Aspects of Cognitive Maturation

Guidepost 1 How do adolescents' thinking and use of language differ from younger children's?

• People in Piaget's stage of formal operations can engage in hypothetical-deductive reasoning. They can think in terms of possibilities, deal flexibly with problems, and test hypotheses.
• Since environmental stimulation plays an important part in attaining this stage, not all people become capable of formal operations; and those who are capable do not always use it. Adolescents' immature brain development may permit emotions to interfere with rational thinking.
• Piaget's proposed stage of formal operations does not take into account such developments as accumulation of knowledge and expertise, gains in information-processing capacity, and the growth of metacognition. Piaget also paid little attention to individual differences, between-task variations, and the role of the situation.
• Vocabulary and other aspects of language development, especially those related to abstract thought, such as social perspective-taking, improve in adolescence. Adolescents enjoy wordplay and create their own "dialect."
• According to Elkind, immature thought patterns can result from adolescents' inexperience with formal thinking. These thought patterns include idealism and criticalness, argumentativeness, indecisiveness, apparent hypocrisy, self-consciousness, and an assumption of specialness and invulnerability. Research has cast doubt on the special prevalence of the latter two patterns during adolescence.

Moral Reasoning: Kohlberg's Theory

Guidepost 2 On what basis do adolescents make moral judgments?

• According to Kohlberg, moral reasoning is based on a developing sense of justice and growing cognitive abilities. Kohlberg proposed that moral development progresses from external control to internalized societal standards to personal, principled moral codes.
• Kohlberg's theory has been criticized on several grounds, including failure to credit the roles of emotion, socialization, and parental guidance. The applicability of Kohlberg's system to women and girls and to people in nonwestern cultures has been questioned.

Educational and Vocational Issues

Guidepost 3 What influences affect success in secondary school, and why do some students drop out?

• Academic motivation, use of time, self-efficacy beliefs, socioeconomic status, parental involvement, parenting styles, cultural and peer influences, and quality of schooling affect educational achievement. Parental and peer attitudes can influence motivation to achieve. Poor families whose children do well in school tend to have more social capital than poor families whose children do not do well.
• Although most American graduate from high school, the dropout rate is higher among poor, Hispanic, and African American students and among those not living with both parents. Active engagement in studies is an important factor in keeping adolescents in school.

Guidepost 4 What factors affect educational and vocational planning and preparation?

• Educational and vocational aspirations are influenced by several factors, including parental values and aspirations and gender stereotypes. About 37 percent of high school graduates do not immediately go on to college. These students can benefit from vocational training.
• Part-time work seems to have both positive and negative effects on educational, social, and occupational development.