Development Worksheet

University of Phoenix Material

Development in Adolescence and Late Adulthood Worksheet

Use the Learn Psychology text, the University Library, and/or other resources to answer the following questions. Your response to each question should contain at least 150 words.

1. Puberty can be a difficult time for adolescents. What are some of the challenges they face?

Puberty can indeed be a difficult time for adolescents. Many changes occur during puberty that adolescents are not used to, and these changes can confuse them. Puberty is the sexual maturation that occurs in adolescents, and encompasses many physical and psychological changes as a result in the rise of hormone levels. Some of these changes include the growth of pubic hair, changes in the voice, increased breast growth, spurts in height, development of facial hair, and the beginning of a menstrual cycle.

The challenges caused by puberty are numerous, especially if puberty occurs earlier or later than normal. Puberty causes many changes that an adolescent can find uncomfortable or awkward to adjust to, and this is exasperated if these changes occur at a different rate than their peers. Puberty can also cause problems for females when it comes to their appearance, and issues with boys when it comes to their increased sexual interest in others which they may not fully understand.

2. How and when is peer pressure harmful? Can it ever be helpful? Why?

Peer pressure is all around us, and peer pressure is an issue we will have to deal with throughout normal lives. We are generally always surrounded by others, whether it is through a work place, place of education, social area, or our personal homes. I feel that peer pressure can be both positive and negative. It depends on the type of peer pressure, and how it is accepted.

There are many times when peer pressure can be harmful. When people peer pressure us into doing things that we do not feel comfortable doing, or do not believe in, then that peer pressure is harmful to our physical and emotional health. When we do things we are not comfortable doing, we can lower our own self-esteem or cause ourselves physical harm by doing things we know we should not be doing. In the same sense, I feel peer pressure can also be helpful. An example would be our friends encouraging us to try new things that can be potentially helpful to our lives, or a friend encouraging us to do something they know we are skilled at but afraid to do. This type of peer pressure can end up helping to higher our self-esteem. 3. What types of changes occur in the brain in late adulthood?

Many changes occur in our brains during late adulthood. These changes include how we deal with moral reasoning, how we deal with our peers, the information we are able to dwell on and pass on to others, how we deal with different situations, and a possible decline in our ability to process information.

The experiences we have dealt with in life will affect how we think in late adulthood, and how information is processed. There are other physical factors that affect the brain that also affect how information is processed. There are studies showing age-related declines in performance when it comes to fluid thinking. This is thought to occur from damage to the brain over a period of time, but studies also show each person’s brain has its own resilience to age related damage, although it occurs to everyone.

Another point of note is that these changes appear only in general tests, and not in real world perceived performances, except at much higher ages.

4. Why is novel problem-solving particularly difficult in late adulthood?

Novel problem-solving seems to be particularly difficult in late adulthood. There are many reasons this could be possible, however most generally accepted studies show the most trusted results. Studies show that novel problem-solving skills seem to to have earlier peeks in young adulthood and steep declines in late adulthood. The fields that involve novel problem-solving skills include lyric poetry, pure mathematics, and theoretical physics. These fields rely more on direct knowledge of subjects as opposed to a general knowledge. Individual minds also show individual resilience to this decline in novel problem-solving skills later on in life, but it does affect everyone to some level as I wrote earlier.

The average individual uses more general knowledge and reasoning than they do novel problem-solving abilities. We practice general knowledge and reasoning more than we do novel problem-solving skills, which can be one reason for the bigger decline. Even in careers that deal with novel problem-solving skills, we tend to be asked to practice skills that deal with general information with our peers, as opposed to novel problem-solving skills. This lack of practice can be one potential reason for the decline.