PSYC 2314 Lifespan Development

1. PSYC 2314Lifespan Development Chapter 18 Early Adulthood: Cognitive Development

2. Adult Thinking • 3 Approaches • Postformal: possible emergence of a new stage of thinking and reasoning in adulthood that builds on the skills of formal operational thinking. • Psychometric: analyzes components of intelligence such as those measured by IQ tests, specifically describing which components improve or decline during adulthood.

3. Postformal Thought • Subjective Experience • Cognitive Flexibilities

4. Postformal Thought • The difference between the reasoning maturity of adolescents and that of young adults is particularly apparent when the problems to be solved are emotionally charged. Older adults regulate their emotions better than younger ones and are less cognitively and physiologically overwhelmed by deep and complex emotions.

5. Postformal Thought • Dialectical Thought: characterized by ongoing awareness of the pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, and possibilities and limitations. • Synthesis of ideas

6. Postformal Thought • Critic: characteristics of postformal thought are not universal and do not necessarily build on the prior accomplishments of formal operations.

7. Adult Moral Reasoning • Carol Gilligan’s view • Males tend to be concerned with the question of rights and justice, whereas females tend to put human needs above justice principles. • People’s life experiences expand, particularly as they become committed to, and responsible for, the needs of others, they often shift from ideological or personal moral reasoning to moral reasoning based on principles that are relative, changeable, and forged from a synthesis of ethical principles with life experiences.

8. Development of Faith • Intuitive-Projective Faith • Mythic-Literal Faith • Synthetic-Conventional Faith • Individual-Reflective Faith • Conjunctive Faith • Universalizing Faith

9. Defining Issue Test • A series of questions developed by James Rest and designed to assess respondents’ level of moral development by having them rank possible solutions to moral dilemmas.

10. Cognitive Growth and Higher Education • Effects of College • Enhances the flexibility and resourcefulness of reasoning abilities • More tolerant of differing views • Be more flexible and realistic in their attitudes

11. College Student of Today • Less concerned about developing a meaningful life philosophy and more concerned about finding a good job. • Include more women, low-income, ethnic-minority, older, part-time and career-focused. • Work during college years.

12. Cheating • Academic (cultural) System • Cheating is an attack on education • Students’ Value System • Encourage cooperation (helping a friend) • Purpose of school is to get good grades, not to learn

13. Cognitive Growth and Life Events • Many life events, specific notable occurrences, can trigger new patterns of thinking and thus further cognitive development • Parenting • Intimate relationship • Job promotion or dismissal • Loss of a loved one

14. Adult Thinking • Information-Processing: studies the encoding, storage, and retrieval of information throughout life, considering whether the efficiency of these processes changes as the individual grows older.