Developmental psychology/Chapter 9/Cognition

• Adolescent Egocentrism - Adolescents putting a lot of focus on themselves vs. others [abundance of selfies] (different from childhood egocentrism, which is the child's inability to focus on other's POV). May lead to rumination, where teenagers obsessively contemplate about everything they're going through (which may lead to depression/anxiety). This creates an imaginary audience, an adolescent's idea that everyone is watching and critiquing them at every given second. Egocentrism leads to personal fables, one's belief that they will be the one to break norms, and invincibility fables, one's belief that certain actions won't effect them as much as it may seem like it will (unprotected sex, ex.).
• Formal operational thought - Highest Piaget's cognitive stage: ability to think in abstract concepts (ways of thinking: systematic thinking [to reason carefully through a series of steps], combination logic [create all possible combinations with a set of variables, example being the sandwich task], and in terms of imagination vs. reality). Three examples include mathematics (2 x 5 --> (2y)(3x)), history (igloos --> effect of pollution on the environment) and science (scientific method [simplified] --> atoms). See Piaget's balance scale test. Adolescents in this change engage in hypothesis thinking, using if-then thought processes. They also engage in deductive reasoning (general topics --> specific conclusions) and inductive reasoning (specific conclusions --> general topics).
  • "However, advanced cognition made a difference. Among those who recognized marked inequalities, older adolescents (ages 16 to 17) more often supported systemic solutions (e.g., affirmative action and desegregation) than did younger adolescents (ages 14 to 15). Similarly, in another study, when adolescents were asked how a person might overcome poverty, younger adolescents were more likely to emphasize personal hard work (an egocentric notion), while older adolescents used more complex analysis, noting systemic problems (formal operational thought), such as in national laws (Arsenio & Willems, 2017)."
  • Criticism: Piaget failed to account for cultural variations and it's evident that some mathematical and scientific knowledge is required for Piaget's final stage. Also, not all people will be able to master the final stage in due time.
• Dual processing - Two networks, one for emotion and the other one for analytical processing, both work together in the human brain [experience/rational, hot/cold]. In describing dual processing, we use the words intuitive and analytical thought. Intuitive thought arises from an emotional hunch ("gut-feeling") and analytical thought arises from an analytical, deductive critique.
• Maybe teens make their "irrational decisions", not because of their impulsiveness, but because of their values. Do they want instant or delayed gratification? A 15 year old smoking may want to get with a girl at that moment vs. caring about the long-term effects.

Why do some kids not think deductively?

• Logic is more difficult than emotionally thinking. Questioning your "gut-feeling" is uncomfortable.
• Thinking about every action's consequence is tiresome.