lecture 11

Question 1

Physical Developement

Describe what happens with puberty

define:puberty, primary,secondary sex chara, pituitary gland, adrenarche

Answer 1

• puberty: collective term that encompasses all the changes, both seen and unseen, that are needed for reproductive maturity
• pituitary gland: master gland, triggers other glands to release hormones
• ## adrenarche: pituitary gland signals child’s adrenal gland to step up production of androgen; around 7 or 8; growth hormone

Question 2

What are the milestones of puberty for girls?

define: menarche, secular trend

Answer 2

• menarche: the beginning of menstrual cycles
• Canadian girls on average ~12.7yrs old
• body fat of 17% must be reached before menarche can occur
• secular trend: decline in the average age of menarche, along with changes such as an increase in average height for both children and adults

Question 3

What are the milestones of puberty for boys

Answer 3

• peak of growth spurt last
• beard and the lowering of voice occur near the end of the sequence
• likely to produce viable sperm b/w 12-14 yrs old

Question 4

Describe the brain development that occurs

Answer 4

• volume of grey matter follows and inverted U-shaped
• frontal cortext is one of the last to develop
• volume of white matter steadily increases
• development changes during adolescemce occur in the corupsu collosum and speech-realted areas

Question 5

Describe Piaget’s Formal operational stage

hypothetico-deductive reasoning, naive idealism, propositional thought

Answer 5

• reasoning logically about abstract concepts
• systematic problem-solving: ability to search methodically for the answers to a problem
• logic: hypothetico-deductive reasoning: ability to derive conclusions from hypothetical premises
• naive idealism: a mental construct of an ideal world as compared to the real world

Question 6

Explain Elkind’s research on adolescen egocentrism

define: personal fable and imaginary audience

Answer 6

• adolescent egocentrism: the belief that one’s thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are unique
• personal fable: belief that the events of on’es life are controlled by a mentally contrusted autobiography
• imaginary audience: internalized set of behavioural standards
• using idealized mental models to make decisions