Psych 200 Week 6 - Personal reflections

For this week’s reflective post I am turning my attention towards the teenage brain its identity and decision processes. I found several ideas of interest which are worth addressing. As I read through” Inside the Teen Brain” I reflected on our text for the week as well. Specifically I was comparing the text of our 9.1 piece, and the search for identity, Erikson’s theory. From his 1968 research to more current 1999 article the research seems consistent. First I am going to look at our text then I will move to our article of the week.

Erickson believed that adolescents face a crisis between identity and role confusion. He believed if they are confused about their identity they can never experience identity in any human relationship. To achieve identity they use hypothetical reasoning skills from the formal-operational stage. Through other research by Nurmi, Poole, & Kalakoskim 1996 they are also experimenting with their advanced cognitive selves. Through this process they can experiment with the various aspects of career choice for example. Additionally it is thought that teens will fantasize about their future to see if it’s a good fit for them. This role searching according to Marcia’s four identity statuses is the diffusion state.  Erikson also believed that adolescents face a crisis between identity and role confusion. The summation is that it is an important phase for teenagers to manage effectively.

I was able to fit this together with the research of Dr. Jay Giedd who states “Adolescence is a time of tumultuous change in the brain” (Psychiatrist at National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda Md.). “Teenagers are choosing what their brains are going to be good at learning right-from wrong, responsibility or impulsivity, thinking or video games”. This got me thinking about the correlation between Erikson’s theory and more current data.

In both texts I could see the relationship between the studies. For the most part we can say that the brain is not fully developed probably until early adult hood. This being the case we can safely know that teenagers will and do make poor choices. The up side of this is that they are not entirely at fault. Indeed there are physiological forces at work determining when and how an adolescent’s brain is in the home stretch of maturation. These studies highly indicate that a brain more mature than teenagers, such as a parent or guardian, would be well served to be involved in a teenager’s decision making process.

This is true due to the fact that the frontal cortex is not yet matured. The article states that this part of a teen’s brain is basically asleep at the wheel. It also goes on to state that the limbic system where raw emotions such as anger are generated is entering a stage of development and going into hyper drive. Could this be why we see teen violence? I think so. I believe this because of the research. If a teen cannot decipher correctly images of facial emotions, why would we, or should we believe they are capable of making larger more significant choices. This is certainly an aspect of adolescent development to keep in mind as we maintain, and create safe environments for our teens. This information is well put together and makes sense. My opinions of past posts continue to be confirmed as we move deeper into the maturing human brain.