Adolescence• Adolescence– the transition…

• Puberty (2 year period of growth)– the period of…

Adolescence• Primary Sex Characteristics

– body structures that…• ovaries--female• testes--male• external genitalia

• Secondary Sex Characteristics– Non-reproductive…

• female--enlarged breast, hips• male--voice quality, body hair

• Landmarks In girls is Menarche (meh-NAR-key)– first menstrual period (around 12 yrs.)

In boys is the first ejaculation (around 14 yrs.)

AdolescenceHeight in

centimeters190

170

150

130

110

90

70

50

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18Age in years

Boys Girls

Adolescence

Adolescence – Cognitive Development

• Reasoning is…• Private experiences are perceived as…• Formal Operational Stage

Capacity for moral thinking –

Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder

Morality of abstractprinciples: to affirm

agreed-upon rights andpersonal ethical principles

Morality of law andsocial rules: to gainapproval or avoid

disapproval

Morality of self-interest:to avoid punishment

or gain concrete rewards

Postconventionallevel

Conventional level

Preconventional level

Pre-conventional Stage – Self Interest

1. Obedience and punishment:

2.Instrumental:

Conventional Stage – Concerned with gaining

approval or doing one’s duty.3. Good boy/girl morality:

4. Law and order:

Post-conventional Stage – agreed upon rights or universal ethical principles

5. Social Contract:

6. Principles of Conscience:

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder

• 3rd level represents…

• Morality also lies in action

Social Development

• Identity– one’s…– the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by

testing and integrating various roles and reshaping them into a consistent and comfortable sense of who one is.

• Intimacy– the ability to…– a primary developmental task in late adolescence

and early adulthood

Gender Differences in Connectedness begin during Adolescence

• Women are more interdependent and more open and responsive to feedback.

• Women as more intimate with their friends and talk more openly and freely.

• Women make 63% of phone calls and talk longer on average than men when they are talking to other women.

• When women talk they explore relationships.• Men talk to communicate solutions.• Both women and men say friendships with women are more intimate,

enjoyable and nurturing (Rubin 1985).• Both women and men usually turn to women when they need support or

comfort.• 90% of people report being close to their mother, 69% report being close

to father.• These differences diminish after age 50.

Social Development

• The changing parent-child relationship

Adolescence -- used to end with marriage

• In the 1890s the average interval between a woman’s menarche and marriage was about 7 years; now it is nearly 12 years.

• Now adolescence is considered completed with the social achievement of independent adult status

10 20

7.2-Year Interval

10 20

11.8-Year Interval

Age

Age

1890, Women

1988, Women

Adult --Physical Development

• Physical abilities crest by the mid twenties.• Physical decline begins in early adulthood,

almost imperceptibly, and accelerates during middle adulthood.

• Later in life there is declining perceptual acuity, strength and stamina.

Adulthood--Physical Changes

• Slowing reactions contribute to increased accident risks among those 75 and older.

12

10

8

6

4

2

016 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 and

over

Fatal accident rate

Age

Fatal accidentsper 10,000 drivers

Fatal accidentsper 100 million miles

Adulthood--Physical Changes

• Incidence of dementia by age

Risk of dementiaincreases in lateryears

60-64 70-74 80-84 90-95 65-69 75-79 85-89

Age Group

40%

30

20

10

0

Percentagewith dementia

Adulthood--Physical Changes• Women

Menopause (around 50 yrs)– the time of…– also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her

ability to reproduce declines• Men

-- gradual decrease in sperm count, testosterone level, speed of erection and speed of ejaculation.

• Brain – by age 80 there is a 5% shrinkage of the brain (women’s brains shrink more slowly than men’s).

Adulthood--Cognitive Changes

• Recalling new names introduced once, twice or three times is easier for younger adults than for older ones (Crook & West, 1990).

• Recall (remembering without cues) decreases with age, especially for meaningless information

18 40 50 60 70

Age group

Percentof namesrecalled

010

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

After oneintroductions

After twointroductions

Older age groups have poorer performance

After three introductions

Adulthood--Cognitive Changes

• In a study by Schonfield & Robertson (1966), the ability to recall new information declined during early and middle adulthood, but the ability to recognize new information did not.

• Recognition is remember with cues (ex. multiple choice questions, or picking a word out of a list)

NumberOf wordsremembered

20 30 40 50 60 700

4

8

12

16

20

24

Age in years

Number of wordsrecalled declineswith age

Number of wordsrecognized is stable with age

Adulthood

• Crystallized Intelligence– one’s…– tends to increase with age

• Fluid Intelligence– one’s…– tends to decrease during late adulthood– Neural processing slows with age– Speed at completing a complex task slows.

Adulthood – Social Changes

• Social Clock– The culturally preferred timing of social events• Marriage• Parenthood• Retirement

Adulthood• Early-forties midlife crisis?

Females

Males

No early 40semotional crisis

33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 Age in Years

24%

16

8

0

Emotionalinstability

Adulthood – Social Development

• Intimacy vs. Isolation

• Generativity vs. stagnation

Freud – “The healthy adult is one who can live and work”

Marriage

• Marriage is more satisfying and enduring when:

Parenthood

Work

• Happy with work (both in and out of home)if it fits interests and provides a sense of competence and satisfaction

Adulthood

• Multinational surveys show that age differences in life satisfaction are trivial (Ingle hart, 1990).

• Positive feelings tend to grow after middle age and negative feelings subside.

0

20

40

60

80

15 25 35 45 55 65+

Percentage “satisfied”with lifeas a whole

Age group

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Approximateage Stage Description of Task

Adolescence Identity vs. role Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by(teens into confusion testing roles and then integrating them to 20s) form a single identity, or they become

confused about who they are.

Young Adult Intimacy vs. Young adults struggle to form close relation- (20’s to early isolation ships and to gain the capacity for intimate 40s) love, or they feel socially isolated.

Middle Adult Generativity vs. The middle-aged discover a sense of contri-(40s to 60s) stagnation buting to the world, usually through family

and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.

Late Adult Integrity vs. When reflecting on his or her life, the older(late 60s and despair adult may feel a sense of satisfaction orup) failure.