2: Cognitive and emotional development

Question 1

Schema

Answer 1

A schema is a mental concept or framework that is useful in organizing and interpreting information.

Question 2

Assimilation

Answer 2

Assimilation is the incorporation of new information into existing knowledge. In assimilation, the schema does not change.

Question 3

Accommodation

Answer 3

Accommodation is the adjustment of a schema to new information. In accommodation, the schema changes.

Question 4

Equilibration

Answer 4

Equilibration, another process Piaget identifi ed, is a shift in thought from one state to another. At times adolescents experience cognitive confl ict or a sense of disequilibrium in their attempt to understand the world. Eventually they resolve the confl ict and reach a balance, or equilibrium, of thought. Piaget maintained that individuals move back and forth between states of cognitive equilibrium and disequilibrium.

Question 5

Formal operational thought

Answer 5

Th e formal operational stage is Piaget’s fourth and fi nal stage of cognitive development. Piaget argued that this stage emerges at 11 to 15 years of age. Adolescents’ developing power of thought opens up new cognitive and social horizons. What are the characteristics of formal operational thought? Most signifi cantly, formal operational thought is more abstract than concrete operational thought. Adolescents are no longer limited to actual, concrete experiences as anchors for thought. Th ey can conjure up make-believe situations—events that are purely hypothetical possibilities or strictly abstract propositions— and try to reason logically about them.

Question 6

Hypothetical deductive reasoning

Answer 6

the ability to develop hypotheses, or best guesses, about how to solve problems, such as algebraic equations. Having developed a hypothesis, the formal operational thinker then systematically deduces, or concludes, the best path to follow in solving the problem. In contrast, children are more likely to solve problems by trial and error.

Question 7

Early formal operational thought

Answer 7

Some developmentalists argue that the stage of formal operational thought consists of two subperiods.

Early formal operational thought: Adolescents’ newfound ability to think in hypothetical ways produces unconstrained thoughts with unlimited possibilities. In this early period, f l ights of fantasy may submerge reality and the world is perceived subjectively and idealistically. Assimilation is the dominant process in this subperiod.

Question 8

Late formal operational thought

Answer 8

As adolescents test their reasoning against experience, intellectual balance is restored. Th rough accommodation, adolescents begin to adjust to the upheaval they have experienced. Late formal thought may appear in the middle adolescent years.

Question 9

Realistic and pragmatic thinking

Answer 9

Some developmentalists have proposed that as young adults move into the world of work, their way of thinking does change. One idea is that as they face the constraints of reality, which work promotes, their idealism decreases.

Question 10

Reflective and relativistic thinking

Answer 10

William Perry (1970, 1999) also described changes in cognition that take place in early adulthood. He said that adolescents oft en view the world in terms of polarities—right/wrong, we/they, or good/bad. As youth age into adulthood, they gradually move away from this type of absolutist thinking as they become aware of the diverse opinions and multiple perspectives of others. Th us, in Perry’s view, the absolutist, dualistic thinking of adolescence gives way to the refl ective, relativistic thinking of adulthood.

Question 11

Postformal stage

Answer 11

Some theorists have pieced together these descriptions of adult thinking and have proposed that young adults move into a new qualitative stage of cognitive development, postformal thought (Sinnott, 2003). Postformal thought is:

Refl ective, relativistic, and contextual.
As young adults engage in solving problems, they might think deeply about many aspects of work, politics, relationships, and other areas of life (Labouvie-Vief, 1986). Th ey fi nd that what might be the best solution to a problem at work (with a boss or co-worker) might not be the best solution at home (with a romantic partner).

Provisional.
Many young adults also become more skeptical about the truth and seem unwilling to accept an answer as fi nal. Th us, they come to see the search for truth as an ongoing and perhaps never-ending process.

Realistic.
Young adults understand that thinking can’t always be abstract. In many instances, it must be realistic and pragmatic.

Recognized as being infl uenced by emotion.
Emerging and young adults are more likely than adolescents to understand that their thinking is infl uenced by emotions. However, too oft en negative emotions produce thinking that is distorted and self-serving at this point in development.

Question 12

Knowledge is situated and collaborative means that…

Answer 12

Knowledge is distributed among people and their environments, which include objects, artifacts, tools, books, and the communities in which people live. This distribution suggests that knowing can best be advanced through interaction with others in cooperative activities.

Question 13

Vygotsky: zone of proximal development

Answer 13

One of Vygotsky’s most important concepts is the zone of proximal development (ZPD), which refers to the range of tasks that are too diffi cult for an individual to master alone, but that can be mastered with the guidance and assistance of adults or more-skilled peers. Th us, the lower level of the ZPD is the level of problem solving reached by an adolescent working independently. Th e upper limit is the level of thinking the adolescent can accept with the assistance of an able instructor (see Figure 3.6). Vygotsky’s emphasis on the ZPD underscored his belief in the importance of social infl uences on cognitive development .

Question 14

Social constructivist approach

Answer 14

Vygotsky’s is a social constructivist approach, which emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction.

Question 15

Attention

Answer 15

Attention is the concentration and focusing of mental eff ort. Individuals can allocate their attention in diff erent ways (Fisher & others, 2013; Rueda & Posner, 2013). Psychologists have labeled these types of allocation as selective attention, divided attention, sustained attention, and executive attention.

Question 16

Selective attention

Answer 16

Selective attention is focusing on a specifi c aspect of experience that is relevant while ignoring others that are irrelevant. Focusing on one voice among many in a crowded room is an example of selective attention.

Question 17

Divided attention

Answer 17

Divided attention involves concentrating on more than one activity at the same time. An example of divided attention is text messaging while listening to an instructor’s lecture.

Question 18

Sustained attention

Answer 18

Sustained attention is the ability to maintain attention to a selected stimulus for a prolonged period of time. Staying focused on reading this chapter from start to fi nish without interruption is an example of sustained attention.

Question 19

Executive attention

Answer 19

Executive attention involves planning actions, allocating attention to goals, detecting and compensating for errors, monitoring progress on tasks, and dealing with novel or diffi cult circumstances. An example of executive attention is eff ectively deploying attention to engage in the aforementioned cognitive tasks while writing a 10-page paper for a history course.

Question 20

Executive function

Answer 20

Especially important in adolescent cognition are higher-order, complex cog-nitive processes that involve an umbrella-like concept called executive function. Th ese cognitive processes are linked to the development of the brain’s prefrontal cortex and involve managing one’s thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and exercise self-control (Carlson, Zelazo, & Faja, 2013; Liew, 2012). Executive function is hard at work when adolescents are making decisions, thinking critically, and engaged in thinking about thinking.Executive function becomes increasingly strong during adolescence.

Question 21

Cognitive control

Answer 21

Cognitive control involves eff ective control and fl exible thinking in a number of areas, including controlling attention, reducing interfering thoughts, and being cognitively fl exible (Diamond, 2013). Cognitive control also has been referred to as inhibitory control or eff ortful control to emphasize the ability to resist a strong inclination to do one thing but instead to do what is most eff ective

Question 22

Cognitive flexibility

Answer 22

Cognitive fl exibility involves being aware that options and alternatives are available and adapting to the situation.

Question 23

Dual-process model

Answer 23

States that decision making is infl uenced by two systems—one analytical and one experiential, which compete with each other; in this model, it is the experiential system—monitoring and managing actual experiences—that benefi ts adolescent decision making.

Question 24

Convergent thinking

Answer 24

A pattern of thinking in which individuals produce one correct answer; characteristic of the items on conventional intelligence tests; coined by Guilford.

Question 25

Divergent thinking

Answer 25

A pattern of thinking in which individuals produce many answers to the same question; more characteristic of creativity than convergent thinking; coined by Guilford.

Question 26

The four statuses of identity

Answer 26

James Marcia (1980, 1994, 2002) analyzed Erikson’s theory of identity development and concluded that it involves four identity statuses, or ways of resolving the identity crisis: identity diff usion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement. He defi nes the term crisis as a period of identity development during which the adolescent is choosing among meaningful alternatives. (Most researchers use the term exploration.) By commitment, he means a personal investment in what an individual is going to do.

Question 27

Identity diffusion

Answer 27

Identity diff usion is Marcia’s term for the state adolescents are in when they have not yet experienced an identity crisis (that is, have not yet explored meaningful alternatives) and have not made any commitments. Not only are adolescents in this status undecided about occupational and ideological choices, they usually show little interest in such matters.

A 13-year-old adolescent has neither begun to explore her identity in a meaningful way nor made an identity commitment; she is identity diff used.

Question 28

Identity foreclosure

Answer 28

Identity foreclosure is Marcia’s term for the state adolescents are in when they have made a commitment but have not experienced an identity crisis. Th is status occurs most oft en when parents hand down commitments to their adolescents, usually in an authoritarian way. Th us, adolescents with this status have not had adequate opportunities to explore diff erent approaches, ideologies, and vocations on their own.

An 18-year-old boy’s parents want him to be a doctor, so he is planning on majoring in premedicine in college and has not adequately explored any other options; he is identity foreclosed.

Question 29

Identity moratorium

Answer 29

Identity moratorium is Marcia’s term for the state of adolescents who are in the midst of an identity crisis, but who have not made a clear commitment to an identity.

Nineteen-year-old Sasha is not quite sure what life path she wants to follow, but she recently went to the counseling center at her college to fi nd out about diff erent careers; she is in an identity moratorium.

Question 30

Identity achievement

Answer 30

Identity achievement is Marcia’s term for the status of adolescents who have undergone an identity crisis and made a commitment.

Twenty-one-year-old Marcelo extensively explored a number of diff erent career options in college, eventually got his degree in science education, and is looking forward to his fi rst year of teaching high school; he is identity achieved.

Question 31

Family influences on identity

Answer 31

A family atmosphere that promotes both individuality and connectedness is important in the adolescent’s identity development:

Individuality
consists of two dimensions: self-assertion, which is the ability to haveand communicate a point of view; and separateness, which is the use of communication patterns to express how one is different from others.

Connectedness
also consists of two dimensions: mutuality, which involves sensitivity to and respect for others’ views; and permeability, which involves openness to others’ views.

Question 32

Ethnic identity

Answer 32

Ethnic identity is an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group, along with the attitudes and feelings related to that membership.

Question 33

Bicultural identity

Answer 33

For adolescents from ethnic minority groups, the process of identity formation has an added dimension: the choice between two or more sources of identifi cation—their own ethnic group and the mainstream, or dominant, culture (Berry & others, 2013; Seaton, 2010). Many adolescents resolve this choice by developing a bicultural identity. That is, they identify in some ways with their ethnic group and in other ways with the majority culture

Question 34

Identity and intimacy

Answer 34

Erikson (1968) argued that intimacy should develop aft er individuals are well on their way to establishing a stable and successful identity. Intimacy versus isolation is Erikson’s sixth developmental stage, which individuals experience during early adulthood. At this time, individuals face the task of forming intimate relationships with others. Erikson describes intimacy as fi nding oneself, yet merging oneself with another. If young adults form healthy friendships and an intimate relationship with another individual, intimacy will be achieved; if not, isolation will result.

Question 35

Kohlberg’s Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning

Answer 35

Stage 1: Punishment and obedience orientation is the fi rst Kohlberg stage of moral development. At this stage, moral thinking is oft en tied to punishment. For example, children and adolescents obey adults because adults tell them to obey.

Stage 2: Individualism, instrumental purpose, and exchange is the second stage in Kohlberg’s model. At this stage, individuals pursue their own interests but also let others do the same. Th us, what is right involves an equal exchange. People are nice to others so that others will be nice to them in return. Th is stage has been described as refl ecting an attitude of “What’s in it for me?”

Question 36

Kohlberg’s Level 2: Conventional Reasoning

Answer 36

Stage 3. Mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships, and interpersonal conformity is Kohlberg’s third stage of moral development. At this stage, individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others as a basis of moral judgments. Children and adolescents oft en adopt their parents’ moral standards at this stage, seeking to be thought of by their parents as a “good girl” or a “good boy.”

Stage 4. Social systems morality is the fourth stage in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. At this stage, moral judgments are based on understanding the social order, law, justice, and duty. For example, adolescents may say that, for a community to work eff ectively, it needs to be protected by laws that are adhered to by its members. Th us, in Stage 4 reasoning, individuals engage in social perspective taking that goes beyond intimate acquaintances to encompass the importance of being a good citizen.

Question 37

Kohlberg’s Level 3: Postconventional Reasoning

Answer 37

Stage 5. Social contract or utility and individual rights is the fi ft h Kohlberg stage. At this stage, individuals reason that values, rights, and principles undergird or transcend the law. A person evaluates the validity of actual laws and examines social systems in terms of the degree to which they preserve and protect fundamental human rights and values.

Most adolescents reason at stage 3, with some signs of stages 2 and 4. By early adulthood, a small number of individuals reason in postconventional ways.
Stage 6. Universal ethical principles is the sixth and highest stage in Kohlberg’s theory of moral development. At this stage, the person has developed a moral standard based on universal human rights. When faced with a confl ict between law and conscience, the person will follow conscience, even though the decision might involve personal risk.

Question 38

Gender and the care perspective

Answer 38

e most publicized criticism of Kohlberg’s theory has come from Carol Gilligan (1982, 1992, 1996), who argues that Kohlberg’s theory refl ects a gender bias. According to Gilligan, Kohlberg’s theory is based on a male norm that puts abstract principles above relationships and concern for others and sees the individual as standing alone and independently making moral decisions. It puts justice at the heart of morality. In contrast with Kohlberg’s justice perspective, Gilligan argues for a care perspective, which is a moral perspective that views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others. Gilligan and her colleagues found that girls consistently interpret moral dilemmas in terms of human relationships and base these interpretations on listening and watching other people.

Question 39

Social cognitive theory of moral development

Answer 39

The theory that distinguishes between moral competence (the ability to produce moral behaviors) and moral performance (enacting those behaviors in specifi c situations).

Question 40

Altruism

Answer 40

Many prosocial acts involve altruism, an unselfi sh interest in helping another person. Altruism is found throughout the human world and is a guiding principle in Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. Although adolescents have oft en been described as egocentric and selfi sh, adolescent acts of altruism are, nevertheless, plentiful.

Question 41

Six different types of prosocial behavior

Answer 41

Altruism: (“One of the best things about doing charity work is that it looks good.”)

Public (“Helping others while I’m being watched is when I work best.”)

Emotional (“I usually help others when they are very upset.”)

Dire (“I tend to help people who are hurt badly.”)

Anonymous (“I prefer to donate money without anyone knowing.”)

Compliant (“I never wait to help others when they ask for it.”)

Question 42

Freud’s theory & moral feeling

Answer 42

In Freud’s view, the superego consists of two main components—the ego ideal and the conscience—which promote children’s and adolescents’ development of moral feelings. Th e ego ideal is the component of the superego that involves ideal standards approved by parents, whereas the conscience is the component of the superego that involves behaviors not approved of by parents. An individual’s ego ideal rewards the individual by conveying a sense of pride and personal value when the individual acts according to moral standards. Th e conscience punishes the individual for acting immorally by making the individual feel guilty and worthless.

Question 43

Erikson & moral development/feeling

Answer 43

Erik Erikson (1970) outlined three stages of moral development: specifi c moral learning in childhood, ideological concerns in adolescence, and ethical consolidation in adulthood. According to Erikson, during adolescence individuals search for an identity. If adolescents become disillusioned with the moral and religious beliefs they acquired during childhood, they are likely to lose, at least temporarily, their sense of purpose and feel that their lives are empty. T h is loss may lead adolescents to search for an ideology that will give some purpose to their lives. For the ideology to be acceptable, it must both fi t the evidence and mesh with adolescents’ logical reasoning abilities. If others share this ideology, a sense of community is felt. For Erikson, ideology surfaces as the guardian of identity during adolescence because it provides a sense of purpose, assists in tying the present to the future, and contributes meaning to the behavior (Hoff man, 1988).

Question 44

Moral identity

Answer 44

A central aspect of the recent interest in the role of personality in moral development focuses on moral identity. Individuals have a moral identity when moral notions and commitments are central to their life. In this view, behaving in a manner that violates this moral commitment places the integrity of the self at risk.

Question 45

Domain theory

Answer 45

Domain theory states that there are diff erent domains of social knowledge and reasoning, including moral, social conventional, and personal domains. In domain theory, children’s and adolescents’ moral, social conventional, and personal knowledge and reasoning emerge from their attempts to understand and deal with diff erent forms of social experience.

Question 46

Social conventional reasoning

Answer 46

Social conventional reasoning focuses on conventional rules that have been established by social consensus in order to control behavior and maintain the social system. Th e rules themselves are arbitrary, such as raising your hand in class before speaking, using one staircase at school to go up and the other to go down, not cutting in front of someone standing in line to buy movie tickets, and stopping at a stop sign when driving. Th ere are sanctions if we violate these conventions, although the rules can be changed by consensus.

In contrast, moral reasoning focuses on ethical issues and rules of morality. Unlike conventional rules, moral rules are not arbitrary. Th ey are obligatory, widely accepted, and somewhat impersonal.

Question 47

Freud: moral development & parenting

Answer 47

In Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, the aspects of child rearing that encourage moral development are practices that instill the fears of punishment and of losing parental love. Developmentalists who have studied child-rearing techniques and moral development have focused on parents’ discipline techniques (Grusec, 2006). Th ese include love withdrawal, power assertion, and induction (Hoff man, 1970):

Love withdrawal comes closest to the psychoanalytic emphasis on fear of punishment and of losing parental love. It is a discipline technique in which a parent withholds attention or love from the adolescent, as when the parent refuses to talk to the adolescent or states a dislike for the adolescent.

Power assertion is a discipline technique in which a parent attempts to gain control over the adolescent or the adolescent’s resources. Examples include spanking, threatening, or removing privileges.

Induction is the discipline technique in which a parent uses reason and explanation of the consequences for others of the adolescent’s actions. Examples of induction include, “Don’t hit him. He was only trying to help” and “Why are you yelling at her? She didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Question 48

Hidden curriculum

Answer 48

The pervasive moral atmosphere that characterizes every school.

Question 49

Character education

Answer 49

A direct moral education approach that involves teaching students a basic moral literacy to prevent them from engaging in immoral behavior or doing harm to themselves or others.

Question 50

Values clarification

Answer 50

An educational approach that focuses on helping people clarify what is important to them, what is worth working for, and their purpose in life. Students are encouraged to defi ne their own values and understand others’ values.

Question 51

Cognitive moral education

Answer 51

An approach based on the belief that students should learn to value things like democracy and justice as their moral reasoning develops; Kohlberg’s theory has been the basis for many of the cognitive moral education approaches.

Question 52

Service learning

Answer 52

A form of education that promotes social responsibility and service to the community.

Question 53

Developmental psychopathology approach

Answer 53

Approach that focuses on describing and exploring the developmental pathways of problems.

Question 54

Developmental cascades

Answer 54

A developmental psychopathology approach that emphasizes connections across domains over time to infl uence developmental pathways and outcomes.

Question 55

Internalizing problems

Answer 55

Emotional conditions that develop when individuals turn problems inward. Examples include anxiety and depression.

Question 56

Externalizing problems

Answer 56

Behavior that occurs when individuals turn problems outward. An example is juvenile delinquency.

Question 57

Developmental assets

Answer 57

40 developmental assets that adolescents need in order to achieve positive outcomes in their lives. Half of these assets are external, half internal. Each of the 40 assets has been shown scientifi cally to promote healthy adolescent development.
Th e 20 external assets include the following:

Support (such as family and neighborhood)

Empowerment (such as adults in the community valuing youth and giving them useful community roles)

Boundaries and expectations (such as the family setting clear rules and consequences and monitoring the adolescent’s whereabouts, as well as the presence of positive peer infl uence)

Constructive use of time (such as engaging in creative activities three or more times a week and participating three or more hours a week in organized youth programs)

Th e 20 internal assets include the following:
Commitment to learning (such as being motivated to achieve in school and doing at least one hour of homework on school days)

Positive values (such as helping others and demonstrating integrity)

Social competencies (such as knowing how to plan and make decisions and having interpersonal competencies like empathy and friendship skills)

Positive identity (such as having a sense of control over life and high self-esteem)

In research conducted by the Search Institute, adolescents with more of the developmental assets reported engaging in fewer risk-taking behaviors, such as alcohol and tobacco use, sexual intercourse, and violence.

Question 58

Acculturative stress

Answer 58

Acculturative stress refers to the negative consequences that result from contact between two distinctive cultural groups. Many individuals who have immigrated to the United States have experienced acculturative stress (Tobler & others, 2013). A recent study found that acculturative stress was linked to body image disturbance in Latino college students through an emphasis on the high status of a thin body.

Question 59

Coping

Answer 59

Coping involves managing taxing circumstances, expending eff ort to solve life’s problems, and seeking to master or reduce stress.

Question 60

Problem-focused coping

Answer 60

Problem-focused coping is Lazarus’ term for the strategy of squarely facing one’s troubles and trying to solve them. For example, if you are having trouble with a class, you might go to the study-skills center at your college or university and enter a training program to learn how to study more eff ectively. Having done so, you have faced your problem and attempted to do something about it.

Question 61

Emotion-focused coping

Answer 61

Emotion-focused coping is Lazarus’ term for responding to stress in an emotional manner, especially by using defense mechanisms. Emotion-focused coping includes avoiding a problem, rationalizing what has happened, denying it is occurring, laughing it off , or calling on religious faith for support. If you use emotion-focused coping, you might avoid going to a class that you f i nd diffi cult. You might say the class doesn’t matter, deny that you are having a problem, or laugh and joke about it with your friends. Th is is not necessarily a good way to face a problem