Teenage Brains Are Malleable And Vulnerable

Paul Thompson in the article, Startling Finds Teenage Brains, explains that a teen named Nathaniel Brazill was ruled by a Florida grand jury, who had previously ruled Brazill, was going to be tried as an adult. Thompson supports his explanation by first analyzing the problem and if Brazill had been tried before. He then investigates the situation and why teens decide to commit crimes. Lastly, the author explains how there was a university that researched why teens act the way they do. They were surprised at what they found out. They found out that massive loss of brain tissue occurs in the teen years. Thompson’s purpose is to show why teens commit crimes and act the way they act in order so that their parents take care of their teens and so

The first article that was discussed in class was Startling Finds on Teenage Brains (Paul Thompson) this article has strong ethos. Thompson belives that the teeneagers that have commited crime, for example on May 16 fourteen year old Brazil was charged in May because he shot a middle school teacher. Brazil was found guilty of second-degree murder. Thompson claims that the teenage brain isn't fully developed at a young age, because of this many teens are making reckless choices. The author Paul Thompson claims “my own research group at the university of California, Los Angeles, and our colleagues at the national institutes of health have developed technology to map the patterns of brain growth in individual children and teenagers. With repeated

If you know William Shakespeare you know the play “ The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, a tragic story that proves that love makes teens do crazy things. I have found evidence that teens make lots of risky discussions. Parents also affect the way teens act based on how they treat the kids. This story has many people wondering if they treat their kids bad how will the outcome turn out.

Others who don’t agree with with the idea that teens are incapable of making good decisions may say teenagers actually overestimate risks. In “Why the Teen Brain Is Drawn to Risk”, a researcher named Valerie Reyna’s data,” has shown how excessively teens tend to overestimate the risk: for example when asked about the risk of AIDS in one study, adolescents estimated that a teenage girl who is sexually active has a 60% chance of contracting HIV. (The actual odds are miniscule for most Americans.)” (qtd. in Szalavitz); basically saying teens overestimate risks they are aware of. While this data has scientific approval, a weakness in this statement is that other data has proven that adolescents engage in risky behavior when a risk is unknown (Szalavitz).

What do you think when you hear the word “teenager”? Most people think of teenagers as pugnacious and restless human beings. Their rebellious and rambunctious behavior usually leads people to believe this. Teens tend to participate in jeopardous activities such as dangerous driving, binge-drinking, or fighting that could land them in serious trouble, the ER or the police station. Although engaging in these exercises is strongly frowned upon, some studies show that most of these actions cannot be controlled. Adolescents are drawn to risky acts due to specific messengers in the brain, peer pressure and their odd methods of apprehending the outcomes of a situation.

The brain has the function of making their body work and help with the teens brain daily life. The gray matter is where nerves are located. They are affect the way the person acts. The gray matter is where the nerves are located . One nerve is made up of neurons-a nerve cell-The neuron is made up of dendrites, axons and nucleus . The dendrites receive signals from axon terminals and this is a synapses. As a teen grows the brain starts pruning its synapses. With this the brain is taking out instructions the brain can already do or already knows. This is making room for new ideas. The brain secretes many hormones and neurotransmitters. A well known and used neurotransmitter is dopamine. Dopamine gives the brain a faster production time to make decision.

The control adolescents express over the choices they make, like the rise and fall of the tide, is fluid and dependant on multiple factors. These factors--biography, biology and current situation--are essential to the adolescent decision-making process as they manage to influence, but not control, the choices we make.

Paul Thompson in the article,Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,claims that over the last several years,as school shootings have seemed to occur with disturbing frequency. Thompson supports his claim by first describes fourteen year old Nathaniel Brazill´s case because he shot middle-school teacher Grunow. He then explains his and other people's research that is about the thoughts of teens like how he was talking about how he was working on mapping the patterns of brain growth.Lastly, the author explores into the fact that teens have a massive loss of brain tissue. Thompson´s purpose is to inform the reader the thoughts that teenagers have and how when people are teens they have the most brain tissue loss so that they themselves know the thoughts

After viewing the Frontline program titled Inside the Teenage Brain I learned a significant discovery scientists have found about the teenager's brain. I also learned that just as there is a growth spurt in infants’ brain, there is a second-growth spurt during puberty. In addition, I also learned how teen's emotions are so different from adults' emotions. I was very surprised with everything I learned about the teen's brain, but my point of view about teen violence and juvenile delinquency hasn't changed.

Researchers can look at the brain of a teen to examine their behavioral decisions.Teenage brains these years are more active and dynamic which means it’s still developing.Processing in the Limbic system is a result of risky behavior.The construction of a teenage thinking brain is not cable of fully processing necessary to make responsible decisions.At this stage the brain is still developing.The brain changes depending on interactions, helpimg the teen make changes. At this time the brain will need focused and support for a healthy connection.Surrounding impacts the child faces such as challenging situations is an effective technique.Parents need to consider the teens emotional

Thompson, Paul..”Startling Finds on Teenage Brains.” SpingBoard: English Language Arts Ed. Betty Barnett. Tampa: College Board, 2015. 89-90. Print.

The article “Inside the Teenage Brain” by Marty Wolner states that recently, brain researchers have been able to do a great quantity of detailed studies on the human brain. Despite previous thoughts about the teenage brain, development of the brain through the teenage years is very dynamic. The teenage brain is still learning how to process certain information properly in the thinking part of the brain, so often teens may not process all the information necessary to make responsible decisions. Nevertheless, the teenage years can be very stressful for both parents and for teens. Getting through the teenage years can be difficult, but with the right amount of healthy communication, discipline and support the road ahead won’t be so rough. At this

In the article, “Are the Brains of Reckless Teens More Mature Than Those of Their Prudent Peers?”, Epstein and Ong (2009) investigated the relationship between brain maturity and adolescent risk-taking. They challenged the traditional view that adolescent risk-takers had underdeveloped brains. Contrary to the traditional view, recent brain-imaging data showed white matter that resembled those of adults. This provided support for the new claim that adolescent risk-takers exhibited mature brains. This paper will review the traditional view, current research findings, and will analyze criticisms and support for the research question.

"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before.” (Albert Einstein). The result of people who aren’t independent is more negative than positive. The articles including “Herd Behavior”, “The Stanford Prison Experiment”, "Teenage Brains are Malleable and Vulnerable Researchers Say", and “Why Do People Follow the Crowd” all show evidence towards How people are influenced. Following the crowd is one of the main results of influence people have on others. Influence naturally developed in the human brain is based on the natural inclination to follow the group as seen in teenagers.

kids doing wrong and making bad decisions. During the years of teenage life the brain is more active and dynamic than we first thought and our brains are forced to use the limbic system, because the brain is using the limbic system with no help from the pre-frontal cortex, teens tend to make risky actions and parents can find this time very frustrating, exhausting, and sometimes scary. It is important that a parent is able to understand a teen and give appropriate discipline, that way a teenager has the right help getting ready for adulthood, even with the thrills, chills and even the spills of their roller coaster years. Healthy interactions with