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Cognitive developmentPiaget
Thinking about possibilities - HypotheticalThinking abstractly Thinking about multiple dimensions Thinking logically
Tasks Beyond Piaget
Competence/performance issues
Information Processing “Adolescent” Errors in Thinking
Relativism & Extreme SkepticismPseudostupidity Idealism ArguingAdolescent egocentrism
Imaginary audience Personal fable
Risk & Decision Theory
Cognitive development
PiagetBeyond PiagetInformation Processing “Adolescent” Errors in ThinkingRisk & Decision Theory
Piaget’s Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Characteristics ofStage Approx. Ages Thinking
Sensorimotor Birth – 2 years Trial-and-error learning through sensory and motor behavior
Preoperational 2-7 years Use of words, images, and signs to represent objects internally, but thinking remains rigid and perception-bound
Concrete 7-11 years Use of operations- mental activities thatOperations are reversible-leads to more organized and
rational thinking, to simple concepts such as number, space, and volume
Formal 11 or 12 and up Gradual attainment of abstract, hypothetical,Operations and logical reasoning
Piaget
Thinking about possibilities - the hypothetical Thinking about multiple dimensions Thinking abstractly Thinking about thinkingThinking logically
Cognitive development
PiagetBeyond PiagetInformation Processing “Adolescent” Errors in ThinkingRisk & Decision Theory
If someone is drinking an alcoholic beverage, then they are over 21 years old.
Jim - 22 years old
Jane - waterSally - 19 years old
Mike - wine
Cognitive development
PiagetBeyond PiagetInformation Processing “Adolescent” Errors in ThinkingRisk & Decision Theory
Information Processing
• Increasingly automatic processing• Increased capacities
- working & LTM
• Improved strategies - complexity & monitoring
• Improved attentional capacities - selective & divided
• Increased speed of processing
Cognitive development
PiagetBeyond PiagetInformation Processing “Adolescent” Errors in ThinkingRisk & Decision Theory
“Adolescent” Errors in Thinking
Relativism & Extreme SkepticismPseudostupidity Idealism ArguingAdolescent egocentrism
Imaginary audience Personal fable
Cognitive development
PiagetBeyond PiagetInformation Processing “Adolescent” Errors in ThinkingRisk & Decision Theory
Self-regulation
• Getting off a “runaway” train (interrupting a risky behavior)– Pausing during sex to put on a condom
• Not jumping the gun (thinking before acting)– Diving into a lake of unknown depth
• Doing the right thing (choosing the least risky among alternatives)– Turning down a ride from a driver who
has been drinking
Among the most important brain changes to take place at adolescence are those in the prefrontal cortex and limbic system.
Brain Development
Prefrontal Cortex• Judgment, Organization, Planning,
Impulse control
• Thickening of gray matter peaks at 11 - 12 yrs.
• Last area to become fully myelinated
• Full maturation in late teens / early 20s
Brain Development
• In the limbic system, changes in levels of certain neurotransmitters, like dopamine, affect reward sensitivity
• Causes adolescents to seek novelty, reward, & stimulation at higher rates to achieve the same subjective feeling of pleasure
Implications of the Timing of Brain Maturation
• Limbic system matures at puberty• Prefrontal cortex matures several years later
1. Time gap is partly why adolescence is a period of heightened experimentation with risk
2. Capacities for action (physical & cognitive abilities) & desire for action (limbic system) precede regulatory capacities (prefrontal cortex)
– Get, use gun to commit murder
Result:
15-year-olds are unbelievably smart - particularly memory & ability to absorb new information & reason through complex problems. UNTIL they do something incredibly stupid.
Adolescent Risk
•Half of all HIV infections•Almost all addictions•Highest rate of car accidents•Highest rates of criminal behavior
Emotional, Intuitive, and Non-conscious Risk
•Willingness vs. Intention/Expectation•Favorability ratings of risk-takers•Impulsiveness from temporary drive states•Social conventions•Frontal lobe – adolescents vs. brain damaged adults
Behavioral Decision Theory
•Goals•Perceived outcomes•Perceived vulnerability•Perceived severity of threat•Belief that behavior is relevant
Optimistic Bias
• A concept related to the personal fable
• Comes from health psychology research
• The tendency to assume that accidents, diseases and other misfortunes are more likely to happen to others than ourselves
• Both adolescents and adults have an optimistic bias with regard to health risk behaviour
• Adolescents tend to have a stronger optimistic bias than adults
Optimistic Bias: Smoking
Strong majorities of both adolescents and adults, both smokers and non-smokers, believed that smoking is
addictive and deadly “for most people”
Optimistic Bias: Smoking… But look at what happens when the risk is applied to themselvesSmokers were more likely than non-smokers to believe that they
would not die from smoking for 30-40 years.
Perceived Benefits of Sex
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade
Perceived Benefits Score
Sexually Active
Non-sexually Active
Perceived Costs of Sex
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade
Perceived Cost Score
Sexually Active
Non-sexually Active
Benefits of Drinking
16
16.5
17
17.5
18
18.5
19
19.5
20
20.5
21
7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade
Perceived Benefits Score
Drinker
Non-drinker
Decision Making
• Lack impulse control
• Need for instant gratification
• Lead to an increase in experimentation & risk-taking