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Adolescence

Adolescence. Cognitive Development. Abstract Reasoning Process. Information processing: Results from accumulated skills Piaget: Formal operations result from maturation and experience Characteristics thinking in terms of possibilities More flexible Can suspend own point of view

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Adolescence

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  1. Adolescence Cognitive Development

  2. Abstract Reasoning Process • Information processing: Results from accumulated skills • Piaget: Formal operations result from maturation and experience • Characteristics • thinking in terms of possibilities • More flexible • Can suspend own point of view • Scientific reasoning

  3. Child Limited to what is Limited to present Haphazard or rigid approaches to problem solving Focuses on own view Adolescent Considers possibilities considers abstract concepts and ideas Planned testing of hypotheses Considers perspectives of others Comparison: Thought in Childhood and Adolescence

  4. Major Features of Formal Operational Thinking • Hypothetico-deductive reasoning • Propositional reasoning • Isolation of variables • Proportional reasoning • Combinational reasoning

  5. Formal Operations: Hypthetico-Deductive Reasoning • Starting point - general theory • Deduce hypotheses or predictions • Begins with possibilities

  6. Formal Operations: Isolation of Variables • Determine causality • Keep all factors constant except one • Does “isolated” factor by itself make a difference? • Relies on hypothetico-deductive reasoning

  7. Example: Piaget’s Pendulum Problem What causes the pendulum to swing faster or slower? • Force of push • Size of weight • Height of drop • Length of string

  8. Formal Operations: Propositional Thought • Evaluate logic of propositions without reference to the “real world” • Truth value of the proposition • Requires language-based systems of representation • Verbal reasoning about abstractions

  9. Examples of Propositional Reasoning • Babysitter’s dilemma • Garden bug problem • “True, false, or Impossible to Judge” • Syllogisms • All suns are stars. • All stars are purple. • Therefore all suns are purple.

  10. Formal Operations: Proportional Reasoning • Relative or porportional equivalence • Mathematical reasoning • Semantic proportions - analogies • Top : bottom as Head : foot • Start : finish as Near : (away, travel, far) • Yesterday : today as Before : (now, then, after) • Noon : Time as West (direction, sunset, east)

  11. Formal Operations: Combinational Reasoning • Determine all the possible combinations • Systematic approach • Example: coin problem

  12. Research Evidence • Ability to solve abstract reasoning problems: Younger children limited • Approach: Younger children are less systematic • Not all adults reach formal operational stage • More likely to apply abstract reasoning in areas of expertise

  13. Consequences of Formal thought • Adolescent egocentrism (David Elkind) • Different from “egocentrism” • Early childhood - limited ability to take perspectives of others • Adolescence - “unrefined” formal operations - imagining the perspectives of others on “overdrive”

  14. Adolescent Egocentrism: Imaginary Audience • Center stage - others are paying as much attention to me as I am to myself • able to take into account thoughts of others • Fail to distinguish personal concern with reactions of those around them • Examples 1) “everyone will notice. . . .” 2) Costume party

  15. Adolescent Egocentrism: Personal Fable • Inflated opinion of importance • See one’s self as totally unique • Examples: “You can’t possibly understand how I feel!”

  16. Adolescent Egocentrism: Invincibility Fable • Protection - “Nothing bad can happen to me” • Risk taking • Not that teens don’t understand consequences. They simply believe they’ll be the exception

  17. Adolescent Egocentrism: Apparent Hypocrisy • Behavior seems hypocritical • Closer examination reveals teens are applying rules to others and not to themselves • Example

  18. Adolescent Egocentrism: Pseudostupidity • At first glance behavior appears incredibly “stupid” • closer look reveals teens can get lost in “all the possibilities” and miss the obvious • Example

  19. Other Consequences of Formal Thought • Argumentative behavior • Debate • Idealism • Criticism • Planning and decision-making

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