[DEV] Chapter 13 Physical and Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood

physical development

• Peak performance: 19-26 yo

• Muscle tone and strength shows signs of decline around age 30

developmental period

refers to a time frame in a person’s life that is characterized by certain features

emerging adulthood

• 18 to 25 years of age

• experimentation and exploration

• Explore career path, identity, lifestyle

Arnett’s key features of adulthood

1. identity exploration

2. instability

3. self-focused

4. feeling in-between

5. age of possibilities

identity exploration

especially in love and work, education, residential changes

instability

residential changes peak

• As person moves away from adolescence emerging adulthood explorations in love become more intimate and serious  

• Switch from one job to another 

• Start studying again or switch courses 

• Change residences a lot 

self-focused

• they have little in the way of social obligations, duties and commitment to others, which leaves them with a great deal of autonomy in running their own lives

• Postponement of entry to adult roles 

• Identity based more on the individual choices each person makes “what i want” > what others want 

• Emerging adulthood gives a longer period of exploration before making long term commitments (marriage and parenthood or stable career < travel, focus on career, pursue education) 

feeling in between

don’t consider themselves adolescents or full-fledged adults

age of possibilities

• a time when individuals have an opportunity to transform their lives 

• Many emerging adults are optimistic about their future

• Emerging adults who have experienced difficult times while growing up, emerging adulthood presents an opportunity to chart their life course in a more positive direction

[emerging adulthood] criticism

• Emerging adulthood does not characterize development in all cultures -> appear to occur in cultures that postpone adult roles 

• Criticism; mainly to privileged adolescents and not being a self-determined choice for many young people, especially those in limiting socioeconomic conditions 

• Range has been expanded to 18 to 29 years

• Present in cultures that postpone assuming of adult roles & responsibilities

  • Urban than rural

changing landscape of adulthood

• Individuals are now taking much longer to reach these developmental milestones -> until late 20s-30s 

• Majority lived with their parents for the first time

• Better educated than their counterparts

• Have a college degree

• Reason; gender difference reversal

• More adults working 

  • Gender change; significant rise of women in workforce 

• Parents can play an important role in preparing adolescents for the changing landscape of emerging adulthood 

  • After adolescence the current generation is experiencing more "adolescence" instead of adequately being launched into adult years 

allen’s suggestions for maturation

1. provide them opportunities to be contributed

2. give candid, quality feedback to adolescents 

3. create positive adult connections with adolescents

4. chalenge adolescents to become more competent

[allen] provide them opportunities to be contributed

Create more effective work experiences

• Help move away from being consumers by creating more effective work experiences or service learning opportunities to make meaningful contributions

[allen] give candid, quality feedback to adolescents

• Let them see how the real world works

• Don't protect from criticism bc it will leave them ill equipped to deal with ups and downs of real world

[allen] create positive adult connections with adolescents

• Need parental support or attachment to parents to help them develop maturity on the way adulthood

[allen] challenge adolescents to become more competent

• Engage in tasks that are beyond their current level of ability -> mature

markers of becoming an adult

• Holding more of a less permanent, full-time job, which usually happens when an individual finishes school

• Economic independence but achieving it is often a long process 

  • Graduates are returning to live with their parents as they attempt to establish themselves economically

  • Co-residence with parents during emerging adulthood slowed down the process of becoming a self-sufficient and independent adult 

• Taking responsibility for oneself may be an important marker of adult status 

• Developing emotional control 

• Accepting self-responsibility, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent 

• Marriage is more often a significant marker for entry into adulthood -> occurs much earlier

Piaget’s view

• Adolescent and an adult think in the same way qualitatively 

• Piaget: 11 to 15 formal operational stage 

  • Logical, abstract and idealistic thinking than the concrete operational thinking 

• Young adults: quantitatively advanced in their thinking bec. More knowledge 

• Adults increase their knowledge in a specific area 

• Characterizes both adults and adolescents 

• Criticism; it is not until adulthood that many individuals consolidate their formal operational thinking 

postformal stage

new qualitative stage of cognitive development

characteristics 

1. reflective, relativistic, and contextual

2. provisional

3. realistic

4. recognized as being influenced by emotion

[postformal] reflective, relativistic and contextual

• Holds that correct solution to a problem requires reflective thinking and may vary from one situation to another

[postformal] provisional

• Become more skeptical about the truth and seem unwilling to accept an answer as final 

• search for truth is an ongoing process

[postformal] realistic

• Be realistic and pragmatic 

• thinking not always abstract

[postformal] recognized as being influenced by emotion

Understand that their thinking is influenced by emotion

postformal thought at age 30

• Mozart wrote the marriage of figaro

• Edison invented phonograph

• Hans Andersen wrote 1st volume of his fairytales

5 components of postformal stage

1. critical life experiences

2. reminiscence/reflectiveness

3. openness to experience

4. emotional regulation

5. humor

creativity

• Often peaks in the 40s before declining 

• By consideration 

  • The size of the decline 

  • Differences across domains 

• Age requires attention to the field of creativity involved 

• Personality trait of openness to experience predicted creativity in the arts while intellect predicted creativity in the sciences

• individual differences in creativit

  • creative individuals do not produce the same amount of creative output

    in their lifetime.

[creativity] older adults

philosophy and history areas

[creativity] 20s-30s

lyrical poetry, abstract math, theoretical physics -> the peak of creativity is reached

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyu 

Nature of creativity and recommends a number of strategies for becoming more creative

[Mihaly] the flow

•  a heightened state of pleasure experienced when we are engaged in mental and physical challenges that absorb us 

• Everyone is capable of achieving this

• first step: cultivating your curiosity and interest 

[mihaly] steps to cultivate curiosity and interest

1. Try to be surprised by something every day 

2. Try to surprise at least one person every day 

3. Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others (diary)

4. When something sparks your interest, follow it 

5. Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to

6. Spend time in settings that stimulate your creativity 

decline in creativity

Not as great as is commonly thought 

• Example in late adulthood: henri chevreul

  • Switch fields in his nineties to be a pioneer in gerontological research from a psychicist

developmental changes in careers

• By their early and mid-20s -> individuals have completed their education or training and entered a full-time occupation 

• Individuals often seek to establish their emerging career in a particular field, working hard to move up the career ladder and improve their financial standing

[Moen] career mystique

• an ingrained cultural belief that engaging in hard work for long hours through adulthood will lead to status, security, and happiness 

• Become a myth for many individuals in middle-income occupations as global outsourcing of jobs, rapid technicological change, and the long-term effects of recession

Damon’s finding a path to purpose

• purpose is a missing ingredient in many adolescents and emerging adults achievement and career development 

finding a path to purpose

• Engaging in behavior that places them at risk for not fulfilling their potential and not finding a life pursuit that energizes them 

• Vision of where they wanted to go in life, what they achieve, and why

• 20% have no aspirations and in some instances said they didn’t see any reason to have aspirations 

• Concludes that most teachers and parents communicate the importance of studying hard and getting good grades but rarely discuss the purpose of academic achievement 

• Students only tend to focus on short-term goals and don’t explore the big, long-term picture of what they want to do in life 

Questions ask to find purpose

1. What is more important to you in your life?

2. Why do you care about those things?

3. Do you have any long-term goals?

4. Why are these goals important to you?

5. What does it mean to have a good life?

6. What does it mean to be a good person?

7. If you are looking back on your life now, how would you like to be remembered?

   

monitoring the occupational outlook

• Counselors and academic advisors are trained to provide guidance and support regarding future career opportunities, coursework, how to stay on track to career goals