Personal Development 12

Module 4: CHALLENGES AND ISSUES AMONG ADOLESCENTS

Subject Teacher: Mr. Charles Neil C. Pabalate

Lesson Description:
The subject covers different lessons which is under Personal Development, topics in this lesson includes the
different challenges and issues that the adolescents are facing today, including the Physical appearance, Identity
development, Gender Identity, Social Cognition, Impulsivity and Risk-Taking/Thrill-Seeking behaviors, Sexual
behaviors and Anti-social and Delinquency behaviors.
Course Objectives:
By the end of this course, learners are expected to
 discuss that facing the challenges during adolescence may able to clarify and manage the demands of
teen years
 express his or her feelings on the expectations of the significant people around him or her
 make affirmations that help one become more lovable and capable as an adolescent

For most children, adolescence is a period of good physical health. The most common problems during
adolescence relate to growth and development, school, childhood illnesses that continue into adolescence and
mental health disorders. Consequences of risky or illegal behaviors (including injury, legal consequences,
pregnancy, and infectious diseases) Leading causes of death and disability among adolescents are
unintentional injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes and injuries resulting from interpersonal violence.

During this phase of development, adolescents begin to transition from childhood to adulthood. Issues of
independence, identity, sexuality, and relationships define this developmental stage. Mental health problems,
such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and thought disorders (such as schizophrenia) as well as
psychosocial disorders, may develop or first become apparent during adolescence. Suicide is a major cause of
death for this age group. Other causes of death include accidents, unintentional injuries, and homicide.

Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, most commonly develop during adolescence
and are more common among girls. Many unhealthy behaviors that start during adolescence, such as consuming
a poor diet (see Obesity in Adolescents), smoking, substance use, and violence, can lead to immediate health
problems, long-term disorders, or poor health later in life.

 
 

Adolescence (from Latin adolescere, meaning 'to grow up')is a transitional stage of physical and psychological
development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to legal adulthood (age of majority).
Adolescence is usually associated with the teenage years, but its physical, psychological or cultural expressions
may begin earlier and end later. For example, puberty now typically begins during preadolescence, particularly
in females. Physical growth (particularly in males) and cognitive development can extend into the early
twenties. Thus, age provides only a rough marker of adolescence, and scholars have found it difficult to agree
upon a precise definition of adolescence.

A thorough understanding of adolescence in society depends on information from various perspectives,

including psychology, biology, history, sociology, education, and anthropology. Within all of these
perspectives, adolescence is viewed as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, whose cultural
purpose is the preparation of children for adult roles. It is a period of multiple transitions involving education,
training, employment, and unemployment, as well as transitions from one living circumstance to another.

The end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood varies by country. Furthermore, even within a single
nation, state, or culture, there can be different ages at which an individual is considered mature enough for
society to entrust them with certain privileges and responsibilities. Such privileges and responsibilities include
driving a vehicle, having legal sexual relations, serving in the armed forces or on a jury, purchasing and
drinking alcohol, purchase of tobacco products, voting, entering into contracts, finishing certain levels of
education, marriage, and accountability for upholding the law. Adolescence is usually accompanied by an
increased independence allowed by the parents or legal guardians, including less supervision as compared to
preadolescence.

In studying adolescent development, adolescence can be defined biologically, as the physical transition marked
by the onset of puberty and the termination of physical growth; cognitively, as changes in the ability to think
abstractly and multi-dimensionally; or socially, as a period of preparation for adult roles. Major pubertal and
biological changes include changes to the sex organs, height, weight, and muscle mass, as well as major
changes in brain structure and organization. Cognitive advances encompass both increments in knowledge and
in the ability to think abstractly and to reason more effectively. The study of adolescent development often
involves interdisciplinary collaborations. For example, researchers in neuroscience or bio-behavioral health
might focus on pubertal changes in brain structure and its effects on cognition or social relations. Sociologists
interested in adolescence might focus on the acquisition of social roles (e.g., worker or romantic partner) and
how this varies across cultures or social conditions. Developmental psychologists might focus on changes in
relations with parents and peers as a function of school structure and pubertal status. Some scientists have
questioned the universality of adolescence as a developmental phase, arguing that traits often considered typical
of adolescents are not in fact inherent to the teenage years.

Video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks4W5V4gMQk
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER IDENTITY
Adolescence is the period of transition between childhood and adulthood. It includes some big changes—to the
body, and to the way a young person relates to the world. The many physical, sexual, cognitive, social, and
emotional changes that happen during this time can bring anticipation and anxiety for both children and their
families. Understanding what to expect at different stages can promote healthy development throughout
adolescence and into early adulthood. 

Adolescence marks a time of great changes in physical development. It’s a time when teens question what’s
happening to their bodies and what’s normal. They often compare themselves to their friends — noticing
differences in height as they stand in line or their bodies as they change into gym clothes. Sometimes these
changes in development can trigger both parents and teens to have concerns. Those issues can range from
concerns about puberty, physical development, self-esteem, and body image.

It’s helpful to understand common concerns and issues related to physical development. Being familiar with
them will help prepare you to be more comfortable discussing questions and concerns together. Here are some
of the most common concerns teens have.

Developing Too Early or Too Late

Boys and girls who develop too early or too late may get teased and have body image concerns.
Some studies show that boys who mature earlier tend to be more popular and independent but are
also at a greater risk for early sexual activity and substance use. Early developing girls may face
increased bullying, which can contribute to being self-conscious and put them at higher risk for
depression and substance abuse. If your teen is progressing early in puberty compared to peers you
may want to:

 Reassure them that everyone goes through the changes at different times and that they are
normal.
 Ask specifically if they feel unhappy or have been teased or bullied, because of their size or
appearance.
 Consider getting help from a professional if this is a significant concern.
 

IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT

The development of a strong and stable sense of self is widely considered to be one of the central
tasks of adolescence. Despite the fact that identity development occurs throughout one's lifetime,
adolescence is the first time that individuals begin to think about how our identity may affect our
lives. During adolescence, we are much more self-conscious about our changing identities than at
any other stage in our lives. 

Identity is a new way of thinking about oneself that emerges during adolescence. It involves a sense
of self-unity, accompanied by a feeling that the self has continuity over time. A firmly
established identity also provides a sense of uniqueness as a person.

GENDER IDENTITY

 
Gender identity means a person's internal sense of whether they're male or female, both, or neither.
It's a person's internal, deeply-held sense of one's gender. Gender identity is not visible to others.
Gender identity may be the same as the sex they were assigned at birth (cisgender) or not
(transgender).

According to Alberts, Elkind, and Ginsberg, the personal fable "is the corollary to the imaginary
audience. Thinking of himself or herself as the center of attention, the adolescent comes to believe
that it is because he or she is special and unique. It is found during the formal operational stage in
Piagetian theory, along with the imaginary audience. Feelings of invulnerability are also common.
The term "personal fable" was first coined by the psychologist David Elkind in his 1967 work
Egocentrism in Adolescence.

Feelings of uniqueness may stem from fascination with one's own thoughts to the point where an
adolescent believes that his or her thoughts or experiences are completely novel and unique when
compared to the thoughts or experiences of others. This belief stems from the adolescent's inability
to differentiate between the concern(s) of his or her thoughts from the thoughts of others, while
simultaneously over-differentiating his or her feelings. Thus, an adolescent is likely to think that
everyone else (the imaginary audience) is just as concerned with him or her as he himself or she
herself is; while at the same time, this adolescent might believe that he or she is the only person
who can possibly experience whatever feelings he or she might be experiencing at that particular
time and that these experiences are unique to him or her. According to David Elkind (1967), an
adolescent's intense focus on himself or herself as the center of attention is what ultimately gives
rise to the belief that one is completely unique, and in turn, this may give rise to feelings of
invulnerability. Ultimately, the two marked characteristics of personal fable are feelings of
uniqueness and invulnerability. Or as David Elkind states, "this complex of beliefs in the
uniqueness of (the adolescent's) feelings and of his or her immortality might be called a 'personal
fable', a story which he or she tells himself and which is not true.

The Personal Fable and Risk-Taking in Early Adolescence

Elkind’s (1967) theory of adolescent egocentrism proposes two distinct, but related, constructs –
the imaginary audience and the personal fable. A corollary to the imaginary audience, the personal
fable (PF) yields a sense of invulnerability and specialty commonly associated with behavioral risk-
taking. When regarded as a developmental phenomenon, risk-taking is thought to be the result of
cognitive immaturity. However, few adolescent health programs address the egocentric dimension
of decision making. We believe that a valid and reliable measure of PF would aid assessment of
risk-taking potential and inform preventive interventions. The present paper reports the results of a
newly constructed measure of PF and its relation to risk-taking behavior. The following three
hypotheses were tested using data from an availability sample of 119 middle school students: 1. PF
scores will increase with age; 2. males will score higher than females on the invulnerability
dimension of PF; and 3. PF and risk-taking will be positively correlated. As predicted, PF scores
increased significantly across the age range studied. Of the two PF dimensions, only invulnerability
significantly varied across grades. Males reported significantly higher invulnerability scores than
females, and PF and risk-taking were positively correlated. Suggestions for the implementation of
this new and, arguably, reliable and valid scale are presented.

Video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMHULm8FJ5o
 

Individual differences in impulsivity underlie a good deal of the risk-taking that is observed during adolescence,
and some of the most hazardous forms of this behavior are linked to impulsivity traits that are evident early in
development. However, early interventions appear able to reduce the severity and impact of these traits by
increasing control over behavior and persistence toward valued goals, such as educational achievement. One
form of impulsivity, sensation seeking, rises dramatically during adolescence and increases risks to healthy
development. However, a review of the evidence for the hypothesis that limitations in brain development during
adolescence restrict the ability to control impulsivity suggests that any such limitations are subtle at best.
Instead, it is argued that a lack of experience with novel adult behavior poses a much greater risk to adolescents
than structural deficits in brain maturation. Continued translational research will help to identify strategies that
protect youth as they transition to adulthood.

SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

The way in which adolescent sexual activity is linked to other adolescent behaviors is the subject of
this report. Two distinct but related questions will be reviewed. First, how similar or different are
the theoretical perspectives and empirical results that have been associated with studies of
adolescent sexuality compared to those that are associated with other adolescent behaviors?
Second, to what extent does adolescent sexual activity covary with certain adolescent problem
behaviors such as drug, alcohol, and cigarette use or delinquent behavior or other adolescent
activities such as school performance or employment?

These questions have several important policy and theoretical implications. First, if several kinds of
adolescent behavior tend to covary together (referred to as a syndrome by Jessor, 1983) and have
similar correlates and antecedents, then designing separate interventions for each specific behavior
may be inefficient. Second, by examining each behavior in isolation from the others, our
understanding of the nature and origins of each may be limited. Third, by contrasting and
comparing the antecedents and correlates of each adolescent behavior, we may be more precise
about the specific conditions, circumstances, and processes that lead to adolescent sexuality and
childbearing.

Adolescent sexuality and other adolescent behaviors share certain common features. Adolescence is
a developmental period in which an individual changes (over a varying length of time) from
childhood into adulthood. In our society, many specific behaviors occur for the first time—drug,
alcohol, and cigarette use, the initiation of sexual activity, leaving home and beginning to work.
These transition behaviors (Jessor, 1983) may have important similarities that examining them
separately would miss. The social and cultural norms that either prohibit or postpone substance and
alcohol use, delinquency, and sexual experience may have the effect of attaching certain symbolic
meanings to their occurrence. Autonomy, independence, peer acceptance, and having rejected
social conventions may all be signified by these transition behaviors (Jessor and Jessor, 1977;
Miller and Simon, 1980).

Adolescent sexuality, substance use, or antisocial behavior are often considered as “problem”
behaviors. From the life-course perspective timing and sequencing of life transitions will influence
the later life course (see Hogan, 1978). Early birth is associated with less educational achievement
and a high probability of living in an unstable family unit with poor economic resources. From the
life-course perspective, then, the “problem” of early sexual intercourse is that it is off-time
(normatively speaking) and may thus hinder the psychological and social development of the
teenager and may result in childbearing that has a detrimental consequence for both the mother and
the child.

Erickson's stage theory characterizes an individual advancing through the eight life stages as a function of
negotiating their biological and sociocultural forces. Each stage is characterized by a psycho social crisis of
these two conflicting forces. If an individual does indeed successfully reconcile these forces (favoring the first
mentioned attribute in the crisis), they emerge from the stage with the corresponding virtue. For example, if an
infant enters into the toddler stage (autonomy vs. shame and doubt) with more trust than mistrust, they carry the
virtue of hope into the remaining life stages. The challenges of stages not successfully completed may be
expected to return as problems in the future.
Identity versus confusion is the fifth stage of ego according to psychologist Erik Erikson's theory of
psychosocial development. This stage occurs during adolescence between the ages of approximately 12 and 18.
During this stage, adolescents explore their independence and develop a sense of self.

According to Erikson, people progress through a series of stages as they grow and change throughout life.
During each stage, people face a developmental conflict that must be resolved to successfully develop the
primary virtue of that stage. He was interested in how social interaction and relationships affect development
and growth.

Psychosocial Stages: A Summary Chart

Age Conflict Important Events Outcome
Infancy (birth to 18 months) Trust vs. Mistrust  Feeding Hope
Autonomy vs. Shame and
Early Childhood (2 to 3 years) Toilet Training Will
Doubt
Preschool (3 to 5 years) Initiative vs. Guilt Exploration Purpose
School Age (6 to 11 years) Industry vs. Inferiority School Confidence
Adolescence (12 to 18 years) Identity vs. Role Confusion Social Relationships Fidelity
Young Adulthood (19 to 40
Intimacy vs. Isolation Relationships Love
years)
Middle Adulthood (40 to 65 Work and
Generativity vs. Stagnation Care
years) Parenthood
Maturity (65 to death) Ego Integrity vs. Despair Reflection on Life Wisdom
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust

The first stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development occurs between birth and 1 year of age and is
the most fundamental stage in life. Because an infant is utterly dependent, developing trust is based on the
dependability and quality of the child's caregivers.

At this point in development, the child is utterly dependent upon adult caregivers for everything they need to
survive including food, love, warmth, safety, and nurturing. If a caregiver fails to provide adequate care and
love, the child will come to feel that they cannot trust or depend upon the adults in their life.

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during early childhood and is
focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control.

Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt

The third stage of psychosocial development takes place during the preschool years. At this point in
psychosocial development, children begin to assert their power and control over the world through directing
play and other social interactions.

Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others. Those who fail to acquire these
skills are left with a sense of guilt, self-doubt, and lack of initiative.

Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority

The fourth psychosocial stage takes place during the early school years from approximately ages 5 to 11.
Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities.

Children need to cope with new social and academic demands. Success leads to a sense of competence, while
failure results in feelings of inferiority.

Stage 5: Identity vs. Confusion

The fifth psychosocial stage takes place during the often turbulent teenage years. This stage plays an essential
role in developing a sense of personal identity which will continue to influence behavior and development for
the rest of a person's life. Teens need to develop a sense of self and personal identity. Success leads to an ability
to stay true to yourself, while failure leads to role confusion and a weak sense of self.

During adolescence, children explore their independence and develop a sense of self.2 Those who receive proper
encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense
of self and feelings of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will feel
insecure and confused about themselves and the future.

Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation

Young adults need to form intimate, loving relationships with other people. Success leads to strong
relationships, while failure results in loneliness and isolation. This stage covers the period of early adulthood
when people are exploring personal relationships.
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation

Adults need to create or nurture things that will outlast them, often by having children or creating a positive
change that benefits other people. Success leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishment, while failure
results in shallow involvement in the world.

During adulthood, we continue to build our lives, focusing on our career and family. Those who are successful
during this phase will feel that they are contributing to the world by being active in their home and community.
Those who fail to attain this skill will feel unproductive and uninvolved in the world.

Stage 8: Integrity vs. Despair

The final psychosocial stage occurs during old age and is focused on reflecting back on life. At this point in
development, people look back on the events of their lives and determine if they are happy with the life that
they lived or if they regret the things they did or didn't do.

Erikson's theory differed from many others because it addressed development throughout the entire lifespan,
including old age. Older adults need to look back on life and feel a sense of fulfillment. Success at this stage
leads to feelings of wisdom, while failure results in regret, bitterness, and despair.

At this stage, people reflect back on the events of their lives and take stock. Those who look back on a life they
feel was well-lived will feel satisfied and ready to face the end of their lives with a sense of peace. Those who
look back and only feel regret will instead feel fearful that their lives will end without accomplishing the things
they feel they should have.

Erikson’s psychosocial development theory emphasizes the social nature of our development rather than its
sexual nature. While Freud believed that personality is shaped only in childhood, Erikson proposed that
personality development takes place all through the lifespan.

Havighurts’s Developmental Task Theory

Robert Havighurts’s emphasized that learning is basic and that it continues throughout the life span.

 Developmental Tasks of Adolescence:

1. Achieving new and more mature relations with age-mates of both sexes
2. Achieving a masculine or feminine social role
3. Accepting one's physique and using the body effectively
4. Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults
5. Preparing for marriage and family life preparing for an economic career
6. Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior; developing an ideology
7. Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior
 Jean Piaget's
theory of
cognitive
development
suggests that
children move
through four
different stages of
mental
development. His
theory focuses
not only on
understanding
how children
acquire
knowledge but
also on
understanding the
nature of
intelligence.

Cognitive Development: The Theory of Jean Piaget

Cognition refers to thinking and memory processes, and cognitive development refers to long-term changes in
these processes. One of the most widely known perspectives about cognitive development is the cognitive stage
theory of a Swiss psychologist named Jean Piaget. Piaget created and studied an account of how children and
youth gradually become able to think logically and scientifically.

 After observing children closely, Piaget proposed that cognition developed through distinct stages from birth
through the end of adolescence. By stages he meant a sequence of thinking patterns with four key features:

1. They always happen in the same order.

2. No stage is ever skipped.
3. Each stage is a significant transformation of the stage before it.
4. Each later stage incorporated the earlier stages into itself.

Basically this is the “staircase” model of development mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. Piaget
proposed four major stages of cognitive development and called them (1) sensorimotor intelligence, (2)
preoperational thinking, (3) concrete operational thinking, and (4) formal operational thinking. Each stage is
correlated with an aging period of childhood, but only approximately.

The sensorimotor stage: birth to age 2

In Piaget’s theory, the sensorimotor stage is first and is defined as the period when infants “think” by means of
their senses and motor actions. As every new parent will attest, infants continually touch, manipulate, look,
listen to, and even bite and chew objects. According to Piaget, these actions allow them to learn about the world
and are crucial to their early cognitive development.

The infant’s actions allow the child to represent (or construct simple concepts of) objects and events. A toy
animal maybe just a confusing array of sensations at first, but by looking, feeling, and manipulating it
repeatedly, the child gradually organizes her sensations and actions into a stable concept, toy animal. The
representation acquires a permanence lacking in the individual experiences of the object, which are constantly
changing. Because the representation is stable, the child “knows,” or at least believes, that toy animal exists
even if the actual toy animal is temporarily out of sight. Piaget called this sense of stability object permanence,
a belief that objects exist whether or not they are actually present. It is a major achievement of sensorimotor
development and marks a qualitative transformation in how older infants (24 months) think about experience
compared to younger infants (6 months).

The preoperational stage: age 2 to 7

In the preoperational stage, children use their new ability to represent objects in a wide variety of activities,
but they do not yet do it in ways that are organized or fully logical. One of the most obvious examples of this
kind of cognition is a dramatic play, the improvised make-believe of preschool children. If you have ever had
responsibility for children of this age, you have likely witnessed such play. Ashley holds a plastic banana to her
ear and says: “Hello, Mom? Can you be sure to bring me my baby doll? OK!” Then she hangs up the banana
and pours tea for Jeremy into an invisible cup. Jeremy giggles at the sight of all of this and exclaim: “Running!
Oh, Ashley, the phone is ringing again! You better answer it.” And on it goes.

In a way, children immersed in make-believe seem “mentally insane,” in that they do not think realistically. But
they are not truly insane because they have not really taken leave of their senses. At some level, Ashley and
Jeremy always know that the banana is still a banana and not really a telephone; they are merely representing it
as a telephone. They are thinking on two levels at once—one imaginative and the other realistic. This dual
processing of experience makes dramatic play an early example of metacognition, or reflecting on and
monitoring of thinking itself. Metacognition is a highly desirable skill for success in school, one that teachers
often encourage (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997; Paley, 2005). Partly for this reason, teachers of young children
(preschool, kindergarten, and even first or second grade) often make time and space in their classrooms for
dramatic play, and sometimes even participate in it themselves to help develop the play further.

The concrete operational stage: age 7 to 11

As children continue into elementary school, they become able to represent ideas and events more flexibly and
logically. Their rules of thinking still seem very basic by adult standards and usually operate unconsciously, but
they allow children to solve problems more systematically than before, and therefore to be successful with
many academic tasks. In the concrete operational stage, for example, a child may unconsciously follow the rule:
“If nothing is added or taken away, then the amount of something stays the same.” This simple principle helps
children to understand certain arithmetic tasks, such as in adding or subtracting zero from a number, as well as
to do certain classroom science experiments, such as ones involving judgments of the amounts of liquids when
mixed. Piaget called this period the concrete operational stage because children mentally “operate” on
concrete objects and events. They are not yet able, however, to operate (or think) systematically about
representations of objects or events. Manipulating representations is a more abstract skill that develops later,
during adolescence.

The other new feature of thinking during the concrete operational stage is the child’s ability to decenter or
focus on more than one feature of a problem at a time. There are hints of decentration in preschool children’s
dramatic play, which requires being aware on two levels at once—knowing that a banana can be both a banana
and a “telephone.” But the decentration of the concrete operational stage is more deliberate and conscious than
preschoolers’ make-believe. Now the child can attend to two things at once quite purposely. Suppose you give
students a sheet with an assortment of subtraction problems on it and ask them to do this: “Find all of the
problems that involve two-digit subtraction and that involve borrowing from the next column.

The formal operational stage: age 11 and beyond

In the last of the Piagetian stages, the child becomes able to reason not only about tangible objects and events
but also about hypothetical or abstract ones. Hence it has the name formal operational stage—the period when
the individual can “operate” on “forms” or representations. With students at this level, the teacher can pose
hypothetical (or contrary-to-fact) problems: “What if the world had never discovered oil?” or “What if the first
European explorers had settled first in California instead of on the East Coast of the United States?” To answer
such questions, students must use hypothetical reasoning, meaning that they must manipulate ideas that vary
in several ways at once and do so entirely in their minds

The hypothetical reasoning that concerned Piaget primarily involved scientific problems. His studies of formal
operational thinking therefore often look like problems that middle or high school teachers pose in science
classes. In one problem, for example, a young person is presented with a simple pendulum, to which different
amounts of weight can be hung (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958). The experimenter asks: “What determines how fast
the pendulum swings: the length of the string holding it, the weight attached to it, or the distance that it is pulled
to the side?” The young person is not allowed to solve this problem by trial-and-error with the materials
themselves but must reason a way to the solution mentally. To do so systematically, he or she must imagine
varying each factor separately, while also imagining the other factors that are held constant. This kind of
thinking requires the facility at manipulating mental representations of the relevant objects and actions—
precisely the skill that defines formal operations.

As you might suspect, students with an ability to think hypothetically have an advantage in many kinds of
schoolwork: by definition, they require relatively few “props” to solve problems. In this sense, they can in
principle be more self-directed than students who rely only on concrete operations—certainly a desirable quality
in the opinion of most teachers. Note, though, that formal operational thinking is desirable but not sufficient for
school success, and that it is far from being the only way that students achieve educational success. Formal
thinking skills do not ensure that a student is motivated or well-behaved, for example, nor does it guarantee
other desirable skills, such as ability at sports, music, or art. The fourth stage in Piaget’s theory is really about a
particular kind of formal thinking, the kind needed to solve scientific problems, and devise scientific
experiments. Since many people do not normally deal with such problems in the normal course of their lives, it
should be no surprise that research finds that many people never achieve or use formal thinking fully or
consistently, or that they use it only in selected areas with which they are very familiar (Case & Okomato,
1996). For teachers, the limitations of Piaget’s ideas suggest a need for additional theories about development—
ones that focus more directly on the social and interpersonal issues of childhood and adolescence. The next
sections describe some of these.

-The End-

Quiz:

Write True on the blank if the statement is true and false if it is false.

____________1. Adolescence is normal, yet it is not actually considered of any special value to one’s life.

____________2. Mental capacity is innate, even if one does not exercise it. It will remain intact.

____________3. During the stage of adolescence, the individual is pressured into various demands that need a
lot of choices and clear decisions.

____________4. Identity, in Erikson’s terms in his stages of development theory, only refers to sexual identity.
____________5. Not succeeding in the Identity Formation vs Identity Confusion stage does not hold any ill
repercussions later on in life.

____________6. The identity formation vs. identity confusion conflict does not require the use of one’s Formal
Operations.

____________7. Havighurts’s developmental tasks are limited to adolescent aged individuals only. If one goes
beyond the age-bracet, it does not apply to them.

____________8. Formal Operations focus on hypothetical and transcendental thought. It goes beyond concrete
logic and gives way to imagination and innovation.

____________9. All of Havighurts’s Developmental Tasks apply to everyone.

____________10. Erikson’s psychosocial stages, Havighurts’s Developmental Tasks and Piaget’s cognitive
stages are unrelatable schools of thought.

Activity 1:

Write an essay that answers the questions below.

Which of Havighurts’s developmental tasks for adolescents have you fulfilled?

1. Which of them are you still working on?

2. Make a concept map of the importance of studying the historical background of art.