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7.3: Cognitive Development in Adolescence

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    69401
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    Just a few decades ago, people thought that the human brain was complete in its development by about age 5. While those early years matter, we are far from done until much later. Today, we know that the brain is still not fully mature into at least the early twenties. And it is that most important part of the brain for planning and impulse control, the frontal lobe, that is not fully developed. This abstract from a 2008 article titled "The adolescent brain" provides a summary of of a number fo aspects of the adolescent.

    Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by suboptimal decisions and actions that give rise to an increased incidence of unintentional injuries and violence, alcohol and drug abuse, unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Traditional neurobiological and cognitive explanations for adolescent behavior have failed to account for the nonlinear changes in behavior observed during adolescence, relative to childhood and adulthood. This review provides a biologically plausible conceptualization of the neural mechanisms underlying these nonlinear changes in behavior, as a heightened responsiveness to incentives while impulse control is still relatively immature during this period. Recent human imaging and animal studies provide a biological basis for this view, suggesting differential development of limbic reward systems relative to top-down control systems during adolescence relative to childhood and adulthood. This developmental pattern may be exacerbated in those adolescents with a predisposition toward risk-taking, increasing the risk for poor outcomes.

    That's a long way of saying that teens have poor impulse control at a time when impulses are at an all-time high. The frontal lobe that enables us to control our emotions and plan - thinking before we act - is not fully mature. At the same time, the "limbic reward system" that makes pleasurable experiences pleasurable exhibits "heightened responsiveness".

    During adolescence, teenagers move beyond concrete thinking and become capable of abstract thought (we hope!). Recall that Piaget refers to this stage as formal operational thought. Teen thinking is also characterized by the ability to consider multiple points of view, imagine hypothetical situations, debate ideas and opinions (e.g., politics, religion, and justice), and form new ideas. In addition, it’s not uncommon for adolescents to question authority or challenge established societal norms.

    Cognitive changes include improvements in complex and abstract thought, as well as development that happens at different rates in distinct parts of the brain and increases adolescents’ propensity for what we may call "risky behavior" because increases in the brain's sensation-seeking and reward motivation is stronger right now than the cognitive control of the pre-frontal cortex. The pre-frontal cortex does not fully develop until around age 25. So, you can see why the way an adolescent FEELS in any given situation could lead to the impulse to override the cognitive control center of the brain. This is one of the reasons it is so important for parents, caregivers, teachers and other mentors to maintain a supportive and close relationship with the adolescents in their lives to the best of their ability. This can be a bit tricky at times though! Adolescents’ relationships with parents, caregivers, teachers and other mentors go through a period of redefinition in which adolescents become more autonomous, and aspects of parenting/caregiving, such as distal monitoring and psychological control, become more prominent. Peer relationships at this stage are important sources of support but can also promote problem behaviors. As we know by now, "it depends" though. We will explore that more in this chapter. The same-sex peer groups that young children tend to favor, evolve into mixed-sex peer groups at this stage, and adolescents’ intimate relationships tend to emerge from these groups. Identity formation occurs as adolescents explore and commit to different roles and ideological positions. Nationality, gender identity, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious or spiritual background, sexual orientation, genetic factors, access (or not) to resources, personal disposition, and support (or lack of) from parents/caregivers and mentors all shape how adolescents behave and how others respond to them, and are sources of much diversity in adolescence.

    Piaget’s Formal Operational Stage of Cognitive Development

    During the formal operational stage, adolescents are able to understand abstract principles which have no physical reference. They can now contemplate such abstract constructs as love, freedom, beauty and morality. The adolescent is no longer limited by what can be directly seen or heard. Additionally, while younger children solve problems through trial and error, adolescents demonstrate "hypothetical-deductive reasoning", which is developing hypotheses based on what might logically occur. They are able to think about all the possibilities in a situation beforehand, and then test them systematically (Crain, 2005). Now they are able to engage in true scientific thinking.

    Formal operational thinking also involves accepting hypothetical situations. Adolescents understand the concept of transitivity, which means that a relationship between two elements is carried over to other elements logically related to the first two, such as if A<B and B<C, then A<C (Thomas, 1979). For example, when asked: If Maria is shorter than Alicia and Alicia is shorter than Caitlyn, who is the shortest? Adolescents are able to answer the question correctly as they understand the transitivity involved.

    Does everyone reach formal operations?

    According to Piaget, most people attain some degree of formal operational thinking, but use formal operations primarily in the areas of their strongest interest (Crain, 2005). Other researchers, have concluded that the achievement of formal operational thinking is not universal and that environmental factors make it more - or less - likely to develop. In other words, nurture plays a role in what we do and do not achieve. In fact, most adults do not regularly demonstrate formal operational thought, and in small villages and tribal communities, it is barely used at all. A possible explanation is that an individual’s thinking has not been sufficiently challenged to demonstrate formal operational thought in all areas.

    Limitations in Adolescent Thinking

    Adolescent Egocentrism

    Once adolescents can understand abstract thoughts, they enter a world of hypothetical possibilities and demonstrate egocentrism (a heightened self-focus). The egocentricity comes from attributing unlimited power to their own thoughts (Crain, 2005). Piaget believed it was not until adolescents took on adult roles that they would be able to learn the limits to their own thoughts.

    David Elkind (1967) expanded on the concept of Piaget’s adolescent egocentricity. Elkind theorized that the physiological changes that occur during adolescence result in adolescents being primarily concerned with themselves. Additionally, since adolescents fail to differentiate between what others are thinking and their own thoughts, they believe that others are just as fascinated with their behavior and appearance. This belief results in the adolescent anticipating the reactions of others, and consequently constructing an imaginary audience. “The imaginary audience is the adolescent’s belief that those around them are as concerned and focused on their appearance as they themselves are(Schwartz, Maynard, & Uzelac, 2008, p. 441). Elkind thought that the imaginary audience contributed to the self-consciousness that occurs during early adolescence. The desire for privacy and reluctance to share personal information may be a further reaction to feeling under constant observation by others.

    Another important consequence of adolescent egocentrism is the personal fable or belief that one is unique, special, and invulnerable to harm. Elkind (1967) explains that because adolescents feel so important to others (imaginary audience) they regard themselves and their feelings as being special and unique. Adolescents believe that only they have experienced strong and diverse emotions, and therefore others could never understand how they feel. This uniqueness in one’s emotional experiences reinforces the adolescent’s belief of invulnerability, especially regarding death. As a general, adolescents are at a higher probability to engage in risky behaviors, such as drinking and driving or unprotected sex activity, and feel they will not suffer any negative consequences. Elkind believed that adolescent egocentricity emerges in early adolescence and declines in middle adolescence, however, recent research has also identified egocentricity in late adolescence (Schwartz, et al., 2008).

    Dualistic Thinking

    Another limit to thinking we see in adolescence is what is called "dualistic" thinking. This is viewing the world in terms of either/or - seeing everything as black and white, with no opportunity for gray. In other words, your mom is either good or evil - there's no in-between.

    More on Formal Operational Thought

    As adolescents are now able to think abstractly and hypothetically, they exhibit many new ways of reflecting on information (Dolgin, 2011). For example, they demonstrate greater introspection (thinking about one’s thoughts and feelings). They begin to imagine how the world could be which leads them to become idealistic or insisting upon high standards of behavior.Because of their idealism, they may become critical of others, especially adults in their life. Additionally, adolescents can demonstrate hypocrisy, or pretend to be what they are not. Since they are able to recognize what others expect of them, they will conform to those expectations but their emotions and behavior seem hypocritical to themselves and this is something to navigate in this stage.

    Information Processing

    Cognitive Control

    As noted in earlier chapters, executive functions, such as attention, increases in working memory, and cognitive flexibility have been steadily improving since early childhood. Studies have found that executive function is very competent in adolescence. However, self-regulation, or the ability to control impulses, may still fail. A failure in self- regulation is especially true when there is high stress or high demand on mental functions (Luciano & Collins, 2012). While high stress or demand may tax even an adult’s self-regulatory abilities, neurological changes in the adolescent brain may make teens particularly prone to more risky decision making under these conditions.

    Inductive and Deductive Reasoning

    Inductive reasoning emerges in childhood, and is a type of reasoning that is sometimes characterized as “bottom-up- processing” in which specific observations, or specific comments from those in authority, may be used to draw general conclusions. However, in inductive reasoning the veracity of the information that created the general conclusion does not guarantee the accuracy of that conclusion. For instance, a child who has only observed thunder on summer days may conclude that it only thunders in the summer. In contrast, deductive reasoning, sometimes called “top-down-processing”, emerges in adolescence. This type of reasoning starts with some overarching principle, and based on this propose specific conclusions. Deductive reasoning guarantees a truthful conclusion if the premises on which it is based are accurate.

    Intuitive versus Analytic Thinking

    Cognitive psychologists often refer to intuitive and analytic thought as the Dual-Process Model; the notion that humans have two distinct networks for processing information (Albert & Steinberg, 2011). The first one, Intuitive thought, is automatic, unconscious, and fast (Kahneman, 2011), and it is more experiential and emotional. The other one, analytic thought, is deliberate, conscious, and rational. While these systems interact, they are distinct (Kuhn, 2013). Intuitive thought is easier and more commonly used in everyday life. It is also more commonly used by children and teens than by adults (Klaczynski, 2001). The quickness of adolescent thought, along with the maturation of the limbic system, may make teens more prone to emotional intuitive thinking than adults.


    7.3: Cognitive Development in Adolescence is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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