Psych 327 - Midterm 1

Theory

System of ideas that organizes a set of observations or facts into a comprehensive, general explanation of how something works

• Usually aims to explain causes (ex. what causes the developmental changes with age)

Hypothesis

Proposed explanation(s) for a given phenomenon

• Good theories generate good hypotheses (those which can be tested by scientific/empirical research)

• Consists of constructs that are observable/measurable

• Specific and falsifiable

Hist. vs cont. theories

• Unfalsifiable vs falsifiable

• Broad vs specific

• Unobservable/unmeasurable vs observable/measurable

Developmental theories

• Biosocial theories (historical): G. Stanley Hall

  • Founder of adolescence research; influenced by Darwin

  • Believed adolescence was shaped by biology and genetics

  • Storm and stress theory:

    • Biological changes create inner turmoil, uproar, confusion (ex. conflict w/ parents, risky behaviours, etc)

    • Universal across societies and cultures

• Recapitulation theory: ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny (individual development mirrors evolution of human species) 

  • Adolescence: humans transition to modern civilization (filled w/ turbulence)

Dual systems/mat. imbalance theories

• Based on neuroscience research

• Two brain systems: limbic system (reactive, bottom up, stimuli driven) and prefrontal system (regulatory, top down, goal driven)

  • Starting a car w/o a good braking and steering system (need for adolescent brain development)

• Limbic system matures fairly early, however the prefrontal cortex matures late (doesn’t stop developing till around mid 20s)

• Extremely biological perspective that emphasizes the two brain systems

Psychosexual theory

• Historical

• Development and behaviours are the result of the interplay of inner (sexual) drives, unconscious memories of early experiences, and conflicts that are largely outside of our awareness

• Contribution: first to emphasize the role of early experience/environment in development, especially parent-child relations

• Hard to test (unfalsifiable and unobservable)

Organismic theory 1

Erikson

• Historical

• Influenced by Freud, but emphasized the roles of society and culture

• Took a lifespan perspective on human development 

• Hard to test (broad, vague, hard to operationalize/measure)

1

Organismic theory 2

Piaget

• Historical

• Children are active explorers of their world, driven to learn by interacting with the world and organizing what they learn into “cognitive schemas”

• Four stages of development: sensorimotor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational

• Contribution: one of the first psychologists to consider how children think and view them as active contributors to their development

• Ignored emotional, social, and contextual factors in development

2

Social learning theory

Bandura

• Contemporary

• People actively process information from the environment

• Thoughts and emotions lead to behaviours

• Reciprocal relationships between people and the environment

• Learning through observation: modelling, imitation, observational learning

• In charge of Bobo doll experiment

Ecosystems theory

Development is a result of the ongoing interactions among biological, cognitive, and socioemotional changes within people and their changing contexts

Bronfenbrenner

• Contemporary

• Primarily focused on different levels of the environment

• Micro, meso, exo, and macro systems + chronosystem

• Quite complex

• Most comprehensive in conceptualizing different levels of the environment in which people develop 

• Requires large scale collaboration between researchers of different areas of expertise

Behaviourism

Pavlov, Watson, Skinner, Thorndike

• Historical

• Classical/respondent conditioning - US, UR, NS becomes CS, and elicits CR (same as UR), all because the NS was connected to the US and took its place (Pavlov and Watson)

• Operant/instrumental conditioning - reinforcement / punishment for certain behaviours, either increasing or decreasing the likelihood that it will occur again in the future

• Largely de-emphasizes biological predispositions, internal thoughts, emotions, and cognitions, and treats people as passive recipients of their environment

• Ignores the individual differences that we’re born with

Puberty

• A person’s social environment can affect what age puberty begins

• Triggered by changes in the neuroendocrine system (regulates hormone levels)

• Begins with hormonal change, which is then followed by observable physical changes

• Four main physical manifestations:

  • Rapid growth acceleration

  • Developing primary sex characteristics, resulting in hormonal changes

  • Developing secondary sex characteristics

  • Change in brain anatomy due to hormonal influences

Endocrine system

• Produces, circulates, and regulates hormonal levels

• Glands: organs that stimulate specific body parts to respond in certain ways

• Many hormones important to puberty activate GnRH neurons

Hormonal feedback loop

• Endocrine system gets instructions from the CNS

• Endocrine system is like a thermostat - a set point for a hormone can be adjusted depending on environmental/internal bodily conditions

• Feedback loops become more important when puberty begins, such as the HPG axis

HPG axis

• Hypothalamus: controls pituitary gland, leptin increases and melatonin decreases, causing kisspeptin (pubertal clock) to increase, causes GnRH to increase, which decreases inhibition of the following two components

• The pituitary gland: controls general hormone levels - gonadotropin synthesis and release

• Gonads: testes and ovaries, which release androgens and estrogens

Puberty triggers

• Partially genetically determined

• Stimulated by kisspeptin (brain chemical)

• The more fat cells you have and the more light you’ve been exposed to during childhood, the earlier you’ll undergo puberty

Hormones influence ado dev

• The presence or absence of certain hormones early in life program the brain and CNS to develop in certain ways according to a certain schedule

• Many behavioural changes in adolescence are partially due to changes in hormone levels during puberty

Ado growth spurt

Dramatic increase in height and weight, due to simultaneous release of growth hormones, thyroid hormones, and androgens

• Epiphysis: closing of the ends of the long bones; terminating growth in height

• Some debate on whether boys should start school later than girls since they mature slower comparatively 

• Starts around 10 for girls and 12 for boys

Sexual maturation

• Primary sex characteristics: sex organs, gonads

• Secondary sex characteristics: observable manifestations of sexual maturity at puberty (ex. breasts, body hair, voice changes)

• Secondary sex characteristics development is often divided into 5 stages (Tanner stages)

Sexual maturation in boys

• Emergence of facial and body hair and voice deepening are relatively late developments

• Increased development of sweat glands

• Seminal vesicles, prostate, and bulbourethral glands enlarge and develop

• First ejaculation typically occurs about 1 year after beginning of accelerated penis growth

• Boys are usually fertile before they’ve developed an adult-like appearance 

Sexual maturation in girls

• Often the first sign of sexual maturation is the emergence of the breast bud

• Internal changes include development and growth of uterus, vagina, and other aspects of the reproductive system

• Growth spurt is likely to occur during the early and middle stages of breast and pubic hair development

• Menarche is relatively late in the process

• Full reproductive function often doesn’t occur until several years after menarche

Timing and tempo

• In developed countries, typical onset for girls is between 8 and 13, and 9 and 14 for boys

• Average start and end time is between 1.5 and 6 years for girls and 2 to 5 years for boys

• Sequence of changes more predictable for boys (more orderly) than girls (less orderly)

• Black girls mature earlier than Latinx girls, who mature earlier than white girls

Indiv diff’s in pubertal maturation

• Timing and tempo of puberty are largely inherited

• Basically an upper and lower age limit

• Interaction b/w nature and nurture

• Most important environmental factors are nutrition and health

• Chronic illness delays puberty, as does excessive exercise

Fam influences

• Puberty occurs earlier in girls who didn’t have a dad at home, live with a stepfather, in conflict households, or who have been sexually abused

• Less evidence that social dynamics influence male puberty, although father absence and childhood trauma associated with earlier puberty

• Tension in a family may induce stress, affecting hormonal secretions

• Stepfathers expose girls to pheromones

Group diff’s

• Differences in larger groups are more likely to reflect environmental factors

• In places where girls mature early, boys tend to as well

• Later pubertal onset is seen in low income/under-privileged regions

Secular trend

• Due to nutritional improvements, as well as better sanitation and control of infectious diseases, average menarche is happening younger compared to 200 years ago

• Average age of boys’ voice breaking has declined from 18 in the mid 1700s to 10 today

• Although puberty is starting earlier, it is taking longer to complete

• Larger window of vulnerability for risky behaviour

Psych and soc impact

• Biological changes of puberty can have a direct effect on behaviour through its impact on the structure and function of the brain

• Bio changes can also change self image (more adultlike appearance may lead an adolescent to seek more adult privileges)

• Changes in appearance may also change how the adolescent is treated by others

• Pubertal timing/onset is a relative measure

• Pubertal timing is more influential than pubertal status for psychosocial development

Pubertal status

Where in the process of puberty the adolescent is located; an absolute measure; may use Tanner stages

• Pre-pubertal

• Early pubertal

• Mid-pubertal

• Late pubertal

• Post-pubertal 

Can be determined by self report or physical examination

Tempo of change

Rate or speed with which pubertal changes are occurring

• Duration in time: years adolescent progressed through all the changes (ex. if # of years is high, the tempo is low)

Puberty and sleep patterns

• Delayed phase preference: going to bed later and sleeping in; driven by biological changes of puberty

• Partially stay up late due to biology (melatonin) and environment (reasons to stay awake, artificial and blue light exposure)

• Lots of teenagers don’t get enough sleep

Poor sleep quality

• Depression

• Alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use

• Obesity

• Worse social relationships

• Cognitive impairment

• Mind wandering

• Poor school performance

• School burnout

• Behaviour problems

• Greater stress reactivity

Impact of specific pubertal events

• Most adolescents react positively 

• Menarche attitudes are less negative today than historically, possibly due to more information, supplies, and support being offered

• Most positive menarche reactions can be attributed to mothers’ factual responses to questions

• Menstrual symptoms more severe among those who:

  • Expect it to be uncomfortable

  • Have mothers who tell them it will be unpleasant

  • Belong to cultures who label it as an important event

• More negative for those who experience it early or who are unprepared for puberty

• First ejaculation doesn’t seem to cause anxiety, embarrassment or fear

• Boys usually don’t go around advertising it though

• Reactions are more positive when they’ve been prepared for it

Early vs late maturation

• Early maturing adolescents sometimes become pseudomature - wishing they were older, hanging with older people, less involved in school, and more oriented toward their peers over parents

• Perceptions also matter quite a bit - more influential than reality

• Behaviour is related to how old they feel rather than simply their physical maturity

• Often treated differently and may behave differently

• Can have varying consequences across varying time periods

• Early maturing girls are moving away from the valued societal standard (thinness), whereas early maturing boys are moving towards it (muscular)

• No difference in body image opinions in regards to pubertal timing for boys

Early maturation - boys

• Early maturing boys feel better about themselves and are more popular, although higher rates of depression and anxiety have been found with this group

  • Especially those who go through puberty quickly

• Early maturers often have an intense temper 

• Impact of bullying is greater for earlier maturers

• Early maturation = greater likelihood of involvement in antisocial activities (misbehaviour, delinquency, alcohol and drug use)

• Older-looking boys may spend more time with older peers, putting them in environments inappropriate for them due to their ag

Late maturation - boys

• Late maturing boys are more susceptible to depression and self consciousness

• Late maturers score higher on intellectual curiosity and social initiative

  • Also better coping skills

Early maturation - girls

• Early = more emotional difficulties

  • Poor self image

• Higher rates of:

  • Depression

  • Anxiety 

  • EDs

  • Panic attacks

• More frequent negative emotions

• Effects of early maturation can last into adulthood

• Impact of early maturation is worse for girls who are heavier than their peers

• Feelings on early maturation depend on social context

• Puberty itself may not be inherently stressful, but can intensify effects of other stressors

• Early maturation = more popularity, although higher victimization regarding rumors, gossip, social exclusion

• More likely to be sexually harassed, bullied, and abused by SOs

• Possible that young adolescents are less psychologically ready to cope with puberty

• More likely to become involved in problematic behaviour (delinquency, drinking problems, school problems, earlier sex)

• Earlier maturation and problem behaviour is more pronounced among low income communities

• More likely to have negative body image if they experienced early or on time puberty as opposed to late puberty

Obesity

• More than 20% of US adolescents are obese

• Almost 50% of US 16-19 year old females are overweight/obese

• Especially prevalent among youth from low income areas and among Black, Latinx, and Native American adolescents

• Youth obesity has tripled in the past decades

Causes/corr’s of obesity

• Result of interplay between genetics and environment

• People at risk for obesity show greater activation of the brain’s reward centres, heightened responses to food pictures, and poorer impulse control

• Regular physical activity is so important

• Obesity affects gut microbiome

• Almost 80% of obese adolescents will be obese into adulthood

• Inadequate exercise and frequent fast-food consumption are associated with deficiencies in brain development, diminished cognitive function, and poorer academic achievement

• Inadequate sleep can lead to weight gain

Disordered eating

• Continuum

• Range of stress related psych issues

• Latinx girls in the US who are more Americanized are more likely to develop disordered eating

• Almost 20% of anorexic teens starve themselves to death 

• Eating disorders tend to decline between childhood and early adolescence but increase between mid adolescence and early adulthood

Contributing factors to EDs

• Anorexia is seen worldwide, but bulimia is mainly seen in Western cultures

• Eating disorders are seen as part of psychological distress

• Eating disorders are partially heritable

Changes in cognition

Adolescents improve their thinking in terms of:

• What’s possible, rather than what’s reality

• Abstract thought

• Process of thinking itself

• Multidimensionality

• Relative > absolute

Thinking about possibilities

• Thinking counterfactually: not only thinking about how things are, but also what might have been

• This type of thinking helps with math and science

• Also get better at arguing

• Start thinking hypothetically as well

Metacognition

Thinking about thinking

• Often involves monitoring one’s own cognitive activity during thinking

• Better at monitoring their own learning as a result (ex. do I understand this)

• Results in more introspection and self-consciousness

Ado egocentrism

• Introspection may lead to self-absorption

• Results in 2 main problems in thinking:

  • Imaginary audience: imagine your behaviour is the focus of everyone else’s attention

  • Personal fable: belief that your experiences are unique (you wouldn’t understand) 

Thinking in multi dimensions

• Ex. as opposed to just looking at batting averages, considering a batter’s chance of success based on pitcher, OPS, HR, etc

• Can now look at issues from multiple perspectives

Theo perspectives on ado thinking

• Researchers disagree on what process(es) is/are responsible for causing adolescents’ thinking to be more advanced than that of adults

• Two perspectives are Piagetian and information processing

Piaget and ado thinking

• Cognitive developmental view: proceeds through a fixed sequence of qualitatively distinct stages

  • Adolescent thinking is fundamentally different than that of children

• Each of Piaget’s stages is characterized by a specific type of thinking

• Important to mention the divide between how someone is able to think, and how they think in reality

Info processing and ado thinking

• Tries to identify specific abilities that improve as people develop

• Focuses on:

  • Attention

  • Memory

  • Processing speed

  • Organization

• Information processing: how people receive, store, and retrieve information as they think and solve problems

Attention

• Become better at paying attention as teenagers, including both selective attention and divided attention

• Likely linked to maturation of brain systems responsible for impulse control

Memory

• Both working memory and long term memory improve

• Autobiographical memory (long term memory regarding personally meaningful events) stabilizes

• Some say WM can be improved through physical exercise

• Reminiscence bump: people are generally better able to remember details about things they experienced during adolescence better than those other years

  • Maybe because so many firsts happen during this time

  • Tend to remember less personal things from adolescence better as well

  • Ordinary events trigger stronger emotions at this time

  • Brain regions responsible for strong emotions are especially sensitive during adolescence

  • WM skills increase between childhood and adolescence

  • Multitasking can have a negative impact on memory

Speed

• Improves in terms of information processing at this time

• Occurs mainly in early adolescence 

• Doesn’t change much between middle adolescence and young adulthood

Organization

• Approach problems with strategies in place

• Learning becomes more efficient

Cog development by 15

• At this age, people are just as proficient as adults in basic cognitive abilities

• Development of more sophisticated cognitive skills is still taking place, such as

  • Thinking creatively

  • Planning ahead

  • Judging relative costs and benefits 

  • Coordinating cognition and emotion

M/F brains diff?

• Differences are quite small and are unlikely to explain differences between males and females in the way they think/behave

• Male brains are 10% larger than females’

• Some brain regions and structures are different sizes as well, but only slightly

• Brain structure is somewhat changed by sex hormones

How brain works

• Transmits electrical signals across circuits that are composed of interconnected cells (neurons)

• Each neuron has ~10,000 connections in an adult brain

  • Axon: send signals

  • Dendrites: receive signals

• Synapse is the tiny gap between dendrite and axon, where electrical impulses travel to the next neuron, creating a synaptic connection

• The transfer of electrical current across the synapse when a neuron fires is enabled by the release of neurotransmitters

• Each neurotransmitter has a specific molecular structure that fits into a specific receptor

• The more a synapse is used, the stronger its electrical pathway becomes

Grey matter

• Initially, the brain creates many more connections than it’ll actually use, but soon, it starts getting rid of certain synapses (pruning)

• Pruning results in a decrease in gray matter

• Continues through adolescence and is normal and necessary

White matter

Cells other than neurons that play a role in transmitting electrical impulses (myelinated axons only)

• Provide support and protection for neurons

• Make up myelin (insulator) 

• Myelination occurs in waves, starting before birth and continuing into young adulthood

• Signals can travel up to 100x faster in myelinated axons 

Old dogs new tricks

• Neuroplasticity: capacity of the brain to change in response to, or be impacted by experience and environment

• Two types of brain plasticity: developmental and adult

• Developmental: the malleability of the brain during periods in which the brain is being built

  • Involves development and loss of brain cells

  • Changes in brain wiring

  • Alters brain structure

  • Involves growth of new brain cells

  • Sculpted by both passive and active exposure

  • More vulnerable to damage from physical and psychological harms

• Adult: occurs every time we learn or remember something

  • Doesn’t fundamentally alter neural structure 

  • Minor modifications to existing circuits

  • Only altered if we give an experience meaning

Brain structure ado

• Remodeled through synaptic pruning and myelination

• Brain development moves from the back of the brain towards the front

• Prefrontal cortex is pruned dramatically

• Myelination leads to cognitive advances, and is stimulated by puberty, education, and exercise

• Increase in white matter leads to faster and better thinking

• Limbic system and prefrontal cortex are connected better allows for improvements in ability to regulate emotions and coordinate thoughts and feelings

• Those high in prosocial behaviour experienced greater and faster thinning of the cortex

• Cortical thinning also faster among those from higher social classes 

Brain function ado

• Lead to greater efficiency in information processing

• Activation patterns within the prefrontal cortex generally become more focused

• Self control and executive function improve

• People become more likely to use multiple parts of the brain simultaneously and coordinate activity between prefrontal regions and other areas

• Functional connectivity: the simultaneous usage of multiple brain regions working as a team

  • Made possible through increased physical connections between brain regions

  • Basically completed by 22

Risk and reward

• Brain changes the way it's affected by neurotransmitters (ex. dopamine and serotonin)

• Causes adolescents to be:

  • More emotional

  • More responsive to stress

  • More sensitive to rewards

  • More likely to engage in sensation seeking

  • More likely to feel threatened and lash out

• Increase vulnerability to:

  • Risk taking

  • Substance abuse

  • Binge eating

  • Negative effects of family conflict and parental criticism

• Become better at emotional regulation closer to adulthood

• Limbic system matures faster than prefrontal cortex

• Sensation seeking can lead to both dangerous activities and positive exploration and prosocial behaviour

The social brain

• Social cognition: temporal parietal junction, posterior superior temporal sulcus, and dosomedial PFC

• Cognitive control: ventrolateral PFC, dorsolateral PFC, medial prefrontal cortex, and anterior cingulate cortex

• Reward processing: orbitofrontal cortex, ventromedial PFC, and ventral striatum

• Increase brain’s sensitivity to social cues and social rewards

• More likely to change behaviour when they expect to be liked or disliked

• Increased sensitivity to others’ facial expressions

• More sensitive to others’ emotional states

Implications for ado bh

• Adolescent behaviour affects brain development, and vice versa

• Different developmental trajectories of cognitive capability and psychosocial maturity cause a maturity gap, explaining why bright teens may do stupid things

Measuring IQ

• There are changes in specific aspects of IQ performance during adolescence, which are correlated with synaptic pruning

• More intelligent adolescents have a more dramatic and longer period of production of synapses before adolescence and a more dramatic pruning of them after

• Mental abilities measured by IQ reach a plateau in mid to late adolescence

Culture and intelligence

• Nature of intelligence has been affected by Vygotsky, who emphasized broader context in which intellectual development occurs

• Zone of proximal development: situation just a little more challenging than they can handle on their own, but can do successfully with an instructor

  • Scaffolding: structuring the learning situation so that it’s within reach of the student

• Novelty and challenge are key to maintaining brain plasticity

Theory of mind

• Gain a more nuanced understanding of others’ personalities and psychological states

• Mentalizing: ability to understand another person’s mental state

• Understanding that people have different thoughts and feelings than ourselves helps us interpret their feelings and infer motives 

• Also become better at lying

Thinking about social relationships

• Children are more likely to believe it’s wrong to exclude people and leave it at that, whereas adolescents can start to think of more detailed reasons why exclusion is okay in certain contexts

• Adolescents become increasingly able to distinguish moral issues and conventional ones  

• Often start to question parents’ authority

Understanding social conventions

• Social conventions: social norms that guide day to day behaviour, seen as arbitrary and changeable but adherence to them is not (ex. waiting in line to pay for movie tickets)

  • Things you’re expected to do, rather than forced to do

• Realization that perspectives vary and opinions differ causes adolescents to change how they approach social conventions 

• Eventually come to realize that social conventions help coordinate interactions among people

Law, civil liberties and rights

• Become more nuanced in how they think about relationship between individual and society

• Start to believe that some freedoms shouldn’t be restricted

• Also believe there may be times that restricting individual rights is necessary to benefit the greater community

• Become better able to step outside themselves and see things from other viewpoints

• Start seeing social rules as open for debate/questioning

• Develop more nuanced understanding of social norms

Behavioural decision theory

Decision making is seen as a rational process in which people calculate the costs and benefits of alternative courses of action and behave in ways that maximize benefits and minimize costs

• Five steps:

  • ID alternative choices

  • ID consequences that may follow each choice

  • Evaluate costs and benefits of each possible consequence

  • Assess likelihood of each possible consequence

  • Combine all information according to some decision rule

• Major gains in cognitive skills that affect decision making appear to occur between childhood and adolescence

Diff’s in values and priorities

• Adolescents may engage in risky behaviour because they have different values/priorities

• They also place different weight on certain priorities, such as being accepted by their peers

• When weighing costs and benefits or risky behaviour, adolescents are more likely to see potential rewards than adults

Influences on risk taking

• Adolescents might differ from adults in ways not captured by measures of logical reasoning, ex. susceptibility to peer pressure, impulsivity, orientation to present rather than future, etc

• Quality of adolescent decisions decrease when they’re emotionally aroused or tired

• People high in reward and sensation seeking are more likely to engage in risky behaviours

• Those who are particularly impulsive are more likely to engage in maladaptive risky behaviour

• Those with anxiety are less likely to make risky decisions

• A lot of risk taking takes place when adolescents are emotionally aroused, unsupervised, and with peers

• Teens who have more positive relationships with parents are less likely to take risks

Logic and intuition

• Intuitions tend to be correct

• Making decisions intuitively uses experiences and allows us to make decisions more quickly than if we had to reason everything

• Main change in intuitive decision making happens between adolescence and adulthood

Reducing ado risk taking

• Often through classroom based educational programs designed to teach adolescents about the dangers of various activities

  • Although these programs vary in their efficacy

• Another way to deal with this is by limiting adolescents’ opportunities to put themselves in risky situations or through economic policies (ex. increase cost of cigarettes)

• Or make laws that prevent adolescents from buying substances and firearms and the like

Immediate effects of obesity

• Higher cholesterol

• Higher rates of prediabetes

• Higher rates of bone and joint problems

• (longer term) higher rates of adult obesity and greater risk for heart disease, type II diabetes, stroke, cancer

Anorexia

• Starvation and excessive exercise

• 5-20% mortality rate

• Most fatal psychiatric disorder

• Leading cause of death for 15-24y/o females

• 0.5% prevalence

• Female to male ratio 10:1

Bulimia

• Cycles of eating binges and forced vomiting

• Roughly normal weight

• 1-3% prevalence

• Female to male ratio 3-10:1

BED

• Generally overweight

• 1-4% prevalence

• Female to male ratio 1.5:1

Teen pregnancy

• Quite high in the US and UK in 2008

• Hispanic people had the highest birth rates, followed by non Hispanic black people and Indigenous people

• Influenced by:

  • Inadequate sex education

  • Limited contraception access

  • Peer pressure

  • Poverty

  • Unstable family environments

  • Abuse

  • Early onset puberty due to obesity leading to premature sexual activity 

Brain changes during ado

• Cell proliferation: overproduction of both neurons and synapses from early childhood to peak at puberty

• Synaptic pruning: selective elimination of unused or weaker synaptic connections to create a more efficient, streamlined neural network; throughout adolescence

  • Number of synapses at 1 = 2x the number in adulthood

  • ∩ shaped curve

  • Shaped by experiences and environments; aadolescents have more autonomy in choosing their environments and activities, which in turn influence which synapses are strengthened and which are pruned away

Social transitions

• Sources of information about their stage in development

• Implications for psychological development

• Social redefinition: recognition that the person’s status has changed

• Society changes how they define a person who is undergoing these social transitions and determines their rights and responsibilities accordingly

• Social roles and status can also begin to shift during this time

• Social redefinition looks dramatically different around the world

Soc redef.

• Attaining adult status can alter identity and self concept, allowing people to feel more mature and think more seriously about their future (ex. work and family)

• New activities and opportunities can lead to self evaluation and introspection

• Adolescents are exposed to more decisions that can have long term consequences

• Shifts in the ability to work and be a productive member of society lead to changes in one’s skills, aspirations, and expectations

• Being socially redefined can also lead to changes in how adolescents view relationships with others 

• Changes in status during adolescence can also affect sexual development

Longer ado

• Experts mark the beginning of adolescence with puberty

• People in the past have used formal rites of passage once someone begins puberty to mark the beginning of their participation in the adult world

• Harder to determine when exactly adolescence ends; often use a social indicator

• Mid 1800s: adolescence lasted 5 years

• 1900: adolescence lasted just under 7 years

• Starting around 1950, people underwent puberty earlier and earlier, but began marrying increasingly later in life

• 2016: adolescence lasted about 16 years (menarche-marriage)

Ado as soc invention

• Many writers argue that adolescence is a social invention

• Adolescence is primarily defined by how society recognizes the period as distinct from childhood or adulthood

• Theorists in line with this view see behaviours and problems primarily connected to adolescence as a consequence of how this period is defined and how young people are treated, rather than due to biology/cognitive development

Invention of ado

• Adolescence as we know it didn’t exist until the Industrial Revolution (mid 1800s)

• Instead, they were treated as mini adults and did labour for their families

• Distinction b/w children and adults was based on whether they owned property

• After the industrial revolution, secondary education (high school) became more common

Industrialization

• Brought about new patterns of work, education, and family life

• This significantly impacted adolescents 

• To deal with the uncertainty of career for their children, parents started encouraging them to go to school

• Spent more time with peers as a result, leading to the emergence of peer groups and youth culture

• Seeing adolescence as a time of preparation rather than participation affected society’s economic needs

Ado’s and workforce

• Many jobs were being replaced by machines, meaning adults and adolescents were fighting over jobs, until someone had the idea to make adolescents full time students

• Society started to view adolescents as less capable and more in need of guidance and training

• Adults may have also just been trying to protect younger people from the workplace and its dangers

• Growth of large urban areas led to an increase in crime and moral degeneracy

• During this time, organizations were formed to protect young people (ex. Boy Scouts)

Origins of modern ado

• Only started being thought of as we know it now in the late 1800s

• Preparation for adulthood and involves guidance, supervision, and continued economic dependence on elders

• “Teenager” wasn’t a word until ~75 years ago and implies a less serious time of life

  • Helped come about by affluence and economic freedom in the late 40s and early 50s

• “Youth” was used long before “adolescent”, but before industrialization, this term was vague and imprecise (could apply to people 12-24)

• In the 60s, college populations increased and student activism led youth to encompass those 18-22

Emerging adulthood

• Can last until mid 20s

• Characterized by:

  • Exploration of possible identities before making lasting decisions

  • Instability in work, romantic relationships, and living arrangements

  • Focus on oneself and trying to function independently

  • Feeling of being between adolescence and adulthood

  • Sense that life holds many possibilities

Emerging adulthood universal?

• Doesn’t exist in all cultures

• Many people can’t afford to delay transition from adolescence to adulthood for 5 years

• Not entirely economic - some people do it to prolong full adult responsibilities

• It’s possible that economic forces have delayed the transition into social adulthood but not that of psychological adulthood

Mental health in emerging adulthood

• Mental health varies quite a lot between time periods

• Almost 50% of those in their 20s moved back in with their parents

• 45% of those 25-29 and 33% of those 30-34 are completely financially independent of their parents

• Major contributor to this is rising cost of living (housing especially)

• Lots of people experience mental health issues as well

Legal boundary

• Indigenous people have an initiation ceremony to welcome people into adulthood

• For western cultures, this is just reaching age of majority

• Subject to new laws as an adult

• Status offences: those which are only problematic due to one’s status as a juvenile

• Youth justice system operates different than the typical CJS

Ado’s as criminal defendants

• Disagreement regarding how to view and treat young people who commit serious violent offences

• Death penalty minimum age was raised from 16 to 18 in 2005

• Can’t put someone on trial who doesn’t understand charges, nature of the trial, or can’t make reasoned decisions about the case

• Some argue that young defendants shouldn't stand trial due to cognitive/emotional immaturity

• Young people are less likely than adults to:

  • Understand their rights

  • Remain silent

  • Consider long term consequences and make plea arrangements

  • Discuss disagreements about their defence with attorneys

Ado legal status

• Disagreement on students’ right to free speech (should schools be allowed to regulate this)

• Adolescents are allowed to do certain things (ex. getting contraceptives) w/o parent approval, but need it for other things (ex. buying cigarettes), which creates inconsistency since both are kinda seen as adult things

Common parts of soc redef

• Real or symbolic separation from parents

• Emphasizing differences b/w sexes

• Passing on information from the older generation

Passing info from older gens

• Passing on cultural, historical, and practical information from the adult population to young people; could pertain to:

  • Matters important to adults but not to children (ex. how to do adult chores)

  • Matters thought to be necessary for adults but unfit/inappropriate for children (ex. sex)

  • Matters about the history/rituals of the family or community (ex. how to perform certain ceremonies)

• Even though we don’t think of our culture as having initiation ceremonies, we have some markers of adolescence, such as tattoos, makeup, piercings, and shaving legs/faces

Variations in clarity

(social transitions)

• Religious ceremonies aren’t very widespread in the US because of the diversity of cultures and religions, as well as religion generally being separate from everyday life

• Can determine by how much of the adulthood transition happens at/around the same

• Passage to adulthood is more clear when these transitions happen around the same time

Clarity in cont. society

• Graduation is the closest we got to rites of passage, but it doesn’t entail meaningful changes in social status, responsibilities, or privileges

• Adolescents generally aren’t clear on when their adult privileges begin

• Few universal markers of adulthood in our society

• Can be treated as an adult in some places and a child in another in the same time period (ex. at work and at home)

Ados’ view of self

• Young people have a wide array of beliefs regarding their social status and age-appropriate behaviours

• Adolescents put less emphasis on attaining specific roles (worker, spouse, parent), favouring developing certain character traits that indicate self-reliance

• Decline in the importance placed on family roles in attaining adult status

• Defining criteria of adulthood has become quite similar for males and females as of late, which isn’t how it was before

Clarity in trad. cutlures

• Usually way more clear

• Often marked by a formal initiation ceremony where the public recognizes the person as an adult now

• For males, this can take place at puberty, a specified chronological age, or when the community decides that person’s ready for a status change 

• For girls, it’s often said to be at the time of menarche

• Adolescents’ physical appearance is often changed, such as wearing different clothes or a surgical operation or scarification