Adolescent Psychology Exam 1

Stereotype

A generalization tat reflects our impressions and beliefs about a broad category of people. They carry images of what the “typical” member of a group looks like. They are difficult to abandon.

Positive Youth Development

(Jacqueline + Richard Lerner)

Competence:

Positive perception of one’s actions in domain-specific areas (social, academic, physical, etc)

Confidence:

Overall positive sense of self-worth and self-efficacy (sense that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes)

Connection:

Positive relationships with others (peers, family, teachers)

Character:

Respect for societal rules, understanding of right and wrong, integrity

Caring/Compassion:

Showing emotional concern for others, especially those in distress

Context

Settings in which development occurs. Influenced by historical, economic, social, and cultural factors.

Social Policy

Course of action designed by the national government to influence the welfare of its citizens

Biological Processes

Physical changes in an individual’s body. Genes, development of the brain, height and weight gains, advances in motor skill, hormonal changes of puberty.

Influence cognitive processes.

Cognitive Processes

Changes in an individual’s thinking and intelligence. Memorizing something, doing math, envisioning something.

Advance or restrict socioemotional processes

Socioemotional

Changes in an individual’s emotions, personality, relationships, and social contexts.

Shape cognitive processes.

Prenatal Period

Time from conception to birth (9 months)

Infancy

Period from birth to 24 months. Extreme dependency on adults. Psychological activities (language, symbolic thought, sensorimotor coordination, social learning, parent-child relationships) begin

Early Childhood

2-5 years. Children become more self-sufficient and care for themselves. Develop school readiness and spend a lot of time playing.

Middle/Late childhood

6-11 years. Master fundamental skills of reading, writing, math, and are formally exposed to the world and culture. Achievement becomes a central theme of development.

Adolescence

Period of transition between childhood and adulthood

Early Adolescence

The middle school/junior high years and includes most pubertal change

Late Adolescence

Latter half of the second decade of life. Career interests, dating, and identity exploration.

Emerging Adulthood

18-25 years. Transition from adolescence to adulthood. Experimentation and exploration.

Early Adulthood

Begins in the late teens/early twenties and lasts through the thirties. Establishing personal and economic independence and engaging in career development.

Middle Adulthood

Starts from 35/45-55/65 years. Increasing interest in transmitting values to the next generation, deeper reflection about the meaning of life, enhanced concern about a decline in physical functioning and health.

Late Adulthood

60/70-death. Decreasing strength and health, retirement and reduced income. Reviewing life and adapting to changing social roles, lessened responsibility, increased freedom.

Nature-Nurture Issue

Whether development is primarily influenced by nature or nurture.

Nature: biological inheritance

Nurture: environmental experiences

Continuity-Discontinuity Issue

Extent to which development involves cumulative change (continuity) or distinct changes (discontinuity)

Early-Later Experience Issue

Degree to which early experiences or later experiences are the key determinants of development

Scientific Method

1. Conceptualize a process/problem to be studied


2. Collected research information (data)
3. Analyze data
4. Draw conclusions

Thoery

Interrelated, coherent set of ideas that helps explain phenomena and make predictions

Hypotheses

Specific assertions and predictions that can be tested

Aristotle

Fourth Century BC

Self-determination is a hallmark of maturity

G. Stanley Hall

Storm-and-Stress: Turbulent time charged with conflict and mood swings

Psychoanalytic Theories

Describe development ass primarily unconscious and heavily colored by emotion

Freudian Stages of Development

Oral:

Infant’s pleasure centers on the mouth (0-1.5 years)

Anal:

Child’s pleasure focuses on the anus (1.5-3 years)

Phallic:

Child’s pleasure focuses on the genitals (3-6 years)

Latency:

Child represses sexual interest and develops social and intellectual skills (6 years-puberty)

Genital:

A time of sexual reawakening; source of sexual pleasure becomes someone outside the family (puberty+)

Personality Structures

Id: Instincts; completely unconscious

Ego: “executive branch,” makes rational decisions

Superego: Conscience; moral branch of the personality

Defense Mechanisms

Unconscious methods of distorting reality that the ego uses to protect itself from the anxiety produced by the conflicting demands of the personality structures

Repression

Pushes unacceptable id impulses out of awareness and into the unconscious mid. Foundation for all other defense mechanisms

Erik Erikson

Develop in psychosocial rather than psychosexual stages. Primary motivation is social and reflects a desire to affiliate with other people.

Erikson’s Stages of Development

Trust vs. Mistrust:

Trust in infancy sets the stage for lifelong expectation that the world will be good and pleasant (1 year)

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt: Infants discover their behavior is their own and start to assert independence (1-3 years)

Initiative vs. Guilt:

Face new challenges that require active, purposeful, responsible behavior. Feelings of guilt may arise if the child is irresponsible and made to feel anxious (3-5 years)

Industry vs. Inferiority:

Direct energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills. Can develop sense of inferiority (6-10)

Identity vs. Identity Confusion:

Exploration of who we are. Achieve positive identity if explore roles in a healthy manner (10-20)

Intimacy vs. Isolation:

Intimacy achieved if you form healthy relationships, isolation achieved if not (20s, 30s)

Generativity vs. Stagnation:

Concern for helping the younger generation develop and lead useful lives, or risk feeling like you haven’t done anything to help (40s, 50s)

Integrity vs. Despair:

Life review reveals a life well spent, or doubt and gloom (60+)

Cognitive Theories

Emphasize conscious thoughts

Piaget’s Cognitive Development Theory

Sensorimotor:

Infants construct understanding of the world by coordinating sensory experiences with motoric actions (birth-2 years)

Preoperational:

Children represent the world with words, images, and drawings but still lack operations (2-7 years)

Concrete Operational:

Children perform operations involving objects and reason logically as long as they can apply reasoning to concrete examples (7-11 years)

Formal Operational:

Individual's think in abstract and logical terms. Entertain possibilities for the future and are fascinated with what they can be (11-15 years)

Vygotsky’s Theory

Emphasizes how culture and social interaction guide cognitive development

Information-Processing Theory

Emphasizes that individuals manipulate information, monitor it, and strategize about it. Individuals develop a gradually increasing capacity for processing information, which allows them to acquire increasingly complex knowledge and skills.

Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)

Behavior, environment, and person/cognition are the key factors in development

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

Development reflects the influence of five environmental systems.

Microsystem:

The setting in which the adolescent lives

Mesosystem:

Relations between microsystems or connections between contexts

Exosystem:

Links between a social setting in which the adolescent does not have an active role and the individual’s immediate context

Macrosystem:

The culture in which adolescents live

Chronosystem:

The patterning of environmental events and transitions over the life course, as well as sociohistorical circumstances

Eclectic Theoretical Orientation

Does not follow any one theoretical approach but selects from each theory what is considered its best features

Standardized Test

Uniform procedures for administration and scoring, compared to the performance of others

EX: Stanford-Binet intelligence test

Psycholoogical Measures

Hormone levels (Cortisol)

Fat content

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

Genes

Experience Sampling Method (ESM)

Participants in a study are given electronic pagers and report on various aspects of their immediate situations when “beeped” by a researcher

Case Study

An in-depth look at a single individual

Descriptive Research

Aims to observe and record behavior

Correlational Research

Provide information that will help us to predict how people will behave to describe the strength of the relationship between two or more events or characteristics

Correlation Coefficient

A number based on a statistical analysis that is used to describe the degree of association between two variables (+1 or -1 is strongest)

Cross-Sectional Research

Studying a groupu of people at the same time

Longitudinal Research

Studying the same individuals over a period of time, usually several years

Culture Bias

Preconceived notion abut the abilities of females and males that prevents individuals from pursuing there own interests and achieving their potential

Ethnic Gloss

Using an ethnic label such as “African American” or “Latinx” in a way that portrays the ethnic group as more homogenous than it really is

Puberty

Brain-neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that provides stimulation for the rapid physical changes that take place during this period of development

Hormones

Powerful chemical substances secreted by the endocrine glands and carried through the bloodstream

Androgens

Main class of male-sex hormones

Testosterone: secreted by testes. Growth and development of external genitals, increases in heights, deepening of voice. Increased sexual desire

Estrogen

Main class of female hormones

Estradiol: Secreted by ovaries. Breast and uterine development, skeletal changes

Endocrine System

Hypothalamus:

Higher portion of the brain that monitors eating, drinking, and sex

Pituitary Gland:

Controls growth and regulates other glands

Gonads:

Sex glands

Adrenarche

Hormonal changes in adrenal glands (6-9 years for girls, 7-10 years for boys) generally before puberty

Gonadarche

Follows adrenarche by two years. Involves maturity of sexual characteristics

Precocious Maturity

Before 8 in girls, before 9 in boys. treated medically through suppressing sexual hormone secretion

Early-Onset Boys

Viewed self more positively and has more positive peer relations than late maturing boys

Late-Onset Boys

In adulthood (30s) have more positive identity than early maturing boys. Funnier, smarter, more creative than early

Early Onset Girls

More problematic than boys. Earlier dating nd sexual experiences because of bodies.

Disconnect between body and cognitive maturity. More likely to have depression, substance abuse, date older people (freshman girl and senior boy)

Late Maturers

Girls: 15, haven’t experienced menarche (first period)

Boys: 16, no growth spurt

Hormonal treatment may be necessary

Secular Trends

Pattern of pubertal onset over historical times, generations

EX: Norway, menarche at 13 years rather than 17 years (1840)

Body Image

Nobody is hot at 13, but they don’t know that

Issues with cultural differences

Body art: makes people feel better, looks cool

Risk-Taking Behavior

Seek experiences that create intense feelings, relates to adolescent brain development (pre-frontal cortex)

Exercise

Reduced bodyfat, blood pressure, triglyceride levels, substance abuse, increased body image, connectivity between brain regions, reduced stress and depression

Aerobics associated with cognitive skills, better memory, creativity, and executive function

Female Athletic Triad

Relative energy deficiency in sports. Disordered easting, amenorrhea (irregular/absent cycles), and osteoporosis

Treatment: maintain calorie consumption, determine cause of menstrual dysfunction, adequate intake of calcium and vitamin D

Sleep

Lack of sleep linked with emotional, mood, and substance abuse problems. Risk of being overweight, depressive symptoms, less motivation, self-harm/suicide

DNA, Chromosomes, and Genes

DNA: molecule that contains genetic information

Chromosomes: structures that contain DNA

Genes: units of hereditary information, short segments made of DNA

Genotype vs. Phenotype

Genotype:

A person’s genetic heritage

Phenotype:

The way an individual’s genotype is expressed in observed and measurable characteristics

Behavior Genetics

Field that seeks to discover the influence of heredity and environmental on individual differences in human traits and development

Heredity-Environment Correlations

Passive genotype-environment correlations:

Occur because biological parents provide a rearing environment for the outcome

Evocative genotype-environment correlations:

An adolescent’s genetically shaped characteristics elicit certain types of physical and social environments

Active genotype-environment correlations:

Occur when individuals seek out environments that tthey find compatible and stimulating. Niche-picking refers to finding a setting that is suited to one’s abilities

Epigenetic View

Emphasizes that development is the result of an ongoing, bidirectional interchange between heredity and the environment

Gene x Environment (G x E) Interaction

The interaction of a specific measured variation in DNA and a specific measured aspect of the environment

Neuroconstructivist Views

Biological processes and environmental experiences influence the brain’s development, the brain has plasticity and it context dependent, and development of the brain is linked closely with cognitive development

Neurons

Nerve cells, the nervous system’s basic units, three parts

Dendrite: receiving part

Axon: carries info from cell body to other cells

Mylineation

Axon portion of a neuron becomes covered and insulated with a layer of fat cells, increasing the speed and efficiency of information processing in the nervous system

Corpus Callosum

Large bundle of axon fibers that connects the brain’s left and right hemispheres and thickens in adolescence

Prefrontal Cortex

Highest level of the frontal lobes that is involved in reasoning, decision making, and self-control

Limbic System

Seat of emotions and where rewards are experienced, matures much earlier than the prefrontal cortex

Amygdala

Limbic structure especially involved in emotion

Plasticity

Neurogenesis can occur in humans. The brain has the ability to repair itself

Equilibration

A shift in thought from one state to another

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning

The ability to develop hypotheses about how to solve problems

Neo-Piagetians

Piaget’s theory does not adequately focus on attention, memory, and cognitive strategies that adolescents use to process and his explanations of cognitive development are too general

Postformal though

Reflective, relativistic, and contextual

Provisional

Realistic

Recognized as being influenced by emotion

Wisdom

Expert knowledge about the practicaly aspects of life that permits excellent judgment about important matters

Balance theory of wisdom

Wisdom consists of using one’s intelligence, creativity, common sense, and knowledge in a balanced, ethical manner

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

Range of tasks too difficult for an individual to master alone, but can be mastered with guidance of more skilled peers

(Vygotsky)

Social Constructivist Approach

Emphasizes the social contexts of learning and the construction of knowledge through social interaction

Cognitive Resources

The capacity and speed of processing

Attention

Concentration and focusing of mental effort

Selective:

Focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring irrelevant things

Divided:

Concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

Sustained:

Ability to maintain attention to one thing for an extended period of time

Executive:

Planning actions, attention to goals, compensating for errors, monitoring progress, and dealing with difficult circumstances

Memory

Retention of information over time

Executive Function

Manage one’s thoughts to engage in goal-directed behavior and exercise self-control

Cognitive Control

Effective control and flexible thinking in directing attention, reducing interfering thoughts, and being cognitively flexible

Fuzzy-Trace Theory Dual-Process Model

Decisions making is influenced by “verbatim” analytical thinking (literal, precise) and gist-based intuition (simple, more benefit to adolescents)

Critical Thinking

Thinking reflectively and productively and evaluating evidence

Creativity

Ability to think in novel ways and discover unique solutions to problems

Convergent Thinking

Produces one correct answer, type of thinking needed for an IQ test