Analysis Of Running Head: Cognitive Problems In Adolescence

Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 1

Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 2
Abstract
An adolescent is faced with some of the hardest decisions that might be morally acceptable. Theorists have studied adolescents throughout time and have come to the conclusion that they do in fact go through stages from the preteen ages through early adulthood. Cognitive development will help pave the way for an adolescent to enter moral development. Adolescents often contemplate who they are, who they want to be, and where they see themselves in the future.

Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 3 Adolescence is one of the hardest times of a child’s life. They reach a
point of trying to figure out who they are and what they eventually would like to become. Certain aspects such as environments and social peers help determine the outcome of this process of adolescence. Adolescence has been studied and stages have been arranged for each part of an adolescences growth. There are many different views on the development in adolescence.
Theorists have studied the way an adolescent perceives themselves, the people around them and in situations they encounter. Erik Erikson and James Marcia have defined these theories as identity development and identity statuses. The identity development was a part of Erik Erikson’s fifth stage of psychosocial development theory. This stage entails the ego identity versus role diffusion. In this stage an adolescent is faced with contemplation about who they are, who they would like to become, and where they see themselves in the future. James Marcia’s development of identity theory touches on each scenario of ethnic groups and backgrounds. Adolescents who enter this stage will contemplate their religious beliefs with moral values or who they want to be might not exactly fit into their ethnic background. (Rathus,
2014.) Adolescents differ in cognitive development from early stages to late stages. According to studies conducted at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Sanford, in the early stages of cognitive development, an adolescent will demonstrate the use of formal logical operations in school; they will question authority, and will verbalize their own thoughts and views on a variety of topics usually pertaining to his or her life. Other studies at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital show that in middle stages of cognitive development, adolescents will question and
Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 4 analyze more extensively, they will begin to form their own code of ethics, and consider possible future goals. In the late stage of cognitive development, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital has concluded that an adolescent will think independently and develop their own ideas. (Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Sanford, 2012.) Along with cognitive development comes sexual development within an adolescent.
Boys and girls will mature differently in this aspect of life. Puberty has arrived slightly earlier in females than in males. Females will experience puberty around age ten, but males will experience the peak of their puberty around age eleven or twelve. Puberty is not the only difference in sex difference associated with cognitive development. Aspects such as body image and physical appearance become an interest to males and females in the mid-puberty stage. Although both sexes are concerned with the way they look, they have different goals to maintain what they and their peers see as “acceptable”. These differences might occur because of the rapid change in what is acceptable in that day and age. Standards within an image that might be socially acceptable within a generation have changed considerably over time and will continue to change. (Rathus,
2014). Parents, teachers, and other role models help pave the way for an adolescence moral development. These role models have an opportunity to ask the right questions to put things into perspective for an adolescent to understand a different way of thinking besides their own. When we think morals, we think what is right and what is wrong. An adolescent ponders this thought for quite a while before he or she knows for sure. (“Development of Adolescence,” n.d.).

Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 5 In the case of an adolescent being invited to a party, with little to no adult supervision that entails; drugs, alcohol, and the opposite sex, the moral decision would depend on the individual. It will cause a conflict between their moral judgment of what is right and what is wrong. Although this conflict occurs, this individual will also think of how their peers will view them if they do not attend and what that means for their social standing in school. Some adolescents believe they have an “image” to maintain in front of their peers and actually care as to what others think of them. However, some adolescents with advanced moral and cognitive development will think about the repercussions of the actions rather than solely what their peers will think. According to Connar Levesque, an adolescent that I have interviewed, location and family up-bringing may or may not have played a role in either of these decisions.

Running head: COGNITIVE FAULTS IN ADOLESCENCE 6
References
Spencer A. Rathus. (2012/2014). HDEV Human Development(227-233). (3rd edition.). Belmont, CA. Wadsworth.
Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. (2013). Cognitive Development. Retrieved from: http:www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/adolescent/cogdev.html
Adolescent Physical Development.(n.d.). Retrieved from: http:www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/develop.pdf