HDFS 411 Exam 1
Limbic system
neural system located below the cerebral hemispheres; associated with emotions and drives
What are the key neurotransmitters that play a role in "mood swings"?
norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin
How does Cameron define gender? How is their definition different from how gender is typically construed in our culture?
"Gender is one variable of a person's identity, and sexual orientation is another"
Blakemore Ted Talk: Key points
- The prefrontal cortex dramatically changes the most during adolescence - significant decline in grey matter volume - adolescents take more risks and care more about social situations than adults do
Advice for parents on supporting their teens' healthy identity development
- encourage exploration and curiosity - Support your kids in choosing what interests them. Don't push your agenda on them. - Let your teen learn from their choices and natural consequences - Don't try to live your life through your kids. - authoritative parenting styles work best
Definitions and concepts of gender (Deutsch)
- gender can be thought of in three ways 1) as activity 2) as structure 3) as an interaction of activity and structure - gender interacts with race and class, personal experience, and identity. - gender definition: psychological sense of self and how you perceive yourself
Notion of an adolescent identity crisis
- identity crisis is the failure to achieve ego identity during adolescence - the key to resolving identity crisis lies in interactions with others (pick traits from around) - identity cohesion vs. role confusion. During this stage, adolescents are faced with physical growth, sexual maturity, and integrating ideas of themselves and about what others think of them. Adolescents therefore form their self-image and endure the task of resolving the crisis of their basic ego identity.
Sleep facts
- your body is programmed to feel sleepy two times a day - adults still need substantial sleep as they get older - we spend 20-25% of each night dreaming - stress and anxiety is the most common cause of nightmares - driving while drowsy is similar to driving while intoxicated - your body can catch up on sleep. If you didn't get enough sleep one night, but take naps throughout the rest of the week you will be caught up - blurred vision is caused by not getting enough sleep - not getting enough sleep can lead to weight gain - sleep disorders can be related to heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke - Chronic insomnia is when a person has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep at least three nights a week for a month or longe - FOR ADOLESCENTS: Less sleep means more likely to drive drowsy, have more absences in school, worse grades
The regulatory system (domains of heightened sensitivity)
-Abilities to exercise self-control, planning ahead, and making decisions -Self-regulation is critical to be successful in life -Self-regulation is developmentally out of balance at this age -Tremendous growth and self-regulation during adolescence - Self-regulation can be taught, but there's a lot of factors that play into it (For example; poverty, violence, traumatic experiences, lack of education, etc) -Youth with those factors may have delays in self-regulation, may not be able to use effective coping strategies and overreact in stressful situations
According to Steinberg, what are the 3 reasons identity is a central concern of adolescence?
1) They are aware that their parents and peers see them in different lights; 2) they behave differently in different situations 3) the way they appear to others doesn't always reflect how they feel inside.
top 3 causes of death in adolescence
1. Accidents or unintentional injuries - 48% 2. Homicide - 13% 3. Suicide- 11%
How does Steinberg view exploration and experimentation in adolescence? How does he differentiate between a normal and concerning "identity crisis"?
A period of exploration, of trying on different roles and identities, is a necessary part of this process. Ideally, exploration will lead to commitment. It is normal for teens to try on many different hats during this stage, it is only concerning if the teen's identity crisis is acute (seriously distressed about who she is), pervasive (The teenager's distress extends to three or more of the following areas: long-term goals, career choices, friendship patterns, sexuality, religious identity, moral values, and group loyalties), paralyzing (The teenager is so obsessed with identity questions that she performs poorly at school and is unable to enjoy friends and social activities), or persistent (The distress and confusion continue for weeks, even months, with little relief)
Walsh says don't ask "Why do smart teens to do stupid things?", instead ask "What's going on inside their brains?" - What does he mean?
All teenagers, no matter how smart they are, get involved with risky behaviors that might make their parents question them. By this statement, Walsh is referring to the hormones in teens brain that make them engage in this sort of risky behavior as well as have a quickness to anger.
Steinberg says we need a different societal approach to adolescence. What major public health issues does he point to as reasons? Which ones surprise you most?
America has spent a lot of money trying to fix these problems, but the rates are still incredibly high. Some of these issues are health and sex education, rates of adolescent drug abuse, depression, obesity, unintended pregnancy, and youth crime and aggression rates.
Is puberty a physical transition, social transition, or both? Explain.
Both. Our bodies are changing physically throughout puberty as well as our social lives. This social transition is supposed to presage a switch into adult social roles.
Metaplasticity
Certain experiences not only stimulate neuron-biological change, but enhance the potential for further change. interaction among different plastic changes in the brain
Walsh offers "Dos" and "Don'ts" for parents of adolescents. What are they and how do they relate to parenting style?
DO's: - Adjust expectations about adolescent behavior in light of their brain changes. - Examine your parenting style to determine if it is permissive, authoritarian, or structured. - Follow the structured parenting approach, which emphasizes clear limits and enforcement of consequences in a caring and respectful manner. - Practice a lot of patience. It often helps to remember your own adolescent years. - Get support from other parents and friends. Comparing stories lessens the burden. - Loosen but don't let go. - Know where your kids are and what they are doing. If you suspect they are lying about their whereabouts, let them know you will be checking up, and then do so. - Maintain and enforce standards of behavior. Respect and decency needn't disappear just because teens are having a brain growth spurt. DON'T's: - Don't tolerate abusive or disrespectful behavior. Stop any conversation if your teen starts to swear at you or threaten you. - Make it clear that all privileges are suspended until you can finish the conversation without that behavior. - Don't get caught in the trap of destructive verbal battles. - Don't make mountains out of molehills. There are plenty of important issues to pay attention to.
Describe the case of adolescent vehicular homicide described at the start of the chapter. Should Danny have been tried as a juvenile or as an adult? How does brain science factor in to his defense?
Danny, a 17 year old boy, was drinking (0.6 alcohol in his blood) and in a fight with his girlfriend and kept calling/texting her while driving. He swerved into the oncoming lane, got a DUI, and killed a mother of three. He should have been charged as a juvenile, but was charged as an adult. Teens make riskier decisions than adults do, during adolescence the brain is trying to reorganize its information.
What are the outward physical changes used to determine pubertal stage in girls?
Development of breasts, pubic hair, and wider hips
Define/compare developmental plasticity versus adult plasticity? What does it mean that plasticity is experience dependent? When we practice/learning something new/train a cognitive ability, what happens in the brain?
During the early years, the brain is especially malleable, but we now know that brain plasticity increases during adolescence and remains high into adulthood. The brain is not as plastic as it was in younger years, but adult brains still have some plasticity. The plasticity experience is dependent because it depends on many external factors- such as drug use and other risky behaviors.
What is epigenetics and how does it apply to puberty?
Epigenetics is the study of sections of your DNA (called marks or markers) that essentially tell your genes when and how strongly to express themselves. These epigenetic marks control not only your health and longevity, but also how you pass your genes on to future generations During puberty, we are sensitive to environmental impacts
The Reward System (Domains of heightened sensitivity in adolescence)
Experience pleasure, rewards vs punishment Sensitivity to rewards peak in adolescence (peaking at 12-15 years of age) Increase in self-regulation More sensitive to sweet tastes and enjoy it more from 12-15 then when you get older
Major mental health disorders, with a few exceptions, typically begin at what age, on average?
Fourteen
Describe the difference between the age of puberty onset now versus 40 years ago.
Girls get their first period, on average, approximately 6 months earlier than girls did 40 years ago, but they get their breasts up to 2 years earlier.
Major public health disparities in adolescence
Health outcome seen to greater or lesser extent between populations Often used to refer to racial/ethnic differences in health But includes race/ethnicity, sex, sexual identity, age, disability, socioeconomic status, geographic location Social factors can affect health
The relationship system (domains of heightened sensitivity in adolescence)
More romantic relationships and solid platonic friendships are beginning to form Thinking about and viewing other people At this time, very concerned about how others view us Shown evidence of heightened positive and negative social responses
What is parental overidentification and parental overcontrol? Why are they problematic?
Parental overidentification is when parents have hopes for their children and are upset/hurt when those ideals don't come true. Ex: wanting your son to play sports, but he is into computers instead. Parental overcontrol refers to taking control of many aspects of a child's life.
Explain the 3 phases of reorganization of the limbic system and prefrontal cortex
Phase one: starting the engines; the limbic system is more easily aroused. Teens are now more emotional than ever before, more sensitive to others opinions, and more determined to have exciting and intense experiences Phase two: developing a better braking system. This phase is gradual, it starts in preadolescence and ends around the age 16. During this phase, the prefrontal cortex is slowly becoming better organized. Advanced thinking abilities/executive functioning strengthens. This improves decision making, problem solving, and planning ahead. Phase three: Putting a skilled driver behind the wheel. This phase is not finished until the early 20's, the brain is now becoming more interconnected. This increase in connectivity results in mature and more dependable self-regulation.
Pruning
Pruning Process refers to the normally occurring process that change and reduce the number of neurons, synapses and axons that exist within the brain and nervous system. Forgetting information that is no longer important.
Self-esteem vs. self-efficacy
Self-esteem refers to self-respect/self-worth, whereas self-efficacy refers to one's belief about whether he or she can successfully execute a specific behavior.
What happens with brain growth in adolescence?
Significant growth of gray matter and white matter
How does Steinberg define adolescence and what is his rationale?
Steinberg defines adolescence as the period between the ages 10 and 25. It is a stage of life where people are less mature than they will be when they are adults. He defines this age range as adolescence because the brain isn't full mature until the early twenties and many individuals in their early twenties are still partially financially dependent from their parents.
How can extracurricular activities and community service play a role in adolescent identity development?
Teens active in their community and who are involved in extracurriculars have started to develop occupational identity. This is also good for socialization and identity.
What does Steinberg say is the singlemost important contributor to achievement, mental health, and social success?
The capacity for self-regulation
Domains of heightened sensitivity in adolescence
The three R's: reward system, relationship system, and regulatory system can be either helpful or dangerous to an adolescent training brains vs. creating a toxic lifelong habit
How is the nucleus accumbens related to experiences feeling more pleasurable during adolescence?
The nucleus accumbens is a small structure inside the limbic system. The nucleus accumbens is the most active part of the brain for experiencing pleasure. It gets bigger from childhood to adolescence, then shrinks again into adulthood.
What is the "peer effect"? It's more than just "peer influence" - how so?
The peer effect is when adolescence behave or act differently when their friends are around. They may make riskier decisions just because their friends are watching.
What is the "reminiscence bump" and what's the correct explanation for it?
The reminiscence bump refers to the special clarity of adolescent memories. The reminiscence bump isn't due to the better memory during adolescence, but the nature of the events that happened.
What does Steinberg mean by, "the impact of puberty on how we function is more far-reaching than its impact on our physical appearance, reproductive capability, and libido"?
These substances chemically alter the circuits in the brain. Sex hormones promote myelination, stimulate the development of new neurons, and facilitate synaptic pruning. Puberty makes the brain more sensitive to all sorts of environmental influences, both good and bad.
Deutsch proposes that gender can be viewed as activity, structure, and an interaction of the two. What does this mean?
This view of gender centralizes human action while acknowledging the power of social structures.
How do identity and moral development shift from early to mid to later adolescence?
Where the young adolescent saw· rules as something adults impose on young people, often arbitrarily, the older adolescent sees rules as coming from society and serving a necessary function.
Are age-related changes in self-regulation seen cross-culturally?
Yes, but parenting styles vary which could switch up some of these changes a little bit.
Who is James Tanner and what is he famous for?
a British paediatric endocrinologist who was best known for his development of the Tanner scale, which measures the stages of sexual development during puberty
how does puberty effect identity development?
adolescent becomes aware of changes, begins to explore romantic relationships, and often changes view of self
plasticity in adolescence
changes in the brain's neural structure in response to experience during its growth and development (adolescence)
What does the prefrontal cortex do?
decision-making, planning, planning what you're going to do tomorrow or next week or next year, inhibiting inappropriate behavior, social interaction, understanding other people, and self-awareness.
What does the limbic system do?
emotion processing and reward processing
historical trends in pubertal onset/explanations for any changes (Greenspan & Deardoff)
excess fat increases leptin chemical exposure in foods social and psychological stressors tell the body to pass on genes quicker
What are the three main factors/domains thought to influence this difference in puberty?
excess fat, Exposure to chemicals that disrupt healthy human biology, especially the hormonal system, and Social and psychological stressors (e.g., early childhood trauma, poor familial relationships)
What is identity moratorium?
exploration without having reached commitment; a time out
myelination
growth of white matter; provides support and protection for neurons and stabilizes the connections that have been formed increases through adulthood (new skills aren't impossible in adulthood, just harder)
Definitions and concepts of gender from Cameron's perspective (Kuklin)
society should describe gender as being on a spectrum. It is limiting to only lie in between being a boy and a girl when there are so many other genders out there that do not lie on the spectrum.
Neuroplasticity
the ability within the brain to constantly change both the structure and function of many cells in response to experience or trauma VERY high in adolescence
What is neuroplasticity? What does Steinberg mean by "it cuts both ways"?
the ability within the brain to constantly change both the structure and function of many cells in response to experience or trauma. "it cuts both ways" refers to the brain's malleability that makes adolescence a tremendous period of opportunity, but has great risk. If we expose young people to positive environments, they will flourish. But if the environments are toxic, they will suffer in powerful and enduring ways.
What's an "internal home"?
the entire set of mind habits, memories, social and cultural traditions, personal theories about the world, philosophical issues a person always carries hidden inside them at all time
neuroendocrine system
the hormonal systems involved in emotions and stress
Intersectionality (Crenshaw)
the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group regarded as creating overlapping systems of discrimination or disadvantage
What is the neuroendocrine system and how is it involved in puberty?
the neuroendocrine system = the endocrine system + the brain + the nervous system; responsible for fight or flight
