Week 15

Question 1

Describe the major features of physical, cognitive and social development during adolescence

Answer 1

Physical-puberty=onset of adolescence (growth spurt, pubic and underarm hair, boys experience voice deepening and facial hair growth, girls experience breast development and begin menstruation)
Cognitive-concrete to abstract thinking, increased sensation-seeking and reward motivation
adolescence strive for more independence from parents

Question 2

Why is adolescence a period of heightened risk taking?

Answer 2

Dopaminergic system increases the sensation-seeking and reward motivation when younger, and the prefrontal cortex does not develop to regulate until later
So the difference in timing attributes to more risk taking because they are motivated to seek thrills that sometimes come from risky behaviour

Question 3

Explain sources of diversity in adolescent development

Answer 3

Depends on where you grow up
Culture influences this
Gender
ethnicity
Immigrant status
Religion
Sexual orientation
Socioeconomic status
Personality

Question 4

Explain when, where and why a new life stage of emerging adulthood appeared over the past half-century

Answer 4

Emerging adulthood is between adolescence and young adulthood (18-25)
Constructed in love and work
Identity explorations, instability, focus on self-development, feeling incompletely adult and a broad sense of possibilities are included

Question 5

Identify the 5 features that distinguish emerging adulthood from other life stages

Answer 5

1. the age of identity explorations
2. the age of instability
3. the self-focused age
4. the age of feeling in-between
5. the age of possibilities

Question 6

Describe the variations in emerging adulthood in countries around the world

Answer 6

Europe-EA is long and leisurely, government makes it possible for them to get tertiary education
Asia-free uni and unemployment benefits, they are collectivism and family obligations, they listen to their parents and study what their parents want

Question 7

Collectivism

Answer 7

belief system that emphasizes the duties and obligations that each person has towards others

Question 8

Individualism

Answer 8

belief system that exalts freedom, independence, and individual choice as high value

Question 9

Tertiary education

Answer 9

education or training beyond secondary school, this would be college, uni, or vocational training program

Question 10

Explain research approaches to studying aging

Answer 10

Longitudinal studies to examine hypotheses about different patterns of aging associated with the effects of biogenetic, life history, social, and personal factors
Cross-sectional studies provide the information about any age group differences

Question 11

Describe cognitive, psychosocial, and physical changes that occur with age

Answer 11

cognitive-Older adults don’t do as well with recall (their working memory becomes less efficient) cognitive processing slows with age recognition is still the same in all ages (memory cues)
psychosocial-average changes in the expression of some traits (neuroticism and openness)
physical-higher well being older people are those that accepted changes in their appearance

Question 12

Provide examples of how age-related changes in these domains are observed in everyday life?

Answer 12

Older adults may have difficulty recalling facts like names (their recall is slower or weaker)
Older adults perform better with word knowledge or vocabulary (recognition is better or the same)

Question 13

Crystallized intelligence

Answer 13

relies on the application of knowledge, experience and learned info

Question 14

Fluid intelligence

Answer 14

relies on the ability to use information processing resources to reason logically and solve novel problems