Key Concepts in Adolescent Development and Identity

Big fish-little pond effect

The reason that individuals who attend high school with high-achieving peers feel worse about themselves than comparably successful individuals with lower-achieving peers.

Social capital

The interpersonal resources available to an adolescent or family

Student engagement

The extent to which students are psychologically committed to learning and mastering the material rather than simply completing the assigned work

Flow experience

The experience of high levels of both concentration and interest at the same time

Routine activity theory

A perspective on adolescence that views unstructured, unsupervised time with peers as a main cause of misbehavior

Cultivation theory

A perspective on media use that emphasizes the impact media exposure has on individuals

Fear of missing out (FOMO)

Excessive worry that others are having rewarding experiences that don't include you

Internet addiction

A disorder in which an individual's use of the internet is pathological, defined by six symptoms: salience, mood change, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse and reinstatement

Self-conceptions

The collection of traits and attributes that individuals use to describe or characterize themselves

False-self behavior

Behavior that intentionally presents a false impression to others

Five-factor model (of personality)

The theory that there are five basic dimensions to personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience

Identity versus identity diffusion

According to Erikson, the normative crisis characteristic of the fifth stage of psychosocial development, predominant during adolescence

Identity foreclosure

The premature establishment of a sense of identity, before sufficient role experimentation has occurred

Psychosocial moratorium

A period during which individuals are free from excessive obligations and responsibilities and can therefore experiment with different roles and personalities

Immigrant paradox

The fact that on many measures of psychological functioning and mental health, adolescents who have immigrated more recently to the United States score higher on measures of adjustment than adolescents from the same ethnic group whose family has lived in the United States for several generations.

Multidimensional model of racial identity

A perspective on ethnic identity that emphasizes three different phenomena: racial centrality (how important race is in defining individual's identity), private regard (how individuals feel about being a member of their race), and public regard (how individuals think others feel about their race)

Gender intensification hypothesis

The idea that pressures to behave in sex-appropriate ways intensify during adolescence

Emotional autonomy

The establishment of more adult like and less childish close relationships with family members and peers

Cognitive autonomy

The establishment of an independent set of values, opinions, and beliefs

Attachment

The strong affectional bond that develops between an infant and a caregiver

Detachment

In psychoanalytic theory, the process through which adolescents sever emotional attachments to their parents or other authority figures

Individuation

The progressive sharpening of an individual's sense of being an autonomous, independent person

Preconventional moral reasoning

The first level of moral reasoning, which is typical of children and is characterized by reasoning that is based on rewards and punishments associated with different courses of action

Conventional moral reasoning

The second level of moral development, which occurs during late childhood and early adolescence and is characterized by reasoning that is based on the rules and conventions of society

Postconventional moral reasoning

The level of moral reasoning during which society's rules and conventions are seen as relative and subjective rather than as authoritative; also called principled moral reasoning

Secure attachment

A healthy attachment between infant and caregiver, characterized by trust

Disorganized attachment

A relationship between infant and caregiver characterized by the absence of normal attachment behavior

Anxious-avoidant attachment

An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver, characterized by indifference on the part of the infant toward the caregiver

Anxious-resistant attachment

An insecure attachment between infant and caregiver, characterized by distress at separation and anger at reunion

Self-efficacy

The sense that an individual has some control over his or her life

Learned helplessness

The acquired belief that an individual is not able to influence events through his or her own efforts or actions

Delay of gratification

The capacity to wait longer to get a larger, better, or more valuable reward instead of a smaller, less attractive, or less valuable one that is available immediately