Chapter 9: Autonomy

What is autonomy?

• is a psychosocial concern that surfaces and resurfaces through the life cycle

• it is not resolved forever when young childhood is reached

Cognitive change and the development of autonomy

• part of being autonomous involves being able to make independent decisions

• this involves being able to consider other people’s perspectives

Social roles and the development of autonomy

• changes in social roles and activities during adolescence raise concerns related to independence

• adolescents move into new positions that demand increasing degrees of responsibility self-resilience

What are the three types of autonomy?

1. emotional

2. behavioural

3. cognitive

What is Emotional Autonomy?

• the establishment of more adultlike and less childish close relationships with family members and peers

The Development of Emotional Autonomy

• older adolescents no longer rush to their parents when they’re upset or are in need of help

• they don’t see their parents as all-knowing anymore

• their emotional energy is invested in other relationships

• view their parents like people

Emotional Autonomy: detachment or individuation?

psychoanalytic theories suggest that puberty causes conflict within the family

• Detachment: in psychoanalytic theory, is the process where adolescents cut off emotional attachments to their parents in order to gain independence

  • studies do not agree with this psychoanalytic take

  • most families get along well during the adolescent years

  • may bicker but does not diminish closeness

• Individuation: the progressive sharpening of an individuals sense of being an autonomous, independent person, having a clear sense of separation from their parents, developing a personal identity

  • this begins during infancy

  • acceptance of responsibility for choices and actions

  • separating self

Research on emotional autonomy: indicators

• seeing parents flaws

• depending on yourself rather than your parents

• recognizing things about yourself that your parents dont realize

• having different beliefs than your parents

Research on emotional autonomy: de-idealization

• removing parents from their pedestals

• the first piece of emotional autonomy

• may not develop until young adulthood

Research on emotional autonomy: the importance of maintaining a connection

• the development of autonomy results in different psychological effects depending on the closeness of the parent-child relationship

• adolescents who have both autonomy and closeness with their parents are psychologically healthier

Research on emotional autonomy: what two models trigger individuation?

• changes in the adolescent’s appearance provoke changes in how adolescent’s view themselves and how their parents view them, this can alter their interactions

• cognitive development stimulates movement toward individuation

Parenting and Emotional Autonomy

• when parents delay or prevent the individuation process for their kids, it usually results in them showing signs of psychological distress; better providing support for autonomy = better mental health

  Psychological control: parenting that attempts to control the adolescent’s emotions and opinions

  • this could lead to depression, anxiety, aggression, feelings of incopetence and dependence etc

What is Behavioural Autonomy?

• the capacity to make indpendent decisions and to follow through with them

What is Cognitive Autonomy?

• the establishment of an independent set of values, opinions and beliefs

The Development of Cognitive Autonomy

Three noteworthy trends:

1. beliefs about moral, political, and religious issues become more abstract

2. beliefs become increasingly rooted in general principles

3. beliefs become founded in the young persons own values

Changes in Decision-Making Abilities

sophisticated reasoning leads adolescent’s to hold different perspectives allowing them to compare to other viewpoints

• this is cruel for weighing pinions and advice from others

• more likely to contemplate long-term consequences

• consider risks

• consider other’s point of view

Outcome?

• linked to gains in self-regulation

• increased ability to control impulses

• decline in decisions revolving in immediate reward

When do adolescents make decisions as well as adults?

• difficult to determine when adolescents can make legal decisions

• mature decision making is the product of both cognitive abilities and emotional factors, which do not develop at the same time

Changes in susceptibility: the influence of parents and peers

• turn to different people for advice in different situations

• peers for short-term, social, matters

• parents for long-term questions

Changes in susceptibility: responding to peer pressure

• happens when adults aren’t around

• conformity to peers is greater during the first half of adolescence

• consequences of susceptibility depend on who the peers are

• not all peer pressure is bad

Why?

1. especially strong around the age 14

2. adolescents have a heightened orientation toward other people

3. being around other teenagers changes the way an adolescent’s brain functions, activating regions associated with rewards

Changes in susceptibility: individual differences to peer influence

• girls are less susceptible to boys

• youth from single parent families, less supportive parents or parents who are too controlling are more susceptible

• black adolescents are less susceptible

Changes in susceptibility: parenting and behavioural autonomy

• associated with authoritative parenting

• adolescents from authoritative home are less susceptible to peer pressure

Ethnic and Cultural Differences in Expectations for Autonomy

• behavioural autonomy development varies across cultures

• white adolescents and their parents have earlier expectations for autonomy than asian adolescents and parents

• a teenagers expectation for autonomy are shaped by their perceptions of how much independence their friends have

Moral Development During Adolescence - what is prosocial behaviour?

involves both reasoning and behaviour

• Prosocial Behaviour: behaviour intended to help others

What are the stages of moral reasoning?

1. Pre-conventional reasoning

   • typical of children and is characterized by reasoning that is based on rewards and punishments associated with difference courses of action

   • Example: I won’t hit cole or else my mom will yell at me

2. Conventional reasoning

   • occurs during late childhood and early adolescence and is characterized by reasoning based on the rules and conventions in society

   • Example: I won’t cheat on my math class because I don’t want Sauve to catch me and everyone thinks I’m a loser

3. Post-conventional moral reasoning

   • society’s rules and conventions are seen as relative and subjective rather than as authoritative

   • not all individuals enter a stage of consistent post-conventional thinking during adolescence

   • Example: stealing is wrong but if it’s to save someone’s life it could be justified

Changes In Prosocial Reasoning

• it becomes more sophisticated during late adolescence

• some say it’s because changes in developments in regions of the brain that have the ability to look at things from other people’s perspectives

Prosocial Reasoning and Prosocial Behaviour

• adolescent girl score higher on measures of prosocial moral reasoning than boys = girls have a stronger thoughts about helping other people than boys do

• during adolescence: prosocial reasoning = more advanced; prosocial behaviour = not as consistent

Civic Engagement and Service Learning

• one of the most obvious ways an adolescent can demonstrate prosocial behaviour

• Civic Engagement: involvement in political and community affairs, participation in conventional and alternative political activities, engaging in community service

• only a small proportion of adolescents are politically engaged

• Service Learning: the process of learning through involvement in community service

What are the benefits in engaging in community service?

• short-term gains in mental health and social responsibility

• increases the importance individuals place on helping others

• increased commitment to tolerance, equal opportunity and cultural diversity

Political Thinking During Adolescence - Changes in political thinking

• becomes more abstract

• becomes less authoritarian and less rigid

• develops into a roughly coherent and consistent set of attitudes based on overarching principles

Political Thinking During Adolescence - political thinking and political behaviour

• most important influence is experiences young people had growing up

• young people mirror adults in their lives

• too soon to tell if the BLM movement and COVID have affected teenagers attitudes

Religious Beliefs During Adolescence

• become more abstract

• become more principled

• become more independent

• become more oriented toward spiritual and ideological matters

What are the two main concepts of religious development:

1. Religiosity:

   • the degree to which one engages in religious practices like attending services

2. Spirituality:

   • the degree to which one places importance on the quest for answers to questions about God command the meaning of life

Patterns of religious involvement

• development of religious thinking during late adolescence is best understood as part of the overall development of cognitive autonomy

• continued compliance with parents religious beliefs without a question may be a sign of immature conformity or identity foreclosure