Module 51 REVIEW

• 51-1 How is adolescence defined, and how do physical changes affect developing teens?

• Adolescence is the transition period from childhood to adulthood, extending from puberty to social independence.
• For boys, early maturation has mixed effects; for girls, early maturation can be a challenge.
• The brain’s frontal lobes mature and myelin growth increases during adolescence and the early twenties, enabling improved judgment, impulse control, and long-term planning.

• 51-2 How did Piaget, Kohlberg, and later researchers describe adolescent cognitive and moral development?

• Piaget theorized that adolescents develop a capacity for formal operations and that this development is the foundation for moral judgment.
• Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a stage theory of moral reasoning, from a preconventional morality of self-interest, to a conventional morality concerned with upholding laws and social rules, to (in some people) a postconventional morality of universal ethical principles.
• Other researchers believe that morality lies in moral intuition and moral action as well as thinking.
• Some critics argue that Kohlberg’s postconventional level represents morality from the perspective of individualist cultures.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Walter Mischel’s famous “marshmallow test” found that
   1. adolescents are unable to control most impulses.
   2. adults who can delay gratification often have lower paying jobs.
   3. children who can delay gratification are often successful as adults.
   4. children who can delay gratification often do not flourish as adults.
   5. adolescents who can delay gratification tend to be at the preconventional level of morality.
2. ______ focused on moral intuition and how people feel about moral situations. _______, however, was more interested in moral reasoning and how people think about moral situations.
   1. Kohlberg; Erikson
   2. Erikson; Kohlberg
   3. Piaget; Kohlberg
   4. Piaget; Erikson
   5. Haidt; Kohlberg
3. Howard cheats in his calculus class, even though he knows it is wrong, because “everyone else is doing it.” Kohlberg would argue that Howard’s response reflects a _______ view of morality.
   1. myelinated
   2. preconventional
   3. conventional
   4. postconventional
   5. formal operational
4. What development in adolescents allows for greater impulse control?
   1. The hormonal surge of early adolescence
   2. Hindbrain changes associated with the onset of puberty
   3. Frontal lobe maturation in late adolescence
   4. Limbic system development in mid-adolescence
   5. A decrease in myelin production throughout adolescence
5. Piaget would argue that as an adolescent, Mildred is better able to understand calculus because she is in the
   1. sensorimotor stage.
   2. preoperational stage.
   3. concrete operational stage.
   4. formal operational stage.
   5. accommodation stage.

Practice FRQs

1. Even though they complain about how much they pay each year, the Singers dutifully pay their taxes. Provide an explanation Kohlberg might give for the reasoning behind the Singers’ tax-paying behavior for each of his stages of moral thinking.

Answer

1 point: Preconventional morality: The Singers pay their taxes to avoid being punished with additional fines or jail time if they fail to pay. Pages 535–536

1 point: Conventional morality: The Singers pay their taxes simply because doing so is the rule. Pages 535–536

1 point: Postconventional morality: The Singers pay their taxes, even though they don’t want to, because they feel it’s the right thing to do to support government programs for people in need. Pages 535–536

2. Analyze how the following concepts might affect a middle school student who is asked by his friends to skip science class and hide in the bathroom at school.
   • The timing of puberty
   • The maturity of the teenage brain
   • Conventional morality

(3 points)