Adolescence

The transition period from childhood to adulthood.

Is adolescence getting longer or shorter?

Physical DevelopmentIt all begins with pubertyPuberty: the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.

Secondary Sexual CharacteristicsNonreproductive sexual characteristicsFemale breastsDeepening of male voiceBody hairJLos Hips

Primary Sexual CharacteristicsThe body structures that make sexual reproduction possible

OvariesTesticlesPenisVagina

When does puberty start?The LandmarksFirst ejaculation for boys

Menstruation for girlsDo we remember these things?

PubertySequence is way more predictable than the timing.How might timing differences affect an adolescent socially?

Cognitive DevelopmentHave the ability to reason but.The reasoning is self-focused. Assume that their experiences are unique.Experience formal operational thought

Lawrence Kohlberg and his stages of MoralityPreconventional MoralityConventional MoralityPostconventional Morality

Preconventional MoralityMorality of self- interestTheir actions are either to avoid punishment or to gain rewards.

Conventional MoralityMorality is based upon obeying laws toMaintain social orderTo gain social approvalI wont speed down Hampton because my friends and family will look down on me. Besides, the world would be chaotic if everyone did it.

Postconventional MoralityMorality based on universal ethical principles.I wont speed down Hampton b/c a society w/o laws is not good. If I feel the law is unjust then Ill try to change it.

Carol GilliganGilligan would go on to criticize Kohlberg's work. This was based on two things. First, he only studied privileged, white men and boys. She felt that this caused a biased opinion against women. Secondly, in his stage theory of moral development, the male view of individual rights and rules was considered a higher stage than women's point of view of development in terms of its caring effect on human relationships.

Social DevelopmentIts all about forming an identity!!!

IdentityOnes sense of self.The idea that an adolescents job is to find oneself by testing various roles.Comes from Erik Eriksons stages of Psychosocial development.

IdentityA dab of color paint is placed on a childs cheek. How the child responds will determine if the child see itself in the mirror or another baby.

A white X is placed on the cheek of an elephant. Will the elephant realize the X is on its own cheek or that the elephant in the mirror has one.

Piagets Theory of Cognitive Development Piaget did not conduct formal experiments, but rather loosely structured interviews in which he posed problems for children to solve, observed their actions carefully, and questioned them about their solutionsWas particularly interested in childrens error, which would provide insights into childrens thought processesAssumed that a child is an active seeker of knowledge and gains an understanding of the world by operating on it

SchemasOrganized units of knowledge about objects, events, and actionsCognitive adaptation involves two processesAssimilation is the interpretation of new experiences in terms of present schemesAccommodation is the modification of present schemes to fit with new experiences

SchemasFor example, a child may call all four-legged creatures doggieThe child learns he needs to accommodate (i.e., change) his schemas, as only one type of four-legged creature is dogIt is through accommodation that the number and complexity of a childs schemes increase and learning occurs

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

SensorimotorBirth - age 2Preoperational2 - 6 yearsConcrete Operational6 - 12 yearsFormal Operational12+ years

Piagets Stages of Cognitive Development

Sensorimotor Stage 0-2Infant learns about the world through their sensory and motor interactions (including reflexes)Lack object permanence, the knowledge than an object exists independent of perceptual contactSymbolic representation of objects and events starts to develop during the latter part of thesensorimotor stage (e.g., use oftelegraphic speech)

Preoperational StageThe childs thinking becomes more symbolic and language-based, but remains egocentric and lacks the mental operations that allow logical thinkingEgocentrism is the inability to distinguish ones own perceptions, thoughts, and feelings from those of othersCannot perceive the world from another persons perspective

AnimismGiving animal qualities to inanimate objects

Preoperational StageConservation is the knowledge that the quantitative properties of an object (such as mass, volume, and number) remain the same despite changes in appearanceSome grasp of conservation marks the end of the preoperational stage and the beginning of the concrete-operational stageThe liquid/beakers problem is a common test of conservation ability

Preoperational StageA major reason why a preoperational child does not understand conservation is that the child lacks an understanding of reversibility, the knowledge that reversing a transformation brings about the conditions that existed before the transformationChilds thinking also reflects centration, the tendency to focus on only one aspect of a problem at a time

Tests of Conservation

Concrete Operational StageChildren (age 6-12) gain a fuller understanding of conservation and other mental operations that allow them to think logically, but only about concrete eventsConservation for liquids, numbers, and matter acquired early, but conservation of length acquired later in the stage

Formal Operational StageThe child (12-adult) gains the capacity for hypothetical-deductive thoughtCan engage in hypothetical thought and in systematic deduction and testing of hypotheses

Formal Operational StageIn one scientific thinking task, the child is shown several flasks of what appear to be the same clear liquid and is told one combination of two of these liquids would produce a clear liquidThe task is to determine which combination would produce the blue liquidThe concrete operational child just starts mixing different clear liquids together haphazardlyThe formal operational child develops a systematic plan for deducing what the correct combination must be by determining all of the possible combinations and then systematically testing each one

Evaluation of Piagets TheoryRecent research has shown that rudiments of many of Piagets key concepts (e.g., object permanence) may begin to appear at earlier stages than Piaget proposedFor example, research that involved tracking infants eye movements has found that infants as young as 3 months continue to stare at the place where the object disappeared from sight, indicating some degree of object permanence

Evaluation of Piagets TheoryNot all people reach formal operational thoughtThe theory may be biased in favor of Western cultureThere is no real theory of what occurs after the onset of adolescenceDespite refinements, recent research has indeed shown that cognitive development seems to proceed in the general sequence of stages that Piaget proposed