What Have You Learned?

1. Question 15.1

   How does adolescent egocentrism differ from early childhood egocentrism?

   In early childhood, egocentrism refers to the inability to take another person’s perspective. Young adolescents not only think intensely about themselves but also think about what others think of them. Adolescents regard themselves as unique, special, and much more socially significant than they actually are.

2. Question 15.2

   What are the main perceptions that arise from belief in the imaginary audience?

   Adolescents believe that everyone is watching them, which makes them very self-conscious. They may become shy and awkward or try to fade into the background so no one notices them. Others may seek to be the center of attention and do things to draw attention to themselves.

3. Question 15.3

   Why are the personal fable and the invincibility fable called “fables”?

   They are both significant cognitive distortions of reality in which teens are never harmed by dangerous activities or risky behaviors.

4. Question 15.4

   How does formal operational thinking differ from concrete operational thinking?

   As concrete operational thinkers, children draw conclusions on the basis of their own experiences and what they have been told. Formal operational adolescents imagine all possible determinants and systematically vary the factors one by one, observe the results, keep track of the results, and draw the appropriate conclusions. Formal operational thinking enables systematic, logical thinking as well as the ability to understand and manipulate abstract concepts. Teens become capable of deductive reasoning and hypothetical thinking.

5. Question 15.5

   What are the advantages and disadvantages of using inductive rather than deductive reasoning??

   The advantage of inductive reasoning is that it is quick and automatic. The disadvantage is that it is more prone to error.

6. Question 15.6

   How certain are contemporary developmentalists that Piaget accurately described adolescent cognition?

   Logical fallacies such as the sunk cost fallacy or base rate neglect make it apparent that formal operational thinking does not come to everyone at a certain developmental stage as Piaget thought. Research also notes gains and losses in logical thought at every stage of development.

7. Question 15.7

   When might intuition and analysis lead to contrasting conclusions?

   Intuition begins with a belief, assumption, or general rule. It is quick and powerful—a gut reaction. Analysis is formal, logical, hypothetical thinking. It involves rational analysis of many factors. Intuition causes one to focus on the most interesting part of the problem, whereas analysis leads one to consider all aspects of the problem. Decisions based on intuition may lead one to take risks or jump to conclusions that analysis would help avoid.

8. Question 15.8

   What mode of thinking—intuitive or analytic—do most people prefer, and why?

   People tend to use intuition in their everyday lives because it is faster and easier to rely on preexisting beliefs, assumptions, and rules than it is to reason deliberately.

9. Question 15.9

   How does personal experience increase the probability of base rate neglect?

   Base rate neglect is a common error in adolescent thinking. If presented with related base rate information (generic, general facts) and specific information (such as one example), the mind tends to ignore the former and focus on the latter. It is why people are more afraid of flying than driving even though they are much more apt to perish driving than flying. When a plane crashes, it makes headline news, causing people to believe it is a more common occurrence than it actually is. If, for example, a teen has never had a bicycle wreck, he or she may refuse to wear a helmet regardless of evidence that wearing a helmet saves lives every day. However, if a classmate suffers injury from a bike accident, the teen may change his or her attitude toward wearing a helmet. Once bike injuries become personal and thus in the teen’s orbit, they become more “real.”

10. Question 15.10

    How does egocentrism account for the clashing priorities of parents and adolescents?

    Adolescents see themselves as far more important and socially significant than they actually are. A parent’s desire for appropriate clothing, music, grades, friends, and decisions about the future may clash with the teenager’s exaggerated sense of importance and influence. Parents assume teens share their values and think as they think.

11. Question 15.11

    When is intuitive thinking better than analytic thinking?

    Analytic thinking could be best used when making major decisions, like whom to marry or which investment to make, since one weighs the alternatives and thinks of other possibilities when using this mode of thought. Intuitive thinking is “fast and frugal.” It is less paralyzing to make an emotional decision, which makes intuition the best and quickest route in social circumstances.

12. Question 15.12

    What benefits come from adolescents’ use of technology?

    Research conducted before the technology explosion found that with education, conversation, and experience, adolescents move past egocentric thought. Social networking may speed up this process, as teens communicate daily with dozens of friends via e-mail, texting, and cell phones.

13. Question 15.13

    How do video games affect student learning?

    Internet use and video games improve visual–spatial skills and vocabulary. Technology does present some dangers, as well. Video games with violent content promote aggression, and chat rooms, video games, and Internet gambling are addictive for some adolescents, taking time from needed play, schoolwork, and friendship.

14. Question 15.14

    Who is most apt and least apt likely to be involved in cyberbullying?

    The adolescents most involved are usually already bullies or victims or both, with bully-victims the most likely to engage in, and suffer from, cyberbullying. When students consider their school a good place to be, teens with high self-esteem are not only less likely to engage in cyberbullying but also to disapprove of it among peers.

15. Question 15.15

    Why have most junior high schools disappeared?

    The age of puberty onset has decreased, shifting the appropriate age groupings for adolescents. Junior high has been replaced with middle school, and ninth grade has moved into the high school.

16. Question 15.16

    What characteristics of middle schools make them more difficult for students than elementary schools?

    Having different teachers for each subject can make middle school teachers seem impersonal and distant; unlike elementary school, no one teacher is aware of a student’s overall academic performance and social behavior. Changing classes for each period can make personal recognition from authority figures difficult at a time when such recognition is important. This can contribute to students developing a feeling of alienation from school and teachers. Students already at risk for emotional problems may react to the transition by experiencing intense anxiety or depression.

17. Question 15.17

    How does being a young adolescent affect a person’s ability to learn?

    For many middle school students, as academic achievement slows down, behavioral problems arise. Puberty itself is part of the problem. At least for other animals, especially when under stress, learning slows down at puberty.

18. Question 15.18

    How do individual beliefs about intelligence affect motivation and learning?

    If they hold to the entity theory of intelligence, students believe that nothing they do can improve their academic skill. Entity belief can reduce motivation and learning. If they hold to the incremental theory of intelligence, students believe that effort is important to achievement. Incremental belief is associated with higher motivation and learning.

19. Question 15.19

    Why are school transitions a particular concern for educators?

    The unfamiliar circumstances involved in transitioning between schools may interfere with learning and social adjustment. School districts could limit the number of transitions by adopting K–8 or K–12 formats. They can also reduce the number of students in each school building in order to increase a sense of community. In that way, students aren’t strangers to each other or the school officials.

20. Question 15.20

    Why is the first year of attendance at a new school more stressful than the second year?

    Customs and routines are different at every school. This, coupled with the over-arching egocentrism of adolescence, makes school transitions particularly difficult. Once a student has an opportunity to acclimate to a new environment, continuing there is not difficult.

21. Question 15.21

    How are educational standards changing in the United States?

    Students are encouraged to take IB or AP classes and earn college credit while still in high school. There has also been an increase in the requirements to receive an academic diploma. Graduation requirements now usually include two years of math beyond algebra, two years of laboratory science, three years of history, and four years of English. Study of a language other than English is often required, too. In 2011, in addition to these courses, 24 U.S. states required students to pass a high-stakes test in order to graduate.

22. Question 15.22

    What are the advantages and disadvantages of high-stakes testing?

    The effect of such tests on education is in dispute. High school graduation rates in the United States are inching upward, with 72 percent of ninth-grade students staying in school to graduate four years later. The concern is that those who do not graduate become very discouraged about education and the tests may, in fact, have a negative impact on continuing education. Research also shows that too much testing reduces overall learning rather than increasing it.

23. Question 15.23

    How does the PISA differ from other international tests?

    The PISA measures the students’ ability to use skills they learned in school to cope with real-life problems, rather than testing facts as the TIMSS does.

24. Question 15.24

    How does having students with strong school achievement advance a nation’s economy?

    Strong school achievement correlates to employees with creativity, flexibility, and analytic ability. Such skills allow for innovation and mastery of new technology as well as entrepreneurial capabilities. When nations increase their human capital by helping more adults acquire such skills, their economies prosper.