Adolescence: Cognitive Development

Adolescence o Girls experience breast enlargement
and a widening of their hips

-typically describes the years between ages 13
o Both sexes develop pubic hair
and 19 and can be considered the transitional
stage from childhood to adulthood. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
-physical and psychological changes that occur • Adolescents often show only rudimentary
in adolescence can start earlier, during the skills
preteen or "tween" years (ages 9 through 12).
• period of formal operations
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
- the last of Piaget’s stages of intellectual
• growth spurt development, when thought is no longer
Growth is quite rapid compared to earlier in the dependent on concrete operations tied
lifespan to immediately present objects and
actions, but is based on reasoning about
• emergence of secondary sexual abstract propositions and the evaluation
characteristics of alternative possible outcomes
o In girls: Increase in subcutaneous fat SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
and rounding of the body, the
• Gender and sexual development
beginnings of breasts and, towards the
end of the spurt, pubic hair and the o During childhood, cross-sex interests
menarche (the first period) are tolerated to some extent in girls. But
o In boys, the penis, testes and scrotum in adolescence, parents and peers tend
begin to enlarge, pubic hair appears, the to provide stronger messages about
voice begins to deepen, and muscles acceptable and unacceptable behavior –
grow and strengthen there is a narrowing of the gender
o At around 13 to 14, most boys ‘pathways’ as we move closer to our
experience ejaculations or nocturnal adult roles
emissions (wet dreams).
o increased production of estrogen (in o In societies that do allow for mixed
girls) and androgen (in boys) gender interactions in adolescence, a
number of factors bear on young
• Puberty
people’s sexual development. For boys,
o Starts earlier for girls than boys this tends to lead to involvement in
o Facial features changes sexual activity while girls tend to be
more influenced by social factors, such
• Sexual Maturity as parental attitudes and friends’ sexual
o During this time, the gonads or sex behavior.
glands produce increased levels of sex • The importance of peers
hormones and the external sex organs
assume their adult form. o people spend increasing amounts of
o Girls begin to menstruate (13 years old) time in the company of their peers and
and boys start to produce sperm (14 or increasingly focus on peer relations as
15 years old) crucial to their sense of identity
o Boys develop facial and chest hair and o friends’ behavior does tend to be
their voices deepen correlated with adolescents’ choices and
actions in many areas
Adulthood  Kramer’s three stages
- the period in the human lifespan in which full 1. absolutist -reasoning that assumes there is
physical and intellectual maturity have been always a single, clear answer to a given
attained problem
 Early adulthood (from approximately 18 2. relativist -reasoning in which the individual

to 40 years old) has become aware that there are often
 Middle adulthood (41-65 years old) different perspectives on any given issue, and
 Late adulthood (66 years old and more that the ‘correct’ answer may depend on the
than) context
Early Adulthood 3. dialectical -reasoning in which competing

positions are integrated and synthesis
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT achieved
Physical aging occurs slowly at first and then SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
proceeds more rapidly in later decades.
A stage model for personal development
 body reaches full height by the late
teens, and physical strength increases  Erikson and Erikson (1997) see the
into the late 20s and early 30s dominant focus of this stage as the
 Manual agility and coordination, and development of intimacy – the ability to
sensory capacities such as vision and love and trust another person
hearing are at their peak.  Dream -Levinson’s term for an
 decline in the perception of high-pitched individual’s vision of his life goals,
tones is found by the late 20s formed around 17 to 22 years of age
 manual dexterity begins to reduce in the and contributing to the motivation for
mid 30s subsequent personal development
 (22–28) -organized around forging a
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT pathway at work and attaining a special
personal relationship
 most people are capable of the levels of  ‘age 30’ transition (28–33) -people
reasoning undergo a moderate degree of self-
 most young adults are able to deal with questioning
cognitive tasks in a more abstract way  (33–40) ‘settling down’ period, when
than before people have usually found their niche in
 Riegel’s theory of postformal thought life and are striving to consolidate their
professional and domestic roles
Riegel (1975) proposed that adult experiences  Eric Erikson’s theory of adult
expose us to a new level of cognitive challenge development
– the discovery of dialectical (opposing) forces.
1. Intimacy versus isolation
postformal reasoning -a level of thought
beyond Piaget’s period of formal operations, During late adolescence and early
characterized by the understanding that there adulthood, individuals must develop the
may be multiple perspectives on a problem and ability to form deep, intimate relationships
that solutions may be context-dependent with others.
2. Generativity versus self-absorption Menopause is the cessation of menstruation,
accompanied by reduced secretion of estrogen
Individuals need to overcome self-centered hormones by the ovaries.
concerns and take an active interest in
helping and guiding the next generation.  In men, levels of testosterone and
sperm counts decline their fertility tends
3. Integrity versus despair to decrease with age
As people reach the last decades of their COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
lives, it is natural for them to look back and
to ask, “Did my life have meaning?”  decline in numeric skill
 modest decrease in reaction time
 Intimacy – are you secure, anxious  reduction in conscious processing
or avoidant? efficiency
 ‘Securely’ attached lovers find  Emotion and clear thinking
intimate relationships comfortable
and rewarding. They trust their SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
partner and feel confident of his or
her commitment.  The ‘mid-life crisis’
- individuals report relaxed and - middle age as a period when adults
loving parents have to face a conflict between
generativity and stagnation
 ‘Anxious/ambivalent’ lovers
experience uncertainty in their generativity -the feeling in mid-life that one
relationships. has made or is making a contribution to the
- people feel their parents were over- next generation
controlling,
stagnation -the feeling experienced by some
individuals in mid-life that they have achieved
 ‘Avoidant’ lovers find getting close
relatively little and have little to offer to the next
to others uncomfortable, find it
generation
difficult to trust others, and are
reluctant to commit themselves fully
to a relationship. Late Adulthood
- lower levels of communication and
emotional support from their parents PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
 changes in the skin (wrinkling, loss of

Middle Adulthood elasticity)
 loss of subcutaneous fat
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
 thinning of the hair
 appearance of grey hair and hair  changes in general posture due to the
thinning, increases in facial wrinkles loss of collagen between the spinal
 reductions in the efficiency of the vertebrae
cardiovascular, respiratory and  changes to the cardiovascular system
nervous systems and loss of cardiac muscle strength
 onset of presbyopia  decline in muscle mass
 women experience the menopause
(late 40s or early 50s)
 reductions in the efficiency of the
respiratory, digestive and urinary
systems
COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
 Older people do tend to perform less

well than younger adults on tasks
dependent upon reaction time and
processing speed
 older adults perform less well on
Piagetian-type tasks measuring formal
operations
 intellectual capacity in the elderly is
pervasively inadequate
SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
 facing a conflict – this time between

integrity and despair
 Levinson saw the period from
approximately 60 to 65 as the late adult
transition
 Successful ageing
 Relations with others
o the marital relationship may
become more rewarding during
old age
o grandparenting or great-
grandparenting –allow them to
feel that they contribute to their
family and to a new generation
o Sibling relationships often
become particularly important

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Adolescence o Girls experience breast enlargement

and a widening of their hips

 Early adulthood (from approximately 18 2. relativist -reasoning in which the individual

Early Adulthood 3. dialectical -reasoning in which competing

 changes in the skin (wrinkling, loss of

 Older people do tend to perform less

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 facing a conflict – this time between

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