Adolescence Flashcards
List the physical changes that begin puberty
growth spurt, pubic hair, underarm hair, breasts, menstruation, facial hair
summarise the surprising changes in brain development during adolescence.
Overproduction of synaptic connections or synaptic exuberance. Myelination and growth of the cerebellum
oestrogens
female sex hormone
androgens
male sex hormone
oestradiol
a type of oestrogen that is important in girls for pubertal development
testosterone
androgen most important for pubertal development in boys
true or false - males and females produce both oestradiol and testosterone?
true
are oestradiol and testosterone the same for boys and girls throughout childhood?
yes, this changes during puberty
primary sex characteristics
production of eggs and sperm and the development of sex organs
true or false - females are born with all the ova they will ever have?
true - around 300,000 by puberty
menarche
first menstrual period
spermarche
first ejaculation
how many sperm in a typical male ejaculation
100-300 million
how many ova do females produce over their reproductive lives?
400
secondary sex characteristics
growth of pubic hair, lowering of voice etc
where is overproduction of synaptic neurons concentrated in adolescence
frontal lobes
what age does overproduction of synaptic neurons occur
11 or 12
synaptic pruning
occurs in the years that follow overproduction
how much brain volume is lost between ages of 12 to 20 due to synaptic pruning?
7-10%
myelin
A blanket of fat wrapped around the central part of a neuron, increasing the speed of the electrical system.
myelination
was though to to be finished prior to puberty but has now been found to continue into teens
what are the negatives of myelination and synaptic pruning
makes brain functioning less flexible and changeable
What was the most surprising find that researchers found studying brain development in adolescence
the cerebellum continues to grow
cerebellum
lower part of the brain beneath the cortex was thought to be involved in basic functions such as movement but now research shows that is involved in higher functions like maths, music, decision making, social skills and understanding humour.
what is the last structure of the brain to stop growing ?
cerebellum
Describe the normative timing of pubertal events
among girls, underarm hair could begin to appear as early as age 10 or as late as age 16; among boys, the change in voice could begin as early as age 11 or as late as age 15
How does being early or late in puberty influence emotional and social development?
Early maturing girls are at risk of for a wide variety or problems in part because they draw the attention of older boys
A longitudinal study on New Zeland pacific children found that earlier development was related to ______________
higher birth weight
Variation in timing of pubertal events is due to what?
genetics
secular trend
change in the characteristics of a population over time
What are some of the reasons that girls today reach menarche earlier than their mothers or grandmothers?
because we have more access to nutritional food and medical care
what part of the brain regulates sex hormones
hypothalamus
in regard to the onset of puberty, who is more at risk of substance misuse and delinquency?
early-maturing girls
what has the secular trend found in regard to puberty in girls
females enter puberty at a younger age every generation
in many traditional cultures, young men are required to demonstrate courage and strength in their coming-of-age ritual because _____-
daily life often requires these capacities
What is anorexia characterised as
inability to maintain body weight.
fear of weight gain
lack of menstruation
distorted body image.
what has research found to be the most affective treatment for people with anorexia?
family-based therapy
what are four reasons young people take up substance use
experimental, social, medicinal and addictive
in the past 10-15 years, what describes young peoples rates of cigarette smoking?
decreased - by half
Who is least likely to become a heavy drinker?
Cheng from China
Identify the main gender differences in puberty rituals worldwide
Most traditional cultures mark puberty with a community ritual. For boys, puberty rituals often entail tests of strength and endurance, whereas for girls puberty rituals centre around menarche.
Describe the prevalence, symptoms and treatment of eating disorders.
Eating disorders are most prevalent in adolescence and emerging adulthood, and occur mainly among females. Prevalence of symptoms is higher than full-blown disorders. Treatments for eating disorders have had limited success.
formal operations
According to Piaget, the formal operations stage begins at about age 11 and reaches completion between ages 15 and 20.
whats is the difference between concrete operations (childhood) and formal operations (adolescence)
Children in the concrete operations stage can perform simple tasks that require logical and systematic thinking, but formal operations allow adolescents to reason about complex tasks and problems involving multiple variables.
hypothetical-deductive reasoning
The process of applying scientific thinking to cognitive tasks. altering and testing different variables to arrive at the solution to a problem.
pendulum problem
Piaget used this task to determine if adolescents had moved from concrete operational thinking to formal operational. The participants had to determine what made the ball on the end of a string swing so fast
the formal operations stage in Piagets theory can be explained as ______
a stage where people can learn to think systematically and deal with abstract ideas
Critiques of Piaget’s theory of formal operations
the stages vary differently in time and age or situation for every person.
what are the two keys to cognition in the information processing approach
memory and attention
metacognition
The capacity to think about thinking - people with poor metacognition think they understand concepts better than they do. This is also the ability to think about others thoughts.
adolescent egocentrism
is when adolescence have trouble distinguishing their own thoughts from the thoughts of others, this is common when first developing metacognition
imaginary audience
according to Elkind Thinking that everyone else thinks about you as much as you think about yourself. (you always have an audience watching you)
What aspect of adolescent egocentrism makes adolescents much more self-conscious than they were in middle childhood?
imaginary audience - they think everyone is looking at and thinking about them
Why is an imaginary audience more prominent among adolescents?
because the capacity for distinguishing between our own perspective and the perspective of others is less developed at this age
The personal fable
According to Elkind (1967, 1985), the belief in an imaginary audience that is highly conscious of how you look and act leads to the belief that there must be something special, something unique, about you. The personal fable can also lead to adolescence thinking ‘no one understands me’ because no one understands your personal experience
what is the kind of thinking that can lead adolescence to think negative consequences ‘wont happen to me’
the personal fable
What happens to personal fable type of thinking as you age
It diminishes as we age but never really goes away
what are two of Vygotsky’s most influential ideas
scaffolding and the zone of proximal development.
proximal development
The zone of proximal development is the difference between skills or tasks a person can accomplish alone and those they are capable of doing if guided by a more experienced person.
scaffolding
Scaffolding refers to the degree of assistance provided in the zone of proximal development.
does scaffolding and proximal development continue into adolescence
Scaffolding and the zone of proximal development continue to apply during adolescence, when the skills necessary for adult work are being learned.
In Vygotsky’s view, how does learning take place
Learning is a social process between someone who has the knowledge and someone who is obtaining it
how is learning always a cultural process
People are acquiring knowledge for things that will be useful in their culture.
You were recently watching your nephew try to figure out why his bike gears won’t work. You are surprised by his systematic problem-solving strategies. A few months ago, he would not have been able to think hypothetically like this. According to Piaget, what type of reasoning is he using?
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning.
what is the capacity of long-term memory
it is essentially unlimited
students from ______ usually have 3 types of secondary schools
Europe
compared to their peers in some countries adolescence in Asian countries ______
Have to take entrance exams for both high school and university
Summarise the major changes in attention and memory that take place from middle childhood to adolescence.
Information processing abilities improve in adolescence, with the notable additions of selective attention, divided attention and use of mnemonic devices.
mnemonic devices
ways to obtain information into LM
Experience Sampling Method (ESM)
people wear wristwatch beepers or using mobile phones to alert them randomly during the day so that they can record their thoughts, feelings and behaviour
gender-intensification hypothesis
psychological and behavioural differences between males and females become more pronounced in the transition from childhood to adolescence because of intensified socialisation pressures to conform to culturally prescribed gender roles
Dr Rose often uses the experience sampling method (ESM) in her research. What is most likely to be the topic of her work?
changes in emotions between childhood and adolescence
Larson and Richards (1994) compared preadolescents to adolescents and found that the percent of time experienced as ‘very happy’ __________
Decreased.
why does time spent being ‘very happy’ decrease from childhood to adolescence
higher levels of responsibility and intense social comparison
Why does social comparison get more intense during adolescence than it was in childhood?
Because teens develop adolescent egocentrism which involves the ‘personal fable’ and ‘imaginary audience where people think that everyone always judges them on how the look and what they achieve or don’t achieve.
research has shown that during adolescence _______ is most strongly related to global self-esteem
physical appearance
what did Kohlberg believe about moral development?
Kohlberg viewed moral development as based on cognitive development and believed that moral thinking changes in predictable ways as cognitive abilities develop, regardless of culture.
what are Kohlbergs levels of moral development
- Pre-conventional reasoning
- Conventional reasoning
- post-conventional reasoning
pre-conventional reasoning
At this level, moral reasoning is based on perceptions of the likelihood of external rewards and punishments. What is right is what avoids punishment or results in rewards.
Conventional reasoning
At this level, moral reasoning is less egocentric and the person advocates the value of conforming to the moral expectations of others. What is right is whatever agrees with the rules established by tradition and by authorities.
what did cultural psychologist Schweder think about moral development
Shweder argued that it is impossible to understand moral development unless you understand the cultural worldview that underlies it. Shweder’s argument is that the cognitive-developmental theory fails to include culturally diverse moral concepts and that it is biased in favour of a Western worldview.
secular
which means based on non-religious beliefs and values.
Kohlberg proposition of a universal theory of moral development has been challenged by Shweder and his student, Jensen, who believed that is it impossible to understand moral development unless you understand an individuals __________
cultural worldview
Research on Kohlbergs stages of moral development ________
showed that age of an individual and level of moral development were correlated although few people reached level three
Religious faith and cultural practices are associated with less ________
drug use and delinquent behaviour
nominally religious
Individuals who follow the religious choices of their parents but do not see faith as playing an overall important role in life
Why does conflict with parents rise from middle childhood to adolescence?
Because adolescence feel they should have a sense of autonomy and because of cognitive development they can more readily argue with their parents rules and restrictions
why is arguing with parents greater among non-traditional cultures than traditional cultures
The role of the parent carries greater authority in traditional cultures
what is the most important feature of adolescent friendship
intimacy - Adolescent friends confide hopes and fears, and help each other understand what is going on with their parents, their teachers and peers to a far greater degree than younger children do.
Cliques
are small groups of friends who know each other well, do things together and form a regular social group. but they are small enough that all the members of the clique feel they know each other well and they think of themselves as a cohesive group.
crowds
larger groups of people (a group of academics or a group of ahletes)
What are ‘permissive cultures’ in regard to love and sex?
Permissive cultures tolerate and even encourage adolescent sexuality.
‘Semi-restrictive cultures’ view on sex and love
Semi-restrictive cultures have prohibitions on premarital adolescent sex. However, in these cultures, the formal prohibitions are not strongly enforced and are easily evaded. common in Auastrlia
‘Restrictive cultures’ view on sex and love
Restrictive cultures place strong prohibitions on adolescent sexual activity before marriage.
Why are rates of adolescent pregnancy especially high in semi-restrictive cultures?
because it is a moo taboo subject and people don’t talk about safe sex as much as permissive cultures where the subject is frequently discussed
What is the dominant method of transmission of media content for adolescents?
Digital devices like smart phones and tablets.
What are some negative affects of to much screen time?
weight gain and behaviour problems
what are recommendations for the amount of sedentary time for teens
No more than 2 hours of recreational screen time per day
how does violent video games affect teens
violent content may rarely provoke violent behaviour, but it more often influences social attitudes. For example, playing violent electronic games has been found to lower empathy and raise the acceptability of violent responses to social situations
conflict in adolescence?
is often more frequent between early maturing adolescents and their parents because of sexual issues
Sanjay is part of a small group of friends known as a ______, who eat lunch together at school every day and socialise with each other on weekends,
Clique
Menna is an adolescent from a Western Culture. When asked about the most important feature of her relationship, she is most likely to mention ________
sharing personal thoughts and feelings
why does crime peek in the late teens?
One theory suggests that the key to explaining the age–crime relationship is that adolescents and emerging adults combine increased independence from parents and other adult authorities with increased time with peers and increased orientation towards peers
Life-course-persistent delinquents (LCPDs)
Show a pattern of problems from birth onward and continue into adulthood.
adolescence-limited delinquents (ALDs)
They show no signs of problems in infancy or childhood, and few of them engage in any criminal activity after their mid-20s. It is just during adolescence—actually, adolescence and emerging adulthood, ages 12–25—that they have a period of occasional criminal activity,
multisystemic approach
Delinquency has often proven to be resistant to change in adolescence, but one successful approach has been to intervene at several levels, including the home, the school and the neighbourhood.
Why is the multisystemic approach more effective than other types of interventions for delinquency?
using this approach have been shown to be effective in reducing arrests and out-of-home placements among delinquents (Henggeler et al., 20072363). Furthermore, multisystemic programs have been found to be cheaper than other programs, primarily because they reduce the amount of time that delinquent adolescents spend in foster homes and detention centres
why is depression more common in girls?
body image, ruminate on their depressed feelings unlike males and this ends up affecting future relations.
what is the most effective approach to treating adolescent depression
medication and psychotherapy
What are the most important ‘protective factors’ identifyed in resilient people
high intelligence, physical attractiveness, parenting that provides an effective balance of warmth and control, and a caring adult ‘mentor’ outside the family.
what part of the brain can effect emotional regulation and therefor executive functioning if under-developed?
Frontal lobe
Which of the following is the most important protective factor identified in resilience research enabling adolescents to overcome risk factors in their lives
A caring mentor outside the family
ethic of divinity
people can do what they want as long as they dont harm others
What have researchers discovered with regard to the size of the discrepancy between the actual and ideal selves in both adolescents and emerging adults? The size of the discrepancy is related to ____.
depressed moods
