PSYC 4070 Chapter : Chapter 15 Adolescence Cognitive Development
Document Summary
Brain maturation, intense conversations, additional years of schooling, moral challenges, and increased independence all occur between age 11 and 18. The combination propels impressive cognition growth, from egocentrism to abstract logic. During puberty, young people center many of their thoughts on themselves, in part because maturation of the brain heightens self-consciousness. It is typical for young adolescents to try to make sense of their conflicting feelings about their parents, school, and classmates and to think deeply about their future. Adolescent egocentrism a characteristic of adolescent thinking that leads young people (ages 10 to 13) to focus on themselves to the exclusion of others. (david elkind) In egocentrism, adolescents regard themselves as unique, special, and much more significant than they actually are. This leads adolescents to interpret everyone else"s behavior as if it were a judgment on them. Acute self-consciousness about one"s physical appearance is probably more prevalent between ages 10 and 14 than earlier or later.
