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Piaget's Concrete Operational Stage Of Development

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During adolescents, huge changes take place physically, mentally and socially. Physically, adolescents are experiencing puberty and their bodies are changing from that of a child to an adult. Cognitively, adolescents become increasingly egocentric and are developing from Piaget’s concrete operational stage to the formal operational stage of development. In this stage, teenagers are able to grasp abstract concepts and think logically and systematically (Berger, 2001). The greatest change that occurs during adolescents is socially. During this time there is a shift from a teenager’s dependence on their parents for advice and support to forming new and deeper relationships with peers. Eric Erickson called this stage of development identify vs. …show more content…

The first status is an identity diffuser, this is a person who has not encountered a crisis of identity and has not made any commitments or done any personal exploration. The next identity status is foreclosure where an adolescent commits to a parents beliefs or values without exploring other options on their own. Moratorium is where the individual has been exploring their options but has not yet made any commitments. And finally, identify achievement is when a person has explored all their options and committed to occupation, belief, political view or gender identity (Marcia, 1966). A great deal of research has been done on the different identity statuses. For example, Waterman (1985) found no difference in gender during the formation of identity when considering political ideology, social roles, vocational choices or religious beliefs. He also found that adolescent during the pre–high school years are more likely to be identity diffusers in regard to occupational decisions and political ideology and foreclosed in the domain of religion. Overall, Waterman (1982) has found that adolescents, beginning in middle school “show a pattern of progressive identify formation characterized by frequent changes in self- concept during the early years followed by increasing consistency and stability as the person approaches high school graduation.” These finding support …show more content…

Peer pressure is considered “encouragement to conform to ones friends or contemporaries in behavior, dress and attitude (Berger, 2011). Peer pressure has been found to increase in early adolescents when the need for approval is high, then drops later in adolescents with the development of a more autonomous self. With regards to situation, pressure to participate in neutral and pro-social behaviors are more strongly influenced by peer pressure than antisocial behaviors (e.g. drinking, smoking, and sexual behaviors). Students will follow a group more willingly if they are doing socially acceptable behaviors versus a behavior that would get them in trouble. Gender difference occur in willingness to participate in antisocial behaviors, boys tend to be more willing to follow peers than girls (Brown, Clasen & Eicher, 1986). Though teenagers are more inclined to follow friends who are doing socially acceptable behaviors it is not uncommon for a group of teenagers to make collectively bad decisions. Peer pressure and acceptance is a strong force in an adolescent’s life, even the best kids have been known to join the “wrong crowd” and make decisions that could negatively affect them for the rest of their

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