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Adolescence & Emerging Adulthood > Cognitive Foundations > Flashcards

Cognitive Foundations Flashcards

1
Q

What is adolescence known for cognitively?

A
  • poor decision making
  • risky behaviours
  • emotional and irrational thinking
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2
Q

Describe the rapid synaptic growth in the adolescent brain.

A
  • rapid increase in synaptic connections
  • thickening of connections
  • overproduction of connections
  • happens primarily in frontal lobes
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3
Q

Describe the synaptic pruning in the adolescent brain.

A
  • use it or lose it

- focusing on efficiency

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4
Q

What is myelination?

A
  • a blanket of fat wraps around the nerve cell’s axon
  • increases the speed of electrical signals
  • allows for better executive functioning and inhibitory control
  • functioning becomes less flexible
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5
Q

Describe the cerebellum growth in the adolescent brain?

A
  • cerebellum = lower part of the brain
  • important for certain higher functions (decision making, social skills)
  • last structure of the brain to stop growing (in mid-20’s)
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6
Q

Describe the basic principles of Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

A
  • described development based on cognitive stages
  • development occurs through maturation
  • biology is the driving for behind advancing through the stages
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7
Q

Describe the sensorimotor stage of cognitive development.

A

Age: 0-2
Characteristics: learning to coordinate senses with motor activities

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8
Q

Describe the preoperational stage of cognitive development.

A

Age: 2-7
Characteristics: limited use of mental operations but able to understand symbolic representation (e.g., language)

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9
Q

Describe the concrete operations stage of cognitive development.

A

Age: 7-11
Characteristics: capable of mental operations but only in concrete terms
- difficulty thinking hypothetically

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10
Q

Describe the formal operations stage of cognitive development.

A

Age: 11-15/20
Characteristics: capable of logic and abstract thinking, forming hypotheses and testing them
- thinking is more complex
- can think about thinking (metacognition)

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11
Q

I know to gather more information before making decisions. What part of formal operations am I?

A

Logical and systemic thinking

- hypothetical-deductive reasoning

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12
Q

I can use information in new ways (e.g., symbols, ideas, concepts). What part of formal operations am I?

A

Abstract thinking

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13
Q

I can think about thinking. What part of formal operations am I?

A

Metacognition

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14
Q

What are the more complex thinking aspects of formal operations?

A
  • ability to perceive and integrate multiple aspects of a situation
  • engage in critical thinking
  • understand literal meaning
  • understand subtle meanings (e.g., metaphors)
  • pick up on meanings in tone and context (e.g., sarcasm)
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15
Q

What are the limits to Piaget’s theory?

A
  • ignores individual differences
  • ignores environmental influences (education, culture, experience)
  • discounts the role of emotions
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16
Q

Describe the information processing model of development

A
  • a computer model approach to understanding cognition
  • emphasizes attention and memory (storage and retrieval)
  • views the brain as a machine
  • processing speeds increase
17
Q

What are the limitations of the information processing model of cognitive development.

A
  • reductionism,
  • humans can feel things and experience tings subjectively
  • does not consider self reflection, awareness or emotions
18
Q

What is the social information processing model of cognitive development?

A
  • cyclical cognitive process

- influenced by past experiences, mood, temperament, emotions

19
Q

Define social cognitions.

A

How people think about other, social relationships and social institutions

20
Q

What influences social cognitions?

A
  • theory of mind
  • perspective taking
  • egocentrism
  • personal fable (feeling unique)
21
Q

What improvements occur during the development of adolescent thinking?

A
  • ability to analyze and make judgements about information
  • can consider several different kinds of knowledge
  • utilize metacognition’- consider others’ perspectives
  • think critically
22
Q

Describe the ability of decision making in adolescents.

A
  • decision making competence generally increases with age
  • poor at anticipating consequences
  • leads to risky behaviours
23
Q

Adolescents and emerging adults take more ____ than children or adults.

A

Risks

24
Q

Why do adolescents and emerging adults take more risks.

A
  • They do not think about the risks and/or perceive them as less risky than they are
  • temporal gap
25
Q

What is the temporal gap (risky window)?

A
  • puberty starts at 8 (extreme emotions, reward seeking, feeling grown up)
  • cognitive development is ongoing (impulse control, emotion regulation, resistance to peer influence, delay of gratification)
  • in that period of time, there is a “gap” in ability to assess risk while simultaneously craving thrill
26
Q

Describe the brain development in emerging adulthood.

A
  • continued myelination and synaptic pruning
  • decrease in grey matter (brain cells)
  • increase in white matter (myelinated axons)
  • results in greater processing speed, efficiency and fluid intelligence
  • increased self control, reasoning, planning (prefrontal cortex)
27
Q

What is post-formal thinking and when does it occur?

A

Involves a greater awareness of the complexity of real-life situations. Occurs in emerging adult.

28
Q

What are the types of post-formal thinking?

A
  • pragmatism
  • dialectical thought
  • reflective judgement
29
Q

What is pragmatism?

A

adapting logical thinking to the practical constraints of real-life situations

30
Q

What is dialectical thought?

A

Growing awareness that:

  • not all information is available
  • most problems don’t have a single solution
31
Q

What is reflective judgement?

A

The capacity to evaluate the accuracy and logical coherence of evidence and arguments

  • dualistic/multiple thinking
  • recognize multiple viable options
  • recognize and consider competing points (relativism)
  • commitment to a point of view
32
Q

What are the limitations of post-formal thinking?

A
  • ignores environment (focuses only on maturation)

- reflective judgement is more common in individuals with higher education

33
Q

What is invulnerability?

A

the belief that one is incapable of being wounded, injured or harmed

34
Q

What happens when adolescents and emerging adults feel invincible?

A
  • more risk taking behaviours
  • delinquency and aggression
  • have more favourable attitudes towards risk taking
  • drug use
35
Q

What are the 2 types of invulnerability?

A

1) danger invulnerability

2) psychological invulnerability

36
Q

What accounts for risky behaviours in emerging adolescence?

A

invulnerability and increased opportunity

  • new independence
  • normal for that age group
  • availability (legal age)

Adolescence & Emerging Adulthood (7 decks)

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