Lecture 10b: Cognitive Development in Adolescence

Question 1

What is abstract thinking?

Answer 1

Logic and reasoning in which the adolescent mentally manipulates ideas and reflects on situations that are
not real or tangible

Question 2

What is Propositional thought?

Answer 2

The ability to determine whether a set
of propositions (statements) are logical based on the wording of the statement

Question 3

What is Hypothetical-deductive Reasoning?

Answer 3

A systematic, scientific approach to problem solving in which they test hypotheses about variables that might influence an outcome to arrive at (deduce) a conclusion

Question 4

What are examples of Piagetian tasks?

Answer 4

– Combinations of liquids problem

– Pendulum problem

Question 5

What is the Combinations of liquids problem?

Answer 5

The combination of liquids problem entails determining which liquid or combination of liquids causes a chemical reaction that produces a vibrant yellow liquid.

In this task, Piaget presented children and adolescents with four large bottles filled with liquid (labeled 1–4) and test beakers that contained clear-colored liquid (FIGURE 15.2). Piaget then demonstrated that a drop of liquid “g” produces a bright yellow liquid in the beaker. But where does the mysterious liquid “g” come from?

The goal is to figure out which liquids from the four bottles, either alone or in combination, combine with liquid “g” to produce a color change.

Question 6

What is the Pendulum Problem?

Answer 6

In the pendulum problem, Piaget gave children and adolescents a set of weights varying in heaviness and strings of different lengths

The challenge was to figure out which variable(s) affect the rate of the pendulum’s swing: the length of the string, heaviness of the weight, height of the release, or force of the push.

Question 7

What is Selective attention?

Answer 7

The ability to focus on relevant information while inhibiting attention to irrelevant

Question 8

What is Attention flexibility?

Answer 8

Ability to flexibly shift attention from one
task or problem to the other as needed

Question 9

What is the flanker task?

Answer 9

Flanker tasks require focusing on a relevant stimulus while inhibiting attention to distractors. An adolescent might be instructed to signal the direction an arrow is facing by pressing on a right or left button.

The task becomes increasingly difficult when the arrow is surrounded (flanked) by many distractor arrows facing the opposite direction

Question 10

What are Switching tasks?

Answer 10

Switching tasks assess the ability to shift attention to different target stimuli.

For example, the adolescent might be instructed to press buttons or touch computer screens in response to pictures and their locations.

They might be told that when a picture appears in the top half of a computer’s window, they should determine whether it is an animal, but when the picture appears in the bottom half they should determine whether it is a number.

This requires adolescents to simultaneously attend to the location and pictures, and quickly shift between different responses.

Question 11

What is Working memory?

Answer 11

Working memory refers to the manipulation and temporary storing of information in active memory

Question 12

What is the working memory?

Answer 12

Working memory span refers to how many items or chunks of information an individual can actively hold in mind

Working memory span increases from childhood through adolescence

Question 13

What is Automatic processes?

Answer 13

Automatic processes are cognitive activities that require no effort and therefore do not drain the limited cognitive resources available in working memory

Question 14

What is cognitive load?

Answer 14

When individuals expend a lot of mental effort or resources on a problem, researchers refer to as cognitive load because working memory becomes depleted and performance declines

Question 15

What is processing speed?

Answer 15

How quickly and efficiently a person encodes information or solves a problem

Question 16

What is metacognition?

Answer 16

The awareness and understanding of one’s thought processes

Question 17

Which strategies improve during adolescence and how do they change

Answer 17

Strategies of rehearsal, chunking, and organization become faster, more accurate, and easier over the adolescent years

Deep strategies include things like creating a sentence or story, imagining a scene, and relating information to a personal experience

Whereas shallow strategies include repeating words and focusing on the information in one’s mind

Question 18

What are the Components of School Engagement?

Answer 18

– Behavioral engagement

– Emotional engagement

– Cognitive engagement

Question 19

What is Behavioral engagement?

Answer 19

This refers to participation in learning activities, including attentiveness, positive conduct in classes, and school attendance.

Question 20

What is Emotional engagement ?

Answer 20

This refers to affective attitudes toward school, including feeling positively toward school and experiencing a sense of school belonging.

Question 21

What is Cognitive engagement?

Answer 21

This refers to a self-regulated approach to learning that includes being invested in the process of learning and using effective strategies to support learning of school material.

Question 22

What enables an adolescent to remain behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively engaged in school?

Answer 22

Motivation is key.

Question 23

When does academic motivation decline? and what does it cause?

Answer 23

Academic motivation declines substantially in adolescence, particularly around school transitions. Grades tend to drop at the transition to middle school and drop again from middle school to high school

The decline can cause a snowball effect of declining grades

Question 24

What is the concept of ‘grit’

Answer 24

Psychologist Angela Duckworth claims that the characteristic of grit is the tenacious perseverance and passion for long-term goals, even in the face of setbacks it distinguishes high performers from low performers on standardized tests

Gritty adolescents and young adults are more likely to graduate from high school, earn high GPAs in college, keep their jobs, and even stay married than are individuals low on grit

Question 25

What Factors Explain Motivation?

Answer 25

1. The role of choice
2. Goal orientation
3. Exceptions of success
4. Task value

Question 26

What is the role of choice?

Answer 26

Adolescents who participate in activities of their own choosing express more enjoyment than do those pressured to do something by parents or teachers. In fact, some adolescents become deeply absorbed in subjects or activities of their choice and want to do them all the time and into the future

Question 27

What is goal orientation? and Performance orientation vs. mastery orientation

Answer 27

The reasons people give for why they invest time in a subject or activity. Children and adolescents with an entity view of intelligence often take a…..

performance goal orientation; they focus on demonstrating their superior ability. They tend to choose safe, easy tasks where they can “show off” how smart they are to others
In contrast, children and adolescents who view intelligence to be malleable adopt a mastery goal orientation; they exert much effort to master new skills and learn. They persist on challenging tasks because their goal is to improve, rather than boast about their skills

Question 28

What is Expectations for success?

Answer 28

Adolescents who believe they are competent in math likely expect to be successful in math, and will work harder at studying for an upcoming math exam than will teens with low perceptions of
competence and success expectations.

In turn, expectations for success predict grades and test performance

Question 29

What is Task Value?

Answer 29

The subjective value a person attaches to a particular task.

Question 30

What are the four concepts of task value?

Answer 30

• Interest in the material
• Perceived attainment value of material
• Utility value
• Cost

Question 31

Interest in the material

Answer 31

An adolescent who finds material to be enjoyable and rewarding is likely to work harder in that area.

Question 32

Attainment value of the material

Answer 32

Whether an adolescent views material to be central to one’s identity affects task value. A teen may work hard at math, even if math is not interesting, because she views it to define her identity as a “math whiz.”

Question 33

Utility value

Answer 33

How relevant the adolescent perceives the task to be to future goals feeds into task value. A teen who wants to major in finance may invest time in calculus, whereas a teen who aims to become a dancer may shun such “useless” classes.

Question 34

Cost

Answer 34

The adolescent’s perception of a task’s emotional cost (boredom, stress) and demands on time and effort will affect task value. A teen may avoid studying for history because she finds the material to be boring and difficult, and it interferes with her time for friends.