Cognitive Development in Adolescence
Cognitive Development in Adolescence
Cognitive Development in Adolescence:
Discovering the Life Span
Fifth Edition
Chapter 6
Adolescence
Module 6.2
Cognitive Development in Adolescence
6-1
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Sections in Module 6.2
Cognitive Development
School Performance
6-2
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Learning Objectives
6.6: Analyze Piaget’s account of adolescent cognitive development.
6.7: Explain the information processing view of adolescent cognitive development.
6.8: Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
6.9: Explain the nature and consequences of use of media by adolescents.
6-3
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Cognitive Development
Module 6.2 Cognitive Development in Adolescence
6-4
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Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development: Using Formal Operations (1 of 3)
LO 6.6 Analyze Piaget’s account of adolescent cognitive development.
Using Formal Operations to Solve Problems
Formal operational stage: When people develop the ability to think abstractly
Full capabilities of using principles of logic unfold from ages 12 to 15
Adolescents use propositional thought (using abstract thought in the absence of concrete examples)
25 to 60 percent of college students never developed formal operations
Cultural values also influence achievement of formal operational thought
6-5
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Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development: Using Formal Operations (2 of 3)
LO 6.6 Analyze Piaget’s account of adolescent cognitive development.
The Consequences of Adolescents’ Use of Formal Operations
Ability to think abstractly changes behavior
Adolescents become more argumentative
Adolescents become more interesting, but challenging
6-6
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Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development: Using Formal Operations (3 of 3)
LO 6.6 Analyze Piaget’s account of adolescent cognitive development.
Evaluating Piaget’s Approach
Research shows individual differences in cognitive abilities is not universal
Cognitive development is continuous, not step-like
Piaget underestimated skills of infants and young children
More sophisticated forms of thinking do not develop until early adulthood (postformal thinking)
6-7
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Information-Processing Perspectives: Gradual Transformations in Abilities (1 of 3)
LO 6.7 Explain the information processing view of adolescent cognitive development.
Information processing approach
Gradual transformation in how information is used changes cognition
Adolescents organize their thinking and develop new strategies
6-8
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Information processing approach: Model that seeks to identify way that individuals take in, use, and store information
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Information-Processing Perspectives: Gradual Transformations in Abilities (2 of 3)
LO 6.7 Explain the information processing view of adolescent cognitive development.
Metacognition: Thinking About Thinking
Metacognition: The knowledge of one’s own thinking
Adolescents gain the ability to gauge how long they need to study
They are a better of judge of their own learning
6-9
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Information-Processing Perspectives: Gradual Transformations in Abilities (3 of 3)
LO 6.7 Explain the information processing view of adolescent cognitive development.
Egocentrism in Thinking: Adolescents’ Self-absorption
Adolescents focus on themselves (egocentrism)
They are highly critical of authority figures, avoid criticism themselves, but find fault in others
Adolescent egocentrism leads to two distortions:
Imaginary audience (focus of everyone’s attention)
Personal fables (what happens is unique to them)
6-10
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Review: Cognitive Development (1 of 2)
Adolescence corresponds to Piaget’s formal operations period, in which abstract thinking and experimental approaches to problems are common.
This makes adolescents question authority, and they become argumentative.
According to the information processing approach, cognitive development is gradual as thinking and memory improves.
6-11
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Review: Cognitive Development (2 of 2)
There is growth in metacognition but also egocentrism, which results in their thinking that their behavior is always observed.
They construct personal fables about their uniqueness.
6-12
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Check Yourself: Cognitive Development (1 of 2)
Fifteen-year-old Wyatt is able to solve the physics problem from class in abstract rather than in concrete terms. According to Piaget, Wyatt is now capable of __________.
A) preoperational thought
B) formal operational thought
C) egocentrism
D) sensorimotor thought
6-13
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Answer: B
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Check Yourself: Cognitive Development (2 of 2)
__________ is the knowledge that people have about their own thinking processes and their ability to monitor their cognition.
A) Metacognition
B) Postformal thinking
C) Egocentrism
D) Sensorimotor thought
6-14
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Answer: A
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School Performance
Module 6.2 Cognitive Development in Adolescence
6-15
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Adolescent School Performance: A Complex Picture (1 of 5)
LO 6.8 Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
High school students’ grades have risen
But independent measures of achievement have not risen
May be grade inflation
Students in the United States score lower than in most industrialized nations
Less class time, less intensive instruction, more diverse populations
Graduation rates have dropped (only 79 percent graduate)
6-16
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Figure 6-7: U.S. Math Performance Compared With Other Countries
When compared to the math performance of students across the world, U.S. students perform at below-average levels. Source: Based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2014.
6-17
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Source: Based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 2014.
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Adolescent School Performance: A Complex Picture (2 of 5)
LO 6.8 Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
Socioeconomic Status and School Performance: Individual Differences in Achievement
Strong relationship between achievement and SES
Poorer children have:
Fewer resources
Lower health
More inadequate schools
Less-involved parents
6-18
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Adolescent School Performance: A Complex Picture (3 of 5)
LO 6.8 Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
Ethnic and Racial Differences in School Achievement
Differences occur, but the reason is unclear
African American and Hispanic families more likely to live in poverty
African American and Hispanic students perform lower than Caucasians do
Asians perform the highest
6-19
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Adolescent School Performance: A Complex Picture (4 of 5)
LO 6.8 Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
Ethnic and Racial Differences in School Achievement (cont.)
When SES is taken into account, achievement differences diminish
Cultural value of school success impacts performance
When consequences for failure are high, performance improves
Attributions for school success impacts performance
6-20
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Adolescent School Performance: A Complex Picture (5 of 5)
LO 6.8 Describe major factors that affect adolescent school performance.
Dropping Out of School
Dropouts earn 42 percent less than graduates
Dropout unemployment rate is 50 percent
Some leave because of pregnancy, problems with English, and economic reasons
Males drop out more than females do
Students from lower-income homes drop out more
Asians drop out least, followed by Caucasians, Hispanics, and African Americans
6-21
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Adolescents’ Media Use: Screen Time in the Digital Age (1 of 3)
LO 6.9 Explain the nature and consequences of the use of media by adolescents.
Young people average 6.5 hours a day on media
Around 25 percent of the time, they are using more than one form
May actually be closer to 8.5 hours per day
Some teens send 30,000 texts a month
Texting supplants other forms of interaction
6-22
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Adolescents’ Media Use: Screen Time in the Digital Age (2 of 3)
LO 6.9 Explain the nature and consequences of the use of media by adolescents.
Online activities can be mean-spirited
Cyberbullying: Practice of sending victims texts or e-mails with hurtful comments
Source of cyberbullying can be anonymous, leading to particularly abusive messages
6-23
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Adolescents’ Media Use: Screen Time in the Digital Age(3 of 3)
LO 6.9 Explain the nature and consequences of the use of media by adolescents.
Using the Web
Students must learn to search, choose, and integrate information
Downside is the availability of objectionable material
Use of the Web creates a challenge involving socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity
Poorer adolescents don’t have access, creating digital divide
6-24
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Figure 6-8: Don’t Talk to Me, Text Me Instead
In 2018, more teenagers say they would rather text a friend than talk with them in person, a significant change from 2012. Source: Rideout & Robb, 2018.
6-25
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Source: Rideout & Robb, 2018.
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Review: School Performance (1 of 2)
Academic performance is linked to SES, race, and ethnicity.
Lower-SES students have fewer supportive resources.
Gender and ethnicity affect dropout rates, which are very high for the United States.
6-26
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Review: School Performance (2 of 2)
Adolescents spend a lot of time using media.
Benefits include increased access to information and culture.
Risks include access to inappropriate and harmful content.
Poorer adolescents and minorities have less access to media, creating a “digital divide.”
6-27
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Check Yourself: School Performance (1 of 2)
Because of the unfavorable comparison of U.S. standardized test scores to the scores of other countries, the gradual shift upward of adolescents’ grades in the past decade has been attributed to __________.
A) increased immigration
B) grade inflation
C) achievement deflation
D) decreased motivation
6-28
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Answer: B
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Check Yourself: School Performance (2 of 2)
The unequal access that adolescents have to educational computers and technology, depending on their socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity, has been termed __________.
A) the achievement gap
B) cyberbullying
C) the opportunity trap
D) the digital divide
6-29
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Answer: D
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Applying Lifespan Development
What sorts of external factors (i.e., not attributable to the students) might negatively affect the performance of U.S. student on international achievement tests?
6-30
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Copyright Information
6-31
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