Adolescent development HC 4
Cognitive development and risky decision making
Lecture outline
Adolescent cognitive development
o Piagetian perspectives
o Information processing capacities
o Beyond formal operations
Models of adolescent risk taking
Adolescent risky decision making and the legal system
Learning objectives
Describe the cognitive changes that occur during adolescence
Describe and understand different models concerning adolescent risk taking
Describe and understand adolescent brain development and cognitive abilities in
relation to issues of treating adolescents as adults in the legal system
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
Example of conditional reasoning – propositional logic
Classic modus ponens (MP) inference: if p, then q.
o Being able to think about thinking abstract thinking
If this is White Hall, then this is not a class in adolescent development.
This is White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
If p then not q.
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is not White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
?
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is a class in adolescent development.
Is this White Hall?
Logically you can say not necessarily but many say yes.
Mistake: affirmation of the consequent (AC).
What is cognition?
Cognition = aspects of mind related to the acquisition, modification, and manipulation
of knowledge in particular contexts (Bjorklund, 1999)
Cognitive development = changes in how an individual thinks, solves problems, and
changes in memory, attention and information processing
Cognitive development during adolescence: a Piagetian perspective
Jean Piaget (1896‐1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist
Stage theory of cognitive development (individuals in different stages think qualitively
differently)
, Adolescent development HC 4
Cognitive development during adolescence: a Piagetian perspective
Formal operations – final stage
o Concrete – discuss world as it is
o Formal – as it might be
Increased abstraction (abstract thinking) and speculation
Allows an individual to place their lives in a personal and societal perspective
Needed to: achieve identity, form goals, select an occupation
Adolescent cognitive abilities (cold cognitive tests)
Understand impact of: past on present, present on future
How one thing relates to another
Greater capacity to evaluate immediate and long range costs and benefits
World as might be, ought to be
o “If your partner’s parents saw you buying condoms at Etos, what would you
do?”
o “How would our lives be different if the drinking age is raised to 21 years?”
Base line: central executive is developing and works fine, but if we are aroused, our limbic
system takes over
Formal operations: 4 overlapping logical abilities
Inductive reasoning
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
Reflective-recursive thinking
Inter‐propositional logic (also considered a subset of deductive reasoning)
Formal operations: 4 overlapping logical abilities
1. Inductive reasoning
Reasoning from specific experiences or observations to a general rule
Examples – rule – induction (ERI)
“I enjoy watching Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and House… so I must like medical dramas.”
Cognitive development and risky decision making
Lecture outline
Adolescent cognitive development
o Piagetian perspectives
o Information processing capacities
o Beyond formal operations
Models of adolescent risk taking
Adolescent risky decision making and the legal system
Learning objectives
Describe the cognitive changes that occur during adolescence
Describe and understand different models concerning adolescent risk taking
Describe and understand adolescent brain development and cognitive abilities in
relation to issues of treating adolescents as adults in the legal system
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
Example of conditional reasoning – propositional logic
Classic modus ponens (MP) inference: if p, then q.
o Being able to think about thinking abstract thinking
If this is White Hall, then this is not a class in adolescent development.
This is White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
If p then not q.
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is not White Hall.
Is this a class in adolescent development?
?
If this is White Hall, then this is a class in adolescent development.
This is a class in adolescent development.
Is this White Hall?
Logically you can say not necessarily but many say yes.
Mistake: affirmation of the consequent (AC).
What is cognition?
Cognition = aspects of mind related to the acquisition, modification, and manipulation
of knowledge in particular contexts (Bjorklund, 1999)
Cognitive development = changes in how an individual thinks, solves problems, and
changes in memory, attention and information processing
Cognitive development during adolescence: a Piagetian perspective
Jean Piaget (1896‐1980) Swiss cognitive psychologist
Stage theory of cognitive development (individuals in different stages think qualitively
differently)
, Adolescent development HC 4
Cognitive development during adolescence: a Piagetian perspective
Formal operations – final stage
o Concrete – discuss world as it is
o Formal – as it might be
Increased abstraction (abstract thinking) and speculation
Allows an individual to place their lives in a personal and societal perspective
Needed to: achieve identity, form goals, select an occupation
Adolescent cognitive abilities (cold cognitive tests)
Understand impact of: past on present, present on future
How one thing relates to another
Greater capacity to evaluate immediate and long range costs and benefits
World as might be, ought to be
o “If your partner’s parents saw you buying condoms at Etos, what would you
do?”
o “How would our lives be different if the drinking age is raised to 21 years?”
Base line: central executive is developing and works fine, but if we are aroused, our limbic
system takes over
Formal operations: 4 overlapping logical abilities
Inductive reasoning
Hypothetical-deductive reasoning
Reflective-recursive thinking
Inter‐propositional logic (also considered a subset of deductive reasoning)
Formal operations: 4 overlapping logical abilities
1. Inductive reasoning
Reasoning from specific experiences or observations to a general rule
Examples – rule – induction (ERI)
“I enjoy watching Grey’s Anatomy, ER, and House… so I must like medical dramas.”
