Chapter 11 & 12 - Adolescence

Question 1

Identity

Answer 1

Erikson was the first to recognize this as the major personality attainment of adolescence and as a crucial step toward becoming a productive, content adult. Constructing an identity involves defining who you are, what you value, and the directions you chose to pursue in life.

Question 2

Identity vs. Role Confusion

Answer 2

The successful psychosocial outcomes of infancy and childhood pave the way toward a positive resolution. If young people’s earlier conflicts were resolved negatively or if society limits their choices to ones that do not match their abilities and desires, they are likely to appear shallow, directionless, and unprepared for the challenges of adulthood.

Question 3

Identity Achievement

Answer 3

Commitment to values and goals following a period of exploration. Having explored alternatives, identity-achieved individuals are committed to clearly formulated self-chosen values and goals. They feel a sense of psychological well-being, of sameness through time, and of knowing where they are going.

Question 4

Identity Moratorium

Answer 4

Exploration without having reached commitment. Moratorium means “delay or holding pattern” - these individuals have not yet made definite commitments. They are in the process of exploring – gathering information and trying out activities, with the desire to find values and goals to guide their lives.

Question 5

Identity Foreclosure

Answer 5

Commitment in the absence of exploration. Identity-foreclosed individuals have committed themselves to values and goals without exploring alternatives. They accept a ready-made identity chosen for them by authority figures – usually parents but sometimes teachers, religious leaders, or romantic partners.

Question 6

Identity Diffusion

Answer 6

Characterized by lack of both exploration and commitment. Identity-diffused individuals lack clear direction. They are not committed to values and goals, nor are they actively trying to reach them. They may never have explored alternatives or may have found the task too threatening and overwhelming.

Question 7

Ethnic Identity

Answer 7

A sense of ethnic group membership and attitudes, beliefs, and feelings associated with that membership - central to the quest for identity.

Question 8

Acculturative stress

Answer 8

Psychological distress resulting from the conflict between minority and the host culture.

Question 9

Bicultural Identity

Answer 9

By exploring and adopting values from both the adolescent’s subculture and the dominant culture.

Question 10

Preconventional Level (Kohlberg)

Answer 10

At this level, morality is externally controlled. Children accept the rules of authority figures and judge actions by their consequences. Behaviors that result in punishment are viewed as bad, those that lead to rewards as good. Stage 1: Punishment and obedience orientation (focus on fear and authority). Stage 2. The instrumental purpose orientation (becoming aware that people can have different perspectives in a moral dilemma).

Question 11

Conventional Level (Kohlberg)

Answer 11

At this level, individuals regard conformity to social rules as important, but not for reasons of self-interest. Rather, they believe that actively maintaining the current social system ensures positive relationships and societal order. Stage 3 - The “good by-good girl” orientation or the morality of interpersonal cooperation (the desire to obey rules because they promote social harmony). Stage 4: The social-order-maintaining orientation (The person takes into account a larger perspective - of societal laws).

Question 12

Postconventional or Principled Level (Kohlberg)

Answer 12

Individuals at this level move beyond unquestioning support for their own society’s rules and laws. They define morality in terms of abstract principles and values that apply to all situations and societies.

Question 13

Moral Identity

Answer 13

The degree to which morality is central to self-concept.

Question 14

Autonomy

Answer 14

A sense of oneself as a separate, self-governing individual. Two vital aspects: (1) an emotional component – relying more on oneself and less on parents for support and guidance (2) a Behavioral component – making decisions independently by carefully weighing on one’s own judgment and the suggestions of others to arrive at a personally satisfying, well-reasoned course of action.

Question 15

Cliques

Answer 15

Groups of about five to seven members who are friends and, therefore, usually resemble one another in family background, attitudes, values, and interests.

Question 16

Crowd

Answer 16

Among Western adolescents attending high schools with complex social structures, often several cliques with similar values from a larger, more loosely organized group: “brains”, “jocks”, “populars”

Question 17

Adolescence

Answer 17

The transition between childhood and adulthood.

Question 18

Puberty

Answer 18

A flood of biological events leading to an adult-sized body and sexual maturity.

Question 19

Growth Spurt

Answer 19

The first outward sign of puberty is the rapid gain in height and weight.

Question 20

Primary Sexual Characteristics

Answer 20

Involve the reproductive organs (ovaries, uterus, and vagina in females; penis scrotum, and testes in males)

Question 21

Secondary Sexual Characteristics

Answer 21

Are visible on the outside of the body and serve as additional signs of sexual maturity (breasts in females and appearance of underarm and pubic hair in both sexes).

Question 22

Menarche

Answer 22

First menstruation

Question 23

Spermarche

Answer 23

First ejaculation

Question 24

Body Image

Answer 24

The conception of and attitude toward one’s physical appearance.

Question 25

Anorexia Nervosa

Answer 25

An eating disorder in which young people starve themselves because of compulsive fear of getting fat.

Question 26

Bulimia Nervosa

Answer 26

The engaging of binge eating, followed by compensatory efforts to avoid weight gain (deliberate vomiting, purging, with laxatives, excessive exercise, or fasting).

Question 27

Binge-Eating Disorder

Answer 27

Binging at least once a week for three months or longer, without compensatory purging, exercise, or fasting.

Question 28

Formal Operational Stage

Answer 28

In which adolescents develop the capacity for abstract, systematic, scientific thinking.

Question 29

Propositional thought

Answer 29

Adolescents’ ability to evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances.

Question 30

Imaginary Audience

Answer 30

An adolescent distortion that they are the focus of everyone else’s attention and concern. As a result, they become extremely self-conscious.

Question 31

Personal Fable

Answer 31

Another adolescent distortion that others are observing and thinking about them, and they develop an inflated opinion of their own importance - a feeling that they are special and unique.