General Psych 2 Adolescence and Adulthood Mod. 9

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General Psych 2Adolescence and Adulthood
Mod. 9 10

• March 30, 2004
• Class 17

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Module 9 Adolescence

• Physical Growth
• Sudden spurts
• Challenges to Self-Esteem
• Numerous stressors
• School, opposite sex, respect from others, sense
  of self-worth, etc.
• Sexual Interests
• Becomes a focus as do temptations to drink,
  smoke, etc.
• Ethnic Identity
• The part of a persons identity that reflects the
  racial, religious, or cultural group to which he
  or she belongs

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Lawrence Kohlberg(1927-1987)

• Lawrence Kohlberg was, for many years, a
  professor at Harvard University
• He became famous for his work there beginning in
  the early 1970s
• He started as a developmental psychologist and
  then moved to the field of moral education

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Adolescents and MoralityKohlbergs Stages of
Moral Reasoning

• Kohlberg believed...and was able to demonstrate
  through studies...that people progressed in their
  moral reasoning (ethical behavior) through a
  series of stages
• He believed that there were six identifiable
  stages which could be more generally classified
  into three levels

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Level I Preconventional Morality

• Level I
• Typical of most children under the age of nine
  behavior tends to be selfish in nature
• Stage 1
• Moral values reside in external events (bad acts)
• The child is responsive to rules and evaluative
  labels, but views them in terms of pleasant or
  unpleasant consequences of actions, or in terms
  of the physical power of those who impose the
  rules
• Very selfish may do things just to stay out of
  trouble
• Obedience and punishment orientation or to gain
  concrete rewards
• Stage 2
• Basically the same as in stage one as bottom line
  is to satisfy ones own needs but occasionally
  others as well

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Level II Conventional Morality

• Level II
• By early adolescence, moral values reside in
  performing the right role, in maintaining the
  conventional order and expectancies of others as
  a value in its own right uphold laws and social
  order
• Stage 3 Good-boy/good-girl orientation
• Orientation to approval, to pleasing and helping
  others
• Conformity to stereotypical images of majority or
  natural role behavior
• Action is evaluated in terms of intentions
• Stage 4 Authority and social-order-maintaining
  orientation
• Orientation to "doing duty" and to showing
  respect for authority and maintaining the given
  social order for its own sake

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Level III Postconventional Morality

• Level III
• Abstract reasoning that not everyone develops
• Stage 5
• Morality is defined in terms of institutionalized
  rules that have a rational basis
• Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors
  society)
• Stage 6
• The standards conformed to are internal, and
  action-decisions are based on an inner process of
  thought and judgment concerning right and wrong
• Social laws are very important but conscience is
  what dictates behavior not what others might
  think
• Society vs. Individual (any conflict favors
  individual)

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The Heinz Dilemma Scenario 1

• A woman was near death from a unique kind of
  cancer. There is a drug that might save her. The
  drug costs 4,000 per dosage. The sick woman's
  husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to
  borrow the money and tried every legal means, but
  he could only get together about 2,000. He asked
  the doctor scientist who discovered the drug for
  a discount or let him pay later. But the doctor
  scientist refused.
• Should Heinz break into the laboratory to steal
  the drug for his wife? Why or why not?
• See page 145 of your book for answers from people
  in different stages of Kohlbergs moral
  development theory

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The Heinz Dilemma Scenario 2

• Heinz broke into the laboratory and stole the
  drug. The next day, the newspapers reported the
  break-in and theft. Brown, a police officer and a
  friend of Heinz remembered seeing Heinz last
  evening, behaving suspiciously near the
  laboratory. Later that night, he saw Heinz
  running away from the laboratory.
• Should Brown report what he saw? Why or why not?

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The Heinz Dilemma Scenario 3

• Officer Brown reported what he saw. Heinz was
  arrested and brought to court. If convicted, he
  faces up to two years in prison. Heinz was found
  guilty.
• Should the judge sentence Heinz to prison? Why or
  why not?

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Dilemma II The case of the promised rock
concert

• Scene 1
• Judy is a 16-year-old girl. Her mother promised
  her that she could go to a special rock concert
  coming to their town if she saved up from
  baby-sitting and lunch money to buy a ticket to
  the concert.
• Judy managed to save up the fifteen dollars (the
  ticket cost) plus another twenty dollars and
  proudly told her mother she had enough saved to
  have a good time at the concert. Her mother
  said great, this shows what you can do when you
  put your mind to it.
• But later that same evening her mother read a
  front page article on the dangers of the upcoming
  concerthow there would be a bad element
  present doing drugs. It was also mentioned that
  tattoos and piercings would be taking place as
  well.
• She called Judy and Judys 17 year-old sister in
  for a family meeting and for nearly an hour
  lectured on the evils of drugs, sex, and rock and
  roll.
• She told Judy that she had to spend the money on
  new clothes for school instead.
• What Kohlberg stage is Judys mother at??? Why??

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Dilemma II The case of the promised rock
concert

• Scene 2
• The next day Judy screamed at her mother calling
  her a liar that should never be trusted
• The strong-willed Judy later decided to go to the
  concert anyway.
• That Saturday she told her mother she was
  forgiven that she was spending the day with a
  friend going shopping.
• In reality, Judy and her friend went to the
  performance and had a great time
• A week passed without her mother finding out.
• In confidence, Judy then told her older sister,
  Louise, that she had gone to the concert and had
  lied to her mother about it. Louise wonders
  whether to tell their mother what Judy did.
• What Kohlberg stage is Judy at??? Why???
• If Judys sister was at the top level what would
  her actions be??? Why???
• Portions of previous slides taken from
  http//www.haverford.edu/psych/ddavis/p109g/kohlbe
  rg.dilemmas.html

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Limitations to Kohlbergs Theory

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• Levels 1 and 2 appear universal Level 3 does not
  
• Moral judgments in some cultures do not fit into
  Kohlbergs stages
• Gender and Morality
• Men concerned with the abstract, impersonal
  concept of justice
• Females concerned with protecting enduring caring
  relationships and fulfilling human needs

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Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

• Erikson was a follower of Sigmund Freud who broke
  with his teacher over the fundamental point of
  what motivates or drives human behavior
• For Freud it was biology or more specifically the
  biological instincts of life and aggression
• For Erikson, who was not trained in biology
  and/or the medical sciences the most important
  force driving human behavior and the development
  of personality was social interaction

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Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

• Felt we developed in psychosocial stages
• Emphasized developmental change throughout the
  human life span
• In Eriksons theory, eight stages of development
  unfold as we go through the life span
• Each stage consists of a crisis that must be
  faced
• According to Erikson, this crisis is not a
  catastrophe but a turning point of increased
  vulnerability and enhanced potential
• The more an individual resolves the crises
  successfully, the healthier development will be

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Eriksons Stages of Psychosocial Development

• Trust vs. Mistrust
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
• Initiative vs. Guilt
• Industry vs. Inferiority
• Identity vs. Role Confusion
• Intimacy vs. Isolation
• Generativity vs. Stagnation
• Integrity vs. Despair

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Trust vs. Mistrust

• Experienced in the first year of life
• A sense of trust requires a feeling of physical
  comfort and a minimal amount of fear and
  apprehension about the future
• Trust in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong
  expectation that the world will be a good and
  pleasant place to live

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Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

• Occurs in late infancy and toddlerhood (1-3
  years)
• They start to assert their sense of independence,
  or autonomy
• They realize their will
• Parents need to allow them to do things for
  themselves
• If infants are restrained too much or punished
  too harshly, they are likely to develop a sense
  of shame and doubt

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Initiative vs. Guilt

• Occurs during the preschool years
• As preschool children encounter a widening social
  world, they are challenged more than when they
  were infants
• Active, purposeful behavior is needed to cope
  with these challenges
• Children are asked to assume responsibility for
  their bodies, their behavior, their toys, and
  their pets
• Developing a sense of responsibility increases
  initiative
• Uncomfortable guilt feelings may arise, though,
  if the child is irresponsible and is made to feel
  too anxious about being independent

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Competence vs. Inferiority

• From about age 5 or 6 to puberty
• Children develop a sense of industry and
  curiosity and are eager to learn
• Or they feel inferior and lose interest in the
  tasks before them

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Identity vs. Role Confusion

• Adolescents come to see themselves as unique and
  integrated persons with an ideology
• Or they become confused about what they want out
  of life

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Intimacy vs. Isolation

• Individuals experience this during the early
  adulthood years
• At this time, individuals face the developmental
  task of forming intimate relationships with
  others
• Erikson describes intimacy as finding oneself yet
  losing oneself in another
• If the young adult forms healthy friendships and
  an intimate relationship with another individual,
  intimacy will be achieved if not, isolation will
  result

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Generativity vs. Stagnation

• Individuals experience this during middle
  adulthood
• A chief concern is to assist the younger
  generation in developing and leading useful
  lives
• This is what Erikson means by generativity
• The feeling of having done nothing to help the
  next generation is stagnation

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Integrity vs. Despair

• Individuals experience this during late adulthood
• In the later years of life, we look back and
  evaluate what we have done with our lives
• Through many different routes, the older person
  may have developed a positive outlook in most of
  all of the previous stages of development
• If so, the retrospective glances will reveal a
  picture of a life well spent, and the person will
  feel a sense of satisfaction (integrity will be
  achieved)
• If the older adult resolved many of the earlier
  stages negatively, the retrospective glances
  likely will yield doubt or gloom (despair)

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Module 9 Adulthood

• What developmental changes occur in adulthood?
• Physical Changes
• Cognitive Changes
• Social Changes

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Physical Changes

• Physical growth continues in early adulthood
• In middle adulthood, physical changes slowly
  emerge, including loss of sensory sharpness
• Most are well into late adulthood before bodily
  functions show noticeable impairment

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Cognitive Changes

• Important cognitive abilities improve until at
  least age 60
• Adult thought becomes more complex and adaptive
  than adolescent thought
• Thinking becomes more dialectical
• Not until late in adulthood do some intellectual
  abilities decline in some people

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Cognitive Changes

• Crystallized intelligence
• Ones accumulated knowledge such as vocabulary
• This continues to increase with age
• Fluid intelligence
• Ones ability to reason and problem solve
• For example to think critically about TV
  commercials
• Unfortunately, decrease with age (fortunately
  this is a slow decrease until at least age 75)

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Social Changes

• Early Adulthood Individuals become concerned
  with occupational choices as well as issues of
  love
• Experiences of parenthood are accompanied by
  personal, social, and often occupational changes
• Middle Adulthood People become concerned with
  producing something that will outlast them,
  usually through parenthood or job achievements
• Eriksons crisis of generativity
• Around age 40, people go through a midlife
  transition

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Social Changes

• Late Adulthood
• Most between 65 and 75 are active and influential
  politically and socially
• During old age people become generally more
  inward looking, cautious, and conforming
• Coping skills are increasingly developed to take
  into account the limits of ones control
• Relationships found to be more satisfying,
  supportive, and fulfilling than earlier in life

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Death and Dying

• With onset of old age, people become aware that
  death is approaching
• Some experience a sharp decline in mental
  functioning, or terminal drop, a few years or a
  few months before death
• According to Erickson, awareness of impending
  death brings about the crisis of ego integrity
  versus despair

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Death and Dying

• Longevity is not related to higher levels of
  education, income, or occupation
• Longevity is associated with certain personality
  characteristics such as being curious,
  conscientious, and not overemphasizing the
  importance of negative events in life
• Longevity is associated with diet, physical and
  mental exercise, and a sense of control over
  ones life