Chapter 8Rites of Passage: Physical and Cognitive Development in Adolescence

Learning Objectives

Pubertal Changes

  • Describe when the adolescent growth spurts begin and end for both boys and girls.
  • Describe the physical events and their timing that occur during puberty in both boys and girls.
  • Explain the causes of puberty.
  • Describe how the onset of puberty is influenced by both one's genes and nutrition and health.
  • Know the environmental contributions to the onset of puberty, including paternal investment theory.
  • Describe teenagers’ body images and their reactions to spermarche and menarche.
  • Explain the causes of teenage moodiness.
  • Describe the costs and benefits of early maturation for both boys and girls.

Health

  • Describe a healthy diet for teenagers and the typical teenager’s diet.
  • Describe the causes, effects, and treatments of being overweight.
  • Describe the causes of anorexia and bulimia.
  • Describe the amount of exercise that the typical American teen gets.
  • Describe the benefits and problems associated with sports participation.
  • Describe how the causes of death in teens differ by gender and ethnicity.
  • Explain the decision-making process that teens use.

Information Processing During Adolescence

  • Describe the changes in working memory, processing speed, content knowledge, strategies, and metacognitive skill.
  • Explain how adolescents’ beliefs interfere with effective thinking.

Reasoning About Moral Reasoning

  • Define moral reasoning.
  • Describe how moral reasoning differs at Kohlberg's 3 levels.
  • Describe the research on Kohlberg's theory regarding progression through the stages, skipping stages, and regression through the stages.
  • Describe the research that supports link between moral reasoning and moral action.
  • Describe research on cultural differences in moral reasoning.
  • Explain the difference between Gilligan's view and Kohlberg's view of moral reasoning.
  • Describe Eisenberg’s levels of prosocial reasoning.

Describe the effects of exposure to more advanced moral reasoning and exposure to Just Communities on moral reasoning.