Cognitive Development in Adolescence Vocabulary

Hypothetico-Deductive Reasoning

• Children in formal operations:
  • Form a hypothesis about variables affecting the outcome.
  • Deduce logical, testable inferences.
  • Systematically isolate and combine variables for confirmation.
  • Begin with a possibility and proceed to reality.
• Children in concrete operations:
  • Begin with reality, citing the most obvious predictions.
  • If these cannot be confirmed, their problem-solving process falls apart.

Propositional Thought

• Adolescents in formal operations can evaluate the logic of propositions (verbal statements) without referring to real-world circumstances.
• Children in concrete operations focus on readily observable characteristics of objects.
• Piaget asserts language is important during adolescence, even though it doesn't play a central role in cognitive development.
• Formal operations require language-based or other symbolic systems that do not stand for real things (e.g., symbols in higher math).

Research on Formal Operational Thought

• Elementary-age children:
  • Cannot sort out evidence with three or more variables at once.
  • Have difficulty reasoning in an entirely verbal mode that may contradict reality or their own beliefs.
  • Fail to grasp the logical necessity of propositional thinking; dependent on rules of logic, not real-world confirmation.
  • Rarely think carefully about the major premise of problems, often violating rules of logic.
• Do All Individuals Attain Formal Operations?
  • No, not all individuals attain formal operations.
  • Context and cultural variations influence the type of thought processes necessary for a satisfying life.
  • If solving hypothetical problems is not necessary, people in some societies may not display behaviors associated with formal operations.

Information-Processing View

• Working Memory – guided by the developing prefrontal cortex
• Inhibition – dismisses irrelevant stimuli and responses judged inappropriate.
• Attention – more selective, identification of priorities
• Planning – multiple steps improves, better organized and more efficient
• Strategies – effective, enhancing storage, representation, and retrieval of information
• Knowledge – increases, lowering the dependence on strategies
• Metacognition – awareness and consideration of one’s own thoughts
• Cognitive self-regulation – monitoring, evaluating, and redirection of thinking.

Coordinating Theory with Evidence

• Scientific reasoning is the act of coordinating theories with evidence.
• Children dismiss obvious variables, ignore evidence that conflicts with their initial judgements, and distort evidence to fit their theory.
• Children blend evidence and theories to create a personal belief of “the way things are.”
• Children are likely to overlook evidence that does not match their prior (hard and fast) beliefs.

How Scientific Reasoning Develops

• Greater working memory capacity
• Learning experiences that conflict with everyday beliefs and experiences
• Learning how to isolate and control variables
• Metacognitive understanding becomes a typical way of thinking
• Applying logic in a slowly increasing range of situations
• Objectivity and fair mindedness
• Adolescents develop scientific reasoning skills in a step-by-step fashion on varying tasks
• Adolescents combine separate skills into a functioning system of problem solving

Adolescent Self-Consciousness & Self-Focusing

• Imaginary Audience – adolescent belief that they are the focus of everyone else’s attention and concern; becoming extremely self-conscious, avoiding feelings of embarrassment.
• Personal Fable – adolescent belief that others are observing and thinking about them, developing an inflated opinion of their own importance – a feeling they are special or unique.
• These two beliefs are not a result of egocentrism.
• These beliefs are associated with greater perspective taking.
• Two factors that may be heighten these beliefs are (1) contemporary parenting styles, and (2) social media.

Idealism and Criticism

• Adolescents’ capacity to think about possibilities (and perspective taking) opens their thinking to the “world of the ideal.”
• They can envision life alternatives that include family, religion, political, and moral systems. They can construct and engage in their vision of an ideal world.
• Generational tension between idealism and pragmatism/practicality.
• As adolescents’ thinking develops, they have a greater capacity to work constructively for social change and build lasting relationships.

Decision Making

• Good decision making involves:
  • Recognizing the range of response options (possible outcomes)
  • Identifying pros and cons of each alternative
  • Assessing the likelihood of various outcomes
  • Evaluating one’s choice in terms of one’s goals
  • Learning from mistakes, and changing behavior
• In emotionally-charged situations, adolescents are far more enticed than adults by the possibility of immediate reward.
• Current factors including parenting styles, family instability, social media influenced adolescents to make decisions in which the potential outcomes are familiar and seemingly safe.
• In adolescent decision-making short-term goals or immediate satisfaction dominate long-term goals.

Gender Differences: Verbal Abilities

• Female students tend to score slightly higher on tests of verbal ability in middle childhood and adolescence in countries that assess children.
• In verbal tests that are heavily weighted with writing, the female advantage is significant.
• Female advantage in reading and writing achievement increases in adolescence.
• Are these differences in verbal/writing abilities a function of the (1) testing methods, (2) brain development, (3) daily classroom teaching practices, (4) curriculum content, (5) children’s literature and (6) parenting in the early years?

Gender Differences: Mathematical Abilities

• In the early grades, findings about differences in mathematical abilities are inconsistent.
• Females tend to be better at computation and basic concepts.
• Later in early adolescence, math concepts become more abstract and spatial, depending less on verbal abilities and males tend to outperform females.
• Among high-achieving adolescents, the “math gap” tends to be greater and extends into the sciences.
• Male math advantage could be linked to (1) rapid numerical recall and (2) superior spatial reasoning.
• What are the reasons for the “math (and science) gap?
  • Parenting styles – Classroom practices – Social pressures – Stereotype threat
• There is hope…STEM Initiatives, Computing, Robotics, Alternative school models

Carol Dweck: Growth and fixed mindsets.

• 1.8 million copies in print