Cognitive Development in Adolescence

1. Cognitive Development in Adolescence The Social Reality of the Imaginary Audience: A Grounded Theory Approach Authors: Bell and Bromnick

2. David Elkind Ph. D. • Personal Fable – distorted view of own importance • Invincibility Fable- feeling invulnerable, even immortal • Imaginary Audience

3. Imaginary Audience “Although she understands that others have minds of their own and that they have their own concerns, her own fascination with herself, enhanced by the compelling and unpredictable physical changes she is undergoing, leads her to mistakenly assume that others are as intrigued by and concerned with her as she is…Because she is so sure that others are as interested in her as she is, she feels extremely self-conscious, acutely aware of her looks and her behavior in the presence of others.” – (text, p.296)

4. Imaginary Audience cont… According to Elkind: An individuals MISTAKEN assumption that others are as intrigued by and concerned about him as he is. A characteristic feature of adolescents’ focus.

5. Bell & Bromnick The Social Reality of the Imaginary Audience: A Ground Theory Approach • Challenge Elkind’s approach to understanding the “imaginary audience.” • Understand adolescent experience from adolescent P.O.V.

6. Assumption/Hypothesis • Adolescents have REAL concerns, they are not imaginary! • Egocentrism theory is just as influenced by socialization as it is cognitive development.

7. Supporting Theory • Henwood and Pigeon (1992) suggest a grounded theory approach • Need to gain understanding through adolescents’ perspectives.  Understand “world of what matters” to young people.

8. Method Participants: • Pilot study: *15 students (12f, 3m: ages 14/15) • Main study: *346 students (173f, 173m, 14/15) **From northern England

9. Part One (pilot generated) • “What do you think young people worry about?” • Generate items for questionnaire • 31 questions  e.g. acne, being in fashion, being called names, boys, bullying, drugs, girls, hair….sex, weight, what other people think/other people’s opinions. • Answer “never,” “sometimes,” “often,” or “a lot/always” to how much worry about topics

10. Part two • Select from the list of items, 3 topics that were most worrisome for young people.

11. Results • Largest concerns related to friendship, popularity, and fitting in. • Also concerned about other people’s opinion. Other people’s opinions needed to appraise self. • People’s opinion correlates/impacts one’s self esteem/confidence • Major concerns related to physical appearance. Felt “people judge you based on your appearance.”

12. Author Conclusions • Concerns phenomenologically evidenced in the “real lives” of young people • Audience should be conceptualized as real, NOT IMAGINARY! • Adolescents worry about what other people think b/c there are real consequences. Both personal (esteem, confidence) and social (popularity, approval, support) • Concerns rooted in social reality, not just in heads!

13. Discussion • Overall, great study • Rebuttal to trend of marginalizing adolescent’s perceptions • Could collate the data by age & gender • Generate the questionnaire questions from a larger sample (pilot only had 15 people). • How are they measuring/defining self esteem & confidence? • Do study again using more students from varying regions, cultures, etc… • Questions from study were generated by the students  open ended format  seemingly no experimental bias