Overview
This lecture covers cognitive and social cognitive transitions during adolescence, focusing on changes in thinking, reasoning, memory, and self-reflection compared to childhood.
Cognitive Changes in Adolescence
- Adolescents can think about possibilities beyond concrete events, unlike children who are more limited to the present.
- They can generate and compare alternative possibilities systematically, aiding in problem-solving tasks.
- Abstract thinking develops, allowing adolescents to reflect on ideas and concepts not physically present.
- Hypothetical (if-then) reasoning becomes more common and sophisticated.
- Adolescents improve in perspective-taking and understanding others' viewpoints.
Metacognition and Self-Reflection
- Metacognition refers to thinking about one's own thinking processes and strategy use.
- Adolescents are better at managing and explaining their thought processes than children.
- Increased introspection and self-consciousness are typical, leading to higher self-awareness.
Formal Operational Egocentric Thinking
- Imaginary audience: Adolescents believe their behavior is the focus of everyone's attention.
- Personal fable: They believe their experiences are unique and not understood by others.
- Both imaginary audience and personal fable represent types of egocentric thinking.
Advanced Reasoning Skills
- Multi-dimensional thinking emerges; adolescents consider multiple aspects of an issue at once.
- They can describe themselves in complex, sometimes contradictory ways across different contexts.
- Understanding sarcasm and sophisticated humor improves due to multidimensional thinking.
- Adolescent relativism replaces childhood absolutism; they see issues in shades of gray rather than black and white.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
- Jean Piaget proposed that cognitive development occurs in qualitative stages.
- Adolescents enter the formal operational stage, enabling abstract and flexible thinking (cognitive flexibility).
- The development of these skills is gradual and shaped by environment, attachment, and relevant experiences.
- Formal operational thinking is more likely if the task is relevant and the adolescent is knowledgeable about it.
Information Processing Improvements
- Attention: Adolescents improve in selective (focusing on one stimulus) and divided attention (focusing on multiple stimuli).
- Working memory (short-term) and long-term memory both become more efficient and better organized.
- Processing speed increases during early to middle adolescence, then levels off.
- Adolescents use more effective organizational and mnemonic strategies for planning and remembering information.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Abstract thinking — reasoning about ideas and concepts not immediately visible or concrete.
- Metacognition — awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes.
- Imaginary audience — belief that others are constantly watching and evaluating you.
- Personal fable — belief that one’s experiences are unique and not understood by others.
- Multi-dimensional thinking — ability to consider multiple factors or perspectives at once.
- Relativism — viewing issues in shades of gray rather than as absolute.
- Formal operational stage — Piaget’s stage of thinking marked by abstract and flexible reasoning.
- Selective attention — focusing on one specific stimulus while ignoring others.
- Divided attention — focusing on multiple stimuli at the same time.
- Working memory — temporary storage for information being processed.
- Mnemonic strategies — techniques to aid memory retention and recall.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review lecture notes and key terms.
- Prepare any questions for clarification in part two of the lecture.