Lifespan Development: Exam #3 Flashcards
What is “Identity”?
A self-portrait composed of many pieces such as: • Vocational/Career • Political • Religious • Relationship • Achievement, Intellectual • Sexual • Cultural/Ethnic • Interests • Personality • Physical
Identity versus Identity Confusion
- Erikson’s View
- Psychosocial moratorium
- Adolescents experiment with different roles and personalities
- Adolescents who cope with conflicting identities emerge with a new sense of self
- Adolescents who do not successfully resolve the identity crisis suffer identity confusion
Psychosocial Moratorium
The gap between childhood security and adult autonomy.
Four Statuses of Identity
- Diffusion
- Foreclosure
- Moratorium
- Achievement
Diffusion
Individuals who have not yet experienced a crisis or made any commitments.
Foreclosure
Individuals who have made a commitment but not experienced a crisis.
Moratorium
Individuals who are in the midst of a crisis but whose commitments are absent or weak.
Achievement
Individuals who have undergone a crisis and made a commitment.
Identity Crisis
- Diffusion: Absent
- Foreclosure: Absent
- Moratorium: Present
- Achievement: Present
Identity Commitment
- Diffusion: Absent
- Foreclosure: Present
- Moratorium: Absent
- Achievement: Present
Identity: Emerging Adulthood and Beyond
- Key changes in identity are more likely to take place in emerging adulthood than in adolescence.
- Identity does not remain stable throughout life (MAMA).
MAMA
Repeated cycles of moratorium to achievement.
Friendships
- Most teens prefer a smaller number of friendships that are more intense and more intimate
- Friends become increasingly important in meeting social needs.
- Gossip about peers can lead to relational aggression.
- Characteristics of friends have an important influence (friends’ grade-point average is a consistent predictor of positive school achievement).
Peer Pressure
- Young adolescents conform more to peer standards than children do (peaks in 8 or 9th grades, especially “antisocial” acts).
- Adolescents with low self-esteem and high social anxiety are most likely to conform to peers.
- “High status” adolescents conform less
Cliques
Small groups of 2 to 12 individuals, typically of the same sex and about the same age who engage in similar activities.
Crowds
- Larger than cliques and less personal.
- Members are based on reputation.
- May not spend much time together.
Developmental Changes in Dating and Romantic Relationships
- Stage 1: The “Crush”. Entry into romantic attractions and affiliations at about 11 to 13 years of age.
- Stage 2: Exploring romantic relationships at approximately 14 to 16 years of age.
- Stage 3: Consolidating dyadic romantic bonds at about 17 to 19 years of age.
Piaget’s Formal Operation Stage
- 11+ years of age.
- More abstract than concrete operational thought.
- Increased verbal problem-solving ability.
- Increased tendency to think about thought itself.
- Thoughts of idealism and possibilities.
- More logical thought (hypothetical-deductive reasoning).
Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning
Involves creating a hypothesis and deducing its implications.
Adolescent Egocentrism
- Heightened self-consciousness of adolescents.
- Imaginary Audience: adolescents’ belief that others are as interested in them as they themselves are.
- Personal Fables.
- Invincibility attitude -> risk-taking behaviors
Personal Fables
Involves a sense of uniqueness and invincibility.
Executive Functioning
Higher-order cognitive activities such as reasoning, making decisions, thinking critically, and monitoring one’s cognitive process.
Decision Making
- Can be influenced by emotional state (true of adults too!).
- Influenced by presence of peers, especially if a risk-taking decision.
Puberty
A period of rapid physical maturation involving hormonal and bodily changes that occur primarily during early adolescence.
Sexual Maturation, Height, and Weight
- Menarche is a girl’s first menstruation.
- Marked weight and height gains,
- Pubic hair growth.
- Facial and chest hair growth in males.
- Breast growth in females.
Timing and Variations in Puberty
- Average age of menarche has declined significantly since mid-19th century.
- Improved nutrition and health.
- For boys, pubertal sequence typically begins from age 10–13½ years.
- For girls it appears between 9 and 15 years.
Precocious Puberty
The very early onset and rapid progression of puberty.
Body Image
- Preoccupation with body image is especially strong throughout adolescence.
- Girls are generally less happy with their bodies than boys and become more dissatisfied over time.
Early Maturation in Boys
Early-maturing boys view themselves more positively and have more successful peer relations.
Early Maturation in Girls
Early-maturing girls show greater satisfaction early but less satisfaction later and are more likely to smoke, drink, be depressed, have an eating disorder, struggle for earlier independence, have older friends, date earlier, and have earlier sexual experiences.
Late Maturation in Boys
- Less controlled, dominant, responsible, and less likely to hold leadership positions.
- Feelings of rejection and inferiority can linger into adulthood.
- More egalitarian attitudes & perceptive in adulthood.
- Better established sense of identity.
- Better sense of humor.
- Late maturing boys report a stronger sense of identity in their 30s.
Late Maturation in Girls
More satisfied with their bodies (because closer to the American ideal).
Parent–Adolescent Conflict
- Parent–adolescent conflict increases in early adolescence but not to tumultuous proportions.
- Disagreements may serve a positive developmental function; allows for development of independent viewpoints, respect, autonomy.
- However, prolonged intense conflict between adolescent and parents often leads to adolescent problems such as substance abuse, pregnancy, dropping out of school, etc.
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Love
- Passion: Physical and sexual attraction to another.
- Intimacy: Emotional feelings of warmth, closeness, and sharing.
- Commitment: Cognitive appraisal of the relationship and the intent to maintain the relationship even in the face of problems.
Consummate Love
Intimacy, passion and commitment
Romantic Love
Intimacy and passion
Liking
Intimacy alone