Adolescence

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 Adolescence- the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to
independence.
 Puberty- the period of sexual maturation, during which a person becomes capable of
reproducing.
 Primary sex characteristics- the body structures (ovaries, testes, and external genitalia) that
make sexual reproduction possible.
 Secondary sex characteristics – nonproductive sexual characteristics, such as female breasts
and hips, male voice quality and body hair.
 Menarche- first menstrual period
 Moral reasoning- Lawrence Kohlberg the thinking that occurs as we consider right and wrong.
 Preconventional morality- before age 9, most children have a preconventional morality of self
-interest: They obey either to avoid punishment or to gain concrete rewards.
 Conventional morality- by early adolescence, morality usually evolves to a more conventional
level that cares for others and upholds laws and social rules simply because they are the laws
and rules.
 Post conventional morality- some of those who develop the abstract reasoning of formal
operational thought may come to a third level. Post conventional morality affirms people’s
agreed-upon rights or follows what one personally perceives as basic ethical principles.
 Identity – ones sense of self; according to Erikson, the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of
self by testing and integrating various rules.
 Intimacy – in Erikson’s theory, the ability to form close, loving relationships; a primary
developmental task in late adolescence and early adulthood.
Objective 17| Define adolescence. Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to

adulthood, extending from puberty to independence.
Pages: 164-165

Objective 18| Identify the major physical changes during adolescence. Adolescence begins
with puberty, the period of sexual maturation that enables reproduction. A surge of hormones
triggers a two-year growth spurt, beginning at about age 11 in girls and age 13 in boys. Primary
sex characteristics (the reproductive organs and external genitalia) and secondary sex
characteristics (nonreproductive sexual characteristics such as a girl’s breasts and a boy’s
deepened voice) develop during puberty, though the exact timing varies from one person to
another. For most girls, menarche happens within a year of age 12. For most boys, spermarche
occurs by about age 14.Heredity and environment interact, and other people’s reactions to early
or late maturation can influence adolescents’ adjustment. There is also significant brain
development during adolescence, with frontal lobe maturation and selective pruning of unused
neurons and their connections.
Pages: 165-167

Objective 19| Describe the changes in reasoning abilities that Piaget called formal
operations. With the development of formal operations, adolescents gain the ability to reason
abstractly. This ability lets them form hypotheses and deduce consequences.
Pages: 167-168

Objective 20| Discuss moral development from the perspectives of moral thinking, moral
feeling, and moral action. In Piaget’s view, moral judgments reflect the developing child’s
reasoning powers. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed three levels of moral thinking. Preconventional
morality is self interested morality based on reasoning that attempts to avoid punishment or gain
concrete rewards. Conventional morality is law-abiding morality based on reasoning that existing
laws must be upheld. Post conventional morality (not everyone attains this final stage) is self-
defined morality based on abstract reasoning about what is ethical, right, and fair. The social
intuitionist view of morality proposes that moral feelings precede moral thinking and judgments.
Some brain-imaging experiments confirm that the brain’s emotion areas are active when people
consider moral dilemmas. The moral action perspective focuses on social influences on
decisions to do the right thing. Programs based on the moral action perspective teach children to
empathize with others’ feelings and to delay gratification to enable bigger rewards later.
Pages: 168-170

Objective 21| Identify Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development and their
accompanying issues. Erik Erikson proposed that we pass through eight stages in life (loosely
associated with age), each with its own psychosocial task. In infancy (to 1 year), the issue is trust
versus mistrust; in toddlerhood (1 to 2 years), the issue is autonomy versus shame and doubt.
Preschoolers (3 to 5) learn initiative or guilt, and elementary school children (6 to puberty),
competence or inferiority. A chief task of adolescence (teens to twenties) is solidifying one’s
sense of self—one’s identity. For young adults (twenties to early forties), the issue is intimacy
versus isolation, and for middle adulthood (forties to sixties), generativity versus stagnation. Late
adulthood’s (late sixties and up) task is integrity versus despair.
Pages: 170-171

Objective 22| Explain how the search for identity affects us during adolescence, and discuss
how forming an identity prepares us for intimacy.In Western cultures, most adolescents try
out different selves before settling into a consistent and comfortable identity. A smaller number
unthinkingly adopt the identity of their parents or, rejecting the values of parents and society,
take on the identity of peers. Self-esteem increases with identity achievement. Erikson believed
that having a clear and comfortable identity is a precondition for forming close relationships.
Pages: 171-172

Objective 23| Contrast parental and peer influences during adolescence. Adolescents in
Western cultures do tend to become increasingly independent of their parents, but researchers
have found that most teenagers nevertheless relate to their parents reasonably well. Peer approval
and relationships are very important, and teens talk, dress, and act like their peers. Parents
continue to influence teens in such areas as religiosity and college and career choices.
Pages: 172-173
Addresses APA goals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8

Objective 24| Discuss the characteristics of emerging adulthood. Emerging adulthood refers
to the period from about age 18 to the mid-twenties, when many young people in Western
cultures are no longer adolescents but have not yet achieved full independence as adults. During
this time, many young people attend college or work but continue to live in their parents’ home.
In the United States, the age of first marriage now extends into the mid-twenties for men and
women.
Pages: 173-174

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Objective 17| Define adolescence. Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to

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