Chapter 15

Question 1

What is the age and basics of the formal operational stage?

Answer 1

Piaget’s Fourth Stage – Formal Operation
• 11 to adulthood
• Can apply mental operations to abstract problems
• Can envision alternative or abstract realities
• Formal operational thinkers can solve problems by creating hypotheses and testing them
• Can use inferential thinking – the ability to think about things which the child has never seen before and draw conclusions from their thinking

Question 2

What are the three aspects of the formal operational phase and what are the three experiments that show this?

Answer 2

• The can do abstract thinking and the proof for this is the third eye problem
• They cab do hypothetical thinking – solving problems by making and testing hypotheses and the proof of this is the pendulum problem
• They can do deductive reasoning and reason from logical premises even when those premises contradict everyday life and the proof for this is the glass and feather problem

Question 3

What is the third eye problem?

Answer 3

If you had a third eye, where would you put it

Concrete operational says forehead cos that’s conventional

Formal says creative things like hand etc

Shows abstract thinking

Question 4

What is the flask experiment?

Answer 4

Flask Experiment
• Give kids and adolescents flaks each containing what looks like the same clear liquid
• Tell them one combo of the liquids produces a blue liquid
• Ask them to determine the necessary combination
• Concrete operational ppl – start mixing liquids in a haphazard way
• Teens mix one liquid from a flask with all others, if this doesn’t work, they try it with the second flask etc
• They form hypotheses and they have to test them, and this is how they solve the problem

Question 5

What is the pendulum problem?

Answer 5

Given several lengths of rope and weights and told to work out what influences the time it takes for one swing

• Can vary length of sting, weight, how far object Is raised before being released and how hard object is pushed
• Formal operative kids control for 3 and vary one eventually realising the length is all that matters
• Concrete kids vary things but not control for others

Question 6

What is the glass and feather problem and what does it show?

Answer 6

• Adolescents can use deductive reasoning
• If you say (1) if you hit a glass with a feather, it will break and (2) Bernie hit a glass with a feather – concrete operational kids will use their experience to say that the glass doesn’t break, formal operational thinkers will say it boke because of their deductive reasoning

Question 7

What is counterfactual thinking?

Answer 7

• This ability to work with counterfactual information – stuff not related to reality – improves with development

E.g. feather can break glass

Question 8

What are the three characteristics of formal operational reasoning?

Answer 8

• The characteristics of formal operational reasoning are:

1. Abstract – can reason with things not connected immediately to reality
2. Hypothetical – can solve problems by forming hypotheses and testing them
3. Deductive – Can better reason logically from premises, even when those premises contradict everyday experience

Question 9

Do adolescents always use formal operational reasoning?

When do they do it?

Answer 9

When do adolescents use formal thinking?
• Kids who can formally operate don’t always
• They often revert to They are more likely to use sophisticated reasoning when the thing directly affects them
• When the product of reasoning is consistent with adolescents’ beliefs, they are less likely to find a flaw with the reasoning
• However, if they are told about the possible negative outcomes of their choices, this can weaken their experience of feeling regret once a risky decision is chosen – a weird finding
• So formal operation is more what people are capable of, not what they always do

Question 10

What are the basics of information processing in adolescence?

Answer 10

Information Processing during Adolescence
• As usual, do not think this is a qualitatively different stage of cognitive development
• Considered to be a transitional period between the rapidly changing processes of childhood and mature cognitive processes of young adulthood
• Cognitive processes changes are different but less so than as seen in childhood

Question 11

What happens to working memory and processing speed in adolescence?

Answer 11

• Adolescents working memory has the same speed as adults, so teenagers are better able to store information needed for ongoing processes
• This is shown experimental by response to a task in which you press a button when you see a stimulus: this time decreases with age, quickly up to 12 years old and relatively little after that
• This goes for several cognitive processes

Question 12

What is working memory?

Answer 12

Working memory is the site of ongoing cognitive processing

Question 13

What is processing speed?

Answer 13

• Processing speed is the speed with which individuals complete basic processes

Question 14

How can we show that teenage and adult processing speeds are roughly equal?

Answer 14

• This is shown experimental by response to a task in which you press a button when you see a stimulus: this time decreases with age, quickly up to 12 years old and relatively little after that
• This goes for several cognitive processes

• Compared to kids, adolescents process information very efficiently

Question 15

How does emotion affect processing times for adults and teenagers?

Answer 15

• Processing time for complex, emotional decision making becomes faster with age and experience
• When emotional factors are minimised and controlled, adolescents can be as capable of reasoning as adults

Question 16

How does knowledge change in teenage years relative to childhood and adults?

Answer 16

Context Knowledge
• As kids move into adolescence, they get adult-levels of knowledge and understanding in many domains
• For example, parents ask teens to help them navigate the internet
• The increases knowledge allows adolescents to learn, understand and remember more of their new experiences

Question 17

What is an overview of metacognition in teenage years?

Answer 17

Strategies and Metacognitive Skill
• Not fully developed but metacognitive skill allows adolescents to monitor their chosen strategy and verify that it is working
• They can also recognize that their thinking about a topic is ineffective

Question 18

Do any adolescents use metacognitve processes better than others?

Answer 18

Adolescents who are gifted use metacognitive strategies differently and more flexibly

Question 19

How does metacognition vary across adolescence?

Answer 19

Early adolescents have difficulty considering a broad range of outcomes when making choices
• In late adolescence, metacognitive skills are used to make reflective judgements – the ability to consider a broad range of information and outcomes in making a decision

Question 20

What is Kholberg’s theory of moral reasoning?

Answer 20

Kohlberg’s Theory
• Kohlberg created a load of moral dilemmas which had no outcomes without undesirable parts
• There was no right answer
• Used them to explore how people made moral decisions
• He found people of different ages go through 6 stages across 3 levels:

Question 21

Preconventional level - kohlberg

Answer 21

• Preconventional Level: For most kids, many adolescents and some adults, moral reasoning is controlled almost solely by obedience to authority, rewards and punishments

Question 22

Stage 1 Kohlberg

Answer 22

• Stage 1 – Obedience orientation: People believe that adults know what is right and wrong. So a person should do what adult’s say is right to avoid punishment. Heinz should not steal the drug – cos adults made the law

Question 23

Stage 2 Kohlberg

Answer 23

• Stage 2 – Instrumental orientation: People look out for their own needs. Are nice to others because they expect them to return the favour. Heinz should steal the drug because his wife will do something nice for him.

Question 24

Preconventioanl level summary Kohlberg

Answer 24

• Preconventional Level: For most kids, many adolescents and some adults, moral reasoning is controlled almost solely by obedience to authority, rewards and punishments
• Stage 1 – Obedience orientation: People believe that adults know what is right and wrong. So a person should do what adult’s say is right to avoid punishment. Heinz should not steal the drug – cos adults made the law
• Stage 2 – Instrumental orientation: People look out for their own needs. Are nice to others because they expect them to return the favour. Heinz should steal the drug because his wife will do something nice for him.

Question 25

Conventional level Kohlberg

Answer 25

• Conventional level: For most adolescents and most adults, moral decisions are based on social norms

Question 26

Stage 3 Kohlberg

Answer 26

• Stage 3 – Interpersonal norms: Act according to other’s expectations. Aim is to win approval of others by being “good”. Heinz should not steal the drug because by doing so people will not think he is an honest person who obeys the law.

Question 27

Stage 4 Kohlberg

Answer 27

• Stage 4 – Social system morality: Adolescents and adults believe that social roles, expectations and laws exist to maintain order within a society and promote the good of all people. Heinz should not steal because this is against the law and society must prohibit theft.

Question 28

Conventional level kohlberg

Answer 28

• Conventional level: For most adolescents and most adults, moral decisions are based on social norms
• Stage 3 – Interpersonal norms: Act according to other’s expectations. Aim is to win approval of others by being “good”. Heinz should not steal the drug because by doing so people will not think he is an honest person who obeys the law.
• Stage 4 – Social system morality: Adolescents and adults believe that social roles, expectations and laws exist to maintain order within a society and promote the good of all people. Heinz should not steal because this is against the law and society must prohibit theft.

Question 29

Postconventional level Kohlberg

Answer 29

• Postconventional level: For some adults, usually over 25, moral decisions are base on personal moral principles

Question 30

Stage 5 Kohlberg

Answer 30

• Stage 5 – Social contract orientation: Adults agree that members of cultural groups adhere to a social contract because a common set of expectations and laws benefits all group members. However, if those laws do not benefit the welfare of individuals then they become invalid. Heinz should steal the drug because social rules about property rights are no longer benefiting individual’s welfare.

Question 31

Stage 6 Kohlberg

Answer 31

• Stage 6 – Universal ethical principles: Abstract principles like justice, compassion and equality form the bases of a personal moral code and sometimes conflict with a society’s laws. Heinz should steal the drug because life is paramount, and its preservation takes precedence over all other rights.

Question 32

Postconventional level summary Kohlberg

Answer 32

• Postconventional level: For some adults, usually over 25, moral decisions are base on personal moral principles
• Stage 5 – Social contract orientation: Adults agree that members of cultural groups adhere to a social contract because a common set of expectations and laws benefits all group members. However, if those laws do not benefit the welfare of individuals then they become invalid. Heinz should steal the drug because social rules about property rights are no longer benefiting individual’s welfare.
• Stage 6 – Universal ethical principles: Abstract principles like justice, compassion and equality form the bases of a personal moral code and sometimes conflict with a society’s laws. Heinz should steal the drug because life is paramount, and its preservation takes precedence over all other rights.
• Few people ever reach postconventional morality. Stages 3-4 are considered mature

Question 33

Support for Kohlberg’s Theories

Answer 33

Support for Kohlberg’s Theories
• He says this all happens in a predictable order
• If this is so this should reflect in ages of people in stages
• Older and more advanced thinkers should be more advanced in their oral thinking and they are
• Seems people have a lose age range within which they are in a stage
• Longitudinal studies (Colby) show that over time people do pass through these stages and rarely skip one\ - over time, they become more advanced in their moral reasoning level or stay the same, they do not go backwards
• This varies with culture beyond stages 2 and 3

Question 34

Gilligan’s critique of Kohlberg

Answer 34

• Kohlberg’s theories seem to apply to mostly western people
• But Gilligan says this emphasis on justice applies to men more than women, who’s reasoning about moral issues, or feminine morality is mostly rooted in concern for others
• One of the most important points is that a morality based on an ethic of care is different from the justice-based morality that Kohlberg proposed
• Moral reasoning relicts the culture in which a person is reared; North American children and adults reflect their cultures emphasis on individual rights. Other cultures do not have this and hence moral reasoning is not universal

Question 35

Spirituality and development

Answer 35

• Spirituality and religion influence this and are an important area of research today
• Holder found that children who are more spiritual are happier
• If psychologists are not well trained in this, they cannot best serve children with large religious or spiritual components
• The Positive Youth Development Framework (PYDF) focuses on positive aspects of development that increase the opportunity for healthy outcomes in children’s lives
• Within the PYDF religion and spirituality are defined as things that help
• Although religion declined in the west, 75% of teens say they have a spiritual question
• In particular this can be important for indigenous teens
• Research has linked S/R factors to health-risk behaviours, emotional adjustment, healthy identity formation and a sense of purpose in life (Good, Willoughby & Busseri)
• But very little understanding of how S/R affects development over time exists. They did research which showed that 87 percent of youth reported thinking about some form of spiritual or religious connection to the sacred in life – this is a core part of development

Question 36

What is Gilligan’s theory of moral development?

Answer 36

• Gilligan proposed a developmental progression in which individuals gain greater understanding of caring and responsibility

Question 37

What is the preconventional phase Gilligan?

Answer 37

• In the first stage, kids are preoccupied with their own needs and survival

Question 38

What is the second, conventional phase Gilligan?

Answer 38

• In the second, people care for others, particularly those who cannot care for themselves

Question 39

What is the third, postconventional phase? Gilligan

Answer 39

Moves to focus on their own belief about morality?

Question 40

Gilligans transitions between stages

Answer 40

1-2 own needs to accepting responsibility for others

2-3 Wanting to be good to following your own beliefs

Question 41

Summary of Kohlberg and Gilligan

Answer 41

• Gilligan, like Kohlberg, says that moral reasoning becomes more qualitatively complex but with development but emphasizes care (helping people in need) instead of justice (treating people fairly)
• Actually, genders both think about justice and care

Question 42

How do you promote moral reasoning in teenagers?

Answer 42

Promoting Moral Reasoning
• Sometimes being exposed to more advanced moral reasoning is enough to promote developmental change
• Discussion helps
• Research shows that moral development comes when adolescents are free to express their opinions on moral issues to their parents

Question 43

Career development in teens

Answer 43

Career Development
• It is hard to predict future job trends
• Assuming they know what jobs will be available, they must start working towards these
• Donald Super (1976) said identity was a primary force in this choice

Question 44

What is crystallization? Super

Answer 44

• At arouns13 or 14, adolescents use their emerging idea about careers, a process called crystallization
• Teens use their ideas about their own talents and interests to limit their potential career prospects
• Decisions are provisional and teenagers’ experiment with hypothetical careers

Question 45

What is specification? Super

Answer 45

• At 18, these activities are extended into specification - they further limit their career possibilities by learning more about specific lines of work and starting to obtain the training required for such a job

Question 46

What is implementation? Super

Answer 46

• The end of their teens marks the start of implementation. They enter the workforce and learn first-hand about jobs
• This period is unstable as they adapt to the realities of the workforce

Question 47

What are James Marcia’s identity statuses?

Answer 47

James Marcia’s Identity Statuses
• Is a theory about the level of commitment and exploration teenagers preparing for the workforce might have
• There are 4 types

Question 48

High commitment/High Exploration - james marcia

Answer 48

• High commitment/High Exploration – identity achievement: Has explored alternatives, and ais commited to a clearly formulated, self-chosen set of values and goals. They feel well being and know where they are going.

Question 49

Low commitment/High exploration - james marcia

Answer 49

• Low commitment/High exploration – identity moratorium: Holding pattern. Have not made definite commitments. They are exploring and trying out new activities with the goal of finding values tand goals for their lives

Question 50

High commitment/Low exploration - james marcia

Answer 50

• Low commitment/High exploration – identity foreclosure: committed to goals without exploring alternatives. Usually doing what parent wants (family of doctors for example)

Question 51

Low commitment/low exploration - james marcia

Answer 51

• Low commitment/low exploration – identity diffusion, not committed to goals, not trying to find them. May never have explored goals or found the task too scary

Question 52

What are the basics of John Holland,s personality types?

Answer 52

Personality-Type Theory
• John Holland (1985, 1987, 1996)
• People find work fulfilling when the important features of a job or profession fit the workers personality
• This is useful for African, Asian, European, native and Mexican-American teens
• 6 types

Question 53

Holland - realistic

Answer 53

• Realistic – Like physical labour and doing things with their hands. Like to solve practical problems. E.g. mechanic

Question 54

Holland - investigative

Answer 54

• Investigative – Are task orientated and enjoy thinking about abstract problems – scientist

Question 55

Holland - Social

Answer 55

• Social – Are skilled verbally and enjoy solving problems with these skills – social worker, therapist, teacher

Question 56

Holland - conventional

Answer 56

• Conventional – Have verbal and quantitative skills that they apply to structures, well defined tasks – bank teller, payroll clerk

Question 57

Holland - enterprising

Answer 57

• Enterprising – Enjoy using verbal skills in positions of power, status and leadership – executive, real estate agent

Question 58

Holland - artistic

Answer 58

• Artistic – Enjoy expressing themselves through unstructured tasks – poet, author

Question 59

Identity and work summary

Answer 59

• Holland (1996) showed that when people have jobs which match their personality types, in the short term they are more productive and long term they have more stable career paths
• Super’s theory shows the developmental progression by which individuals convert general interests into careers and Holland says how to match interests with a specific career

Question 60

How does Holland’s personality type work?

Answer 60

Tests
• There are tests that map careers to personality
• Holland made the Self Directed Search (SDS)
• People answer questions about their skills, job interests and aspirationsThey get a 3 letter summary codethat they can use to find employment and areas of study that match their personality type
• The three letters correspond in order to one of the 6 types. Then the aspirations listed say what the person asid they would like to be. Then the report produces lists of training wthat might help with specific jobs and their length
• This test can be repeated over the lifespan as people develop and change their interests
• It also provided information about leisure activities they might like

Question 61

Can part time work for teenagers be a negative thing?

Answer 61

Part-Time Employment
• Many adolescents work part-time
• Adults think this teaches discipline, self confidence and job skills (Steinburg)
• Actually, its harmful
• School performance drops when they work more than 15 hours per week. This is in part because of time management but it is damaging (Steinberg)
• Mental health and behavioural problems can emerge, Long hours, 15-20 a week cause this. Repetitive and boring, but stressful jobs undermine self-esteem and cause anxiety. Extensive part time work is associated with substance misuse
• Affluence can be misleading. Typical teenage behavior is to earn and spend on themselves. This causes friction at home with parents paying everything. They learn to spend rather than save
• Adolescents do not benefit from part time work

Question 62

Can part time work be a positive thing?

Answer 62

• They CAN work with benefits as long as the hours are short5-10 hours is ok
• The type of job matters (Barling, rogers & Kelloway, 1995): when they have jobs that allow them to use skills or develop new ones, their self-esteem increases
• When they save money or use it to pay for clothes or expenses, the child parent relationship improves

Question 63

What is a learning disability?

Answer 63

Learning Disabilities
• For some youth with ordinary intelligence, learning is hard
• They have a learning disability which means challenges in learning academic subjects which cannot be explained by a deficit in intellect, sensory ability or opportunity
• In Canada the Learning Disabilities Association of Canada defines it as a difficulty learnbing or understanding verbal or nonverbal info

Question 64

What is a specific learning disorder?

Answer 64

• Some people have a specific learning disorder which is diagnosable
• Learning difficulty as a term is use in educational or legal settings (American Psychiatric Association, 2018) while specific learning disorder is used clinically and is a diagnosis
• 5% of kids in Canada are classed as learning disabled Each learning disability to have an individual cause and treatment (Lyon, 1996)
• This makes planning for them very hard
• Kids can have multiple issues

Question 65

What are dyslexia, disgraphia and dyscalcula?

Answer 65

• Dyslexia involves problems reading, dysgraphia is problems writing and dyscalculia is problems with math

Question 66

What is expressive language ability?

Answer 66

• Expressive language ability – a person’s ability to make ideas known to others through language

Question 67

What is receptive language ability?

Answer 67

• Receptive language ability - a person’s ability to understand other’s ideas expressed through language

Question 68

What is ADHD?

Answer 68

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Most energetic in classrooms, seem out of control sometimes
• Difficulty with academics
• Difficulty with peer relations
• Can lead to severe loneliness
• Is a psychological disorder where a person is overactive, inattentive and or impulsive
• Not all people with ADHD show these symptoms to the same degree
• ADHD is complicated to diagnose and cannot be done so via simple questionnaire
• 202-17.8 of all kids diagnosed with this; more common in boys and younger children
• How AHDH is classified, who reports it and where it is studied massively affects the prevalence rate – it is controversial
• Mo definite correlation between diet and ADHD
• Some twin studies point to hereditary causes
• Possible link with trauma in childhood and fluoride

Question 69

Who has higher diagnoses of ADHD?

Answer 69

• Indigenous youth get diagnosed more (maybe more trauma)

Question 70

How do you treat ADHD?

Answer 70

• People do not always “grow out of it” – plenty of adults are diagnosed and have problems with it life long
• Ritalin is prescribed, it is a stimulant but has a paradoxical effect – it does the opposite of what you would expect. In this case, it enhances the areas of the brain involved in inhibition
• This drug is frequently abused and also does not counter the behavioural aspects; kids need to learn how to regulate their behaviour and attention and hence, drugs alone do not improve school performance
• Psychological interventions such as training on control and parental training have been shown to be affective
• Medication, instruction, self-regulation and parental training all at once work the best

Question 71

What is intellectual delay?

Answer 71

• Serious delay in cognitive development is diagnosed as “intellectual delay”
• Individuals below 18 who demonstrate substantially below average intelligence and problems adapting to an environment
• This is a score of less than 70 IQ
• Cognitive delay is often manifested in delays of adaptive behavior – a person’s ability to engage effectively in tasks of daily living
• Usually diagnosed by conducting
• I-1.55% prevalence

Question 72

How do you diagnose intellectual delay and is there a problem with this?

Answer 72

• The diagnosis involves assessing the conceptual (academic type tasks), social (empathy, social judgement) and interpersonal communications
• If youth are diagnoses in a nonmaternal language, this can lead to many mistakes like lower scores hence, when possible, assess in maternal language with culturally competent testing materials

Question 73

What can intellectually delayed people do and with what resources? Who advocates for them in Canada?

Answer 73

• Profoundly affected people need supervision and hence are institutionalised
• Moderately affected can sometimes support themselves if offered opportunities to perform vocations under oversight
• Being able to feel productive and part of a work environment greatly increases feelings of social inclusion for them, whether it is a paid or voluntary post
• The Canadian Association for Assisted Living performs advocates for them in Canada