Chapter 18– Emerging Adulthood: Cognitive Development
Postformal Thought
A proposed stage of cognitive development, after Piaget’s 4 stages
Extends adolescent thinking by being more practical, flexible, and dialectical
Characterized by “problem finding”
Person is more open with ideas and less concerned with absolute right and wrong
Time Management
A struggle for emerging adults but usually mastered as cognition matures
Really a Stage?
Piaget’s theory of child cognition and post-formal thought stage is controversial
Prefrontal cortex is not mature until one’s early 20’s
Most cultures describe adult thought as qualitatively different from adolescent thought
Informed by Experience
Labouvie-Vief investigated age differences in self-descriptions.
These were categorized as:
protective (high in self-involvement, low in self-doubt)
dysregulated (fragmented, overwhelmed by emotions or problems)
complex (valuing openness and independence above all)
integrated (able to regulate emotions and logic)
Combining Subjective and Objective Thought
Subjective thought
Thinking that is based on personal qualities of the individual thinker (i.e. experiences, culture,
goals)
Objective thought
Thinking that is not based on thinker’s personal qualities but instead based valid facts and
numbers
Cognitive Flexibility
A hallmark of postformal cognition
Helps people deal with unforeseen events
Helps avoid retreating into emotions or intellect
A characteristic more common in emerging adults than younger people
Listening to others and considering diverse opinions
Countering Stereotypes
Stereotype Threat
• The possibility that one’s appearance or behavior will be misread to confirm
another’s oversimplified, prejudiced attitudes.
• The mere possibility of being negatively stereotyped arouses anxiety that can
disrupt cognition and distort emotional regulation.
• Makes people of all ages doubt their ability, which reduces learning if their
anxiety interferes with cognition.
Dialectical Thought
The most advanced cognitive process
Ability to consider a thesis and its antithesis and arrive at a synthesis
Being able to see the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, possibilities and limitations
Dialectical thinking is rare in adolescents, more often found in middle-aged people
Thesis
A statement of belief
Antithesis
A statement of belief that opposes the thesis
Synthesis
A new idea that integrates the thesis and its antithesis, thus representing a new and more
comprehensive level of truth
Morals and Religion
Adult responsibilities, experiences, and education affect moral reasoning and religious beliefs.
Maturation of values appears first in emerging adulthood
Moral decisions are least likely in early adolescence
Which Era? What Place?
Culture determines whether or not a particular issue is a moral one.
The power of culture makes it difficult to assess whether adult morality changes with age
because changing opinions can be judged as improvements or declines.
The process of moral thinking improves with age.
Dilemmas for Emerging Adults
Gender differences
Morality of care
The tendency of females to be reluctant to judge right and wrong in absolute terms due to
socialization
Morality of justice
The tendency of males to emphasize justice over compassion and judging right and wrong in
absolute terms
Measuring Moral Growth
Defining Issues Test (DIT)
A way to measure moral thinking by having the test takers rank possible solutions to moral
dilemmas
Developed by James Rest
Stages of Faith
1: Intuitive-projective, ages 3-7
2: Mythic-literal, ages 7-11, some adults
3: Synthetic-conventional, conformist
4: Individual-reflective, active commitment
5: Conjunctive: postformal way of thinking, rarely achieved before middle-age
6: Universalizing: transforming experience may cause this, rarely achieved
Cognitive Growth and Higher Education
The Effects of College
• Most contemporary students attend college primarily to secure their vocational
and financial future.
• College also correlates with better health - graduates everywhere smoke less, eat
better, exercise more, and live longer.
• There is no doubt that tertiary education improves verbal and quantitative
abilities, knowledge of specific subject areas, skills in various professions,
reasoning, and reflection.
Changes in the College Context
Changes in the Students
No longer for elite few
Rates of college grads worldwide is up
In most developed nations, there are more females than males in college
Fewer students major in liberal arts, more in business and professions (e.g. law and medicine)
Changes in Institutions
The U.S. has twice as many colleges as it did 50 years ago.
More career programs
Hire more part time faculty, more women and minorities
Income most important reason on whether an emerging adult will go to college or not
Evaluating the Changes
Diversity and enrollment
The increased diversity of the student body is more likely to encourage than discourage learning.