PSYCH 230: Exam #3

• Adolescence history

  Started at 15 y/o and lasted a few months, now lasts a decade or more
• Teens What Makes Teens Tick

  • Lecture less, listen more
  • Explore their identity
  • More passion and energy (body works better)
  • Distance from parents for independence
  • Still desire guidance/support from parents
• Adol vs. Teen Brains (TWMTT)

  Teens = amygdala (creativity/emotion)

  Adults = prefrontal cortex (reasoning/logic)
• Adolescent Brain

  • Sensation-seeking (adrenaline activities) increases in puberty
  • Impulsivity decreases with maturation (still enjoy new sensations)
• Adolescent Egocentrism

  • "Nobody understands"
  • Unique and more socially significant (everyone obsessed/focused on you)
  • Important stage towards individuality
  • High early on, declines later
• Invincibility Fable

  • Idea that they are immune to laws of mortality (and nature)
  • "It cannot happen to me"
• Personal Fable


  • Idea that you are the hero/heroine of your own tale
  • Live as mythical/heroic character
  • Destined for fame/fortune
  • Looking at possibilities, not practicalities
• Imaginary Audience

  • Everyone is watching/judging (appearances)
  • Increases in lower SES
• 4 Areas of Identity Formation

  • Erik Erikson
  • Religious
  • Political
  • Vocational
  • Sexual/gender identity (gender dysphoria)
• Marcia's 4 Categories of Identity Status

  • Identity diffusion = made no commitment towards identity (some stay here); angry/rebellious
  • Identity moratorium = active search for identity; explore alternatives; still no commitments
  • Identity achievement = explore options; made some commitment towards direction (end goal)
  • Identity foreclosure = conforming; adopting someone else's identity/values for you (parents)
  • Adol can be at various identity statuses simultaneously (diff for each one you have)
• Negative Identity

  Doing the opposite just to be rebellious
• Bickering

  • Small arguments between parents and child about unimportant matters (i.e: clothing, personal habits)
  • Most conflicts are bickering
  • Happens more with girls than boys
• Parents and Teens

  • Most conflict is in early adolescence
  • Depends on culture (i.e: Chinese have conflict in late adolescence)
  • Arguments have a purpose → teen wants to make own decisions
  • Feel that they should have adult status
• Prefrontal Cortex

  • Responsible for reasoning, planning, setting priorities, judgment, impulse control
  • Not fully developed until mid 20s
  • Amygdala (emotion) overshadows prefrontal cortex (reasoning)
  • Frontal cortex delays = inability to delay gratification (impulse control)
  • 50% more risky behavior with peers
  • Capacity to learn is greater than in adulthood
• Emerging Adulthood

  • 18-25 y/o
  • Separate developmental stage
  • Reach key milestones much later than in the past
  • Financial differences narrower by age 25
• 5 Characteristics of Emerging Adulthood

  • Age of identity exploration
  • Age of instability
  • Age of self-focus
  • Age of feeling in-between
  • Age of possibilities
• Senescence

  The process of growing old
• Social clock

  Cultural timeline for what needs to be achieved at given stages of life
• Cohabitation

  Living together (physical abuse more likely)
• 15% infertility
• U.S. has the highest divorce rate
• The College Experience

  • Gains problem-solving skills/abilities and moral development
  • Increases self-esteem and understanding, firmer sense of identity, acceptance of different views and more flexibility
  • Healthier and live longer
  • Depends on campus diversity/activities
  • Allows EA to postpone identity achievement and avoid marriage/parenthood while exploring
• Today's College Students

  • 40% freshman dropout (community is important)
  • Less concerned with developing a philosophy of life, more concerned ab getting a job
  • More diverse (culture, age, SES)
  • More women attend college (60%)
  • Most students work (not focused on being in dorm / hanging out on campus)
• EA psychosocial dev

  • Erik Erikson
  • Intimacy vs. Isolation (18-40)
  • After identity achievement
  • Intimacy = finding oneself, yet losing oneself in another
  • Isolation = loneliness, self-absorption
  • Goal = friendship/romantic commitment
  • A delicate balance between intimacy and independence
• What EA Seek in Relationships

  • Partner = faithfulness, love
  • Friendships = understanding, tolerance, loyalty, affection, humor
  • Have more friends than at any other developmental stage (friendships peak)
• Erik Erikson

  • Identity vs. Identity diffusion (role confusion)
  • Identity = well-organized conception of the self (sense of path they've chosen)
  • Must abandon parents and societal values to some degree
  • Identity takes 10+ yrs
• Relationships:

  • Adol seek to establish unique self
  • Want others to validate whatever identity they seek
• Growth and Strength

  • strong/active bodies
  • good health
  • time for hard physical work and childbearing
  • physical work and parenthood are no longer expected
• Taking Risks

  • Low rate of disease is counterbalanced by high rate of violent death 
  • Ex = reckless driving, homicide, suicide, substance abuse, gambling
• Risky Behaviors in College

  • Many restrict alcohol on campus
  • Substance abuse more frequent in college students
  • Drinking = binge drinking, violence, sexual assault
  • Illegal drug use = peaks at 20 y/o, but sharply decreases with age
  • Most who continue after 25 y/o wants to quit