Piaget's Developmental Theory Of Emerging Adulthood

Emerging Adulthood is the time period from ages 18-25 (Berger, 2011). It is a transition period from adolescence to adulthood during which humans continue to grow biosocially, cognitively, and psychosocially. Once a person reaches emerging adult hood, they have completed the most rapid stages of biological growth that a person goes through, unlike in infancy and toddlerhood, as well as adolescence, emerging adults have reached their maximum height around age 16 for girls and around age 18 for boys (Berger, 2011). This is also the age range of which humans have the greatest capacity for physical strength; strength decreases over time once a person reaches adulthood (Berger, 2011). The body of a young adult is also at its optimum point for
It is characterized by the ability to think in hypothetical thought, otherwise known as if-then statements, as well as the ability to use deductive reasoning, also known as top-down processing, in which one can begin with an abstract idea and then use logic to draw a conclusion (Berger, 2011). Many people believe that this fourth stage doesn’t quite encompass all of adult thinking, especially as the cortex isn’t fully formed until one’s early 20’s (Berger, 2011). According to Berger (2011), theorists have come up with a fifth stage to follow Piaget’s fourth: postformal thought. Postformal thought is characterized by problem finding, being open to ideas that are not just right or wrong, otherwise defined by Griffin et al. as the ability to “conceive of multiple logics, choices, or perceptions… in order to better understand the complexities and inherent biases in ‘truth’” (as cited in Berger, 2011). Other ideas that contribute to the idea of postformal thinking are the ability to combine subjective and objective thought, or the ability to combine emotion and logic (Berger, 2011). Emerging adults also have the ability to be cognitively flexible, meaning they are able to combine those levels of thought as well as the ability to think in multiple options to problem solve and be flexible without
Once an adolescence leaves the home, they begin to “decide for themselves what to do” (Berger, 2011). This includes their ideas of morals, including those of care and justice, which have a tendency to belong to women and men respectively (Berger, 2011). Emerging adults also go through changes in their faith, questioning their beliefs and spirituality (Berger, 2011). As an emerging adult gets time on their own, away from familial influences, they are able to develop their own opinions about things such as morals and