Question 11

Question 11

1. Piaget's Formal Operations

   •    For Piaget, the acquisition of formal operational thought during adolescence marks the end of cognitive development. Piaget and other commentators agree on four aspects of formal operational thought: 1)      It takes a hypothesis-testing approach (termed hypothetico-deductive) to problem solving 2)      Thinking is done in one framework at a time 3)      The goal is to arrive at one correct solution 4)      It is unconstrained by reality   
   • Hypothesis-testing
   • Unconstrained by reality
   • One framework at a time
   • Looks for one correct solution

2. Postformal Thought

   •    Postformal thought is characterised by recognition that truth (the correct answer) may vary from situation to situation, solutions must be realistic to be reasonable, ambiguity and contradiction are the rule rather than the exception, and emotion and subjective factors usually play a role in thinking. In general, the research indicates that post formal thinking has its origins in young adulthood (Kitchener et al, Sinnot.)   The key to postformal thought is to think integratively (dialectically), to pull together various lines of thought into one integrated whole. This gives adults the ability to understand different points of view and less likely to think from only one ideological perspective. One aspect of this integration involves bringing together logic and emotion     
   • Reflective judgment
     •    One of the best research-based discriptions of the development of thinking in adulthood is reflective judgment. Reflective judgment is a way that adults reason through dilemmas involving current affairs, religion, science, personal relationships, and the like. Based on decades of longitudinal and cross-sectional research, King and Kitchener refined descriptions and identified a systematic progression of reflective judgment in young adulthood. People who use reflective judgment understand that people construct knowledge using evidence and argument after careful analysis of the problem or situation. They hold firm convictions but reach them only after careful consideration of several points of view. They also realize that they must continually re-evaluate their beliefs in view of new evidence. Even though people are able to think at complex levels, they don’t usually do so. Why? Mostly because the environment does not provide the supports for using one’s highest level thinking, especially for issues concerning knowledge and experience one already has. If pushed and if given the necessary supports, people demonstrate a level of thinking and performance far higher than they typically show on a daily basis.   
   • Three Styles of Thinking
     •    Absolutist, relativistic, and dialectical thinking A growth in reflective judgment is not the only aspect of post-formal thought examined by researchers. Kramer and colleagues identified three distinct styles of thinking: absolutist, relativistic, and dialectical.  Absolutist thinking involves firmly believing that there is only one correct solution to problems and personal experience provides truth. Adolescents and young adults typically think this way. Relativistic thinking involves realising that there are many sides to any issue and the right answer depends on the circumstances. Young and early middle-aged adults often think this way. Relativistic thinkers reason things out on a case-by-case basis and are not likely to be strongly committed to any one position. Dialectical thinkers see the merits in the different viewpoints but synthesise them into a workable solution. Reflective judgment and dialectical thinking have much in common.   
     • Absolutist
     • Relatavistic
     • Dialectical
   • Integrating Emotion and Logic
     •    Integrating Emotion and Logic In addition to an increased understanding that there is more than one “right” answer, adult thinking is characterised by the integration of emotion with logic (Labouvie-Vief and colleagues). As they mature, adults tend to make decisions and analyse problems more on pragmatic and emotional grounds than logical grounds. Rules and norms are viewed as relative, not absolute. Mature thinkers realize that thinking is an inherently social enterprise that demands making compromises with other people and tolerating contradiction and ambiguity. The integration of emotion with logic in adulthood provides the basis for decision making in the personal and sometimes difficult arenas of love and work. Integrating emotion and logic is also important when managing one’s response to situations that play on one’s implicit social beliefs. The integration of emotion with logic that happens in adulthood provides the basis for broader perspectives and the ability to see points of view different from one’s own.   

3. Everyday Reasoning and Problem-solving

   •    Everyday reasoning and problem-solving How do people actually use their intellectual abilities and demonstrate characteristics we associate with intelligent people – making decisions, solving problems, gaining expertise, and becoming wise? Crystalised intelligence continues to grow or at least not decline, and emotion and knowledge are integrated in adulthood. One would therefore expect that the ability to make decisions and solve real-life problems would not decline until late adulthood, that expertise would increase, and that wisdom would be related to age. There are age-related increases in basic cognitive and sensory mechanisms. There are also age-related increases in experience that continues to build semantic memory and crystallised intelligence, as well as post-formal thinking. Although there are various age-related declines in the structure and processes of cognitive functioning, it is also important to consider the functional context of everyday behaviour that is cognitively demanding. Although older adults may have experience decline in memory, they may have appropriate knowledge and skills adequate for tasks in their daily lives.   
   • Decision-making
     •    Decision Making Research on decision making by Besedes and colleagues suggests that older adults make less effective decisions, using less optimal strategies. However many everyday decision making situations do not necessarily reflect the firm time constraints and cognitive demands studied in typical laboratory research. When decision-making taps into relevant experience or knowledge, older adults tend to be just as effective or better at making decisions than younger adults. Experience and knowledge tend to make older adults less susceptible to irrational biases in their decision making than younger adults (Hess and colleagues) Emotion plays a role in age differences in decision making. When given an opportunity to evaluate their options, older adults base their decisions more on positive information, and are more satisfied with their decisions.   
   • Problem-solving
     •    Problem Solving Much of what we use our intellect for in daily life involves problem solving. People tend to be better at dealing with certain problems than others. Nancy Denney’s Model of Unexercised and Optimally Exercised Abilities Unexercised ability is the ability a normal, healthy adult would exhibit without practice or training. Fluid intelligence is an example of untrained ability because it does not depend on experience and is unlikely to be formally trained. Optimally exercised ability is the ability a normal, healthy adult would demonstrate under the best conditions of training or practice. Crystallized intelligence is an example of optimally exercised ability because the component skills (such as vocabulary ability) are used daily. OTDL (Observed Tasks of Daily Living) measure developed by Diehl and colleagues. Important? –talk about this as it is relevant to development – goes beyond adolescence   Younger adults were more likely to use a similar strategy across problem-solving contexts: self-action in order to fic the problem. Older adults are more likely to vary their strategy given the problem-solving context. In interpersonal conflict problems, they use more emotion-regulating strategies whereas in instrumental situations (e.g. dealing with defective merchandise) they use self-action strategies (return the product) (Blanchard-Fields et al.). Blanchard-Fields et al argue that as we grow older and accumulate more everyday experience, we become more sensitive to the problem context and use strategy accordingly. Other research also indicates that older adults are more confident and generate more effective solutions to problems typical of the life stage of older adults. Blanchard-Fields and colleagues even found that older adults are rated as more effective in their everyday problem-solving strategy use than younger adults across all types of problem situations.   
   • Expertise
     •    Expertise Each person becomes an expert at something important to them. An expert is someone who is much better at a task than people who have not put much effort into it. We tend to become selective experts in some areas while remaining amateurs or novices at others. Experts differ from novices in how they handle the problem. Novices want to rapidly reach a satisfactory performance level that is stable and autonomous. Experts build up a wealth of knowledge about alternative ways of solving problems or making decisions. These well-developed knowledge structures are the major difference between experts and novices, and they enable experts to bypass steps needed by novices. Experts are more flexible, creative, curious, and they have superior strategies grounded on superior knowledge for accomplishing a task. Expertise represents “the triumph of knowledge over reasoning”. Research evidence indicates expert performance tends to peak by middle age and drops off slightly after that (Masunaga and Horn). However the declines in expert performance are not nearly as great as they are for the abilities of information processing, memory, and fluid intelligence that underlie expertise, and expertise may sometimes compensate declines in underlying cognitive abilities. Expertise can be maintained and grown across the lifespan, through lifelong learning.     
   • Wisdom
     •    Wisdom Baltes and colleagues describe four characteristics of wisdom -        deals with important matters of life and the human condition -        represents “superior” knowledge, judgment and advice -        wisdom is knowledge with extraordinary scope, depth and balance that is applicable to specific situations -        Used with good intentions, and combines mind and character   People who are wise are experts in basic life issues. Wise people know a great deal about how to conduct life, how to interpret life events, and what life means. Research indicates that there is no association between age and wisdom, e.g. by Baltes and colleagues. Whether a person is wise depends on whether he or she has extensive life experience with the type of problem ggiven and has the requisite cognitive abilities and personality. Thus wisdom could be related to crystallized intelligence, knowledge that builds over time and through experience. Developing wisdom takes time. Although growing old is no guarantee of wisdom, it does provide the time, if used well, to develop wisdom. Wise people tend to have higher levels of perceived control over their lives and use problem-focused and positive reappraisal coping strategies more often than people who are not wise.