Love Actually - Adolescence Love (Week 7)

Question 1

What is adolescence?

Answer 1

-Transition from childhood to adulthood
-Time of integration of many aspects of ourselves which is a lifelong journey
-Pushing away parents to be more independent
-Starts at puberty

Question 2

Netflix Explained: The Teenage Brain

Answer 2

-Irrational teenage behavior is stereotypically attributed to hormones but it is a lot of other things
-Dopamine spikes in teens are much higher in teens than in adults
-Certain neurons are strengthened and some are lost specializing the brain in one specific skill
-White and gray neurons
-Use it or lose it principle
-A sense that people are always watching us; imagined audience

Question 3

Health Paradox of Adolescence

Answer 3

Our bodies are at peak physical health but the risk of death is higher

Question 4

Cause of Death In adolescents

Answer 4

Accidents, suicide, homicide due to peer pressure and the desire for rewards

Question 5

Four qualities in Adolescent brain

Answer 5

Novelty Seeking
Social Engagement
Increased Emotional Intensity
Creative Exploration

Question 6

Novelty Seeking

Answer 6

-Increased drive for rewards and new experiences
-Teens might downplay the consequences of their actions and act without thinking (negative)
-More open to change and living life as an adventure; passion for life (positive)

Question 7

Social Engagement

Answer 7

-Enhanced drive for peer connectedness and friendships
-Need to belong, safety in numbers, etc
-Negative is that teens are surrounded by other teens instead of adults leading to increased risk-taking behavior due to peer pressure
-Positive is that they form healthy friendships

Question 8

Increased Emotional Intensity

Answer 8

-Enhanced vitality for life
-Negative is that emotions may rule a teen’s life leading to more impulsivity
-Positive is that the experience of life is enhanced and filled with energy
-Lows feel worse highs feel better
-In love: rejections feel worse and small gestures feel better

Question 9

Creative Exploration

Answer 9

-Developing abstract and new ways of thinking thus questioning status quo; teen activism
-Negative is that searching for the meaning of life may lead to a identity crisis, vulnerability to peer pressure and a lack of purpose
-Positive is that if the brain can consistently see new and exciting ways of looking at life consistently it would enhance our experience of it

Question 10

Dopamine Spikes in Teens

Answer 10

-Teens experience higher dopamine spikes
-Increased impulsivity and susceptibility to addiction
-They do more reckless things because how good this spike feels
-Risk seeking behavior in teens has more to do with dopamine than with hormones

Question 11

Hyperrationality

Answer 11

-The rewards is worth it for the risks
-Teens are aware of the risks of their actions but they place more importance on the positive outcomes than potential risks
-Dopamine driven reward seeking way of thinking
-More focus on the outcomes whereas adults focus on the consequences

Question 12

Gist Thinking

Answer 12

-Moving on from hyperrationality
-Seeing the bigger picture and following our intuitions to aim for positive values that actually we care for

Question 13

Purpose of Adolescence

Answer 13

-The push away from parents can be seen through an evolutionary lens of teens going out to reproduce preventing inbreeding
-Seeking novelty helps us to adapt to the outside/real world

Question 14

Adventure and Connection

Answer 14

-Seeking new experience is universal cross species
-Decrease of fear and increase in taking risks
-Moving away from our nests and doing things differently
-Vital to the survival and continuance of our species

Question 15

Puberty, Sexuality and Identity

Answer 15

-Sexual maturity and romantic interest
-Pursuing romantic interests encompasses all four qualities of adolescents
-Acting to fit in

Question 16

Hooking up

Answer 16

-Enjoyability depends on each person’s expectations
-Peer pressure to have sex

Question 17

Romance and First Love

Answer 17

-Deep sense of longing for lover
-Separation and rejections feel like hell
-Three forms of love: friendship, sex, and attachment

Question 18

We defined self

Answer 18

-Moving the focus from self to others
-Important for the integration of our identity
-Becoming a larger whole
-Collectivism over individualism

Question 19

Brainstorm by Dan Siegel

Answer 19

-Pushing away parents to be with other teens is universal
-Questioning the old ways of doing things
-This period shapes our adult lives
-Goal oriented behavior (usually for social status)
-Our prefrontal cortex develops lasts contributing to immaturity in teens

Question 20

Identity vs role confusion

Answer 20

-Who am I? Where am I going?
-The adolescent is newly concerned with how they appear to others; an imaginary audience
-Later in adolescence there is a development in sexual identity
-They ponder their role in the adult world
-We experience an identity crisis as we explore how we fit into society
-Our identity comes from past experiences and we forge it in anticipation for the future
-“Throughout infancy and childhood, a person forms many identifications. But the need for identity in youth is not met by these.
-“This turning point in human development seems to be the reconciliation between ‘the person one has come to be’ and ‘the person society expects one to become’.

Question 21

Emerging adulthood

Answer 21

-Exploring what adulthood means
-We’re still exploring who we are
-Pushing away family and friends to forge an individual identity
-College years to mid twenties

Question 22

Identity Formation

Answer 22

-Arises from the selective rejection and mutual assimilation of childhood identifications
-Absorption in a new content (goth, cottage, hip) is dependent on the process by which a society identifies the young individual

Question 23

Psychosocial moratorium

Answer 23

Being stuck in certain situations because people don’t know what they want to do

Question 24

Intimacy vs isolation

Answer 24

-Am I loved or am I alone?
-Young adults are still eager to blend their identities with friends, fitting in
-Forming relationships and identities within those relationships
-The idea of being alone and the fear of rejection may led to isolation
-Once people have established their identities, they are ready to make long-term commitments to others

Question 25

Pruning

Answer 25

-Neural connections get narrowed down
-Specializing the brain in a specific skill
-Use it or lose it principle

Question 26

Myelin formation

Answer 26

Enables more and faster connection and communication for neurons

Question 27

Dunbar’s number

Answer 27

-Idea that we can only form 150 meaningful relationships in a given time
-Not all of it has to be committed relationships
-It can be small gestures or short social interactions
-Met with controversy