Attentions important for adolescents' cognitive development

Sustained and executive attention also are very important aspects of adolescent cognitive development. As adolescents are required to engage in larger, increasingly complex tasks that require longer time frames to complete, their ability to sustain attention is critical for succeeding on the tasks. An increase in executive attention supports the rapid increase in effortful control required to effectively engage in these complex academic tasks (Rothbart, 2011).

Normal distribution

Symmetrical, with a majority of the scores falling in the middle of the possible range of scores, and few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.

Intelligence

The ability to solve problems and to adapt and learn from experiences, But even this broad definition doesn't satisfy everyone. As you will see shortly, Robert J. Sternberg (2014a, b; 2015a, b, c) proposes that practical know-how should be considered part of intelligence. In his view, intelligence involves weighing options carefully and acting judiciously, as well as developing strategies to improve shortcomings. Sternberg (2014b) also recently described intelligence as the ability to adapt to, shape, and select environments. In adapting to the environment, if individuals find the environment suboptimal, they can change it to make it more suitable for their skills and desires.

Creativity

The ability to think in novel ways and discover unique solutions to problems.

. Accommodation

The adjustment of a schema in response to new information. In accommodation, the schema changes.

Myelination

The axon portion of a neuron becomes covered and insulated with a layer of fat cells (called the myelin sheath), increasing the speed and efficiency of information processing in the nervous system (Buttermore, Thaxton, & Bhat, 2013). Myelination continues during adolescence and emerging adulthood (Steinberg, 2015a, b).

Attention

The concentration and focusing of mental effort. Individuals can allocate their attention in different ways (Ellison & others, 2014; Ristic & Enns, 2015). Psychologists have labeled these types of allocation as selective attention, divided attention, sustained attention, and executive attention.

Assimilation

The incorporation of new information into existing knowledge

Risk taking in adolescents

The increase in risk taking in adolescence is usually thought to result in negative outcomes. However, there are some aspects of risk taking that benefit adolescents. Being open to new experiences and challenges, even risky ones, can help adolescents to stretch themselves to learn about aspects of the world they would not have encountered if they had shied away from such exploration (Allen & Allen, 2009). Later in the chapter, we will revisit the issue of risk taking in the context of adolescents' sense of invulnerability and recent research that distinguishes between different types of vulnerability (Lapsley & Hill, 2010; Lapsley & Stey, 2012).

Personal fable

The part of adolescent egocentrism that involves an adolescent's sense of personal uniqueness and invulnerability. Adolescents' sense of personal uniqueness makes them feel that no one can understand how they really feel. For example, an adolescent girl thinks that her mother cannot possibly sense the hurt she feels because her boyfriend has broken up with her. As part of their effort to retain a sense of personal uniqueness, adolescents might craft stories about themselves that are filled with fantasy, immersing themselves in a world that is far removed from reality. Personal fables frequently show up in adolescent diaries.

Memory

The retention of information over time. It is central to mental life and to information processing (Howe, 2015). To successfully learn and reason, adolescents need to hold on to information and retrieve it when necessary.

Limbic system

The seat of emotions and where rewards are experienced, matures much earlier than the prefrontal cortex and is almost completely developed by early adolescence

Social context in adolescents' decision-making

The social context plays a key role in adolescent decision making (Monahan & others, 2015; Steinberg, 2015a, b). For example, adolescents' willingness to make risky decisions is more likely to occur in contexts where substances and other temptations are readily available (Gerrard & others, 2008; Reyna & Rivers, 2008). Recent research reveals that the presence of peers in risk-taking situations increases the likelihood that adolescents will make risky decisions (Albert & Steinberg, 2011a, b). In one study of risk taking involving a simulated driving task, the presence of peers increased an adolescent's decision to engage in risky driving by 50 percent but had no effect on adults (Gardner & Steinberg, 2005). One view is that the presence of peers activates the brain's reward system, especially dopamine pathways (Steinberg, 2015a, b).

Critics of multiple intelligences

Theories of multiple intelligences have their critics (Jensen, 2008). Some critics argue that the research base to support these theories has not yet developed. In particular, some critics say that Gardner's classification seems arbitrary. For example, if musical skills represent a type of intelligence, why don't we also refer to chess intelligence, prize-fighter intelligence, and so on? A number of psychologists still support the concept of g (general intelligence) (Irwin & others, 2012; Lynn, 2012). For example, one expert on intelligence, Nathan Brody (2007) argues that people who excel at one type of intellectual task are likely to excel in other intellectual tasks. Thus, individuals who do well at memorizing lists of digits are also likely to be good at solving verbal problems and spatial layout problems. This general intelligence includes abstract reasoning or thinking, the capacity to acquire knowledge, and problem-solving ability (Brody, 2007; Carroll, 1993). Some experts who argue for the existence of general intelligence conclude that individuals also have specific intellectual abilities (Brody, 2007; Chiappe & MacDonald, 2005; Hunt, 2011). In one study, John Carroll (1993) conducted an extensive examination of intellectual abilities and concluded that all intellectual abilities are related to each other, a view that supports the concept of general intelligence, but he also pointed out that there are many specialized abilities as well. Some of these specialized abilities, such as spatial abilities and mechanical abilities, are not adequately reflected in the curriculum of most schools. In sum, controversy still surrounds the question of whether it is more accurate to conceptualize intelligence as a general ability, as specific abilities, or as both (Gardner, 2014; Haier & others, 2014). Sternberg (2014a, b, 2015a, b, c) actually accepts that there is a g in the kinds of analytical tasks that traditional IQ tests assess but thinks that the range of intellectual tasks those tests measure is too narrow.

Neo-Piagetians

Theorists who argue that Piaget got some things right but that his theory needs considerable revision. In their revision, they give more emphasis to information processing that involves attention, memory, and strategies; they also seek to provide more precise explanations of cognitive changes. Conclude that Piaget's theory does not adequately focus on attention, memory, and cognitive strategies that adolescents use to process information, and that Piaget's explanations of cognitive changes are too general. They especially maintain that a more accurate vision of children's and adolescents' thinking requires more knowledge of the strategies they use, how rapidly and automatically they process information, the particular cognitive tasks involved in processing information, and the division of cognitive problems into smaller, more precise steps.

Speed of cognitive tasks

There is abundant evidence that the speed with which cognitive tasks are completed improves dramatically across the childhood and adolescent years (Hommel, Li, & Li, 2004; Kail, 2007; Kuhn, 2009). In one study, 10-year-olds were approximately 1.8 times slower in processing information than young adults on tasks involving reaction time and abstract matching (Hale, 1990). Twelve-year-olds were approximately 1.5 times slower than young adults, but 15-year-olds processed information on the tasks as fast as the young adults. Also, a recent study of 8- to 13-year-old children revealed that processing speed increased with age, and also that the developmental change in processing speed preceded an increase in working memory capacity (Kail, 2007). Further, a recent study of 9- to 14-year-olds found that faster processing speed was linked to a higher level of oral reading fluency (Jacobson & others, 2011). A recent meta-analysis (use of statistical techniques to combine the results of studies) confirmed that processing speed improved from childhood through adolescence (Verhaeghen, 2013). In this meta-analysis, the processing speed began to slow down in the latter part of early adulthood and continued to decline thereafter through the remainder of the life span.

Preoperational stage

Which lasts approximately from 2 to 7 years of age, is the second Piagetian stage. In this stage, children begin to represent the world with words, images, and drawings. Symbolic thought goes beyond simple connections of information and action.

Concrete Operational Stage

Which lasts approximately from 7 to 11 years of age, is the third Piagetian stage. Logical reasoning replaces intuitive thought as long as the reasoning can be applied to specific or concrete examples. According to Piaget, concrete operational thought involves operations—mental actions that allow individuals to do mentally what earlier they did physically. Piaget used the term conservation to refer to an individual's ability to recognize that the length, number, mass, quantity, area, weight, and volume of objects and substances does not change through transformations that alter their appearance. Concrete operational thinkers have conservation skills; preoperational thinkers don't. Another characteristic of concrete operational thought is classification, or class inclusion reasoning. Children who engage in classification can systematically organize objects into hierarchies of classes and subclasses.

Sensorimotor stage

Which lasts from birth to about 2 years of age, is the first Piagetian stage. In this stage, infants construct an understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences (such as seeing and hearing) with physical, motoric actions—hence the term sensorimotor.

Reflective and Relativistic Thinking

William Perry (1970, 1999) also described changes in cognition that take place in early adulthood. He said that adolescents often view the world in terms of polarities—right/wrong, we/they, or good/bad. As youth age into adulthood, they gradually move away from this type of absolutist thinking as they become aware of the diverse opinions and multiple perspectives of others. Thus, in Perry's view, the absolutist, dualistic thinking of adolescence gives way to the reflective, relativistic thinking of adulthood. Expanding on Perry's view, Gisela Labouvie-Vief (2006) proposed that the increasing complexity of cultures in the past century has generated a greater need for more reflective, complex thinking that takes into account the changing nature of knowledge and challenges. She also emphasizes that the key aspects of cognitive development in emerging adulthood include deciding on a specific worldview, recognizing that the worldview is subjective, and understanding that diverse worldviews should be acknowledged. In her perspective, considerable individual variation characterizes the thinking of emerging adults, with the highest level of thinking attained only by some. She argues that the level of education emerging adults achieve especially influences how likely they are to maximize their cognitive potential.

Neurotransmitters in brain

With the onset of puberty, the levels of neurotransmitters—chemicals that carry information across the synaptic gap between one neuron and the next—change (McEwen, 2013). For example, an increase in the neurotransmitter dopamine occurs in both the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system during adolescence (Ernst & Spear, 2009). Increases in dopamine have been linked to increased risk taking and the use of addictive drugs (Hou & others, 2014). Researchers have found that dopamine plays an important role in reward seeking (Steinberg, 2014).

Working Memory

a kind of mental "workbench" where individuals manipulate and assemble information when they make decisions, solve problems, and comprehend written and spoken language (Baddeley, 2008, 2010a, b, 2012, 2013). Many psychologists prefer the term working memory over short-term memory to describe how memory works. Working memory is described as more active and powerful in modifying information than is short-term memory. Working memory is linked to many aspects of children's and adolescents' development (Cowan, 2014; Reznick, 2014). One study revealed that working memory capacity at 9 to 10 years of age predicted foreign language comprehension two years later, at 11 to 12 years of age (Andersson, 2010). Another study found that the prefrontal cortex plays a more important role in working memory in late adolescence than in early adolescence (Finn & others, 2010). And a recent research review concluded that children with learning difficulties in reading and math have working memory deficits (Peng & Fuchs, 2015).

Short-term memory

a limited-capacity memory system in which information is retained for as long as 30 seconds, unless the information is rehearsed (repeated), in which case it can be retained longer. A common way to assess short-term memory is to present a list of items to remember, which is often referred to as a memory span task. If you have taken an IQ test, you probably were asked to remember a string of numbers or words. You simply hear a short list of stimuli—usually digits—presented at a rapid pace (one per second, for example). Then you are asked to repeat the digits back. Using the memory span task, researchers have found that short-term memory increases extensively in early childhood and continues to increase in older children and adolescents, but at a slower pace. For example, in one investigation, memory span increased by 1½ digits between the ages of 7 and 12 (Dempster, 1981) (see Figure 7). Keep in mind, though, that individuals have widely varying memory spans, as reflected in their scores on IQ assessments and various aptitude tests.

Long-term memory

ong-term memory is a relatively permanent memory system that holds huge amounts of information for a long period of time. Long-term memory increases substantially in the middle and late childhood years and improvement likely continues during adolescence, although this has not been well documented by researchers. If anything at all is known about long-term memory, it is that it depends on the learning activities engaged in when an individual is acquiring and remembering information (Pressley & Hilden, 2006). Most learning activities fit under the category of strategies, activities under the learner's conscious control. There are many such activities, but one of the most important is organization, the tendency to group or arrange items into categories.

Problems with Piaget's theory

till, his theory does not adequately account for the individual differences that characterize the cognitive development of adolescents, which have been documented in a number of investigations (Kuhn, 2009). Some young adolescents are formal operational thinkers; others are not. For instance, a review of investigations about formal operational thought revealed that only about one of every three eighth-grade students is a formal operational thinker (Strahan, 1983). Some investigators have found that formal operational thought increased with age in adolescence; others have not found this result. In fact, many college students and adults do not think in formal operational ways. Investigators have found that from 17 to 67 percent of college students think on the formal operational level (Elkind, 1961; Tomlinson-Keasey, 1972). Piaget was a genius when it came to observing children. His careful observations documented inventive new ways to discover how children act on and adapt to their world. Piaget showed us some important things to look for in cognitive development, such as the shift from preoperational to concrete operational thinking. He also pointed out that children need to make their experiences fit their schemas, or cognitive frameworks, yet they can simultaneously adapt their schemas based on information gained through experience. He also revealed that cognitive change is likely to occur if the context is structured to allow gradual movement to the next higher level. We owe to Piaget the current belief that a concept does not emerge suddenly, full blown, but develops instead through a series of partial accomplishments that lead to an increasingly comprehensive understanding. Criticisms Piaget's theory has not gone unchallenged (Miller, 2011). Questions are raised about the timing and nature of his stage view of cognitive development, whether he failed to adequately study in detail key cognitive processes, and the effects of culture on cognitive development. Let's consider each of these criticisms in turn. In terms of timing and stages, some cognitive abilities have been found to emerge earlier than Piaget had thought (Johnson & Hannon, 2015; Stiles & others, 2015). For example, conservation of number (which Piaget said emerged at approximately 7 years of age in the concrete operational stage) has been demonstrated as early as age 3 (which instead is early in Piaget's preoperational stage). Other cognitive abilities often emerge later than Piaget indicated (Casey, 2015). Many adolescents still think in concrete operational ways or are just beginning to master formal operations. Even as adults, many individuals are not formal operational thinkers. The evidence does not support Piaget's view that prior to age 11 children don't engage in abstract thinking and that from 11 years onward they do (Kuhn, 2009). Thus, adolescents' cognitive development is not as stage-like as Piaget envisioned (Muller & Kerns, 2015; Ricco, 2015).