Instructor's Notes

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Professor Tokura-Gallo

Weekly Critical Thinking Assignment

Think about adolescents accused of felony crimes (there are a variety of them, but let’s not go into the details). For this assignment, let’s focus on the common one for which minors are charged: driving under the influence. Should a sixteen-year-old be tried as an adult if he or she committed the crime of driving while intoxicated? Your job is to take a side: Are you for or against adult prosecution of adolescents under eighteen years of age in North Carolina if the alleged crime was a felony offense? Your argument must be based on what you have learned in Chapter 6 regarding cognitive and peer relationship development.

Analysis: This assignment provides students with the ability to apply information they have learned (in this case, Chapter 6 in their psychology textbook) in order to arrive at a position. Completing the assignment successfully will require analysis, synthesis, and evaluation, as well as taking a stand on a legal and societal matter and supporting that position with research-based evidence. Those outside sources will need to be properly referenced using the standard documentation style in psychology—APA. The assignment will require students to apply various writing strategies—cause-and-effect analysis, comparison and contrast, taking a stand, and supporting a position with sources.

Samantha Christopher Response to Critical Thinking Assignment

Adolescents Are Not Yet Adults

1

Recently there have been some debates about whether or not an adolescent under the age of eighteen should be tried as an adult in the state of North Carolina if the alleged crime committed was a felony offense. Evidence shows that several factors differentiate the mental state of an adolescent from that of an adult. In addition, an adolescent lets peers influence him or her to a greater degree than an adult would. For these reasons, teens should not be tried as adults even if the charges they face are felony offenses.

2

Adolescents are able to use dialectical reasoning in solving problems and making decisions. Dialectical reasoning refers to the ability to make a decision based on the positive and negative aspects of that decision (Moshman, 1999). The problem comes with staying with the “reasonable” choice, especially when this choice goes against personal preference (Klaczynski, 2005). While adolescents may know an activity is not condoned, their personal preference may be to do it anyway.

472

3

Another huge influence on teenage cognition is egocentrism (Elkind, 1978). Egocentrism consists of four parts that each influence adolescent decision making and the way adolescents act. One part, pseudostupidity, is when teens read too much into a situation. This can cause indecisiveness and can lead to a quick decision based on faulty dialectical reasoning. Imaginary audience is another aspect of egocentrism. This is an adolescent’s tendency to believe that he or she is the continuous center of attention. This same aspect leads teens to think that they can read other people’s minds and causes them to jump to conclusions. This can provoke feelings of self-consciousness and cause an individual to make an irrational decision based on what he or she believes others will think of that decision, even if it leads to illegal behavior. Personal fable is the most relevant aspect of egocentrism to this debate. This is the belief that one is special, leading to the assumption that while others might get caught doing an illegal activity, he or she would not be. Lastly, there is apparent hypocrisy. This is the gap between what people say they believe and what they actually do. Although adolescents might say that drinking and driving is wrong, they might still drink and drive, believing that they are exempt from the rules.

4

The last difference between adults and adolescents is the effect of peer pressure and relationship development between teens. Peer groups serve as a means to experiment with different behaviors, attitudes, and values. Teens look to their peers for guidance as to what they should be like and for validation of their self-worth. This stems from the desire for acceptance, which can provoke teens to do things that may not be acceptable in the larger society but that will help them gain popularity and esteem within their peer group.

5

Most people know a teenager’s sense of logic can be skewed. Due to the differences in cognitive processes between teens and adults and the importance of peer relationships to teens, individuals under the age of eighteen can be easily swayed into doing an activity with a slew of negative consequences without truly understanding those consequences. For these reasons, teenagers should not be tried as adults in felony crimes.

References

Elkind, D. (1978). Understanding the young adolescent. Adolescence, 13(49), 127–134.

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Klaczynski, P. (2005). Metacognition and cognitive variability: Dual process model of decision making and its development. In J. Jacob & P. Klaczynski (Eds.), The development of decision making in children and adolescents. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Moshman, D. (1999). Adolescent psychological development: Rationality, morality, and identity (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Questions to Start You Thinking

Meaning

Writing Strategies