Module 07 : Cognitive

Development and the Teenage

Years

Student Objectives:
To learn about how cognitive development occurs in the
teenage years
To understand how adults can support cognitive
development
To understand how cognitive development changes from
early to late adolescence
To learn what Piaget theorized about cognitive
development
To learn about the development of intelligence during
the teenage years

7.1 Introduction
The foundation of cognitive development
during adolescence is the ability to reason,
think, and make choices.

As we have learned in this course, the development of the

cognitive brain begins in infancy, and it continues throughout
childhood and into adolescence. As an individual grows from a
child to a teenager, the cognitive development that they go
through becomes more complex than in any other stage. This
module will examine the cognitive development of teenagers,
and you will learn more about how cognitive development occurs
and how multiple theories apply.

7.2 The Timeline of Cognitive

Development in Adolescence
Most teenagers learn to use their concrete
skills to further develop critical or
complex thinking skills.

Children from around the age of 12 until around 18 have to

take everything that they have learned in their life up to
this point, and then apply it to real situations. This
includes reasoning and learning how to relate action to
responsibility, and understanding cause and effect.

Early Adolescence
As children enter this stage of cognitive development, they
are in the throes of discovering their real personalities.
Until this point in their lives, their parents have made most
of the decisions for them, and in most cases, the child has
little to no input. Children are also now allowed to use their
ways of thinking to make up their minds about things in their
lives. Some of the decisions a teenager may have to make
includes which sports to play, what friends to spend time
with, what hairstyle or clothing they prefer, and what
household rules they might want to change.

As you might imagine, the views of early adolescence are often

in opposition to the views of the adults in their lives, and
this is where the conflict begins to develop.
However, parents and other adults in a teenager’s life can
learn to understand how this development occurs and find ways
to compromise with the teen to minimize conflict.

Middle Adolescence
Middle adolescence can be even more difficult for both the
teenager and the parent. This is when cognitive development
begins to broaden, and the teenager will begin to think about
their future. This involves quite complex thinking skills, and
the teenager will likely struggle with how they view the world
around them and where they fit into the grand scheme of
things.

Some examples of cognitive thinking in middle adolescence

include:

Questioning or analyzing their goals, questioning sexual

orientation
Developing their own code of ethics or morals
Thinking about the future and visualizing what it might
hold
Begin making new friends or getting into new
relationships
Exploring who they want to be or who they are

Late Adolescence
As a child enters late adolescence, they are regularly using
their complex thinking skills, which they have been developing
over the past few years. The teenager will mature, become less
self-centered, and will examine their role in their community.
This is also when the teen will think about how they plan on
fitting into the grown-up world.

Here are some examples of the critical thinking that a teen in

late adolescence will deal with:

Choices about healthy living

Career decisions
Developing personal viewpoints
 Weighing the input of their parents

One way that a parent or another adult in the life of a late

adolescent can help to improve the cognitive development of
the individual is to encourage communication that is open.
Teens should be able to express their opinions, but they also
must learn to not only listen to but to also accept that
others have opposing views. Simple encouragement, such as a
nod, can give the teen all they need to know that they are on
the right track, and this simple gesture can help to increase
their practice of critical thinking.

Parents who can give their teenagers a good example of healthy

living patterns and can show teens how to work through
difficult situations can help their children to establish
their difficult cognitive milestones.
The cognitive development during adolescence can be like a
wild roller coaster ride for both the teenagers themselves and
for their parents. However, with the right parental guidance
and good role models, teens can easily develop into mature,
capable adults who are able to make the appropriate choices
for their lives.

7.3 Piaget’s Theory and the Teenage

Years
Piaget also had a stage for those who are 12
years and older.

Known as the formal operations stage, adolescents will develop

new ways of manipulating the information they receive. When
they were younger children, they could only think in a
concrete manner. In this new stage, however, they can also
think in new abstract and complex ways. Teenagers in this
stage also can deal with their problems with flexibility, they
can test different hypotheses, and even draw possible
conclusions about things that they have not experienced
themselves.

A teen’s cognitive maturity occurs as the brain begins to

mature. Their social network also expands, which offers even
more opportunities for life experimentation. However, Piaget
believed that not every person goes through this stage of
cognitive development. Those who do not can be taught. For
example, teenagers who do not get a strong foundation of
education might not go through this stage because, according
to Piaget, education is required for cognitive maturation.

7.4 The Teenage Years and

Intellectual Development
In Module 6 you studied the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence,
which was developed by psychologist Robert Sternberg. This
theory is made of three different aspects:

Componential – The critical aspect

Experiential – The insightful aspect
Contextual – The practical aspect

Most tests that measure intelligence only measure componential

intelligent, though according to Sternberg’s theory, all three
aspects are necessary for success in life. Ultimately, if
someone doesn’t possess all three of these types of
intelligence, they will not find success in the modern,
developed world.

Componential Intelligence
Componential intelligence is the ability that a teen has to
use their own internal ways of processing information. This is
used mostly when solving problems and evaluating results.
Those who have strong componential intelligence are well-known
to do extremely well on standardized tests, such as IQ tests.
They also have more awareness of their own cognitive
processes, which further lends to their problem-solving
skills.

Experiential Intelligence
This is the ability for a person to transfer what they have
learned in the past to a new skill. In other words, a person
can compare old information that they know to new information
that they get. They then are able to put the facts together in
a new, original way. Those who are strong in experiential
intelligence often deal well with novelty, and they quickly
can learn new tasks.

Contextual Intelligence
This type of intelligence is the ability of a person to apply
their intelligence effectively, which includes taking into
account cultural, historical, and social contexts. Those who
are active in this type of intelligence can quickly adapt to
environments, can easily change to a new environment, and they
can fix an environment when it is necessary.

An essential part of this type of intelligence is tacit

knowledge, though you might recognize this as being savvy.
This is not a skill that can be taught. Instead, it is a
concept that many people have from birth. These individuals
can work systems to their advantage, such as knowing how to
cut through the red tape or maneuvering through university
without much effort, as they know all of the shortcuts. Some
people might refer to those with strong tacit knowledge as
being “street smart.”
FACT

According to Piaget, children aged 12 years and older are in

the formal operations developmental stage. Unlike when they
were younger, children in this stage can now think in new and
abstract ways and draw conclusions about things they may not
have directly experienced in the world around them.

Source: CPD

Take a Quick Recap Test

7.5 Cognitive Development, Morals,

and Judgement
There is another facet that appears in this
stage of cognitive development known as
moral development and judgment.
This is a person’s ability to know right from wrong.
Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a theory to explain
moral development. This theory consisted of three levels and
six stages.

The first level is known as “preconventional morality” and it

has to do with behavior and moral reasoning, which are based
on specific rules and a fear of punishment. This is Stage 1.
Stage 2, the non-empathetic self-interest that a person
presents, is also part of the first level.

The second level is conventional morality. This refers to

conforming and helping others, which is Stage 3, and obeying
society’s laws, which is Stage 4.

The third level, “post-conventional morality” refers to

accepting the changeable and relative nature of laws and
rules, which is Stage 5, and having a concern about human
rights based on conscience, which is Stage 6.

Moral development is dependent on experiencing shame, guilt,

and empathy. The internalization of morality starts with
empathy, which is the ability to relate to the joy and pain of
others. Children begin displaying basic empathy during their
first year, and you might notice a child becoming distressed
when those around them are feeling distressed.
The internalization of morality additionally includes shame,
which is the feeling of not living up to the standards of
others, and guilt, which is the feeling of not living up to a
personal standard. Children will start feeling shame at around
two years old and built between the ages of three and four. As
a child matures, they develop the ability to weigh all
consequences based on their own interest and the interest of
others around them. By the time a child becomes a teenager,
they start demonstrating conventional morality, though some
take a bit longer to gain this experience.

Modern research supports many parts of Kohlberg’s theory, but

others have equally criticized it in the field. Those who
criticize this model claim that it favors people who are
educated and those who speak with sophistication. They also
claim that people might also start to regress with their moral
reasoning, or might start to behave differently than they did
before. Family factors, gender, and culture might also affect
the ability to attain high levels of moral judgment. Thus,
others have criticized Kohlberg’s model as they feel as if it
is limited in terms of gender, culture, and family styles.
There are alternatives to Kohlberg’s model, such as the work
of Carol Gilligan. In this case, Gilligan proposed that women
and men both have moral reasoning, but they show it in
different forms. She also notes that men are more concerned
with the concept of justice, whilst women tend to show more
compassion. These differences often are shown when men and
women must make the same moral decisions.

There is also a concept known as religious development. This

is similar to moral development, and the three levels are
identical to the Kohlberg model. However, it is based on
religion, so, for instance, in the conventional morality
stage, it is not based on society’s laws, it is based on
religious laws.
This theory is also based on Piaget’s theory, as a person
cannot reach the post-conventional stage, which is where
thinking moves from black and white to shades of grey until
they have moved out of Piaget’s concrete operations stage and
into a stage that requires critical thinking. As with the
moral development theory, this generally doesn’t happen until
a person approaches their 20s.

Conclusion
The teenage years of cognitive development are the most
intense of all stages, as people begin to really learn about
complex thinking and ideas. Gone are the days when they saw
the world in black and white, and now, they must now interpret
and examine everything in shades of grey, as they are
questioning, interpreting and examining difficult concepts
such as morals and ethics. Going through this process is not
easy for these teens, nor for the adults who live with them.
Coupled with biological changes, the teenage years can be an
emotional rollercoaster for all involved, young people and
parents alike.

The good thing is, however, that once a person gets through
this time, they will have a fully functioning cognitive brain.

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