Adolescent Psychology
Chapter 3
The Brain & Cognitive
Development
(Chapter 3)
Today We’ll discuss
The Brain
The Cognitive Developmental View
The Information Processing View
Psychometrics & Intelligence View
Social Cognition
Brain Development
Limited research
Brain development linked to behavioral & cognitive
changes
Brain is still growing in adolescence
Early Experiences are Crucial
By age 3, 80% of
synaptic connections
are already made
By the second decade of
life growth levels off
and pruning begins
Increased experiences
define the wiring of an
infant’s brain
Terms to Know
Neurons: nerve cell; basic units of nervous system
Cell body
Axon: carries information away from cell
Dendrite: receiving part
Synapses: gaps between neurons
Myelination: process by which axon is insulated with layers of
fat cells, increasing speed & efficiency of information
processing
Continues to increase during adolescence
Synaptogenesis: dramatic increase of connections between
neurons
Begins in infancy & continues through adolescence
The Neuron
Fig. 3.9
The Brain’s Connections
Nearly twice as many connections are made as are used
Used connections strengthen, others are pruned
Blooming & Pruning varies greatly by brain region
Visual Cortex:
peak overproduction, 4th postnatal month
Gradual reduction through preschool
Auditory Cortex
Peak for hearing development
2nd peak during language development
Prefrontal Cortex
Peak overproduction, year 1
Adult density in mid to late adolescence
Human
Brain
at Birth
6 Years
Old
14 Years
Old
9
Neurotransmitters
Chemical that carries information across synapses
Levels changes during adolescence
Dopamine increases in prefrontal cortex & limbic
system
Risk taking
Use of drugs
Onset of schizophrenia
Structural Changes in
Adolescence
Corpus Collosum: large bundle of axon fibers that
connect left & right hemispheres
Thickens in adolescence
Improved information processing
Prefrontal Cortex: highest level of frontal lobes
Reasoning, decision making, self-control
Advanced development through 18 – 25 years
Amygdala: part of limbic system (seat of emotions)
Develops much earlier than prefrontal cortex
2 Dopamine Pathways
Everything That Feels Good Is Somehow Related To This Pathway
Experience & Plasticity
Can new brain cells be generated in adolescence?
Yes
And research shows exercise & enrichment can produce new cells
Can an adolescent’s brain recover from injury?
Yes; in childhood & adolescence brain has the ability to repair
itself
Can we apply brain development research to education?
Yes, but…
Often applied incorrectly (right-brained vs. left brained)
The Cognitive Developmental
View
Piaget’s Theory
Vygotsky’s View
Piaget’s Basic Assumptions
Motivation to understand…biologically adaptive
Actively construct one’s own cognitive world
To make sense out of the world…
Organize experiences
separate & make connections
Incorporate new information
Schema: mental concept or framework that is useful in
organizing & interpreting information
Piaget’s Cognitive Processes
Assimilation: incorporation of new information into
existing knowledge
Accommodation: adjustment of schema to new
information
Equilibration: mechanism explaining shift from one
state of thought to the next
Cognitive conflict (disequilibrium)
Resolve conflict to reach balance
Constant shifting state of equilibrium 
disequilibrium
Piaget's Four Stages of Cognitive Development
Fig. 4.1
Concrete & Formal Operational Thought
Concrete Operational: 7-11
Logical replaced by intuitive…only if connected to concrete examples
Operations, Conservation, Classification
Formal Operational: 11-15 (20)
Hypothetical, abstract, verbal representations, metacognition
Metacognition plays an important role in identity development
Hypothetical – Deductive Reasoning
Early Formal Operational Thought
Unconstrained thoughts – subjective & idealistic
Unlimited possibilities – flights of fantasy
Assimilation
Late Formal Operational Thought: mid to late adolescence
Test reasoning against reality
Intellectual balance restored through process of accommodation
Piaget’s Theory: Criticisms
Timing & Stages
Individual differences not accounted for…
1 in 3 eighth-graders is a formal operational thinker
17 - 67% of college students are formal operational
thinkers
Within-individual variation in thinking (content areas)
Cognitive Changes in
Adulthood: Post Formal Stage?
Realistic & pragmatic thinking
Face reality, idealism decreases
Reflective & relativistic thinking
Become aware of diverse opinions & multiple perspectives
Cognitive Development: Vygotsky’s
Theory
Social Constructivist Approach
•
Emphasizes the social contexts
of learning and the
construction of knowledge
through social interaction
•
Shift from individual (Piaget) to
collaboration, social interaction,
& socio-cultural activity
•
Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky’s Theory: Evaluated
Ample opportunities needed for guided learning in
adolescence
Education plays central role in learning tools of one’s
culture
Potential pitfalls….
Collaboration & guidance
Overbearing & controlling???
Information-Processing View
Framework & Facet of development
Cognitive Resources
Capacity & speed
Mechanisms of Change
Encoding
Automaticity
Strategy construction
Generalization
Attention and Memory
Executive Functioning
Executive Functioning
Decision Making
Reasoning
Critical Thinking: thinking reflexively & productively &
evaluating the evidence
Creative Thinking: ability to think in novel & unusual ways
& come up with unique solutions to problems
Expertise
Metacognition and Self-Regulatory Learning
Encouraging Creativity
Brainstorming
Environments that stimulate creativity
Don’t Overcontrol
Encourage internal motivation
Introduce to creative people
Metacognition & Self-Regulatory Learning
Metacognition
Cognition about cognition, or “knowing about
knowing”
Self-Regulatory Learning
Consists of self-generation and self-monitoring of
thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to reach a goal
Intelligence Tests
The Binet tests
Mental age (MA): an individual’s level of mental
development relative to others
Intelligent quotient (IQ): a person’s tested mental age
divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100
Intelligence Tests
The Normal Curve and Stanford-Binet IQ Scores
Fig. 4.10
Intelligence Testing
Intelligence Quotient:
A method of quantifying performance on an
intelligence test
Originally:
I.Q. =
Mental Age
Chronological Age
Intelligence Testing
First intelligence test by Binet
Revised as the Stanford-Binet
Terman applied new concept of I.Q.
I.Q. =
Mental Age
Chronological Age
X 100
So let’s try one….
If you had a client that was 18 years old and after
testing you discovered that he had a mental age of 22,
what would his IQ be?
For those of you without a calculator, your client is 10
years-old and has a mental age of 20, what would her
age be?
Intelligence Testing
David Wechsler – Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale
WAIS-III
WISC-III
WPPSI-III
Wechsler scales now more widely used
The Use and Misuse of Intelligence Tests
IQ scores correlate substantially with school grades
IQ scores correlate moderately with work performance
Many other factors contribute to work and school
performance
Psychometric/Intelligence
View
Emotional Intelligence
Perceive and express emotion accurately and adaptively
Understand emotion and emotional knowledge
Use feelings to facilitate thought and to manage
emotions in oneself and others
Controversies in Intelligence
The influence of heredity and environment
Hereditability is the fraction of the variance in a
population that is attributed to genetics
Environment
Group Comparison in
Intelligence
Cross-Cultural Comparisons
Cultural Bias in Testing
Culture-fair tests
Ethnic Comparisons
Stereotype threat
Social Cognition
The way one conceptualizes & reasons about their
social worlds
Adolescent Egocentrism
Heightened self-consciousness of adolescents, reflected
in their belief that others are as interested in them as
they themselves are, and in their sense of personal
uniqueness; invulnerability
Social Cognition
Imaginary Audience
Personal fable
The part of adolescent egocentrism involving an
adolescent’s sense of uniqueness
Social Cognition
Perspective Taking
The ability to assume another person’s perspective and
understand his or her thoughts and feelings