15 - Adolescence – Cognitive Dev. Ages 11 to 18

Adolescent thinking

Egocentrism Adolescent egocentrism Personal fable - “I am unique” Belief that they are more socially significant than they actually are Focusing on themselves more than others Personal fable - “I am unique” “My thoughts & feelings have not happened to anyone else” Difficult to see another person’s perspective Invincibility fable - “I will not be hurt” Smoking, drugs, STD’s, high-speed driving Does not apply to all adolescents Imaginary audience - “Everyone is watching me” Makes teenagers self-conscious

Piaget’s formal operational thought Fourth and final stage Use abstract ideas Hypothetical thought Thinking of possibilities, not just reality If-then propositions E.g. Balance experiment A 14 year old will understand that both weight and distance from the center must be considered when balancing a scale

Deductive and inductive reasoning Deductive – Top down General to specific Inductive – Bottom-up Specific to general Both are used in research

Intuitive and Emotional thought

Types of processing Dual-process model of the brain One network = emotional One network = analytical

Types of thought Intuitive thought (Intuition) Analytic thought From an emotion or hunch beyond rational explanation Based on past experiences and cultural assumptions Analytic thought Depends of logic & rationality Analysis of pros & cons, risks & consequences Possibilities & facts

Thinking fallacies Sunk cost fallacy Base rate neglect fallacy “I have invested so much, I must keep going” Know when to cut your losses Base rate neglect fallacy Ignoring the overall frequency or probability of an effect from a behavior E.g. Smoking, not wearing a helmet Lottery tickets & gambling

Technology and Cognition (Learning)

Positives with technology Broadens students’ horizons New education & experiences Gets them past the egocentric thought Reduces social isolation

Negatives with technology Internet addiction Gambling or video games Escape from problems Cyberbullying Spreading insults and rumors Negative specialties Cutting, extreme dieting, prejudice Negatives result more from the antisocial attitudes and/or depression of the person, not the technology Sexting, Facebook pages, etc