Cognitive Development across the Adolescent Years

Samuel Mathews, Ph.D.

School of Psychological and Behavioral Sciences

The University of West Florida

Constructive Nature of Cognition

The human mind incorporates experiences into a unique interpretation based on:– Goals and motives– Perspective on the experience– Prior knowledge and experiences– Strategies and processes of thinking

Major Perspectives on Cognitive Development

• Piaget’s Theory of “Genetic Epistemology”– Stages of Development– Constructive– Equilibration (reaching equilibrium between individual

and demands of a task)

• Information Processing Theory– Active search for information– Constructive– Continuous development– Transformation, storage, and retrieval of information

Piagetian Perspective

• Concrete operations

– Late childhood

– Reasoning with concrete experiences, objects and events

Piagetian—Concrete Operations

• Reversible operations

• Conservation (number, mass, volume)

• Decentration (>1 attribute considered)

• Release from egocentrism (others’ perspectives considered)

Piagetian—Formal Operational Thought

• Abstract—analyze experience for core structure• Hypothetical—make predictions beyond

concrete experiences (moving to true scientific reasoning)

• Logical—can extract logical relations and test the validity of the logic regardless of the premise (A=B, B=C, therefore A=C)

• Complex—use of metaphor and sarcasm • Metacognition—knowing, knowing about

knowing, and thinking about thinking

Piagetian—Formal Operations

• Context dependent—context can create difficulty in formal operational thought throughout adulthood

• Achievement based on need for formal operational thought within a setting

• Cultural differences typically based on cultural bounds of the assessment and opportunities for formal thought

Post-Formal Thought in Emerging Adulthood

• Pragmatism—consideration of social and contextual factors in decision-making

• Dialectical Thought—examining oppositional perspectives simultaneously (thesis-antithesis)

• Reflective Judgment—Perry’s work:– Dualism– Relativism– Commitment in relativism

Information Processing and Cognitive Development

• Active search for information in our environment to meet needs

• Constructive—creates unique representations of information

• Flexible—multiple representations of the same information are possible

Information Processing and Cognitive Development

• Strategic—can function using intentional strategies

• Limited capacity—system has limits in duration and capacity without conscious use of strategies

Key Developments across Adolescence

• Executive Functions and Metacognition– Monitoring—maintaining vigilance for

“breakdowns” or errors in cognitive tasks; usually based on:

• Prior knowledge• Predictions about “what comes next”

– Control—intentional acts to initiate, modify, and terminate cognitive tasks and strategies

– Controlled/Automatic Processing—tasks that are first effortful become automatic and occur frequently without awareness

Knowledge base

• Declarative/Factual—knowing “what”

• Procedural/Strategic—knowing “how”

• Organization– Schematic structures– Association networks– Flexible organizational schemes

• Expert/novice distinction(organization of knowledge, representation of knowledge)

Executive Functions and Metacognition

o Strategic thought—the intentional use of planned and controlled procedures to accomplish cognitive tasks (making outlines, taking notes, highlighting and making notes in the margins of texts, self-testing)

Executive Functions and Metacognition

• Critical thought—mental strategies in which the goals are to – analyze arguments and assertions for logical

consistency and false premises– maintain vigilance for bias in thinking– critically consider the source of knowledge

(authority, faith, common sense, etc., vs. scientific thought)

Vygotsky: Contextual Cognition

• Focused on collective and social approach

• Individual develops knowledge, skills and strategies through: – first interacting with other more skilled

individuals– Transferring the knowledge, skills, and

strategies from intermental to intramental

• Language is the medium of transfer

Vygotsky: Contextual Cognition

• Strategies in educational contexts:– Cooperative learning– Guided practice– Reciprocal teaching– Reflection

• Zone of Proximal Development– Distance between independent work and work

needing support of others– Scaffolding provided by others

Decision Making• Neurological Limitations—prefrontal and

frontal lobes• Peer Influence—presence of peers is

related to risky decisions• Behavioral Decision Theory:

– Identify choices; identify consequences; evaluate each consequence; assess likelihood; integrate information into a decision

– Tendency to use the decision tree varies with age, experience, and psychosocial context

Behavioral Changes and Cognitive Development across Adolescence

• Question Authority based on equal treatment, and social comparisons

• Express difficulty with arguments based only on authoritarian power

• Question long standing ideology, religious affiliation, and relationships

Behavioral Changes and Cognitive Development across Adolescence

• Express and act on interests in broader peer groups, wider range of activities

• Many join social causes and movements

• Focus in early adolescence is on personal decision making in school and home environments

Behavioral Changes and Cognitive Development across Adolescence

• Pseudostupidity– Perceived levels of complexity beyond that

that will lead to solutions– Exploration of solution paths outside of logical

or pragmatic boundaries– Perception of complex and malevolent

motives when none exist– Attempts to narrow adolescents’ explorations

to plausible or feasible solutions seen as over controlling

Behavioral Changes and Cognitive Development across Adolescence

• Experience a new form of egocentrism (focus on self) – Imaginary Audience

• “everyone is looking at me and thinking about me”• importance on personal appearance and merging

with the group

– Personal Fable• Sense of uniqueness • Sense of invulnerability or being invincible • Heightened willingness to take risks

Critical Thinking in Adolescence

• Critical thinking:– Volitional– Goal directed– Analytical– Disposition

• Inclination• Sensitivity• Ability

• In the discussion questions that follow, in small groups decide on two responses for each item to share.

• In the final item, report the group’s consensus.

Discussion Questions

• Identify one way in which critical thinking was encouraged and one situation in which CT was discouraged in your high school experience.

• Think about your current experience at UWF and identify one way CT is encouraged and one way it is discouraged.

• Think about the information processing and decision-making sections of the chapter. How might CT be explained from those perspectives.