Module 48: Adolescence: Physical and Cognitive Development

adolescence

the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence

G. Stanley Hall

believed that this tension between biological maturity and social dependence creates a period of “storm and stress”; it’s a timewhen teen crave social acceptance but often feel socially disconnected

puberty

the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

sequence of puberty

the sequence of physical changes in puberty (for example, breast buds and visible public hair before menarche0 is far more predictable than their timing

menarche

the first menstruation period

effects of early maturation

for boys. early maturation has mixed effects; for girls, early maturation can be a challenge

teenage brain

until puberty, brain cells increase their connections, then, during adolescence, comes a selective pruning of unused neurons and connections. What we don’t use, we lose

frontal lobe

The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence and the early twenties, enabling improved judgement, impulse control, and long-term planning

developing reasoning power

Piaget theorized that adolescents develop a capacity for normal operations and that this development is the foundation for moral judgement

formal operational stage

Jean Piaget; teen apply their new abstract reasoning tools to the world round them

Kohlberg

sought to describe the development of moral reasoning; posed moral dilemmas

moral reasoning

the thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong

moral intuition

quick gut feelings, or affectively laden intuitions

moral action

Morality involves doing the right thing, and what we do also depends on social influences

delayed gratification

to decline small rewards now for bigger rewards later — is basic to our future academic, vocational, and social success