Preview

The Science Behind The Development Of Teenagers

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
519 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Science Behind The Development Of Teenagers
Teenagers, by David Bainbridge, reveals the origins of teenage life and why teenagers act as they do. He attempts to convince the reader that the teenager years are more important than society makes them by taking a zoological approach to them. Bainbridge describes the science behind the changes of the teenage body and mind. He also attempts to discover the reasons how teenagers came to be and why they developed over time. Teenagers were developed for a specific reason during evolution. The teenage stage takes place after adolescence but before adulthood. This stage of life is best characterized by the development of the human body and the human mind. The development of teenagers is to prepare them for adulthood, a stage that other species do not go through. Humans go through the teenage decade so that their more-complex brains can be fully developed. This allows adults to reach their fullest potential. …show more content…
Teenagers are often known for their constantly changing emotions of sad, happy, angry, confused, and worried. Teenagers are meant to have these many emotions in reaction to newfound self-obsession. These compelling emotions are signs that teenagers are doing what they evolved to do. By self-criticizing themselves, teenagers are learning how to adapt themselves until they achieve what they want. Teenagers become addicted to drugs, tobacco, and alcohol easily because of the relief these things may offer to one’s brain. Teenagers are more likely to take these drugs and not think about risks associated with them because the decision making part of a teenager’s brain is not fully developed. The teenage brain also begins to create sexual attractions to other people. Oftentimes, people are attracted to their partner due to physical appearance, mental affinity, and smell. These attractions have evolved in order to reproduce so that humans can continue their unique life

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Teenagers are vulnerable to aquiring substance abuse disorders. This has much to do with their functional and neurocognitive brain development and how the areas of the brain manage the child’s feelings and cognition (Wiers, Boelema, Nikolaou, & Gladwin, 2015). It is estimated that by the time adolescents become high school seniors 70% had tried alcohol, 50% had tried an illegal drug and 20% had taken prescription medications that may, or may not, have been prescribed to them. There are a number of reasons adolescents abuse these substances such as to deal with stress or personal problems, to fit in or seem cool around other peers, or just to try the experience. While some may be able to try these substances and that be the end of it, others find the substances may help them cope with things, one way or another. (NIH Staff, 2014).…

    • 1090 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In adolescence the frontal cortex is being trimmed. This is the area of the brain associated with reasoning, planning, and judgment (Ruder). Unlike adults, adolescents focus on the immediate rewards a situation brings (Brown). In teens, dopamine levels are higher than at any other stage in life. This, as well as an undeveloped frontal cortex, cause the inherent search for thrill and disregard of consequence. The search for pleasurable experiences lessen a teen’s ability to control impulses making them…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When you talk to a teenager, have you ever wondered why, why did they make that decision, or perhaps, what influenced that decision? Many factors go into why teens make some of the choices they make, but a huge one is the teenage brain. Teenager’s brains are still growing. These growth cause the teens to make decisions that could be very irrational or beneficial. Counselors need to know what elements causes the decisions so they can better understand their student and be better at their job. The undeveloped prefrontal cortex, environmental factors, and the reward system influences some of the decisions that the teens make and how it the teen responses to life.…

    • 1335 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Researchers have found that the teenage brain is still developing, and that the loss of tissue at the brain is the reason why these kids have an errotic behavior. Teenagers’ mentality forms from their surroundings. The things that they watch and see can have a big impact on how they think, and they have no control over that. Teens do not think before they do they act on however they feel until their brain is developed and they can think properly.…

    • 551 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Bibliography: Alissa Quart (January 7, 2003), Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers, Basic Books…

    • 8906 Words
    • 36 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The lives of teenagers aren’t always happy days filled with friends and sunshine. Yet many novelists aren’t too keen on sharing this darker, more realistic perspective on…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parenting Styles

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Ah, those damn teenagers!”, Many of us have came across this thought at least once in the past by being frustrated with teenagers causing trouble around us. Science says that the troubled behaviours that adolescent youth produces is natural and has legitimate reason. It has been found that throughout development, teen years are a critical time for frontal lobe development that may explain reasons behind the maladaptive adolescent behaviour.…

    • 1080 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some adolescents are not aware of all of the risk that comes with substance use. They do not know all of the effects that each drug will have on them cognitively, physically and emotionally. As they get older they gain more knowledge about drugs and their effects. They are able to assess the risks and determine that substances are not worth their health. They are not able to assess whether the rewards of taking drugs are worth the risks. Also some adolescents are not able to evaluate the bigger picture of how drugs are going to affect all aspects of their lives in the present and in the…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Gray Matter In Teenagers

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages

    We know about the hormones that may cause a teenager to behave differently, but what else may causing their behavior? Gray matter is a big factor. Gray matter are neurons in the brain that form the basic building blocks for the brain. It houses most of the principle brain cells, or neurons, which control thought, perception, and motion. These cells are all connected so the brain can control behavior, thoughts, and emotions. Once a child starts moving into adolescence, the body and brain starts producing and overabundance of gray matter. Frances Jensen describes this as “the teenage brain is almost like a brand-new Ferrari: it's primed and pumped, but it hasn't been road tested yet.” (Jensen 27) So a teenagers brain is overwhelmed with these…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Adolescent Development

    • 778 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The movie "Thirteen" is a perfect example of how a young thirteen year old girl named Tracy goes through identity crisis as proposed in Erik Erikson's adolescent developmental stage identity verses identity confusion. The main characters in this movie are Tracy, Evie (Tracy's best friend), Mel (Tracy's mother), and Brady (Tracy's brother). Quotes from the official website of "Thirteen" really set the tone for the entire movie. Some of the quotes were:…

    • 778 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lifespan Development

    • 1314 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Adolescence, also known as teenage years is a time of dramatic change. Adolescence is a period in one’s life in which major physiological, cognitive, and behavioral changes take place. This phase of life marks a developmental period that follows childhood and comes before adulthood. Adolescence is closely associated with puberty, which is also considered as a developmental milestone, particularly in the western countries. Puberty refers to the period of adolescence when a person becomes capable of reproduction (Carpenter, S. & Huffman, K., 2010).…

    • 1314 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Adolescent Substance Abuse

    • 2342 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Adolescence is the middle period of childhood transition to adulthood where a teenager slowly engages and interacts with the outside world. It is also a time of opportunities and risks for youth where they get the chance to grow physically, socially and cognitively but also easily affected by risky behaviours such as misuse of substance. According to Clark and Thatcher (2008) , adolescence is the “developmental period of highest risk for the onset of problematic alcohol and other drug” . Substance abuse refers to the harmful or hazardous use of psychoactive substances, including alcohol and illicit drugs, which can lead to addiction and is likely to continue into adulthood. (World Health Organization, 2013) .…

    • 2342 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Teenage Brain Summary

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Mascarelli, Amanda L. “The Teenage Brain.” The Teenage Brain. Society for science, 17 Oct. 2012. Web. 17 Dec. 2014.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The book All Grown Up and No Place to Go: Teenagers in Crisis by David Elkin explains what teenagers go through and why it’s become more difficult to have to go through the process of being a teenager and discovering who they are. It discusses how families have changed over the years and that there are many obstacles that are presented that weren’t existent for previous generations. There are new situations that make it harder for teenagers to find out who they are, and situations that can lead them down the wrong paths. Being a teenager is never easy, their bodies are going through so many changes and it can be a bit difficult, so I agree with the main points of this book. It states many of the real issues that teenagers go through, such as depression, stress, peer pressure, betrayal, and family problems.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Outsiders

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages

    lifestyle alien to them. Even though the novel is set in 1966, it is a novel…

    • 1116 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays