Adolescence• Adolescence– the transition…
• Puberty (2 year period of growth)– the period of…
Adolescence• Primary Sex Characteristics
– body structures that…• ovaries--female• testes--male• external genitalia
• Secondary Sex Characteristics– Non-reproductive…
• female--enlarged breast, hips• male--voice quality, body hair
• Landmarks In girls is Menarche (meh-NAR-key)– first menstrual period (around 12 yrs.)
In boys is the first ejaculation (around 14 yrs.)
AdolescenceHeight in
centimeters190
170
150
130
110
90
70
50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18Age in years
Boys Girls
Adolescence
Adolescence – Cognitive Development
• Reasoning is…• Private experiences are perceived as…• Formal Operational Stage
Capacity for moral thinking –
Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder
Morality of abstractprinciples: to affirm
agreed-upon rights andpersonal ethical principles
Morality of law andsocial rules: to gainapproval or avoid
disapproval
Morality of self-interest:to avoid punishment
or gain concrete rewards
Postconventionallevel
Conventional level
Preconventional level
Pre-conventional Stage – Self Interest
1. Obedience and punishment:
2.Instrumental:
Conventional Stage – Concerned with gaining
approval or doing one’s duty.3. Good boy/girl morality:
4. Law and order:
Post-conventional Stage – agreed upon rights or universal ethical principles
5. Social Contract:
6. Principles of Conscience:
Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Moral Ladder
• 3rd level represents…
• Morality also lies in action
Social Development
• Identity– one’s…– the adolescent’s task is to solidify a sense of self by
testing and integrating various roles and reshaping them into a consistent and comfortable sense of who one is.
• Intimacy– the ability to…– a primary developmental task in late adolescence
and early adulthood
Gender Differences in Connectedness begin during Adolescence
• Women are more interdependent and more open and responsive to feedback.
• Women as more intimate with their friends and talk more openly and freely.
• Women make 63% of phone calls and talk longer on average than men when they are talking to other women.
• When women talk they explore relationships.• Men talk to communicate solutions.• Both women and men say friendships with women are more intimate,
enjoyable and nurturing (Rubin 1985).• Both women and men usually turn to women when they need support or
comfort.• 90% of people report being close to their mother, 69% report being close
to father.• These differences diminish after age 50.
Social Development
• The changing parent-child relationship
Adolescence -- used to end with marriage
• In the 1890s the average interval between a woman’s menarche and marriage was about 7 years; now it is nearly 12 years.
• Now adolescence is considered completed with the social achievement of independent adult status
10 20
7.2-Year Interval
10 20
11.8-Year Interval
Age
Age
1890, Women
1988, Women
Adult --Physical Development
• Physical abilities crest by the mid twenties.• Physical decline begins in early adulthood,
almost imperceptibly, and accelerates during middle adulthood.
• Later in life there is declining perceptual acuity, strength and stamina.
Adulthood--Physical Changes
• Slowing reactions contribute to increased accident risks among those 75 and older.
12
10
8
6
4
2
016 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 and
over
Fatal accident rate
Age
Fatal accidentsper 10,000 drivers
Fatal accidentsper 100 million miles
Adulthood--Physical Changes
• Incidence of dementia by age
Risk of dementiaincreases in lateryears
60-64 70-74 80-84 90-95 65-69 75-79 85-89
Age Group
40%
30
20
10
0
Percentagewith dementia
Adulthood--Physical Changes• Women
Menopause (around 50 yrs)– the time of…– also refers to the biological changes a woman experiences as her
ability to reproduce declines• Men
-- gradual decrease in sperm count, testosterone level, speed of erection and speed of ejaculation.
• Brain – by age 80 there is a 5% shrinkage of the brain (women’s brains shrink more slowly than men’s).
Adulthood--Cognitive Changes
• Recalling new names introduced once, twice or three times is easier for younger adults than for older ones (Crook & West, 1990).
• Recall (remembering without cues) decreases with age, especially for meaningless information
18 40 50 60 70
Age group
Percentof namesrecalled
010
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
After oneintroductions
After twointroductions
Older age groups have poorer performance
After three introductions
Adulthood--Cognitive Changes
• In a study by Schonfield & Robertson (1966), the ability to recall new information declined during early and middle adulthood, but the ability to recognize new information did not.
• Recognition is remember with cues (ex. multiple choice questions, or picking a word out of a list)
NumberOf wordsremembered
20 30 40 50 60 700
4
8
12
16
20
24
Age in years
Number of wordsrecalled declineswith age
Number of wordsrecognized is stable with age
Adulthood
• Crystallized Intelligence– one’s…– tends to increase with age
• Fluid Intelligence– one’s…– tends to decrease during late adulthood– Neural processing slows with age– Speed at completing a complex task slows.
Adulthood – Social Changes
• Social Clock– The culturally preferred timing of social events• Marriage• Parenthood• Retirement
Adulthood• Early-forties midlife crisis?
Females
Males
No early 40semotional crisis
33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 Age in Years
24%
16
8
0
Emotionalinstability
Adulthood – Social Development
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. stagnation
Freud – “The healthy adult is one who can live and work”
Marriage
• Marriage is more satisfying and enduring when:
Parenthood
Work
• Happy with work (both in and out of home)if it fits interests and provides a sense of competence and satisfaction
Adulthood
• Multinational surveys show that age differences in life satisfaction are trivial (Ingle hart, 1990).
• Positive feelings tend to grow after middle age and negative feelings subside.
0
20
40
60
80
15 25 35 45 55 65+
Percentage “satisfied”with lifeas a whole
Age group
Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
Approximateage Stage Description of Task
Adolescence Identity vs. role Teenagers work at refining a sense of self by(teens into confusion testing roles and then integrating them to 20s) form a single identity, or they become
confused about who they are.
Young Adult Intimacy vs. Young adults struggle to form close relation- (20’s to early isolation ships and to gain the capacity for intimate 40s) love, or they feel socially isolated.
Middle Adult Generativity vs. The middle-aged discover a sense of contri-(40s to 60s) stagnation buting to the world, usually through family
and work, or they may feel a lack of purpose.
Late Adult Integrity vs. When reflecting on his or her life, the older(late 60s and despair adult may feel a sense of satisfaction orup) failure.