Adolescent Development: The Self, Identity, Gender, Morality, and Personality

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering adolescent development topics across Chapter 4 (The Self, Identity, Emotion, and Personality), Chapter 5 (Gender), and Chapter 7 (Moral Development, Values, and Religion) from John W. Santrock's Adolescence.

Social Role Theory

Alice Eagly's theory stating that psychological gender differences mainly result from the contrasting social roles of women and men, with women holding less power and status and controlling fewer resources than men.

Social Cognitive Theory of Gender

A theory emphasizing that children's and adolescents' gender development is influenced by their observation and imitation of others' gender behavior, as well as the rewards and punishments experienced for gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate actions.

Gender Schema Theory

A theory stating that an individual's attention and behavior are guided by an internal motivation to conform to gender-based sociocultural standards and stereotypes.

Gender Schema

A cognitive structure or organizing network that categorizes and interprets information in terms of males and females.

Gender Stereotypes

Broad categories that reflect general impressions and beliefs about girls/women and boys/men.

Instrumental Traits

Personality characteristics traditionally associated with boys and men, such as independence, power, assertiveness, and task orientation.

Expressive Traits

Personality characteristics traditionally associated with girls and women, such as warmth, nurturance, and emotional responsiveness.

Relational Aggression

Behavior aimed at damaging another person's relationships, social standing, or feelings of inclusion (e.g., spreading rumors), which comprises a greater percentage of girls' overall aggression than boys'.

Rapport Talk

The language of conversation, establishing connections, and negotiating relationships; enjoyed more by girls and women.

Report Talk

A style of communication designed to give information, such as public speaking, storytelling, joking, and lecturing; favored more by boys and men.

Androgyny

The presence of a high degree of desirable masculine and feminine characteristics in the same individual.

Boy Code

William Pollack's concept describing how boys are socialized to bottle up anxieties and concerns, act tough, and hide their feelings.

Gender Role Transcendence

The view that when an individual's competence is evaluated, it should be conceptualized on a personal basis rather than classified through masculinity, femininity, or androgyny.

Transgender

A broad term referring to individuals who adopt a gender identity that differs from the sex assigned to them at birth.

Cisgender

A term describing individuals whose gender identity aligns with the biological sex assigned to them at birth.

Two-Spirit

A term utilized by some Indigenous North Americans to describe gender-diverse individuals within their communities.

Gender Mosaic

A concept from neuroscience indicating that individuals possess unique combinations of brain characteristics rather than strictly distinct, binary male or female brains.

Moral Development

Changes in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding standards of right and wrong, containing both an intrapersonal dimension and an interpersonal dimension.

Preconventional Reasoning

The lowest level of moral development in Lawrence Kohlberg's theory, where moral thinking is controlled primarily by external rules and a punishment-and-obedience orientation (typical before age 9).

Conventional Reasoning

The intermediate level in Kohlberg's moral theory, in which individuals develop expectations about social roles and place a strong emphasis on adhering to societal laws and social consensus (typical by early adolescence).

Postconventional Reasoning

The highest level of Kohlberg's moral development, wherein conventional laws are evaluated against universal principles such as liberty, justice, and human rights, recognizing that morality can improve laws.

Justice Perspective

A moral perspective focused on individual rights, abstract principles, and rules to adjudicate ethical issues; emphasized in Lawrence Kohlberg's theory.

Care Perspective

Carol Gilligan's moral perspective that views people in terms of their connectedness and concern for others, prioritizing interpersonal relationships over abstract justice.

Moral Competence

The cognitive-sensory capability and skill to produce moral behaviors, distinguishing what an individual is capable of doing from what they actually do.

Moral Performance

The situational enactment of moral behaviors, determined primarily by motivation, incentives, and rewards.

Moral Disengagement

Albert Bandura's concept referring to cognitive mechanisms through which individuals justify harmful conduct to themselves, avoiding guilt and self-condemnation.

Altruism

An unselfish interest in helping another person with no expectation of personal gain.

Forgiveness

An aspect of prosocial behavior that occurs when an injured individual releases the wrongdoer from possible behavioral retaliation.

Gratitude

A feeling of thankfulness and appreciation, especially in response to someone doing something kind or helpful.

Ego Ideal

The component of the Freud's superego that involves standards of moral excellence approved and rewarded by parents.

Conscience

The component of Freud's superego that punishes the self with guilt and discourages behaviors disapproved of by parents.

Empathy

An emotional reaction to another person's feelings that corresponds to that person's emotional state, often relying on the cognitive ability of perspective taking.

Moral Identity

An aspect of personality that exists when moral notions, commitments, and traits are central to an individual's self-concept.

Moral Self-Monitoring

Darcia Narváez's concept of consciously tracking one's thoughts and actions in moral contexts and exercising self-control.

Moral Self-Reflection

Darcia Narváez's concept of critically evaluating one's self-judgments and making intentional efforts to minimize personal bias and self-deception.

Moral Exemplars

Individuals who have led exemplary lives, exhibiting a personality, identity, and virtues that reflect moral excellence and commitment (often categorized as brave, caring, or just).

Social Domain Theory

A developmental theory stating that social knowledge and reasoning develop across distinct domains: moral, social conventional, and personal.

Social Conventional Reasoning

Thinking focused on arbitrary social consensus and customs established to maintain order, distinct from ethical reasoning concerning moral rights and justice.

Love Withdrawal

A parental discipline technique in which a caregiver withholds affection, communication, or positive attention to manage an adolescent's behavior.

Power Assertion

A discipline method where a caregiver exerts dominance through physical punishment, threats, or deprivation of privileges and resources.

Induction

A parental discipline strategy that employs reasoning and explanations regarding how a child's or adolescent's behavior negatively impacts others.

Hidden Curriculum

The pervasive moral atmosphere that characterizes every school, shaped by classroom rules, administrator attitudes, teacher behavior, and curriculum materials.

Character Education

A direct instructional approach in schools that explicitly teaches students a basic moral literacy to prevent unethical, antisocial, or self-harming behaviors.

Values Clarification

An educational approach that encourages students to identify and define their own personal priorities, values, and purpose in life rather than imposing predefined moral standards.

Service Learning

A form of education that integrates community service into academic instruction to promote social responsibility and altruism.

Values

Beliefs and attitudes regarding how things ought to be, representing what an individual considers meaningful and worthwhile.

Religion

An organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols designed to facilitate an individual's connection to a sacred or transcendent entity.

Religiousness

The degree of an individual's affiliation with an organized religion, including participation in its rituals and adherence to its communal beliefs.

Spirituality

Experiencing something transcendent beyond oneself and living in a way that positively impacts others and society.

Self-Understanding

The adolescent's cognitive representation of the self, serving as an evolving social cognitive construction rather than a purely internal self-concept.

Perspective Taking

The ability to assume other individuals' points of view and comprehend their inner thoughts and feelings.

Self-Esteem

The global evaluative dimension of the self, reflecting an individual's overall sense of self-worth or self-image.

Self-Concept

Domain-specific evaluations of the self across specialized areas, such as academic, athletic, or physical appearance domains.

Narcissism

A self-centered, self-concerned orientation characterized by grandiosity or vulnerability, often marked by attitudes of superiority and exploitativeness.

Self-Regulation

The self-generation and cognitive monitoring of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to achieve personal goals without external compulsion.

Effortful Control

A foundational component of self-regulation that involves inhibiting impulsive actions, maintaining focused attention, and completing long-term tasks.

Identity

A self-portrait and integrated synthesis of self-understanding that represents who an individual believes they are.

Identity Versus Identity Confusion

Erik Erikson's fifth developmental stage, occurring during adolescence, in which individuals confront the challenge of discovering who they are and their life path.

Psychosocial Moratorium

Erik Erikson's term for the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy that grants adolescents time and freedom to experiment with different roles.

Crisis (Marcia)

A period of identity development in James Marcia's model during which an adolescent actively explores meaningful alternatives.

Commitment (Marcia)

A personal investment and firm decision in an identity domain, such as an ideology, career, or relationship.

Identity Diffusion

James Marcia's identity status wherein adolescents have not yet experienced a crisis of exploration and have made no personal commitments.

Identity Foreclosure

James Marcia's identity status wherein individuals have made commitments without having undergone an exploratory crisis, often adopting roles handed down by parents.

Identity Moratorium

James Marcia's identity status characterizing individuals who are in the midst of an active exploration crisis but have not yet established firm commitments.

Identity Achievement

James Marcia's identity status occurring when an individual has undergone an active period of exploration and successfully established personal commitments.

Ethnic-Racial Identity

An enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic-racial group, alongside associated feelings, attitudes, and cultural practices.

Bicultural Identity

Identity formation that occurs when adolescents identify in some aspects with their heritage ethnic group and in other aspects with the dominant majority culture.

Intimacy Versus Isolation

Erik Erikson's sixth developmental stage, experienced in early adulthood, where the central challenge is forming close, healthy relationships versus facing social isolation.

Emotion

A feeling, or affect, that arises when an individual is involved in an important state or interaction, particularly one related to personal well-being.

Emotional Competence

The adaptive development of emotional skills, including managing negative affective states, discerning others' feelings, and recognizing that internal states need not match external displays.

Big Five Factors of Personality

The five broad personality supertraits summarized by the acronym OCEAN: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (emotional stability).

Temperament

An individual's behavioral style, reactivity, and characteristic way of responding emotionally to environmental events.

Easy Child

A temperament style identified by Alexander Chess and Stella Thomas, characterized by a generally positive mood, quick establishment of regular routines, and easy adaptation to new experiences.

Difficult Child

A temperament cluster characterized by frequent negative reactions, irregular daily routines, and slow adjustment to new environments or changes.

Slow-to-Warm-Up Child

A temperament category characterized by a low activity level, somewhat negative reactions, and low intensity of mood when encountering unfamiliar stimuli.

Goodness of Fit

The compatibility between an individual's unique temperament style and the demands and expectations of their environment.