Cognitive_Development

Physical & Cognitive Development in Early Adulthood Chapter 14 The Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood • The age period from 18-25 has been labeled “emerging adulthood” as individuals have often left the dependency of childhood but have not yet assumed adult responsibilities. • Experimentation and exploration characterize emerging adulthood. • Two criteria for adult status are economic independence and independent decision making. • The Transition from High School to College • There is both continuity and change in the transition from high school to college. • The top-dog phenomenon replays when a high school senior then becomes a freshmen in college. • The transition can involve positive and negative features. • Positive features include feeling more grownup, increased freedom, exploration of new ideas. • Negative features include increased stress and more depression. • Stress • Stress is believed to be a major contributor to heart disease, cancer, lung problems, accidental injuries, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide. • Today’s college students experience more stress and are more depressed than in the past. • Academic circumstances creating the most stress for students were tests and finals, grades and competition, professors and class environment, too many demands, papers and essay exams, career and future success and studying. • Personal circumstances causing most stress for students were intimate relationships, finances, parental conflicts and expectations, and roommate conflicts. • Negative ways to deal with stress: • Repress it so you don’t have to think about it. • Take it out on other people when you feel angry or depressed. • Keep your feelings to yourself. • Tell yourself the problem will go away. • Refuse to believe what is happening. • Try to reduce the tension by drinking and eating more. • Positive ways to deal with stress: • See stress as a challenge to be overcome rather than an overwhelming threat. • Develop an optimistic outlook and think positively. • Learn how to relax. • Happiness • A study was done on the happiness of college students and the very happy college students were highly social, more extraverted, and had stronger romantic and social relationships than the less happy college students. • Education • The United States is becoming a more educated country. • An increasing number of high school graduates are pursing a higher education. • Returning students also make up the college population. PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT • The Peak and Slowdown in Physical Performance • Physical status both reaches its peak and begins to decline in early adulthood. • Peak physical status is often reached between 19 and 26 years of age. • Individuals are often at their healthiest in early adulthood. • College students understand how to prevent illness and promote health, yet they have unrealistic, overly optimistic expectations about their future health risks. • Bad health habits are often formed. • There are some hidden dangers in the peaks of performance and health in early adulthood and the negative effects done to one’s body may not show up until later in early or middle adulthood. • Decline in physical performance occurs in early adulthood. • Muscle tone and strength decline around age 30. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT • Cognitive Stages Piaget’s View • Piaget thought that young adults were quantitatively advanced in their thinking (they have more knowledge), however, they are qualitatively similar. • He also believed that adults increase their knowledge in a specific area. Realistic and Pragmatic Thinking • Some experts argue that the idealism of Piaget’s formal operational stage declines in young adulthood, replaced by more realistic, pragmatic thinking. • Schaie argues that adults use information differently than adolescents. Reflective and Relativistic Thinking • Perry said that adolescents often engage in dualistic, absolute thinking, whereas young adults are more likely to engage in reflective, relativistic thinking. Is There a Fifth, Post-Formal Stage' • Post-formal thought is qualitatively different than Piaget’s formal operational thought. • Post-formal thought involves understanding that the correct answer to a problem requires reflective thinking, may vary from one situation to another, and that the search for truth is often an ongoing, never-ending process. • Also part of the fifth stage is the belief that solutions to problems need to be realistic and that emotion and subjective factors can influence thinking. • Some critics argue that the research evidence does not fully support a qualitatively more advanced stage of thinking beyond formal operations.