Adolescent Development
Psychology 242
Professor Jean Rhodes
Adolescence in a Changing
Population
• There are about 40 million 10-19 year olds in
the U.S.
– 14% of population
• Average age of parents is about 35
• 27% of all children under 18 live with one
parent (mostly mothers)
– 29% Hispanic
– 53% African American
• 16% of children under 18 live below poverty
Actual and Projected Number of U.S.
Adolescents Aged 10-19, 2000-2100
Today’s Adolescents
Fig. 1.2
Developmental Changes are a Result of Biological,
Cognitive, and Socioemotional Processes
Development Processes
Fig. 1.3
Development Processes
Biological,
Cognitive, and
Socioemotional
Processes
Biological
processes
Physical changes
within an
individual’s body.
Development Processes
Biological,
Cognitive, and
Socioemotional
Processes
Cognitive
processes
Changes in
thinking and
intelligence.
Development Processes
Biological,
Cognitive, and
Socioemotional
Processes
Socioemotional
processes
Changes in
relationships, emotions,
personality,
and social contexts.
Adolescence 242
• Assignments:
• Natural observation or flim clip (20%)
• Midterm and Final examinations (35% midterm,
40% final).: Multiple-choice, short answer, and short
essay exam take will include questions about topics
from the class. To do well, you will want to have
studied information from class presentations and
discussions, from readings, and from your
observations.
• Attendance, reading, participation (5%)
Periods of Development
• Childhood
– Prenatal Period
– Infancy
– Early Childhood
– Middle and Late Childhood
Periods of Development
• Adolescence
– Early Adolescence
– Late Adolescence
Periods of Development
• Adulthood
– Early Adulthood
– Middle Adulthood
– Late Adulthood
Adolescence & Early
Adulthood
• Early adolescence
– 11-15
• Late adolescence
– 18-19
• Early adulthood
– 19-30
Historical Perspective
• The 20th Century
– G. Stanley Hall’s Storm-and-Stress View
– Margaret Mead’s Sociocultural View
Myth of Storm and Stress
• Most youth do not experience a stormy
adolescence
• Those who do, often exhibit problems
throughout childhood
• Adolescence is generally a time of continued
positive relations with parents, and most
adopt their parents’ values
Theories of Adolescence: G
Stanley Hall
• Recapitulation Theory:
– life-span changes mirror evolutionary changes of
humans from ape-like to civilized.
– First person to present a scientific theroy of
developoment that thought of adolescence as a
distinct portion of the life span
• A period of transition from being “beastlike” to being
“humanlike”
– Based on a misunderstanding of Darwinian theory
Theory
• An interrelated, coherent set of ideas
that helps to explain and make
predictions
Psychoanalytic theories
• Freud
Personality Structure
Id
Ego
Superego
Psychoanalytic
Freud
– Defense Mechanisms
• Unconscious methods the ego uses to distort
reality and protect itself from anxiety
• Examples: Repression and Regression
Psychoanalytic
Freud
Fig. 2.1
Psychoanalytic
Revisions of Freud’s Theories
– Less emphasis on sexual motivations
– More emphasis on social aspirations
Psychoanalytic
Fig. 2.3
(Continued…)
(Continued from previous slide)
Psychoanalytic
Cognitive
Piaget
Fig. 2.4
Cognitive
Vygotsky
– Cognitive skills are mediated by words, language, and forms
of discourse
– Cognitive skills have their origins in social relations
Cognitive
Information Processing Theory
– How information is:
• Perceived
• Encoded
• Represented
• Stored
• Retrieved
Behavioral
Skinner
– The scientific study of observable behavior
responses and their environmental determinants
– Behavior is learned and often changes according
to environmental experience
Social Cognitive
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Fig. 2.5
Ecological, Contextual
Bronfenbrenner
– Microsystem
– Mesosystem
– Exosystem
– Macrosystem
Bronfenbrenner
• Levels
Eclectic Theoretical
Orientation
Eclectic Theoretical Orientation
– Not following any one theoretical approach,
but rather selecting from each theory
whatever is considered the best in it