Chapter 18 & 19Early Adulthood:Cognitive Development

Piaget’s & IP theory, & Factors influencing cognition

Psychosocial DevelopmentMaslow’s, & Erikson, Types of

intimate relationships, marriages and Divorces

Approaches to Cognition

• Postformal picks up where Piaget left off

• Information-processing studies the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information during lifetime (see Ch. 24)

Postformal Thought

• Adult thinking and adolescent thinking differ in 3 ways, with adult thinking more:– practical– flexible– dialectical

A Fifth Stage of Cognitive Development?• Postformal thought often viewed

as fifth stage of Piaget’s theory• In it, adults consider every aspect

of a situation– use intellectual skills for real life—

work and relationships– understand that conclusions and

consequences matter

• Arise from individual’s personal experiences and perceptions

• Traditional models devalued subjective thought

• Objective thought—abstract impersonal logic

• For adults combination of the two works best

Subjectivity and Objectivity

• Trying to combine both logic and emotions in dealing with an emotional issue is challenging– but at each stage of adulthood, adults

can achieve this balance in contrast to adolescents who believe in subjective or objective reasoning

Emotions and Logic

Cognitive Flexibility

• Awareness that your perspective is not the only one

• Awareness that each problem has many potential solutions and knowledge is dynamic

• Adult thought requires flexible adaptation, which allows adults to– cope with unanticipated events– come up with more than one

solution to problem

Flexible Problem Solving

• Cognitive flexibility at its most advanced

• Every idea or truth(thesis) bears within it suggestion of the opposite idea or truth(antithesis)

Dialectical Thought

• There are notable differences between Eastern and Western thought– more polar; right vs. wrong; black vs.

white—Western thought– more of a combination or compromise—

Eastern thought

Culture and Cognition

Culture and Cognition, cont.

• Developmentalists feel culture helps to shape thought– Life-span perspective is multicontexual

and multicultural, stressing adults change because of• maturation• experience

Adult Moral Reasoning

• Ethical issues often present themselves

• Taking responsibility for one’s own actions perceived by young adults of all ethnic groups as marker of adulthood

Cognitive Growth and Higher Education

• The relationship between college education and adult development– healthier, wealthier, as well as deeper,

more flexible thinkers

The Effects of College

• Education powerfully influences cognitive development– improves verbal and quantitative

skills, and specific subject knowledge while enhancing reasoning, reflection, and flexibility of thought

The Effects of College, cont.

• Educational influences, cont.– year-by-year progression of students’

thinking – end of college finds students have

generally moved from simplistic either/or ideas to recognition of multiplicity of perspectives

• The sheer numbers have increased greatly, worldwide

• In all nations, increased student diversity – more women students– more older students– more culturally diverse students in United

States– more low-income students– more working students

Change in the Students

• Maslow: hierarchy of needs– Once the lower order needs are

fulfilled we aspire for the higher order needs

• Erikson: intimacy vs. isolation

Theories of Development

Ages and Stages

• Patterns of the Past– by 20s: identity– by 30s: intimacy– by 40s: generativity

• Adult lives today “are less orderly and predictable than stage models suggest”

Social Clock: Culturally set timetable that establishes when various events and endeavors in life are appropriate

• Two primary sources are close friendships and romantic partnerships

• Friendships are based on – Physical attractiveness– Apparent availability (willingness to

chat)– Absence of exclusion criteria– Frequent exposure to each other

Intimacy

Gender Differences in Friendship• Conversations and Expectations

– women self-disclosure– men external matters—sports,

politics, work

– female-female pattern may better reduce loneliness and self-absorption

– male-male pattern may be more effective and efficient, especially in work situations

Gender Differences in Friendship, cont.

• Friendships Between Men and Women– cross-sex friendships allow learning about

common humanity and let people help each other gain skills

– problems may arise when a platonic relationship is sexualized or there are conflicts of expectations

• Same sex friendships may be most effective and efficient– especially in the workplace

Love and Living Arragments

• Sternberg’s Theory of love – 1) passion 2) intimacy 3) commitment

– in West, consummate love— a combination of all three—is the ideal form

– difficult to achieve consummate love• familiarity and security diminish passion

Cohabitation

• Cohabitation— a couple’s living together in a committed sexual relationship without being formally married– increasingly common

– cohabitation not just for young adults

– slightly more than half of all women aged 25-40 years have cohabited

• Cohabitation does not necessarily benefit the participants– one study found people who cohabitate

much less happy and healthy, and less satisfied with financial status than are married couples

– in another study, cohabiting relationships were 3 times as likely to be abusive than marriages

– in a third, compared to single adults, cohabitants are likely to have alcohol problems

Marriage

• proportion of unmarried adults is higher than at any time in the past century

• nearly one-half of all births are to single mothers who are increasingly unlikely to marry the fathers of their babies

• 20 percent of first births conceived before marriage

• divorce rate is 49 percent of marriage rate

• the rate of first marriages in young adulthood lowest in 50 years

• Marriage, still most enduring evidence of couple commitment.

• Worldwide research says married people are happier, healthier, and richer.

• One developmental factor affecting success of marriage is maturity of the partners

• A second factor is degree of similarity, or homogamy—marriage within same group– heterogamy—marriage outside of group– social homogamy—similarity of couple’s

interests and role preferences

• Marital Equity

–social exchange theory

–in modern marriages, what matters most is perception of fairness, not absolute equality

Divorce• Influenced by social and political

context– affects many lives for years

• United States has highest divorce rate– almost 1 in 2 first marriages end in divorce

• Historically, an increase, but stabilizing– one reason: lower marriage rate

The Role of Expectations

• People today expect more from marriage partners than in the past, but expectations are not always as well defined

• Initially worse than expected in– health – happiness – self-esteem – financial stability – social interaction – achievement

The Developmental Impact of Divorce