Chapter 11 Physical and Cognitive Development Adolescence and puberty Adolescence is the time between childhood and adulthood with major physical cognitive and psychosocial changes occurs from age 11 through 19 or 20 Puberty is the process by which a person attains sexual maturity and the ability to reproduce During puberty the body undergoes dramatic biological changes as a result of the production of Physical development various hormones Puberty occurs in two stages o Adrenarche ages 6 8 the maturing of adrenal glands adrenal glands secrete DHEA which encourages the growth of body and facial hair body growth oilier skin and body odor o Gonadarche is the maturing of sex organs The onset of puberty is also dependent on a critical amount of body fat percentage Heightened emotionality and moodiness in early adolescents may be a result of hormonal developments Signs of puberty Primary sex characteristics organs necessary for reproduction o Females ovaries fallopian tubes uterus clitoris and vagina o Males testes penis scrotum Secondary sex characteristics physiological signs of maturity that do not involve the sex organs o Breasts of females o Broad shoulders of males The sequence of puberty is more consistent than the timing in that the age range of certain pubescent experiences has a wide range but the development progresses in basically the same order Puberty First external signs of puberty are breast tissue and pubic hair for girls and the enlargement of testes in boys Adolescents have a growth spurt where there is a rapid increase in height weight muscle and bone o Lasts about 2 years o Occurs about 2 years earlier for girls than boys Girls ages 11 to 13 are usually stronger taller and heavier than boys of the same age Fat accumulates twice as rapidly in girls than in boys Signs of sexual maturity Spermarche boy s first ejaculation o On average occurs for boys at 13 o Sometimes in the form of a wet dream Menarche girl s first menstruation o Varies from ages 10 to 16 Secular trend trend that can only be seen through the observation of several generations o Decreased age in puberty increased height and weight o Has to do with nutrition the amount of hormones we eat o Healthcare exercise o Family relationships better family relationships promotes better health in adolescents Adolescents with a higher standard of living also tend to be more healthy Adolescent brain Adolescents process emotions differently than adults The brain is still maturing during adolescence The use of differing brain regions socio emotional vs cognitive control may account for poor choices with adolescents o Tend to have a thrill seeking impulsive behavior o Usually conform to peer pressure The increase of white matter continues in the frontal lobe Brain development is bidirectional a young person s activities and experiences determine which neuronal connections will be retained and or strengthened Health Physical activity decreases throughout high school years o This is the main culprit for obesity in adolescents Adolescents tend to experience sleep deprivation o Poor sleep patterns can contribute to insomnia o Meltonin which tells the brain when it is ready to sleep is secreted later at night during adolescence but school requires teens to wake up early o Adolescents need just as much if not more sleep that middle childhood children As children get older and need more sleep they tend to generally sleep less Compared to teens in other industrialized countries U S teens are eating less healthy and more unhealthy foods and are twice as likely to be overweight Nutrition Eating disorders Body image is the descriptive and evaluative beliefs about one s appearance o Girls are less satisfied as they gain body fat o Boys are more satisfied as they gain muscle Anorexia nervosa self starvation stop doing so even when rewarded or punished Bulimia nervosa binging and purging o Both deliberate and involuntary an effected person deliberately refuses food yet can t o People usually aren t overweight but are obsessed with their weight and body shape Drug use and abuse Substance abuse repeated harmful use of a substance such as alcohol or other drugs Substance dependence addiction whether physical psychological or both to a harmful substance Includes alcohol tobacco illicit drugs prescription drugs and over the counter drugs Aside from weed rates have declined in the past two years Addictive drugs stimulate parts of the brain that are still developing in adolescents Rates of weed and nonmedical use of prescription drugs have remained high Illicit drug use has decreased overall Other uses Depression increases during adolescence 63 of deaths among adolescents results from motor vehicle crashes unintentional injuries homicide and suicide o Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death in adolescents Most deaths result as a consequence of immature thinking that persists in adolescence Cognitive development Piagets formal operations is the highest level of cognitive development o Now have the ability to think abstractly o A new more flexible way to manipulate information o Usually begins around age 11 o Use of symbols to represent other symbols example is variable X standing for an unknown number Hypothetical deductive reasoning the ability to develop consider and test hypotheses Pendulum experiment a child is shown a pendulum and told he can change the length of the string weight of the object height at which the object is released and force that he can push the object o Preoperational stage age 7 approaches in a hit or miss manner either a light weight on a long string or a heavy weight on a short string o Concrete operational stage age 10 discovers strength and weight have an effect on speed but can t determine which if not both variables are critical o Finally at age 15 reaches the formal operational stage and develops an experiment to test all the variables and look at only one factor at a time to get the best method Information processing Structural changes changes in working memory capacity o Increase in the amount of knowledge stored in long term memory Declarative knowing that Procedural knowing how to Conceptual knowing why Actual knowledge 2 2 4 George Washington was our first president Skills a person has acquired multiplication or division driving a car Understanding of why an algebra equation remains true if the same amount is being added or subtracted from both sides The process of obtaining handling and
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