Steinberg10 Im Ch02
Steinberg10 Im Ch02
CHAPTER 2
Cognitive Transitions
Learning Objectives
1. Describe the changes in thinking that characterize the transition from childhood to adolescence.
2. Provide examples of two different types of adolescent egocentrism.
3. Discuss the Piagetian and information-processing perspectives as they relate to the development
of adolescent cognition.
4. Explain how the information-processing approach and Piagetian perspective may be compatible.
5. Describe the five changes in information-processing abilities that occur during adolescence.
6. Describe the changes in brain function and brain structure during adolescence that may be linked
to behavioral, emotional, and cognitive development.
7. Describe the measurement of IQ and its stability as well as improvement during adolescence.
Also address the issue of individual differences in IQ and IQ assessment.
8. Explain Sternbergs and Gardners approach to studying the development of intelligence.
9. Describe the context of adolescent thinking, the four most common areas of social cognition
research, and the changes in social cognition during adolescence.
10. Examine the role that decision making plays in adolescent risk taking and compare it to that of
adults.
11. Explain why many common approaches to reducing adolescent risk taking are unsuccessful and
provide alternative methods that might be successful.
Key Terms
autobiographical memory
behavioral decision theory
brain function
brain structure
cognitive-developmental view
concrete operations
deductive reasoning
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)
divided attention
dopamine
dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
electroencephalography (EEG)
event-related potentials (ERP)
formal operations
functional connectivity
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scaffolding
selective attention
sensation seeking
sensorimotor period
serotonin
social cognition
social conventions
synapse
synaptic pruning
theory of mind
ventromedial prefrontal cortex
working memory
zone of proximal development
Chapter Overview
I.
CHANGES IN COGNITION
A. Adolescents not only know more than children but are now able to think in ways that are
more advanced, efficient, and generally more effective.
B. There are five chief ways in which adolescents thinking differs from that of children:
Adolescents are better at thinking about possibilities, abstract concepts; and the process
of thinking itself. They also think more multidimensionally and are able to think in
relative (as opposed to absolute) terms.
C. Thinking About Possibilities: Whereas childrens thinking is oriented to concrete events
that they can directly observe, adolescents have the ability to think about what might be.
Related to this new ability is deductive reasoning as well as hypothetical thinking
(thinking that involves if-then statements).
D. Thinking About Abstract Concepts: A second notable characteristic of adolescent
thinking is the ability to understand abstract, conceptually based relationships and
concepts. This ability underlies the adolescents interest in topics such as interpersonal
relationships, politics, philosophy, religion, and morality.
E. Thinking About Thinking: Metacognition, the ability to think about thinking, permits
adolescents to think about the strategies they use to solve problems and to think about
their own thoughts and feelings. Some of the strongest stereotypes about adolescents are
related to this new ability. Elkind argues that metacognition induces a kind of
egocentrism and intense preoccupation with the self. According to Elkind, adolescents
develop personal fables: the belief that they are so unique that what happens to others
will not happen to them. These personal fables can cause adolescents to feel invulnerable
and lead to risky behavior based on the belief that bad things only happen to others.
Elkind also argues that adolescents sometimes experience the effect called the imaginary
audience, an extreme self-consciousness and belief that others are constantly watching
and evaluating ones actions. Researchers have found it hard to document that these
phenomena are specific to adolescents (though this may be partly due to the fact that
many studies rely on laboratory-based questionnaires rather than real-life situations).
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lead to improvements in our ability to regulate our emotions and coordinate our thoughts
and feelings. The structural maturation of the prefrontal cortex is not fully mature until
the mid-20s. Some of the specific regions of the prefrontal cortex that undergo
transformations are: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (planning and impulse control), the
ventromedial prefrontal cortex (gut-level intuitive decision making), and the
orbitofrontal cortex (evaluating risks and rewards).
D. Changes in Brain Function During Adolescence: There are two important changes in
brain function involving the prefrontal cortex in adolescence that lead to greater
efficiency in information processing: (1) patterns of activation within prefrontal cortex
become more focused and (2) activity in the prefrontal cortex becomes increasingly
coordinated with activity in prefrontal regions and other areas (other portions of the
cortex and areas of the limbic system). The limbic system is an area of the brain that
plays an important role in emotional experience and processing social information. This
area of the brain is also involved in the processing of rewards and punishment and leads
to the ability to regulate/coordinate our emotions/thoughts/feelings.
E. Risks and Reward: Another type of functional change is in regard to the ways the brain is
affected by certain neurotransmitters. Changes in neurotransmitters like dopamine
(which play an important role in our experience of reward) and serotonin (which plays an
important role in the experience of different moods) make individuals more responsive to
stress and rewards. In addition, changes in the limbic system are thought to increase
individuals vulnerability to substance use and to stimulate risk-taking behaviors. These
limbic system changes are also thought to increase vulnerability to depression and other
mental health problems and potentially explain why adolescents concerns about what
their peers think increases during this time. It is important to note that the changes in
functioning of the limbic system occur relatively early in adolescence, in contrast to
developments in the prefrontal cortex, which are still ongoing in early adulthood.
Although adolescents may have cognitive abilities similar to adults (e.g., attention,
logical reasoning, memory), the brain systems that regulate emotional and decision
making abilities do not mature until adulthood. Hence, changes in brain structure and
function during adolescence may provoke individuals to seek novelty, reward, and
stimulation several years before the complete maturation of the brain systems that
regulate judgment, decision making, and impulse control. As such, this gap may
account for some of the risk taking we see during the adolescent years.
F. Implications for Adolescent Behavior: The developmental implications of the structural
and functional changes in adolescent brain development are still the subject of a great
deal of ongoing research. Few studies have directly linked changes in brain images with
changes in thought, emotion, or behavior. One important hallmark of brain development
in adolescence is that the brain is very malleable and its development is affected by
experience, biology, and the interaction of the two. Adolescents behavior can also affect
structural and functional brain development (e.g., the use of alcohol and drugs can
impact the brain and synaptic pruning is influenced by experience).
IV.
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B. The Measurement of IQ: Standardized intelligence tests, or IQ tests, are often used to
study individual differences in cognitive abilities as compared to the scores of others
from the same cohort (or group of people born during the same historical era). Initially
developed by the French psychologist Alfred Binet, a variety of tests now exist,
including the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Critics of such tests argue that they measure just one
type of intelligenceschool smartsand neglect other equally important skills, such
as social intelligence, creativity, and street smarts.
C. Sternbergs Triarchic Theory: Sternberg has suggested a triarchic theory of
intelligence which examines three distinct types of intelligence: (1) componential
intelligence (similar to what traditional tests measure), (2) experiential intelligence
(creativity), and (3) contextual intelligence (street smarts). Sternbergs theory forces us
to look at individuals who are not good test takers but who are creative or street smart as
being just as intelligent (but intelligent in a different way) as individuals who score high
on IQ tests.
D. Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences: Gardner has proposed that there are seven
types of intelligence (verbal, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, self-reflective,
interpersonal, and musical) in his theory of multiple intelligences.
E. Intelligence Test Performance in Adolescence: Research suggests that intelligence is a
very stable trait during adolescence. For example, children who score high on IQ tests
during early adolescence are likely to score high throughout their adolescent years.
Despite the fact that IQ scores remain stable during adolescence, adolescents mental
abilities do increase. Thus, schooling has been found to enhance individuals
performance on standardized tests of intelligence.
V.
F. Culture and Intelligence: It has been argued that youth learn best when they are
stimulated to reach a little further intellectually than they can grasp. Vygotsky referred
to the difference between what youth could perform alone and what they could perform
with help as the zone of proximal development. It is the role of the instructor to generate
learning opportunities that challenge the students and require them to reach a bit further
toward a more advanced level of performancea structuring process called scaffolding.
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believe they have nothing to lose are more likely to engage in risky behaviors.
Additionally, individuals who are high in sensation-seeking or impulsiveness are more
likely to engage in various types of risky behaviors than those who are low in these
qualities. Access to unsupervised environments and peer pressure may enhance the
probability that individuals may act impulsively and make bad decisions.
F. Logic and Intuition: Dual systems models suggest that there are two different thinking
systems, one that is deliberative and logical, and one that is intuitive and gut-level that
interact to influence behavior. Although the development of logical thinking may
differentiate adolescents from children, the continued development of intuitive decision
making is the main change to take place between adolescence and adulthood (intuitive
decision making allows people to make decisions quickly).
G. Reducing Adolescent Risk Taking: The most common approach to reducing adolescent
risk taking is through classroom-based education programs that emphasize decision
making and peer resistance skills, and teach adolescents about the dangers of various
activities. However, as adolescents do not seem to be ignorant about the risks of these
activities or deficient in the ways in which they make decisions, these programs have
only been mildly successful. Possible alternative approaches for reducing adolescent risk
taking include: limiting adolescents opportunities to put themselves in risky situations,
increasing penalties for engaging in certain risky behavior, and providing safe outlets for
normal sensation-seeking activities (finding ways to permit adolescents to take risks
without putting themselves in a situation in which they can hurt themselves).
Many students who have previously taken either Introductory Psychology or another course in
developmental psychology will have been exposed to Piagets stage theory of development. However,
most treatments of Piaget provide only an extremely simplified version of this very complex theory. One
way of approaching such a lecture is to begin with Piagets work with Binet and using this to introduce
the distinction between psychometric and Piagetian approaches to intelligence. Key to this is the
difference between normative and individual difference approaches to intelligence. In addition, it allows
you to introduce some basic characteristics of childrens intelligence tests. Basic Piagetian concepts, such
as schemes, equilibration, assimilation, and accommodation, also can be introduced and discussed.
Students often enjoy a basic introduction to Piagets phenomenology approach, which can be tied into
earlier discussions of paradigms and theories. This lecture also works well with a detailed discussion of
the Piagetian origins of Elkinds notions of adolescent egocentrism.
Furth, H. G. (1981). Piaget and Knowledge: Theoretical Foundations (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Muus, R. E. (1996). Theories of Adolescence (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
II.
Alternatively, an examination of new developments in the study of cognition can be useful, especially in
a class in which most students had already been exposed to the more conventional Piagetian and
psychometric approaches. Students may be especially interested in a discussion of two approaches that
call into question the assumption that real intelligence is limited to the sorts of skills that equip us to do
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well in school, including the theories of Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg. For more advanced
students, this lecture might also look at some recent attempts to integrate cognitive-developmental and
information-processing approaches, such as that by Robbie Case.
Taking a different track, the integration of neuroscience and cognition has led to fascinating
breakthroughs in the study and conceptualization of adolescent intellectual performance. An introduction
to this aspect of the field can create a very nice bridge from the biological to the cognitive chapter. This
can be especially advantageous if you plan to place a strong emphasis on the cognitive underpinnings of
social and psychosocial change during the rest of the course. The Keating chapter provides a strong
introduction to this topic.
Case, R. (1985). Intellectual development: Birth to adulthood. New York: Academic Press.
Keating, D. P. (2004). Cognitive and brain development. In R. M. Lerner & L Steinberg (Eds.),
Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 4584). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind. New York: Basic Books.
Sternberg, R. (1988). The triarchic mind. New York: Viking Penguin.
III.
Examining how the cognitive changes of adolescence affect social cognition is an excellent lecture topic.
Such a lecture helps students to see how intellectual development has an impact on development and
behavior outside of academic or test situations and, more important, how many of the psychosocial
changes of the period can be traced to cognitive ones. Because Kohlbergs perspective on moral
development is discussed in detail in another chapter, it might be better to save this widely used
illustration for a later lecture. Instead, one might examine Selmans perspective on role-taking, Turiels
perspective on social convention (discussed in the article by Smetana), Elkinds discussion of
adolescents sometimes bizarre social behaviors, and/or the growing literature on person perception. In
such a lecture, one could begin with the social or psychosocial phenomenon in question (e.g., role taking)
and work backward in trying to tie development in this domain to underlying cognitive changes.
Demorest, A., Phelps, E., Gardner, H., & Winner, E. (1984). Words speak louder than actions:
Understanding deliberately false remarks. Child Development, 55, 15271534.
Elkind, D. (1978). Understanding the young adolescent. Adolescence, 13, 127134.
Kuhn, D. (2009). Adolescent thinking. In R. M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.), Handbook of adolescent
psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
Selman, R. (1980). The growth of interpersonal understanding: Developmental and clinical analyses.
New York: Academic Press.
Smetana, J. G. (1997). Parenting and the development of social knowledge reconceptualized: A social
domain analysis. In J. E. Grusec & L. Kuczynski (Eds.), Parenting and childrens
internalization of values. A handbook of contemporary theory (pp. 162192). New York: John
Wiley & Sons.
IV.
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The changes in the teenage brain have become a hot topic in both research and the media. As such, a
lecture on this topic seems warranted. Because many students need a refresher on basic biology, a brief
review on neurons and the structure of the brain is needed. Once the foundation is set, you can focus on
the major changes that occur during the adolescent years. The most interesting aspect of this lecture is to
then combine the information on the adolescent brain with the general cognitive material previously
discussed. This typically generates a discussion on adolescent risk taking and whether adolescents should
be held as accountable as adults for their behavior given the delayed maturation of the prefrontal cortex.
Anderson, S. (2004). Trajectories of brain development: Point of vulnerability or window of opportunity.
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 27, 318.
Casey, B. J., Giedd, J., & Thomas, K. (2000). Structural and functional brain development and its
relation to cognitive development. Biological Psychology, 54, 241257.
Casey, B. J., Jones, R. M,, & Hare, T. A. (2008). The adolescent brain. Annals of the New York Academy
of Sciences, 1124, 111126.
Keating, D. P. (2004). Cognitive and brain development. In R.M. Lerner & L. Steinberg (Eds.),
Handbook of adolescent psychology (2nd ed., pp. 4584). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
LeDoux, J. (2002). Emotion, memory, and the brain. Scientific American, 6271.
Steinberg, L. (2005). Cognitive and affective development in adolescence. Cognitive Sciences, 9, 6974.
Classroom Activities
I.
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The poker chip example from the textbook is an interesting way to begin the topic of cognitive transitions
during adolescence. While students are filing into class, write on the board or have on an overhead the
following instructions: Imagine 4 poker chips (one red, one blue, one yellow, one green). Make as many
different combinations of chips, of any number, as you can. Use the notations R, B, Y, & G to record
your answers. After about 5 minutes, ask for volunteers to describe how they tackled this problem and
what strategies they employed. For example, did they need poker chips to solve this problem? Did they
approach the problem haphazardly or did they generate an abstract system? This exercise not only settles
the class down quickly, but allows for an immediate discussion of the cognitive differences between
children and adolescents.
II.
In order to illustrate Elkinds theory of adolescent egocentrism, provide students with a scenario and ask
them to determine whether it falls under the category of imaginary audience or personal fable and why.
For example:
Sally is going on a date and has a pimple on the end of her nose. (imaginary audience)
John is arguing with his parents at a restaurant when the girl he likes walks in. (imaginary
audience)
Sylvia and Gerald decided to have sex even though they didnt have any birth control. (personal
fable)
Molly is having her class picture taken and she just got braces the day before. (imaginary
audience)
Elise broke up with her boyfriend, and when Mom tries to comfort her, Elise screams that she
just doesnt understand. (personal fable)
Even though Cheryl is known for her reckless driving, Gordon decides to take a ride from her
anyway. (personal fable)
You also may wish to have students generate their own examples of the imaginary audience phenomenon
and personal fable. In addition, students should try to find examples that are common to both adolescents
and adults in order to illustrate that these phenomena are not unique to adolescents.
A different twist on this discussion is to discuss how the imaginary audience and personal fable might
influence the kinds of choices adolescents make, using decision theory.
III.
Yalisove (1978) has noted that the cognitive differences between individuals of various ages should be
reflected in the sorts of humor they appreciate most. Riddles popular among young children tend to
involve conceptual tricks, whereas language ambiguity is most frequently observed in adolescent humor,
and absurdity is most appreciated by adults. As a classroom activity, read a variety of jokes to your class.
Those used by Yalisove include:
Whats black and white and read (red) all over? Answer: A newspaper.
You call suicide prevention, and they put you on hold.
Can you jump higher than a 10-foot fence? Answer: Yes, a fence cannot jump.
What table has no legs but never falls? Answer: The multiplication table.
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Ask students to identify cognitive skills required to understand the humor in the different punch lines
(e.g., realizing that words can have two meanings, understanding hypothetical ideas) and to predict the
age groups that would find each joke most amusing.
Yalisove, D. (1978). The effect of riddle structure on childrens comprehension of riddles.
Developmental Psychology, 14, 173180.
IV.
In order to clarify for your students the five information-processing abilities covered in the text that
change during adolescence, have your students reflect on their own information-processing abilities and
how they have changed from high school to the present. To facilitate this exercise, have students
complete the handout that appears on the next page. This handout can be completed in class or as a
homework assignment in preparation for coverage of this material in class. If used as a class exercise,
students may benefit from small group discussions of the general changes that occur in each area prior to
completing the exercise.
College Processing
Organizational strategies
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V.
Playing Games
Students often have trouble understanding how much their cognitive capabilities have changed. One way
of demonstrating this is to look at games designed for children of different ages and analyze the cognitive
capabilities required for them. Good examples include Candyland or Chutes and Ladders for young
children, Monopoly Junior, Trouble, or checkers for elementary schoolchildren, and games such as chess,
Monopoly, or Risk for adolescents. Alternatively, compare card games like Go Fish Pokemon, and
Magic. Bring the games into the classroom and have students play them for 5 minutes or so. You will be
amazed at how quickly students are bored with Candyland! Then have them lay out the skills needed and
compare them across ages. One efficient way to do this is to have groups of three describe their game in
detail (a list of potential dimensions can help). Then break the groups up, creating new groups that each
have a member describing a preschool game, a member describing an elementary school game, and a
member describing an adolescent game. They then analyze the different cognitive demands. You will
find that games for very young children are often color-coded and do not require counting. More
advanced games require counting, but allow no decision making. (All preschool games seem to rely
entirely on chance, so that children can win against their parents.) You then move to games with limited
strategy choices but a high degree of chance. Finally, adolescent games require a great deal of strategy
and multidimensional and hypothetical thinking.
If your class is too big to do this in groups, a comparison of Monopoly Junior and Monopoly can be done
in lecture format, bringing out many of these points. You might start such a lecture by having students do
a short, 1-minute essay describing winning strategies for Monopoly.
Web Researcher
In the text: Pick a risky behavior that teenagers are believed to engage in and find out whether they really
do take more risks than adults. How might behavioral decision theory explain these differences? Do you
think changes in their cognitive abilities make them more or less vulnerable to risk?
In class: In many classes, students are interested in the helping professions. Behavioral decision theory is
an excellent way to help students move from intuitive to more analytic approaches to developing
interventions. For example, one can influence the decision process by increasing the number of options
adolescents spontaneously generate, by changing their understanding of the potential consequences of
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each, by changing their beliefs about the probability that a given consequence will occur, and so on.
Many advertising campaigns aimed at influencing adolescent behavior can be usefully analyzed from this
perspective.
This exercise makes an excellent point of departure for discussing the interaction between knowledge
and cognitive structures and the relationship between social and cognitive development.
Outside Activities
I.
This activity may be used to prepare students for a lecture (or the classroom activity) on developmental
changes in humor. Have students collect jokes from children of various ages (e.g., first graders, fifth
graders, eighth graders, twelfth graders) and have them ask why the joke is funny. The results can be
used as the basis of a class discussion, as outlined previously.
II.
The psychometric approach to intelligence is only one theory about this important aspect of development
(and not even the most in vogue currently!). Nevertheless, the use of intelligence tests is a continuing
practice by school psychologists and other developmental specialists, as well as a topic of many debates.
This activity involves students reviewing and rating intelligence tests for children and adolescents.
The Activity:
Instructors should cover general course material on intelligence and intelligence testing in infancy,
childhood, and adolescence prior to conducting this activity. Students will find and read reviews of
intelligence tests for infants, children, and adolescents using library resources about psychological tests.
Students will write a report (five to seven pages) summarizing information obtained about certain tests
and providing a comparison of the tests reviewed. Comparisons must be based on information reviewed
as well as course material on intelligence tests for various age groups.
Materials:
Students will visit the library and locate the most recent edition of The Mental Measurements Yearbook
or Tests in Print, which contain information on psychological tests. A psychology reference librarian may
be helpful in this regard. They will then review information on various intelligence tests and write a
report comparing them.
Procedures:
1) Before students conduct this activity, it is advisable for them to review course material on
intelligence across developmental groups and intelligence testing in particular. They should be
familiar with some tests and understand concepts like reliability and validity and norm groups. We
recommend that students conduct this activity individually, but instructors may have students work
on this as small groups if desired.
2) Students will visit the library and use resources such as The Mental Measurements Yearbook or Tests
in Print, which contain information on psychological tests to conduct this activity. They should read
reviews of at least two intelligence tests for infants, two for children, and two for adolescents or
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adults. An effort should be made to include tests discussed in class as well as some tests students
have not been exposed to.
3) Students should take some notes from the reviews they read including information on the name and
author or each test, the aspects of intelligence measured by each test, the age ranges for which each
test is appropriate, information on the reliability and validity of the tests, and the populations used to
standardize the tests (norm groups). If possible, students should note any information available on
how well each test predicts later intelligence and how test bias has been minimized.
4) Students should then write a five- to seven-page report summarizing information learned about the
tests (they might include a table with information about each test). The report might include a rating
of each test as good, fair, or poor in overall quality and justifications for ratings based on information
obtained and course material on intelligence and intelligence testing. Students should append their
raw notes taken at the library about each test at the end of the student report.
5) Instructors should encourage students to discuss their experiences with the class focusing on what
they learned about intelligence tests not covered in the course and how such tests compare with those
covered in class. Discussion might center on the limitations of the psychometric approach to
observing intelligence, and students might see why other theories of intelligence might be very
important in the discussion of intelligence generally.
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Critical examination of the heritability controversy and of ethnic differences in IQ. Explores the political
and social abuses of the tests.
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