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Cognitive changes of early adulthood are supported by further development of the cerebral cortex
› Especially the frontal lobes
Pruning of synapses along with growth and myelination of stimulated neural fibers continue
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Cognitive advances are promoted by major life events
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Though at a slower pace than in adolescence
Attaining higher education, establishing a career, and grappling with the demands of marriage and child rearing fMRI evidence reveals that as young adults become increasingly proficient in a field of endeavor, cortical regions specialized for those activities undergo further experience-dependent brain growth
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Structural changes may occur as skill refinement results in increased cortical tissue devoted to the task
And at times, the brain areas governing an activity may be reorganized

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How does cognition change in early adulthood?
This question has been examined from 3 vantage points
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It has been proposed that transformations in the structure of thought occur
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 New, qualitatively distinct ways of thinking that extend the cognitive-developmental changes of childhood and adolescence
Adulthood is a time of attaining advanced knowledge in a particular area
 This accomplishment has important implications for information processing and creativity
Researchers have been interested in the extent to which the diverse mental abilities assessed by intelligence tests remain stable or change during the adult years

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Piaget acknowledged the possibility that important advances in thinking follow the attainment of formal operational thinking
› He observed that adolescents place excessive faith in abstract systems
 They prefer a logical, internally consistent perspective on the world to one that is vague, contradictory, and adapted to particular circumstances
Postformal thought – cognitive development beyond
Piaget’s formal operations
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Researchers studying postformal thought have observed that cognitive development occurs beyond Piaget’s formal operations
As personal effort and social experiences spark increasingly rational, flexible, and practical ways of thinking

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William Perry (1981, 1970/1998)
reflections on how we arrive at facts, beliefs, and ideas
When mature, rational thinkers reach conclusions that differ from those of others, they consider the justifiability of their conclusions
› When they cannot justify their approach, they revise it, seeking a more balanced, adequate route to acquiring knowledge

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Perry interviewed university students to discover why they respond in dramatically different ways to the diversity of ideas they encounter in college
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At the end of each of their 4 years, he asked students “what stood out” during the previous year
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Responses indicated that the students’ reflections on “knowing” changed as they experienced the complexities of university life and moved closer to adult roles

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Younger students regarded knowledge as made up of separate units (beliefs and prepositions)
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They believed the truth of these separate units could be determined by comparing them to objective standards
 Standards that exist apart from the thinking person and his/her current situation
As a result, they engaged in dualistic thinking – dividing information, values, and authority into right and wrong, good and bad, we and they
 Ex. College freshman: “When I went to my first lecture, what the man said was just like God’s word. I believed everything he said because he is a professor… and this is a respected position.”
 Ex. Asked a college sophomore “If two people disagree on the interpretation of a poem, how would you decide who was right?”
 Response: “You’d have to ask the poet, It’s his poem”

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Older students moved toward relativistic thinking – viewing all knowledge as embedded in a framework of thought
› Aware of a diversity of opinions on many topics, they gave up the possibility of absolute truth in favor of multiple truths, each relative to its context
As a result, their thinking becomes more flexible and tolerant
› Ex. College senior: “Just seeing how [famous philosophers] fell short of an all-encompassing answer, [you realize] that ideas are really individualized. And you begin to have respect for how great their thought could be, without its being absolute.”
Relativistic thinking leads to the realization that one’s own beliefs are often subjective, since several frameworks satisfy the criterion of internal logical consistency
› Thus, the relativistic thinker is acutely aware that each person, in arriving at a position, creates his/her own “truth”

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Eventually, the most mature individuals progress to
commitment within relativistic thinking – instead of choosing between opposing views, they try to formulate a more satisfying perspective that synthesizes contradictions
When considering which of 2 theories studied in a college course is better, or which of several movies most deserves an Oscar
› The individual moves beyond the stance that everything is a matter of opinion and generates rational criteria against which options can be evaluated
Few college students reach this extension of relativism
Adults who attain it generally display a more sophisticated approach to learning
› In which they actively seek out differing perspectives to advance their knowledge and understanding

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Advances in epistemic cognition depend on further gains in metacognition
› Which are likely to occur in situations that challenge young peoples’ perspectives and induce them to consider the rationality of their thought processes
When students tackle challenging, ill-structured problems, interaction among individuals who are roughly equal in knowledge and authority is beneficial
› Because it prevents acceptance of another’s reasoning simply because of greater power or expertise
Researchers acknowledge that movement from dualism to relativism is probably limited to people who are college educated
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Because of the many viewpoints encountered in the course of college study
Also, the most advanced attainment – commitment within relativism – may require advanced graduate study

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Like Perry, Labouvie-Vief points out that whereas adolescents operate within a world of possibility, adulthood involves movement from hypothetical to pragmatic thought
› Pragmatic thought – a structural advance in which logic becomes a tool for solving real-world problems
The need to specialize motivates this change
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As adults select one path out of many alternatives, they become more aware of the constraints of everyday life
In the course of balancing various roles, they accept contradictions as part of existence and develop ways of thinking that thrive on imperfection and compromise
Young adults’ enhanced reflective capacities alter the dynamics of their emotional lives
They become more adept in integrating cognition with emotion which allows for making sense of discrepancies

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Labovie-Vief found that from adolescence through middle adulthood, people gain in cognitive-affective complexity
– awareness of positive and negative feelings and coordination of them into a complex organized structure
› Ex. A 34 year old combines roles, traits, and diverse emotions into this coherent self-description: “With the recent birth of our first child, I find myself more fulfilled than ever, yet struggling in some ways. My elation is tempered by my gnawing concern over meeting all my responsibilities in a satisfying way while remaining an individualized person with needs and desires”
Cognitive-affective complexity promotes greater awareness of one’s own and others’ perspectives and motivations
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It is a vital aspect of adult emotional intelligence and is valuable in solving many pragmatic problems
It helps people regulate intense emotion and, therefore, think rationally about real-world dilemmas, even those that are full of negative information

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Expertise – acquisition of extensive knowledge in a field or endeavor
Because it takes many years to master any complex domain, expertise is supported by the specialization that begins with selecting a college major or an occupation
Once attained, expertise has a profound impact on information processing
Characteristics of experts
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Compared with novices, experts remember and reason more quickly and effectively
Experts know more domain-specific concepts, and represent them at a deeper and more abstract level and as having more features that can be linked to other concepts
When faced with a complicated problem
 Novices tend to use a trial and error approach
 Experts tend to plan ahead, systematically analyzing and categorizing elements and selecting the best from many possibilities

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Expertise is necessary for creativity , as well as problem solving
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Besides just being original, the creative products of adults must be directed at a social or aesthetic need
Mature creativity requires the ability to formulate new, culturally meaningful problems and to ask significant questions that have not been posed before
This movement from problem solving to problem finding is a core feature of postformal thought evident in highly accomplished artists and scientists
Case studies support the 10-year rule in development of masterlevel creativity
› A decade between initial exposure to a field and sufficient expertise to produce a creative work
Creative accomplishment rises in early adulthood, peaks in the late 30s or early 40s, and gradually declines
Those who get an early start in creativity tend to peak and drop off sooner, while “late bloomers” hit their stride at older ages
› This suggests that creativity is more a function of “career age” than of chronological age

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The course of creativity also varies across disciplines
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Artists and musicians typically show an early rise in creativity, maybe because they do not need extensive formal education before they begin to produce
Academic scholars and scientists, who must earn higher academic degrees and spend years doing research to make worthwhile contributions, usually display their achievements later and over a longer time
Creativity requires qualities other than being an expert
› An innovative thinking style, tolerance of ambiguity, a special drive to succeed, and a willingness to experiment and try again after failure
Creativity is determined by multiple factors and, when promoted by personal situational factors, can continue many decades

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About 2/3 of U.S. high school graduates enroll in an institution of higher education
Most people view their college years as more influential than any other period of adulthood
College serves as a “developmental testing ground”
› A time for devoting attention to exploring alternative values, roles, and behaviors
College exposes students to new ideas and beliefs, new freedoms and opportunities, and new academic and social demands

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Research reveals that broad psychological changes occur from the freshman to the senior year of college
› Students become better at reasoning about problems that have no clear solution, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of opposing sides of complex issues, and reflecting on the quality of their own thinking
College students’ attitudes and values also broaden
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They show increased interest in literature, the performing arts, and philosophical and historical issues, and greater tolerance for ethnic and cultural diversity
Their moral reasoning advances as they develop a concern for individual rights and human welfare
They develop greater self-understanding, enhanced self-esteem, and a firmer sense of identity
The type of 4-year institution attended – public vs. private, highly selective vs. relatively open enrollment – makes little difference in psychological outcomes or even in ultimate career success and earnings
› And, cognitive growth is just as great at 2-year community colleges as at 4-year institutions
Rather, the impact of college is jointly influenced by the person’s involvement in academic and nonacademic activities and the richness and diversity of the campus environment

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45% of U.S. students at 2-year institutions and 30% of those at 4year institutions drop out, most within the 1 st year or 1 st 6 months
Both personal and institutional factors play a role in dropout rates
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Most entering freshman have high hopes for college life but find the transition difficult
Dropout rates are higher in colleges with less selective admission requirements
Ethnic minority students from low-SES families are at increased risk for dropping out
Colleges that do little to help high-risk students have a higher percentage of dropouts
Students who report experiencing “disrespect” on campus because of their ethnicity or religion are more likely to drop out
Beginning to prepare young people in early adolescence with the necessary educational aspirations and skills can do much to improve college success

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› Programs that forge bonds between teachers and students and that provide academic support, part-time work opportunities, and meaningful extracurricular roles increase retention
› Young people who feel that they have entered a college community that is concerned about them as individuals are far more likely to graduate

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› Good judgment, responsibility, dedication, and cooperation

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In societies with an abundance of career possibilities, occupational choice is a gradual process that begins long before adolescence
Major theorists view the young person as moving through several periods of vocational development
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The fantasy period – in early and middle childhood, children gain insight into career options by fantasizing about them
 Their preferences, guided largely by familiarity, glamour, and excitement, bear little relation to the decisions they will eventually make
The tentative period – between ages 11-16, adolescents think about careers in more complex ways, at first in terms of their
interests, and then in terms of their abilities and values
The realistic period – by the late teens and early 20s, young people start to narrow their options
 They may engage in further exploration
 In the final phase, crystallization, they focus on a general vocational category and experiment for a time before settling on a single occupation

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A few young people follow a direct path to a career goal, some decide and later change their minds, while still others remain undecided for an extended period
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College students have additional time to explore various options, while many low-SES youths face a restricted range of choices
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Making an occupational choice is the result of dynamic interaction between person and environment
› Affected by personality, family and teachers, and gender stereotypes

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People are attracted to occupations that complement their personalities
John Holland identified 6 personality types that affect vocational choice
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The investigative person, who enjoys working with ideas, is likely to select a scientific occupation (ex. Anthropologist, physicist, or engineer)
The social person, who likes interacting with people, gravitates toward human services (ex. Counseling, social work, or teaching)
The realistic person, who prefers real-world problems and working with objects, tends to choose a mechanical occupation (ex. Construction, plumbing, or surveying)
The artistic person, who is emotional and high in need for individual expression, looks toward an artistic field (ex. Writing, music, or the visual arts)
The conventional person, who likes well-structured tasks and values material possessions and social status, has traits well-suited to certain business fields (ex.
Accounting, banking, or quality control)
The enterprising person, who is adventurous, persuasive, and a strong leader, is drawn to sales and supervisory positions or politics
Research confirms a relationship between personality and vocational choice in diverse cultures, but it is only moderate
Many people are blends of several personality types and can do well at more than one kind of occupation

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Young people’s vocational aspirations correlate strongly with their parents’ jobs
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Those who grew up in higher SES homes are more likely to select highstatus, white-collar occupations
Those with lower SES backgrounds tend to choose less prestigious, bluecollar careers
Parent-child vocational similarity is partly a function of similarity in personality, intellectual abilities, and especially educational attainment
More today than in past generations, number of years of schooling completed powerfully predicts occupational status
Higher SES parents are more likely to give their children important information about the world of work
› They tend to use parenting practices that promote curiosity and selfdirection, which are required for high-status careers
Parental pressure to do well in school and encouragement toward high-status occupations predict vocational attainment beyond SES

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Over the past three decades, young women have expressed increasing interest in occupations largely held by men
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The percentage of women engineers, lawyers, doctors, and business executives increased between 1983-2007 in the U.S. but remains far from equal representation
Women are concentrated in less well-paid, traditionally feminine professions, such as writing, social work, education, and nursing
In virtually all fields, women’s achievements lag behind those of men
Ability cannot account for these dramatic sex differences
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Gender-stereotyped messages play a key role in making girls in secondary school less confident of their abilities, even though girls’ grades are higher than boys’
In college, the career aspirations of many women decline further, as they question their capacity and opportunities to succeed in male-dominated fields and worry about combining a highly demanding career with family responsibilities

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Women remaining in the sciences are more likely that their male counterparts to select a health profession over engineering or math or physical science career
Young women who continue to achieve usually have four experiences in common
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A college environment that values women’s accomplishments and attempts to enhance women’s experiences in its curriculum
Frequent interaction with faculty and professionals in their chosen fields
The opportunity to test their abilities in a supportive environment
Models of accomplished women who have successfully dealt with family-career role conflict
Men have changed little in their interest in nontraditional occupations
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Those men who have chosen traditionally feminine occupations derive enjoyment and self-esteem from these careers
Ex. Teaching, nursing, and librarians

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Approximately 1/3 of American young people graduate from high school with no current plans to go to college
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About 20% of recent high school graduates who do not continue their education are unemployed
 When they do find work, most hold low-paid, unskilled jobs
American employers regard recent high school graduates as poorly prepared for skilled business and industrial occupations and manual trades
Unlike European nations, the U.S. has no widespread training systems for non-college-bound youths
› As a result, most graduate without work-related skills and experience a “floundering period” that lasts for several years

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In Germany, young people who do not go attend a college-preparatory high school have access to a successful work-study apprenticeship system for entering business and industry
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About 2/3 of German youths participate
After completing full-time schooling at age 15 or 16, they spend the remaining 2 years of compulsory education combining parttime vocational courses with an apprenticeship
Students train in work settings for more than 350 blue and white collar occupations
Apprentices who complete the program and pass a qualifying examination are certified as skilled workers and earn union-set wages
Businesses provide financial support because they know the program guarantees a competent, dedicated work force
Many apprentices are hired into well-paid jobs by the firms that train them

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The success of the German system – and of similar systems elsewhere in Europe – suggests that a national apprenticeship program would improve the transition from high school to work for U.S. young people
› The benefits of bringing together the worlds of schooling and work include helping non-college-bound young people establish productive lives right after graduation
Implementing an apprenticeship system poses major challenges
› Such as ensuring cooperation between schools and business and preventing low-SES youths from being concentrated in the lowest-skilled apprenticeship placements