HDFS 239 Exam 1

Life History Theory

Harsh, unsafe environments with scarce resources leads to insecure attachment and early sexual maturation with an opportunistic reproductive strategy. Safe, abundant environments leads to secure attachment and viewing the world as safe, others can be trusted.

Biological Perspective

Determinist; states that the personhood of each human is determined at birth by your inherited genes and attributes

Organismic Perspective

Relatively equal interplay of nature/nurture; all components of the system (genes, shelter, food) are equally important to the growth of a person

Learning Perspective

More emphasis on nurture; says that experiences are key for individual differences and sends signals to your body on how to develop

• Behaviorism says you learn by direct experience

• Social learning says you learn through watching others

Sociological Perspective

Focus on the group and what makes each group of adolescents stand out from other ones

Historical/Cultural Anthropology Perspective

Views adolescence as a construct/cultural invention; meanings of adolescence vary by culture and across time

Puberty

Term means becoming an adult, becoming capable of sexual reproduction, and includes hormones that lead to physical changes

The Endocrine System

System of the body that produces, circulates, and regulates hormones

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis

Manages your body’s response to stress

Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Gonadal (HPG) axis

Controls reproduction and sex hormones; shifting towards higher sex hormone levels during puberty

• HPA is typically matured before HPG

HPA Axis Sensitivity

Biological process of adrenarche is triggered by HPA reactivity to stress. signaling the adrenal glands to mature and begin secreting sex hormones called androgens

Distal influences that trigger puberty

Biological timing (some of this is inherited from parents), presence of mature sexual partners, and nutrition

Proximal trigger of puberty

Permissive metabolic signal that tells the brain the body has enough fat and energy stores to begin puberty

Triggers of early menarche

Excess body fat (increases production of leptin), chronic stress, inherited genes,

Puberty and Family Relationships

Results in an increase in conflict and anger as well as a decrease in support, warmth, and laughter

Impact of Early Maturation on Boys

Generally positive, especially in less risky contexts (they receive popularity, social status, etc., but also some risk behaviors)

Impact of Early Maturation on Girls

Creates risks and drives social experiences that may be inappropriate for them cognitively and/or socially

Why are there differences in risk between sexes for early maturation?

Early maturing girls are REALLY young. Since biology begins maturing way before cognitive process are mature, early matured girls may be susceptible to more inappropriate and risky situations

Purpose of negative feedback loops for the endocrine system

Prevents glands from overproducing certain hormones, conserving the body’s energy and protecting organs

Testosterone and Aggression

The effects of testosterone on aggression are conditional to social situations

Thinking in Alternatives

Development of “deductive reasoning”, with more ability to take different perspectives

• Leads to the development of hopes, fears, dreams, stress, failure, etc.

Thinking about Abstract Concepts

The ability to think in more advanced ways about interpersonal relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and morality, which includes abstract concepts like friendship, faith, democracy, fairness, and honesty

Thinking about Thinking

“Metacognition”; awareness of “thinking” as a concept changes the world

• Leads to adolescent egocentrism (extreme self-absorption), the personal fable (belief that your feelings and emotions are different than others), and imaginary audience (the belief that everyone is watching and evaluating you)

Multiple Dimensions

Adolescent cognition begins to depend on conditions, dependency, and nuance (more complicated than child cognition)

Adolescent Relativism

Shift from seeing things in black and white to seeing things as relative

• Adolescents beging to understand the uncertainty of the world

Information Processing Lens

A perspective on cognition that attempts to explain cognitive development in terms of the growth of specific components of the thinking process

• Changes in attention, memory, speed, and organization

• Raw processing abilities mature by mid-adolescence, but nuance matures over the next 8-10 years

Piagetian View of Adolescent Thinking

Cognitive-developmental view: a perspective of development that takes a qualitative, stage-theory approach

Myelination

Protective, fatty insulating layer called a myeline sheath forms around axons, for the development of movement, senses, and higher-level thinking

Pruning

Removes unnecessary neuronal structures from the brain

Prefrontal Cortex

The region of the brain most important for sophisticated thinking abilities, such as planning, thinking ahead, weighing risks and rewards, and controlling impulses

Orbitofrontal Cortex

Influences decision-making and expectations, and is linked to impulsivity and self-control

Injury to orbitofrontal cortex may lead to:

Swearing excessively, hypersexuality, compulsive gambling, excessive alcohol and drug use

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex

Processes for risk and fear, more socially and emotionally focused than the orbiofrontal cortex

• Intuitive decisions

• Moral decisions

• Self-perception

• Social cognition

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Last area to myelinate around age 24, associated with planning, working memory, impulse control

Limbic System

An Area of the brain that plays an important role in the processing of emotional experience, social information, and reward and punishment

• Hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala

Adolescent changes to the Limbic system

• Higher reward and novelty seeking

• Vulnerability to stress

Relationship between Limbic system and Prefrontal Cortex

Limbic system matures at puberty, while the prefrontal cortex matures several years later. This time gap may explain why adolescence is a period of heightened experimentation with risk.

Why do adolescents commonly partake in risktaking?

More susceptible to peer pressure, more focused on the present rather than the future, much more impulse, act differently in presence of peers, more attuned to rewards than risks

Social Redefinition

The process through which an individual’s position or status is redefined by society

• Adolescents become redefined by family and social institutions

Psychosocial Development - identity

Quasi-adult status causes adolescent’s to feel more adult-like

Psychosocial development - Autonomy

Quasi-adult status comes with an emerging relationship between privilege and responsibility

Psychosocial development - intimacy, dating, and marriage

Need for new decisions about sexual activity

Psychosocial development - achievement

Becoming a full-time employee, leaving school of their own volition

Historical trend for adolescents’ timing of pubertal onset

Traditional societies had late puberty and early adulthood (very short period of adolescence) with low variation where most people experienced it the same way. Modern societies today have much longer period of adolescence with high variation

Emerging Adulthood

A discontinuous process involving distinct stages which are characterized by qualitative differences in behavior

• Is this a discrete stage or something only a segment of society participates in?

Osgood Study

Examined five variables of people aged 24: romantic relationship, residence, parenthood, employment, and education

Findings of Osgood Study

6 somewhat distinct groups:

1. fast starters (12%)

2. parents without careers (10%)

3. educated partners (19%)

4. educated singles (37%)

5. working singles (7%)

6. slow starters (14%)

Were the results of Osgood’s study random?

It was discovered that outcomes were dependent on parental circumstances

• Fast Starters and Parents Without Careers were more likely to grow up in families with less income and education than Educated Partners and Educated Singles

• Generally a privilege based on parents’ socioeconomic status