11.2 Cognitive Development

As you remember, each of the four periods of child and adolescent development is characterized by major cognitive advances, each described by Piaget. Piaget believed that the fourth stage, formal operational thought, continued throughout life. However, some recent scholars contend that adult thought differs from adolescent thinking: It is more practical, more flexible, and better able to coordinate objective and subjective perspectives. This may constitute a major advance, combining a new ordering of formal operations with a necessary subjectivity (Sinnott, 1998).

Postformal Thought

Many developmentalists believe that Piaget’s fourth stage, formal operational thought, is inadequate to describe adult cognition. Some have proposed a fifth stage, called postformal thought, characterized by “problem finding,” not just “problem solving.” At this stage a person is more open to ideas and less concerned with absolute right and wrong (Yan & Arlin, 1995).

As a group of scholars explained, in postformal thought “one can conceive of multiple logics, choices, or perceptions…in order to better understand the complexities and inherent biases in ‘truth’” (Griffin et al., 2009). That is more typical of adult thought than adolescent thought; hence the idea that a fifth stage exists.

Combining Emotions and LogicAs you read in Chapter 9, adolescents use two modes of thought (dual processing, called by various names). They use formal analysis to learn science, distill principles, develop arguments, and resolve the world’s problems; in the other mode, they think spontaneously and emotionally. However, they rarely coordinate both types of thinking and prefer the quick, impulsive, intuitive thought.

Postformal thinkers are less impulsive than adolescents. They do not wait for someone to present a problem to solve or for circumstances to require a reaction. They take a more flexible and comprehensive approach, using forethought, noting difficulties, and anticipating problems, not denying, avoiding, or procrastinating. As a result, postformal thought is more practical as well as more creative and imaginative than thinking in previous cognitive stages (Wu & Chiou, 2008).

Thinking Away from Home Entering a residence at college or university means experiencing new foods, new friends, and new neurons. A longitudinal study of 18-year-old students at the beginning and end of their first year in a post-secondary institution found increases in the brain areas that integrate emotion and cognition—namely, the cingulate cortex (blue and yellow), caudate nucleus (red), and insula (orange). Researchers also studied one-year changes in the brains of students over age 25 at the same institution and found no dramatic growth.

COURTESY CRAIG BENNETT & ABIGAIL BAIRD FROM ANATOMICAL CHANGES IN THE EMERGING ADULT BRAIN

More Purple Means More Planning Shown here are the areas of one person’s brain changes from age 14 to age 25. The frontal cortex (purple) demonstrated many changes in particular parts, as did the areas for processing speech (green and blue)—a crucial aspect of young adult learning. Areas for visual processing (yellow) showed less change. Researchers now know that brains mature in many ways between adolescence and adulthood; scientists are not yet sure of the cognitive implications.

ELIZABETH R. SOWELL ET AL., FROM NATURE NEUROSCIENCE

Crammed Together Students eat and study in cafeterias at Western University before final exams, making cramming a social experience. This is contrary to what scientific evidence has shown is the best way to learn—through distributed practice, which means studying consistently throughout the semester, not bunching it all at the end. Is cramming simply the result of poor time management or is it a rational choice?

CRAIG GLOVER/THE LONDON FREE PRESS/QMI AGENCY

Really a Stage?Piaget’s notion that the final, and best, thinking is formal operational, achieved at adolescence, has come under especially heavy criticism, with some data finding that adults do not usually reach formal operations. As mentioned, others argue that formal operational thought does not adequately capture the level of adult cognition. Similarly, problems arise with postformal thought. Attempts to measure it empirically are not very successful: Many other variables in addition to intellectual maturation affect how adults think (Cartwright et al., 2009).

Some cognitive scientists, especially those who take an information-processing perspective, think that all stage theories of cognition are mistaken; others, especially those influenced by Vygotsky, think that formal and postformal thought are more affected by culture than by maturation. Certainly, if stage means reaching a new set of abilities (such as the verbal explosion that distinguishes sensorimotor from preoperational thought), then adulthood has no cognitive stages. Rather than a fifth stage, adult thinking is like adolescent thinking in many ways. For instance, the same two processes that were described in Chapter 9 (intuitive and analytic, or system 1 and system 2) are evident throughout adulthood (Kahneman, 2011).

Nonetheless, the prefrontal cortex is not fully mature until the early 20s, and new dendrites and even new neurons grow throughout adulthood. This neurological maturation enables adults to think in ways that adolescents do not. One lead researcher concludes that adult thinking can be ordered in terms of increasing levels of complexity and integration (Labouvie-Vief et al., 2009). For instance, research on people aged 13 to 45 found that logical skills improved from adolescence to emerging adulthood and then stayed steady, as might be expected, as analytic thought becomes established (Demetriou & Bakracevic, 2009).

That same study found that social understanding continued to advance beyond early adulthood (Demetriou & Bakracevic, 2009). Social understanding includes knowing how best to interact with other people: making and keeping good friends, responding to social slights, helping others effectively, and so on. It makes sense that social cognition continues to improve, since cohort changes, cultural variations, and genetic uniqueness combine to make this the most complex type of thought.

Another study found that college students who have friends from other backgrounds are more likely to think in postformal ways (Galupo et al., 2010). The researchers believe that having friends with varied cultural perspectives advances postformal thought. A third study found that students’ concepts of God became more complex theologically when they were more capable of postformal thinking (Benovenli et al., 2011).

Overall, many scholars find that thinking changes both qualitatively and quantitatively during adulthood (Bosworth & Hertzog, 2009). The term fifth stage may be a misnomer, but emerging adults can, and often do, reach a new cognitive level when their brains and life circumstances allow it.

Countering Stereotypes

Most North Americans say that they are not prejudiced, and their behaviour reveals no bias—at least in explicit tests in a research laboratory; however, studies reveal implicit biases. For instance, one study that examined reaction times when viewing photos of African-Americans and European-Americans revealed an implicit bias against African-Americans (Baron & Banaji, 2006). Thus, many adults have both unconscious prejudice and conscious tolerance—a combination of emotion and reason that illustrates dual processing. Ideally, cognitive flexibility allows people to recognize their underlying emotional biases and then to change their behaviour to be in accord with their rational thought. This is difficult without the intellectual openness and flexibility that characterize emerging adults.

A notable example of implicit prejudice, and then the ability to overcome it, occurs with stereotype threat, first named by an African-American scholar who called it a “threat in the air” (Steele, 1997). Stereotype threat begins with the thought that other people hold unspoken prejudices against one’s social group, and then that thought becomes a threat which produces anxiety. In reality, those other people may not hold those stereotypes (that’s why the threat is “in the air”), but the mere possibility that they do undermines cognition (Inzlicht & Schmader, 2012). For example, if a person imagines that someone else (or even people in general) holds the stereotype that members of a particular group are stupid, lazy, oversexed, or somehow inferior because of ethnicity, sex, age, or appearance, then the mere awareness of the possibility of being stereotyped will make that person feel anxious. That anxiety hijacks cognition, disrupting memory, logic, and so on (Schmader, 2010).

Stereotype threat may interfere with emerging adults in many ways. For instance, if young people fear that leaving home will expose them to prejudice, they might not live in residence at college or university. That will limit their exposure to other opinions. Perhaps the most widely known example of stereotype threat is reduced performance by students on tests if they think that others expect them to do poorly. This finding has been replicated in laboratory studies, in real classrooms, and during standardized tests.

Stereotype threat does not only have negative effects on individuals but also can boost performance, in a stereotype boost. Shih and his colleagues (1999) reported that Asian-American women achieved higher test scores when their Asian identity was cued, but did worse when their gender identity was cued, as compared to a control group.

The Threat of Bias If students fear that others expect them to do poorly in school because of their ethnicity or gender, they might not identify with academic achievement and therefore do worse on exams than they otherwise would have.

CORBIS

The Effects of College or University

A major reason that emerging adulthood has become a new period of development, when people postpone the usual markers of adult life (marriage, a steady job), is that many older adolescents seek education, choosing to postpone traditional adult responsibilities.

MassificationTertiary (or post-secondary) education improves health and wealth. In Canada, completing a post-secondary program significantly increases earnings. For example, a trades or college graduate earns $7200 more than a high school graduate, and a university graduates earns $23 000 more (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2008). Similarly, U.S. census data indicate that a college degree adds about $20 000 per year to a worker’s salary. This is averaged over a lifetime—often more apparent in middle age than right after university or college.

As mentioned above, university or college graduates are also healthier, living about 10 years longer than those without a high school diploma. An Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development international study exploring health survey data from Australia, Canada, England, and Korea indicated a correlation between better education and lower rates of obesity. Each additional year of education was associated with a lower rate of obesity for men and women in Canada, Australia, England, and for women in Korea, particularly for tertiary education (Devaux et al., 2011).

To improve health and increase productivity, every nation has increased the number of students enrolled in college and university. This has led to massification, the idea that tertiary education could benefit everyone (the masses) (Altbach et al., 2010). The United States was the first major nation to accept that idea, establishing thousands of institutions of higher learning and boasting millions of college students by the middle of the twentieth century. The United States no longer leads in massification, however. More than half of all 25- to 29-year-olds in Canada, Korea, Russia, and Japan are university graduates. The United States ranks twelfth on that measure, with only one-third (32 percent) of U.S. 25- to 29-year-olds having at least a bachelor’s degree (Aud et al., 2012; Montgomery & Williams, 2010; UNESCO, 2009).

Education in Process These students, checking the Internet on the steps in San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, illustrate why some scholars claim that college and university students learn more from each other than from their professors.

JEREMY WOODHOUSE/AGE FOTOSTOCK

Massification has expanded in Asia and Africa, where university and college enrolment has more than tripled in the past several decades (Altbach et al., 2010). Thirty years ago, many wealthy and capable students in developing nations travelled to the West to earn university and college degrees. Such students often returned to their home nations as professors, bringing new perspectives to their classrooms. A global shift is under way: Hundreds of new universities have opened in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Many undergraduates now remain in their own nations to continue their studies. As a result, there are far more university students in China and in India than in North America. Of course, the total population of those nations is larger than that of North America, but these numbers are part of a global trend.

Post-Secondary Education and CognitionFor developmentalists interested in cognition, the crucial question is not about the three issues already mentioned: wealth, health, and massification. Instead, the question is: “Does a college or university education advance critical thinking and postformal thought?” Past research finds that the answer is yes.

According to one classic study (Perry, 1981, 1999), thinking progresses through nine levels of complexity over the four years that lead to a bachelor’s degree. A first-year student may think with simplistic dualism (right or wrong, yes or no, success or failure) and gradually progress to recognizing the validity of many perspectives (see TABLE 11.1). Other research has confirmed Perry’s conclusions. In general, the more years of higher education a person pursues, the deeper and more postformal that person’s reasoning becomes (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991).

Which aspect of college or university is the primary catalyst for such growth? Is it the challenging academic work, the professors’ lectures, the peer discussions, the new setting, or living away from home? All are possibilities. Perry found that the college or university experience itself causes this progression, as peers, professors, books, and class discussion stimulate new thoughts. Every scientist finds that social interaction and intellectual challenge advance thinking.

College and university students expect classes and conversations to further their intellectual depth—which is exactly what occurs (Kuh et al., 2005). This is not surprising, since colleges and universities were designed to foster intellectual growth.

Professors may also advance in their own thinking as they teach and learn, passing those advances on to their students. For example, one of the leading thinkers in postformal thought is Jan Sinnott, a professor and former editor of the Journal of Adult Development. She describes the first course she taught:

Sinnott changed her lesson plan. In the next class, the student told her story.

Sinnott still lectures and gives multiple-choice exams, but she also includes personal stories. She combines analysis and emotion; she includes the experiences of her students. Her teaching became postformal, flexible, and responsive.

Current ContextsYou may have noticed that Perry’s study was first published in 1981. Hundreds of other studies have also found that a college or university education deepens cognition, but most of that research also occurred in the twentieth century. Since cohort and culture are crucial, you may wonder if those conclusions still hold.

An impressive twenty-first-century longitudinal study of U.S. college students found that their growth in critical thinking, analysis, and communication over the four years of college was only half as much as it was among college students two decades earlier (Arum et al., 2011). The results of that study were published in a provocative book titled Academically Adrift. Among the findings is that 45 percent of college students made no significant advances at all in the first two years (Arum & Roksa, 2011). The reasons are many: Students study less, academic expectations are reduced, and fewer students enrol in classes that require reading 40 pages a week or writing 20 pages a semester. Administrators hope for intellectual growth, but rigorous classes are often cancelled or not required.

OPPOSING PERSPECTIVES

What Is the Purpose of Post-Secondary Education?

Underlying the debate about standards and massification are opposite opinions about the purpose of higher education. Developmentalists, most professors, and many college and university graduates believe that personal and intellectual growth is the goal. However, others believe that acquiring specific skills and knowledge is more important. Many contemporary students seem to agree (see Figure 11.3).

FIGURE 11.3 Cohort Shift Students in 1980 thought new ideas and a philosophy of life were prime reasons to go to college or university—they were less interested in jobs, careers, and money than were students in 2011.

Source: Pryor et al., 2011.

In 2011/2012,1 144 812 Canadian students were enrolled in university and 664 733 in college (Statistics Canada, 20121). In 2011, 245 235 Canadian university students and 179 226 Canadian college students graduated (Statistics Canada, 2012m). Despite rising tuition fees, the proportion of Canadians aged 25 to 64 receiving a post-secondary certificate, diploma, or degree increased from 53 percent to 61 percent from 2001 to 2006 (Yuen, 2010).

Notably, although university enrolment has been steadily increasing over the years for most Canadians, for one segment of the population the increase has been much less. The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) reports that the proportion of Aboriginal Canadians with a university degree is significantly lower than non-Aboriginal Canadians. For example, from 1981 to 2006, the Aboriginal university attainment rate went from 2 percent to 7.7 percent; by comparison, the rate increased from 8.1 percent to 23.4 percent for non-Aboriginals (AUCC, 2011).

AUCC (2011) reports that the increased number of students in higher education is a result of Canada’s demand for a highly skilled and educated labour force—in other words, it is a requirement of future employment. About 60 to 80 percent of the jobs in business and finance, art, culture and recreation, health, engineering and applied sciences, social and legal professions, and teaching are filled by university graduates. Moreover, up to 40 percent of the people in management positions (not including food and retail management) have university degrees. In the last 20 years, there were 1.5 million new jobs for professional and management positions, of which 1.3 million were filled by university graduates.

Employers often want workers with advanced skills, specific knowledge, and practical experience with technology. Canadian colleges and universities have responded to these demands by modifying and creating new programs that meet the needs of the community and students. Universities have also enhanced their quality of education by integrating more interactive and engaging learning experiences, and more and more colleges and universities are collaborating to provide dual degree and certificate programs. These changes have been shown to increase students’ academic performance, knowledge acquisition, and skills development (AUCC, 2011).

Changes have also been seen in students’ fields of study. In the early 1990s, enrolment shifted from arts and science majors to various professional and science-based majors. For example, from 1992 to 1997, enrolment decreased in liberal arts and sciences, the social sciences, English, and history, while the fields of computer science, biology and biomedical sciences, communication, and journalism experienced increased enrolment. The fastest enrolment growth between 2002 and 2007 was in physical sciences, health professions, and biology and biomedical sciences (see Figure 11.4).

FIGURE 11.4 Shifting Demand in Canada As this graph clearly shows, student demand for certain university courses and programs has changed over time. What selection criterion did you use in choosing your own course of study: intellectual growth or skills acquisition?

Source: AUCC, 2011.

Opposing views of the purpose of college and university are evident between present-day students (“Will that be on the test?”) and faculty who were educated decades ago (“Better to thirst for knowledge than to know the answers”), and between current political leaders (who are concerned with students getting jobs) and traditional scholars (who are more focused on personal and intellectual growth). These issues are debated everywhere, even in nations that seem to regiment higher education. For instance, a new Chinese university (called South University of Science and Technology of China, SUSTC) is designed to encourage analysis and critical thinking, a deliberate contrast to the emphasis on knowledge and skills in other Chinese institutions.

SUSTC does not require prospective students to take the national exam (Gao Kao); instead, creativity and a passion for learning are the admission criteria (Stone, 2011). SUSTC faculty are supposed to nurture curiosity and evoke questions, not lecture. After waiting a year to see how the first group of students performed, the Chinese government accredited SUSTC in April 2012 (Huang, 2012).

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Besides gaining employment, college and university graduates have higher income advantages, are less likely to face long periods of low income, and are less likely to experience labour disruptions. If they do face labour disruptions, the length of time is shorter than those with no degree. Graduates also help their co-workers—a “spill over” effect—by sharing their skills, knowledge, and expertise with less-educated workers.

As compared to high school graduates, students in and completing college and university are also more likely to have healthier and longer lives and to smoke and abuse drugs and alcohol less. They are more socially active in volunteering, more engaged in social and political activities, and more likely to share and promote educational, health, and social values to their children and their children’s children (AUCC, 2011).

The question remains: Is the purpose of post-secondary education to learn skills or to advance postformal thought? Currently, students and the workforce seem to want a combination of both, and colleges and universities are trying to respond to that demand.

The Effects of DiversityAt least one characteristic of the twenty-first-century university scene bodes well for cognitive growth—the diversity of the student body. People learn when they interact with others who disagree with them. Those who are most likely to be postformal thinkers are also those with the most friends from other backgrounds (Galupo et al., 2010).

The most obvious increased diversity is gender: In 1970, two-thirds of college and university students were male; now in every developed nation (except Germany), more than half (56.5 percent in Canada) are female. Moreover, majors that were traditionally male (math, physics) now include many women. That means almost every college and university student hears academic insights and opinions from the other sex.

Ethnic, economic, religious, and cultural diversity are also evident. Although in Canada and the United States the modal students are mostly still European-Canadian/American, aged 18 to 22, attending full-time, the trend for the past 50 years has been toward more students who are non-European and older than 24, and who attend part-time. In fact, in Canada, visible minorities are much more likely to have completed a university degree than non-visible minorities (AUCC, 2011) (see Figure 11.5).

FIGURE 11.5 Where Are They Coming From? In 2008, students from 200 foreign countries were registered in Canadian universities. China has been the top source for foreign students since 2001, and in 2008 France overtook the United States as the second most common source. Other main sources included India and South Korea.

Source: AUCC, 2011.

Discussion among people of different backgrounds, ages, and experiences leads to intellectual challenge and deeper thought. Thus, the increased diversity of the student body may enhance learning (Bowman, 2011; Loes et al., 2012). Colleges and universities that make use of their diversity—via curriculum, class assignments, discussions, cooperative education, learning communities, and so on—help students stretch their understanding, not only of differences and similarities among people, but also of themselves.

Attending university or college does not automatically produce a leap ahead in cognitive development or in appreciation of differing political, social, and religious views. Skeptical readers might question the data that link university and college graduation to wealthier, wiser, and happier adults. Such skepticism is warranted since correlation does not equal causation: Student characteristics before college or university may be a third variable that explains these links.

However, when selection is taken into account, college and university attendance still seems to aid cognitive development (Pascarella, 2005). Even the critics agree that some students at every institution advance markedly in critical thinking and analysis because of their post-secondary experience (Arum & Roksa, 2011).