Transcript Views of Adolescence: Socialization and Development

Views of Adolescence:
Socialization and Development
Chapter 1
Origins of Adolescence
 Adolescence refers to a transitional period
between childhood and adulthood that
typically begins with the onset of puberty
and lasts until the ages of 18 to 21, when
an individual enters young adulthood
 WHO defines an adolescent from 10 to 19
 In many cultures children entered adulthood
without the gradual passage through
adolescence
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The term adolescence was made popular by
psychologist G. Stanley Hall in his 1904
study, Adolescence
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Formally defined the developmental phase
between childhood and adulthood
According to Hall, Western society began to
institute laws against child labour at the end
of the twentieth century and secondary
schools were becoming the norm
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This prolonged the period of children’s
dependence on parents ant older me
members of the family
This delayed transition into adulthood meant
that young people could develop
psychologically and socially at a much slower
pace
This gave children more time to mature and
assume their positions and responsibilities in
the adult world
 Margret Mead: 1925
 Travelled to the island of Ta’u in
American Samoa to observe,
interview and interact with 68 girls
between the ages of 9 and 20
 Used participant observation as
her mode of research, living,
interacting and participating in
daily life with the Samoan girls to
recover important data about
adolescence, stress, and cultural
norms
 Based on her data, Mead argued
that cultural factors, rather than
biological ones, caused the
emotional and psychological stress
of adolescence
Elkind’s Theory of Adolescent
Egocentrism
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David Elkind believe that the primary
feature of adolescence is the immaturity
of the thinking process
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This is a result of undeveloped skills in
formal reasoning abilities
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Adolescence is period marked with
extreme indecisiveness because of an
exaggerated self-consciousness
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In the area of decision making, teenagers
are likely to keep many avenues open as
they explore various alternatives and
solutions to problems
Also, tend to be critical and idealistic
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Elkind also studied the tendency among teens
to think they are invincible and invulnerable
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These beliefs lead to risk taking behaviours like
speeding, extreme sports and other thrill seeking
activities
The most prominent feature of adolescence is
egocentrism
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Heightened self-awareness and selfconsciousness
Teens tend to think that others are interested in
them as much as they interested in themselves
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Called this phenomenon the imaginary
audience
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Teens imagine a captive audience of observers
watching and scrutinizing their every actions and
thought
The drama that unfolds before the imaginary
audience in the personal fable
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The belief that they are special or unique and
somehow above reproach and the rules that
govern the rest of society
Socialization
 Socialization is the
process by which we learn
to become members of
society by internalizing
values, and norms of
society and learning the
roles we are expected to
perform in society
 For a individual to participate
in society, he or she must
first learn the rules that
govern social interaction
 The family is referred to
as the primary agent or
socialization because
this is where socialization
occurs
 School, media and religion
are important secondary
agents of socialization
 During adolescence, the
role of the family
diminishes as other
forces take over
The Lasting Influence of the
Family
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The Vanier Institute of the Family defines family as any
combination of two or more persons who are bound
together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth, and/or
adoption or placement and who, together, assume
responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the
following purposes
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Physical maintenance and care of group members
Addition of new members through procreation or adoption
Socialization of children
Social control of members
Production, consumption, distribution of goods and services
Affective nurturance – “love”
The Growing Influence of Social
Groups
 During adolescence
individuality is increasingly
and social relationships
beyond the family are
increasing
 Peers and media contribute
more than ever to young
people’s understanding of the
world and influence helps to
shape and form individual
social values and attitudes
Culture and Identity
 An individual’s ethnic identity is
the basic notion an individual has a
member of an ethnic group
 Ethnicity and culture are key
factors in how an individual sees
himself
 How an adolescent achieves
stability and healthy personal
identities depends on many
factors, including, in some cases,
confronting prejudice or
discrimination from the dominant
culture and perceived or real
barriers to achieving their goals
Allison Davis and Socialized
Anxiety
 Allison Davis outlined a
number of important forces
that cause anxiety and
stress in adolescents
 Research areas in learning and
personality, the relationship
between academic
performance and child
development, attitudes and
motivations of children from
different social groups, and
patterns of adolescent and
young adult achievement
 According to Davis the socialization
process includes a phenomenon known
as socialized anxiety
 Socialized anxiety refers to the tension and
discomfort felt by individuals that motivate
and influence behaviour
 E.g.: senior high school students feel anxious
about being accepted to college or university
and this anxiety motivates them to earn good
grades
 A measure of successful socialization
among teenagers can be related to
the amount of imposed or learned
anxiety that the individual is exposed
to in his or her environment
 In the proper amount social anxiety can
be an important factor in pushing the
individual towards maturity