Chapter 9
What is Autonomy?
 Independence
 An individual’s capacity to behave on his
or her own
 Autonomy
 Emotional components (feeling separate
from parents)
 Behavioral components (the growth of
independent decision making)
 Cognitive components (developing
personal beliefs and values)
2
Autonomy Development in
Modern Society
 Today’s teens spend much more
time away from the direct
supervision of adults than prior
generations
 But today’s teens also have
become more economically
reliant on their families than
prior generations
3
Three Types of Autonomy

Emotional Autonomy


Gaining emotional
independence in
relationships with others,
especially parents
Behavioral Autonomy


Making independent
decisions and following
through on them
Value Autonomy

Developing an independent
set of beliefs and principles,
resisting peer and parental
pressures
5
Development of
Emotional Autonomy
 What triggers individuation?


Changes in teen’s appearance provoke changes in how
teen views self and how parents view teen. This alters
parent-adolescent interactions
Social-cognitive development stimulates movement
toward individuation
8
Development of
Emotional Autonomy
 Emotional Autonomy and
Parenting Practices
 Healthy individuation and positive
mental health are fostered by close,
not distant, family relationships
 Conditions that encourage both
individuation and emotional
closeness facilitate autonomy
10
Development of
Behavioral Autonomy
 Changes in DecisionMaking Abilities
 How do decision making
abilities improve from 7th
to 12th grade?
 Older adolescents showed
more sophisticated
abilities in:




awareness of risks
considering future
consequences
turning to a consultant
recognizing vested interests
11
Development of
Behavioral Autonomy
 Changes in susceptibility to
influence
 Conformity to peers is
higher during early and
middle adolescence
 Parents are more influential
regarding long-term issues,
basic values
 Peers’ opinions are more
influential for day-to-day
matters (music tastes or
clothing style)
12
Development of
Behavioral Autonomy
Changes in Feelings of Self-Reliance
 Adolescent girls report feeling more self-reliant than
adolescent boys do
 Adolescents who have a stronger sense of self-reliance
report having
 higher self-esteem
 fewer behavior problems
13
The Development of
Value Autonomy
 Moral Reasoning Development
 How individuals think about
moral dilemmas and make
moral judgments
 Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory
 Used morally challenging
stories (Heinz)
 More interested in the
reasoning behind people’s
explanations than whether the
answer was right or wrong
14
The Development of
Value Autonomy
KOHLBERG’S THREE LEVELS OF
MORAL REASONING
Preconventional Moral Reasoning
(worrying about punishment/reward)
Conventional Moral Reasoning
(following societal rules and norms)
Postconventional Moral Reasoning
(most abstract and advanced)
15
The Heinz Dilemma
Was it right or wrong for Heinz to steal the drug for his
wife?
Would your answer be considered preconventional,
conventional, postconventional?
In Class Exercise
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
a 25-year-old black militant who graduated from Harvard
a Mexican farmer, illegally in the United States
a homosexual football star
a middle-aged religious fanatic, mother of two teenagers
an attractive lesbian, occupation M.D.
a sorority girl majoring in fashion merchandise
a male radical hippie working as an environmental ecologist
a 59-year-old female community leader
a call girl
an obese and balding politician
a drug dealer from an upper-class family
a mildly retarded male teenager who is a musical genius
a handicapped telephone operator
a male midget
Based on what you’ve read…
Use info from text to support your answers
 Does emotional autonomy necessarily mean cutting
off emotional ties with parents?
 How does peer pressure fit into the concepts of
behavior and value autonomy? According to research,
how much of an impact does peer pressure have on
behavior/value autonomy during adolescence?
The Development of
Value Autonomy
 Prosocial Reasoning, Behavior, and Volunteerism:
 Prosocial behavior (helping others)
 Prosocial reasoning becomes more sophisticated

But changes in actual prosocial behavior, such as helping others or
empathizing with others, are not consistently found in adolescence
 Involvement in community service leads to
 Gains in social responsibility
 Gains in tolerance
 Increases in the importance that individuals place on the
importance of helping others
20
The Development of
Value Autonomy
Political Thinking



Becomes more abstract
Becomes less authoritarian
and less rigid
Becomes more principled
(an increase in a consistent
set of attitudes; an ideology)
21
The Development of
Value Autonomy
Religious Beliefs
 Become more abstract, more
principled, and more
independent during the
adolescent years
 The stated importance of
religion—and participation
in an organized religion—
declines somewhat during
the adolescent years
22