Three Ages Project Madison Lewis

Participants Pseudonyms: Ages: Methods of interviewing Expectations: Adam Robbie Tori Ages: 16 12 5 Methods of interviewing Expectations: Develop According to Bronfenbrenner Piaget Kohlberg Marcia Answer complexity differences

Interviews Adam, Robbie, and Tori

Questions How much did you grow over the past year? What kinds of food did you eat? How much food did you eat? Did this affect your growth? Is it bad to take things that aren’t yours? Why? Why do you think there are laws against stealing? Who are your close friends? How long have you known them? What do you like about them? Are you similar or different? What do you want to be when you grow up? What made you make that decision? What does a person with that job do? What is the heaviest item that you think you can lift. Compare that to another item of almost the same weight. Tom is reading a book. He stops reading the book and puts it into drawer A, then leaves the room. While he is gone, Bill comes into the room and moves the book to drawer B. When Tom comes back, where will he look for the book?

observations

Growth Question Older the participant, more concern with healthy foods All thought their food helped them grow Tori: more food = more growth, regardless of how healthy the food is Robbie’s discussion of caffeine and sleep Adam’s regimented diet

Stealing Question All participants believe stealing is wrong None have reached highest moral development stage according to Kohlberg All in 2nd level of morality: conventional morality “People approach moral problems as members of society”

Stealing Question Robbie and Adam Tori Stage 3 of Level 2 “Good boy”morality Subject is concerned with being perceived by society as a good person who conforms to societal norms Robbie and Adam Stage 4 of Level 2 “authority and social-order maintaining” stage Answers about law, economy, security, and money reflect concern for rest of population and societal views rather than simply their own concern for the way society perceives themselves as indiividuals

Friendship Question Values placed on friendship get more complicated with age Humor is important to all Laugh Jokes Sense of humor Tori and Robbie Closest friends are same gender Adam Closest friends are opposite gender

Career Question All participants wanted careers similar to those of their family members Relates to Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological approach Microsystem Adam’s enthusiasm and detail of his response indicateds Marcia’s “identity achievement” stage

Lifting Ability Question Piaget’s idea: Children should to be able to think more logically as they move from his preoperational period to his period of concrete operations and then to his period of formal operations Theoretically, Adam should have been able to give the most accurate response to the question about the heaviest item he could lift, while Tori should have given the most unrealistic response Findings were exactly opposite Adam got frustrated

Theory of Mind Question Tom is reading a book. He stops reading the book and puts it into drawer A, then leaves the room. While he is gone, Bill comes into the room and moves the book to drawer B. When Tom comes back, where will he look for the book? All had developed theory of mind Adam made the question a problem Did Tom see Bill move the book? What is the relationship like between Tom and Bill? Are they friends? Would Tom expect Bill to move the book? Did Bill tell Tom that he moved the book? Maybe he doesn’t look for the book at all because he stopped reading it.

Conclusions

Conclusions Participants have been developing according to the theories of Bronfenbrenner, Kohlberg, and Marcia Participants did not follow Piaget’s ideas as well Answers did increase in complexity with age Most observations are seen as valid Tori’s responses may be a bit unfair Unknown whether mom or sister was feeding answers during phone interview