CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Instructor Manual for Adolescence 16e By John Santrock (All Chapters, 100% Original Verified, A+ Grade) 1 / 4

Chapter 1

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Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

What makes adolescents tick? The answer to that question has changed considerably since the fourth century B.C.E., when early Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle identified two qualities that distinguish adolescents from children—reasoning ability and self-determination. During the eighteenth century, Rousseau believed infants, children, adolescents, and young adults demonstrated unique behavior during distinct developmental phases. G. Stanley Hall began the process of scientifically studying adolescence in the 1800s. Guided by Darwinian thought, he investigated the influence of biological and environmental factors, identifying genetics as a dominant force. Unlike Darwin and Hall, Margaret Mead concluded that sociocultural influences affect the adolescent experience to a greater extent than genetics. Historical events of the early twentieth century subsequently influenced remarkable maturational, intellectual, and psychosocial changes characteristic of adolescents.Sociohistorical circumstances may be considered the most influential aspect of change for

adolescents. The Inventionist view posits that adolescence resulted from:

• declines in adolescent apprenticeships; • increases in skill and educational requirements; • urbanization and separation of work and home life; • creation of age-segregated systems for education and socialization; and • restrictions on drinking, voting, and working due to age—all mechanisms of childhood.By 1950, the developmental period of adolescence had not only physical and social identities, but a legal identity as well. The voices of adolescents were heard loud and clear during the political protests in the 1960s and 1970s. The women’s movement of the 1970s changed how research on adolescents was conducted; research now included female as well as male adolescents.Today in the United States, a more diverse population results in adolescents who are more open-minded and tolerant than past generations. Adolescents in the twenty-first century are growing up immersed in technology. The technological revolution is having both positive and negative effects on today’s adolescents.Groups tend to gather stereotypical descriptions, and adolescents certainly exemplify this trend. Decade-specific characteristics—or time-in-history effects—are discussed extensively in literature, history, and psychology as important factors in understanding people during specific historical periods. The focus on highly visible members of the adolescent age group leads to an adolescent generalization gap, an overly negative perspective toward all of its members. The twenty-first century signals a time for change. 2 / 4

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Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.Evidence suggests that both advantages and disadvantages abound from extended adolescence. Opportunity arises from the freedom to experiment, prepare, and explore. Risks from contradictory demands by peers and adults, the temptation to escape stress with drugs and alcohol, and inconsistent community and cultural expectations present difficult choices and require fine discriminations.One might ask why youths do not develop more similarly than they do. Although historical circumstances explain some of it, other aspects of context seem to contribute to marked differences. Economic, social, and cultural factors reflected by families, peers, neighborhoods, and schools influence the opportunity and risk faced by adolescents. In Chapter 1, Santrock identifies the framework created by social policy as a social context that currently places large numbers of youths in harm’s way. The strength of established societal members could sway social policy, thus promoting generational inequity. Support for youth could be achieved, however, with improved delivery of services that promote health and safety, family planning, leisure and recreation, drug use prevention, and parent education.What are youth around the world like? Although most of the research on adolescence has been done in Europe and North America, cultural differences among adolescents do occur.Overall health and well-being among adolescents around the world has improved, although some behaviors that compromise adolescent health, such as drug use, have increased. Gender differences in the way adolescence is experienced continue, but they are narrowing. Changes in family factors are occurring worldwide and include increased family mobility. The number of adolescents in developed countries that go to school is increasing, although in some underdeveloped countries many adolescents do not have access to education. Peers seem to be more important in the lives of adolescents living in Western countries.Clearly, contextual influences alone do not provide a thorough explanation of adolescent development that result in both similarities and differences in outcomes. Explanations of adolescent development are often ascribed to the combined influences of biological, cognitive, and socioemotional processes. Developmentalists identify eight distinct periods of development across the life course. Many years of childhood growth and experience influence what we observe during adolescence. At its completion, adolescent experiences set the course for the next 60 years of the young adult’s life!Important developmental transitions take place from childhood to adolescence and from

adolescence to adulthood. Adolescents manifest developmental changes with:

• growth spurts, hormonal changes, and sexual maturation.• shifts in abstract, idealistic, and logical thinking.• demands for intellectual challenge.• shifts toward egocentrism and cravings for independence.• quests for affiliative peers.• desire for increased intimacy with friends and romantic partners.• demonstrations of self-responsibility, both personally and financially. 3 / 4

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Copyright © 2016 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.Three life-course developmental issues that dominate investigations of human growth are: • nature-nurture—the influence of biological inheritance or environmental experience.• continuity-discontinuity—development as gradual, cumulative change or distinct stages.• early-later experience—whether early or later experiences dominate development.Debates about the influence of each stance have shifted from an either/or argument to one that discusses their relative impact on observable outcomes. The importance of these develop- mental issues will become clearer throughout the text.Scientific knowledge depends on the rigorous implementation of the scientific method to conceptualize the problem, collect information, and draw conclusions. When formulating a problem to study, researchers draw on theories to develop hypotheses. A theory is a coherent set of ideas that helps to explain and predict behavior. Hypotheses are specific assumptions and predictions that can be tested. A theory of adolescent development can usually be attributed to one of four major fundamental schemes: psychoanalytic theory, cognitive theory, learning theory, or ecological, contextual theory.Psychoanalytic theories emphasize the importance of emotion, unconscious mental processes, the symbolic meaning of behavior, and enduring effects of early experience on later development.• Freud’s theory articulates personality structure as the id, ego, and superego; defense mechanisms for resolving conflict; and characteristics of five psychosexual stages.• Erikson’s theory consists of psychosocial stages, explaining that both instincts and experience influence development, that each stage characterizes distinctly different crises, and that degree of resolution within each stage influences success in development.Psychoanalytic theories recognize early experiences, family relationships, and the unconscious mind. Criticism includes lack of scientific foundation, sexual underpinnings, and negative image of humans.Cognitive theory focuses on conscious operations that change during childhood and adolescence.• Piaget’s theory states that children and adolescents demonstrate qualitative change by systematically exploring and manipulating the environment to understand it. He described four stages of distinctly different thinking processes: sensorimotor stage, preoperational stage, concrete operational stage, and formal operational stage.• Vygotsky’s theory specifies that cognition can be understood through developmental assessment, language-based interaction, and sociocultural contexts.• Information-processing theory focuses on the development of cognitive ability, specifically language and thinking, by measuring storage, retrieval, and speed of processing.

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