Module 15
Adolescence
- Adolescence: the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty
to independence
- The transition from puberty to social independence
- Starts with the physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with the social
achievement of independent adult status
- The tension between biological maturity and social dependence creates a “storm and
stress” period, where teens crave social acceptance but often feel socially disconnected.
- Adolescence is a time of vitality without the cares of adulthood, rewarding friendships,
heightened idealism and a growing sense of life's exciting possibilities
Physical Development
- Adolescence begins with puberty, the period of sexual maturation, during which a person
becomes capable of reproducing. Sequence of changes is more predictable than their
timing
- Timing of a person’s physical development may influence their social standing
- Early Maturing boys: More popular, self-assured, and independent; more at risk
for alcohol use, delinquency and premature sexual activity
- Early Maturing girls: Mismatch between physical and emotional maturity may
encourage search for older teens; teasing or sexual harassment may occur
- The teenage brain
- An adolescent's brain cells increase their connections until puberty, then during
adolescents comes a selective pruning of unused neurons and connections. As
teens mature their frontal lobes continue to develop along with myelin, the fatty
tissue that forms axons and speeds neurotransmission, and enables better
communication with other brain regions. These bring improved judgment, impulse
control and long-term planning.
- Teens: frontal lobe development and synaptic pruning occur and may
produce irrational and risky behaviors
- Puberty’s hormonal surge and limbic system development explain teens
occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors and emotional storms
Cognitive Development
- During early teen years reasoning is often self-focused. Capable of thinking about their
own thinking, and about other people’s thinking, they also begin imagining what others
are thinking about them
- When teens reach what Piaget called formal operations, they apply their new reasoning
tools to the world around them. Thinking about what's possible then comparing to the
imperfect reality of their society, parents and selves; debating human nature, good and
evil, truth and justice.
- Two crucial tasks of youth are discerning right from wrong and developing character. “To
be a moral person is to think morally and act accordingly.”
- Developing reasoning power: Piaget
1
, Module 15
- Develop new abstract thinking tools (formal operations)
- Reason logically and develop moral judgment
- Developing moral reasoning: Kohlberg
- Use moral reasoning that develops in universal sequence to guide moral actions
Moral Reasoning
- Kohlberg sought to describe the development of moral reasoning, the thinking that
occurs as we consider right and wrong
- Asked children, adolescents and adults if an action was right or wrong (should
someone steal medicine to save a loved one’s life). His analysis of their answers
led to three basic levels of moral thinking: preconventional, conventional and
postconventional. A moral ladder. Although it was argued his postconventional
stage was culturally limited.
Kholberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking
Level (approximate age) Focus Example
Preconventional morality Self-interest; obey rules to “If you save your dying wife,
(before age 9) avoid punishment or gain you’ll be a hero”
concrete rewards.
Conventional morality (early Uphold laws and rules to gain “If you steal the drug for her,
adolescence) social approval or maintain everyone will think you’re a
social order. criminal”
Postconventional morality Actions reflect belief in basic “People have a right to live.”
(adolescence and beyond) rights and self defined ethical
principles
Moral Intuition
- Our morality is rooted in moral intuitions: quick gut feelings, or affectively laden intuitions
- According to this view, the mind makes moral judgements in the same way it
makes aesthetic judgments, quickly and automatically
- The desire to punish wrongdoing is not so much driven by reason, more emotion, such
as moral outrage and the pleasure of revenge. Then our moral reasoning convinces us
and others of logic of what we have intuitively felt.
- Also supports moral paradoxes, where someone can feel conflicted on what decision is
morally correct, showing moral judgment as another example of our two track mind, we
tend to respond to situations automatically
- Haidt: much of morality rooted in moral intuitions that are made quickly and automatically
- Greene: Moral cognition is often automatic but can be overridden
Moral Action
- Morality involves doing the right thing, but what we do depends on social influences.
- Today's education focuses on moral packages such as thinking, feeling, and doing the
2
Adolescence
- Adolescence: the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty
to independence
- The transition from puberty to social independence
- Starts with the physical beginnings of sexual maturity and ends with the social
achievement of independent adult status
- The tension between biological maturity and social dependence creates a “storm and
stress” period, where teens crave social acceptance but often feel socially disconnected.
- Adolescence is a time of vitality without the cares of adulthood, rewarding friendships,
heightened idealism and a growing sense of life's exciting possibilities
Physical Development
- Adolescence begins with puberty, the period of sexual maturation, during which a person
becomes capable of reproducing. Sequence of changes is more predictable than their
timing
- Timing of a person’s physical development may influence their social standing
- Early Maturing boys: More popular, self-assured, and independent; more at risk
for alcohol use, delinquency and premature sexual activity
- Early Maturing girls: Mismatch between physical and emotional maturity may
encourage search for older teens; teasing or sexual harassment may occur
- The teenage brain
- An adolescent's brain cells increase their connections until puberty, then during
adolescents comes a selective pruning of unused neurons and connections. As
teens mature their frontal lobes continue to develop along with myelin, the fatty
tissue that forms axons and speeds neurotransmission, and enables better
communication with other brain regions. These bring improved judgment, impulse
control and long-term planning.
- Teens: frontal lobe development and synaptic pruning occur and may
produce irrational and risky behaviors
- Puberty’s hormonal surge and limbic system development explain teens
occasional impulsiveness, risky behaviors and emotional storms
Cognitive Development
- During early teen years reasoning is often self-focused. Capable of thinking about their
own thinking, and about other people’s thinking, they also begin imagining what others
are thinking about them
- When teens reach what Piaget called formal operations, they apply their new reasoning
tools to the world around them. Thinking about what's possible then comparing to the
imperfect reality of their society, parents and selves; debating human nature, good and
evil, truth and justice.
- Two crucial tasks of youth are discerning right from wrong and developing character. “To
be a moral person is to think morally and act accordingly.”
- Developing reasoning power: Piaget
1
, Module 15
- Develop new abstract thinking tools (formal operations)
- Reason logically and develop moral judgment
- Developing moral reasoning: Kohlberg
- Use moral reasoning that develops in universal sequence to guide moral actions
Moral Reasoning
- Kohlberg sought to describe the development of moral reasoning, the thinking that
occurs as we consider right and wrong
- Asked children, adolescents and adults if an action was right or wrong (should
someone steal medicine to save a loved one’s life). His analysis of their answers
led to three basic levels of moral thinking: preconventional, conventional and
postconventional. A moral ladder. Although it was argued his postconventional
stage was culturally limited.
Kholberg’s Levels of Moral Thinking
Level (approximate age) Focus Example
Preconventional morality Self-interest; obey rules to “If you save your dying wife,
(before age 9) avoid punishment or gain you’ll be a hero”
concrete rewards.
Conventional morality (early Uphold laws and rules to gain “If you steal the drug for her,
adolescence) social approval or maintain everyone will think you’re a
social order. criminal”
Postconventional morality Actions reflect belief in basic “People have a right to live.”
(adolescence and beyond) rights and self defined ethical
principles
Moral Intuition
- Our morality is rooted in moral intuitions: quick gut feelings, or affectively laden intuitions
- According to this view, the mind makes moral judgements in the same way it
makes aesthetic judgments, quickly and automatically
- The desire to punish wrongdoing is not so much driven by reason, more emotion, such
as moral outrage and the pleasure of revenge. Then our moral reasoning convinces us
and others of logic of what we have intuitively felt.
- Also supports moral paradoxes, where someone can feel conflicted on what decision is
morally correct, showing moral judgment as another example of our two track mind, we
tend to respond to situations automatically
- Haidt: much of morality rooted in moral intuitions that are made quickly and automatically
- Greene: Moral cognition is often automatic but can be overridden
Moral Action
- Morality involves doing the right thing, but what we do depends on social influences.
- Today's education focuses on moral packages such as thinking, feeling, and doing the
2
