Printed Page 157(cont.)

REVIEW Adolescence

Learning Objectives

Test Yourself by taking a moment to answer each of these Learning Objective Questions (repeated here from within the module). Research suggests that trying to answer these questions on your own will improve your long-term memory of the concepts (McDaniel et al., 2009).

Question

12-1 How is adolescence defined, and how do physical changes affect developing teens?
ANSWER: Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to social independence. Boys seem to benefit (though with risks) from “early” maturation, girls from “late” maturation. The brain's frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence and the early twenties, enabling improved judgment, impulse control, and long-term planning.

Question

12-2 How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?
ANSWER: Piaget theorized that adolescents develop a capacity for formal operations and that this development is the foundation for moral judgment. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a stage theory of moral reasoning, from a preconventional morality of self-interest, to a conventional morality concerned with upholding laws and social rules, to (in some people) a postconventional morality of universal ethical principles. Other researchers believe that morality lies in moral intuition and moral action as well as thinking. Some critics argue that Kohlberg's postconventional level represents morality from the perspective of individualist, middle-class people.

Question

12-3 What are the social tasks and challenges of adolescence?
ANSWER: Erikson theorized that each life stage has its own psychosocial task, and that a chief task of adolescence is solidifying one's sense of self—one's identity. This often means trying out a number of different roles. Social identity is the part of the self-concept that comes from a person's group memberships.

Question

21-4 How do parents and peers influence adolescents?
ANSWER: During adolescence, parental influence diminishes and peer influence increases, in part because of the selection effect—the tendency to choose similar others. But adolescents also do adopt their peers' ways of dressing, acting, and communicating. Parents have more influence in religion, politics, and college and career choices.

Question

12-5 What is emerging adulthood?
ANSWER: The transition from adolescence to adulthood is now taking longer. Emerging adulthood is the period from age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many young people are not yet fully independent. But observers note that this stage is found mostly in today's Western cultures.

Terms and Concepts to Remember

Test yourself on these terms.

Question

adolescence (p. 147)
puberty (p. 147)
identity (p. 153)
social identity (p. 153)
intimacy (p. 153)
emerging adulthood (p. 156)
a period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many in Western cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults.
the “we” aspect of our self-concept; the part of our answer to “Who am I?” that comes from our group memberships.
our sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent's task is to solidify a sense of self by testing and integrating various roles.
the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of reproducing.
in Erikson's theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary developmental task in young adulthood.

Experience the Testing Effect

Test yourself repeatedly throughout your studies. This will not only help you figure out what you know and don’t know; the testing itself will help you learn and remember the information more effectively thanks to the testing effect.

Question 4.14

1. Adolescence is marked by the onset of

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 4.15

2. According to Piaget, a person who can think logically about abstractions is in the stage.

Question 4.16

3. In Erikson's stages, the primary task during adolescence is

A.
B.
C.
D.

Question 4.17

4. Some developmental psychologists now refer to the period that occurs in some Western cultures from age 18 to the mid-twenties and beyond (up to the time of full adult independence) as .

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