Theories on Adolescence

Chapter 4.1

(1844 – 1924) American

Psychologist & Educator

Focused on childhood development and evolutionary theory

Stanley Hall

“Adolescence is like being a fully grown animal in a cage, an animal that sees freedom but does not know quite

when freedom will occur or how to handle it. Thus the adolescent is portrayed as existing in a state of

great storm and stress…”-Stanley Hall

First President of the APA

Margaret Mead (1901 – 1978) American cultural

anthropologist Reports about attitudes

towards sex in Southeast Asian traditional cultures amply informed the 1960s sexual revolution

Margaret Mead Mead found, in other cultures, that

adolescence is a highly enjoyable time of life and not at all marked by storm and stress. The storm and stress was a by-product of the society and not a natural occurrence.

Which of the two psychologists do you agree more with…Hall or Mead?

Whose argument could we categorize as Nature and which would be Nurture argument?

Challenges Robert Havighurst pointed out

various challenges that every adolescence must face– The next few slides we will look at

some of the tasks

Accepting one’s physical makeup and acquiring a masculine or feminine gender role

Developing appropriate relations with age-mates of both sexes

Becoming emotionally independent of parents and other adults

Achieving the assurance that one will become economically independent

Deciding on, preparing for, and entering a vocation

Developing cognitive skills and concepts necessary for social competence

Understanding and achieving socially responsible behavior

Preparing for family and marriage

Acquiring values that are harmonious and appropriate

Teens face issues everyday but out of these issues you grow as

people and become young adults…

Your assignment Choose two of the nine challenges

that a teen goes through– With those two, come up with a way that

a person can complete these challenges– Then, create a black and white comic

strip that shows a teenager accomplishing these challenges The comic must contain a minimum of four

slides