SUMMARY

Logic and Self

1. Cognition in early adolescence may be egocentric, a kind of self-centered thinking. Adolescent egocentrism gives rise to the personal fable, the invincibility fable, and the imaginary audience.

2. Formal operational thought is Piaget’s term for the last of his four periods of cognitive development. He tested and demonstrated formal operational thought with various problems that students in a high school science or math class might encounter.

3. Piaget realized that adolescents are no longer earthbound and concrete in their thinking; they imagine the possible, the probable, and even the impossible, instead of focusing only on what is real. They develop hypotheses and explore, using deductive reasoning. However, few developmentalists find that adolescents move suddenly from concrete to formal thinking.

Two Modes of Thinking

4. Many cognitive theories describe two types of thinking during adolescence. One set of names for these two types is intuitive and analytic. Both become more forceful during adolescence, but brain development means that intuitive emotional thinking matures before analytic, logical thought.

5. Few teenagers always use logic, although they are capable of doing so. Emotional, intuitive thinking is quicker and more satisfying, and sometimes better, than analytic thought.

6. Neurological as well as survey research find that adolescent thinking is characterized by more rapid development of the limbic system and slower development of the prefrontal cortex. Peers further increase emotional impulses, so adolescents may make choices their parents believe to be foolish.

Digital Natives

7. Adolescents use technology, particularly the Internet, more than people of any other age. They reap many educational benefits, and many teachers welcome the accessibility of information and the research advances made possible by the Internet. Social connections are encouraged as well.

8. However, technology can be destructive. Some adolescents may be addicted to video games, some use cell phones and instant messages for cyberbullying, some find like-minded peers to support eating disorders and other pathologies, some engage in sexting. Overall, adults may mistakenly attribute normal teen behavior to technology use.

Teaching and Learning

9. Achievement in secondary education—after primary education (grade school) and before tertiary education (college)—correlates with the health and wealth of individuals and nations.

10. In middle school, many students struggle both socially and academically. One reason may be that middle schools are not structured to accommodate egocentrism or intuitive thinking. Students’ beliefs about the nature of intelligence may also affect their learning.

11. Education in high school emphasizes formal operational thinking. In the United States, the demand for more accountability has led to an increase in the requirements for graduation and to more Advanced Placement (AP) classes and high-stakes testing.

12. A sizable number of high school students do not graduate or go on to college. Many more leave college without a degree. Current high school education does not seem to meet their needs.

13. The PISA test, taken by 15-year-olds in 50 nations, measures how well students can apply the knowledge they have been taught. Students in the United States seem to have particular difficulty with such tests.