1. Child Development, 3/e by Robert Feldman
Chapter 15
Cognitive Development in Adolescence
Created by Barbara H. Bratsch

2. How does cognitive development proceed during adolescence?
What aspects of cognitive development cause difficulties for adolescents?
Through what stages does moral development progress during childhood and adolescence?
What factors affect adolescent school performance?
Who attends college, and how is the college experience different for men and women?
How do adolescents make clear choices, and what influence do ethnicity and gender have on career opportunities?

3. Piagetian Approaches to Cognitive Development
Formal operational stage – the stage at which people develop the ability to think abstractly. This stage is generally reached around the age of 12.
Hypotheticodeductive reasoning – start with a general theory about what will produce a particular outcome and then deduce explanations for specific situations in which they see a particular outcome
Propositional thought – reasoning that uses abstract logic in the absence of concrete examples

4. Metacognition
The knowledge that people have about their own thinking processes and their ability to monitor their cognition.
Adolescents are more adept at understanding their own mental processes than younger children.

5. Self-Absorption
Adolescent egocentrism – a state of absorption in which the world is viewed from one’s own perspective
Imaginary audience – fictitious observers who pay as much attention to adolescents’ behavior as they do themselves
Personal fables- the view held by some adolescents that what happens to them is unique, exceptional, and shared by no one else

6. Moral Development
Kohlberg suggested that adolescents are in level 3, postconventional morality. At this level, people use moral principles that are seen as broader than those of any particular society
Gilligan suggested that boys view morality in terms of broad principles such as justice or fairness and girls see morality in terms of responsibility toward individuals and a willingness to sacrifice themselves to help specific individuals in context of a particular relationship

7. School Performance and Cognitive Development

8. Adolescents and Cyberspace

9. Dropping Out of School

10. Graduates Attending College

11. Gender and College
Both male and female college professors treat men and women differently in their classes
Women may do better in single sex colleges because they receive more attention than they would in coeducational settings.

12. Choosing Life’s Work
Ginzberg (1972) suggested several stages people move through in choosing a career
Fantasy period – the period of life when career choices are made – and discarded – without regard to skills, abilities, or available job opportunities
Tentative period- the second stage which spans adolescence, in which people begin to think in pragmatic terms about the requirements of various jobs and how their own abilities might fit with those requirements
Realistic period – the stage in late adolescence and early adulthood during which people can explore career options through job experience or training, narrow their choices, and eventually make a commitment to career

13. Holland’s Six Personality Types
Realistic – down-to earth, practical problem solvers, physically strong, mediocre social skills
Intellectual – theoretical and abstract orientation, not particularly good with people
Social – verbal skills and interpersonal relations are strong, good at working with people
Conventional – prefer highly structured tasks
Enterprising – risk takers and take-charge types, good leaders
Artistic – use art to express themselves and prefer the world of art to interactions with people

14. The Gender Wage Gap