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Summary Adolescent Development
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- The University Of Nottingham (UON)
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Adolescent developmentPart 1
Individual personality or a stage in development?
Is it the fact that the certain individual has undesirable characteristics or is it the
stage in adolescent development that’s making them act that way
Risk taking & adolescence
Is it part of their personality to be risky and irresponsible or is it vital in the
development, just like it is for a 5 year old.
Adolescent egocentrism is a theory developed by Elkind.
What is adolescence?
Period between childhood and adulthood
Period of physical changes related to general maturity
Puberty: period of sexual maturity
Adolescence: period of sexual, cognitive, social and emotional maturity
Age between 10-19 according to WHO
This may differ depending on time and culture and what article or source you read
Is adolescence a distinct stage in development?
A distinct biological period for 3 reasons
Specific behaviours (e.g risk- taking, self-consciousness and peer influence, self-
regulation), universal across cultures
Adolescent period in non-human animals. During that period, animals exhibit similar
behaviours to human adolescents (e.g. risk taking, novelty seeking)
Evident across history
Descriptions of adolescence
‘lacking in sexual restraint, fickle in their desires, passionate and impulsive’ (Aristotle
(384-322 B.C.))
‘ a change in humour, frequent anger, a mind in constant agitation makes the child
almost unmanageable. He disregard his guide, he no longer wishes to be governed’
(Jean-Jacque Rosseau (1712-1778))
Elkind (1966) – adolescent egocentrism
Move to operational thinking:
o Ability to engage in abstract thinking, recognise other people’s mental states
and perspectives. Emerging ability to conceptualise thought of self and other
Egocentrism in childhood: oblivious to other people’s views
Egocentrism in adolescence: aware of other people’s views but assume own views
are universal. Assume what is interesting to them is interesting to everyone
Characteristics of adolescent egocentrism:
o Focus on mental life becomes excessive
, o Illusion of transparency
o Personal fable
o Private god
o Risk-taking
o Imaginary audience
o Self-consciousness
Focus on mental life becomes excessive (Elkind 1967)
Awareness that they can reflect upon thoughts and feeling (i.e. metacognition)
Become more aware of one’s own inner world
Extreme preoccupation with one’s owns thoughts and feelings (i.e. overthinking an
event e.g. an argument with a friend) – thinking becomes a lot more complex
Imaginary audience (Elkind 1967)
A false belief that others are scrutinising you and are observing everything about you
the way you do
Can be negative/positive
Adolescent as the centre of attention – as have false belief that what is interesting to
them is interesting to everyone else
Illusion of transparency
Feeling that everyone knows what you are thinking or feeling
Overestimate the degree that others can ‘read’ you
Illusion that inner states and feelings ‘leak out’ and can be easily detected e.g.
daydreaming.
Self-consciousness (Elkind 1967)
Elkind suggested that imaginary audience is responsible for self-consciousness in
teenagers
Individual feels shame or seeks privacy due to the constant feeling of being observed
or criticised
Personal fable and Private God (Elkind 1967)
Inflated notion of self importance arising from the false assumption that they are
everyone’s centre of attention
Belief that they’re special or chosen and thus indestructible
Feeling that are placed on earth to fulfil a special mission
Preferential relationship with a private god that will protect them from home
Risk taking (Elkind 1967)
Involved in risk taking behaviour and assume they cannot be harmed as they have a
special status (and are protected by a divine force)
Substance abuse, dangerous activities, unprotected sex etc.
How does adolescent egocentrism develop according to Elkind (1967)
Become more aware of one’s own inner world
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