Adolescence
Exam I
Short Answer Questions

The following short answer questions will be on the exam.  Be ready to write answers to each question.  Each question can be answered in a paragraph.  The first question will be worth 5 points and the second question will be worth 10).

1.  In the following scenario you are asked to answer a parent's question. Your answer should bring developmental research and theory to bear on the specific issues being addressed by the parent.  (5 points)

You are sitting with Ozzie and Harriet, the parents of an adolescent boy (Ricky) who is 14.  Ozzie and Harriet are relating their experiences with Ricky.  Ozzie points out how concerned he is about Ricky;  “He seems to be out in left field. He has no real plans for the future. I want him to join me in my furniture business as soon as he finishes high school. But he says, “I’m thinking about my  future and the kind of life I really might want to live.”  Just trying to get him to school these days is impossible. He is spending a lot of time primping in front of the mirror trying to get that hair of his to look just right -- something he never did before. He flies into fits of anger when I tell him to hurry up and get to school saying that, I “just don’t get it”. After school lets out, he spends all his time with his rock and roll band writing and singing songs like “I Can Imagine the Possibilities” and “It Follows Logically”.  They are good songs, mind you, but he has to get his feet on the ground!  You are taking an adolescence course at WSU, maybe you know what is happening to Ricky.  How should I handle him?”  

2. Many people assume that adolescence is a unique time of life, different than childhood and adulthood. I want you to tell me where you stand on this issue.  However, I want more than just your “opinion”.  I want you to consider the two perspectives which we have discussed so far, which argue in favor of the “unique time” position.  There is the biological perspective, which supposes that behavior unique to adolescence (e.g., storm and stress) is caused directly or indirectly (through secondary sex characteristics and social environment) by hormonal changes associated with puberty.  Then there is Piaget’s cognitive developmental perspective, which supposes that behavior unique to adolescence (e.g., idealism) is associated with new cognitive abilities.  Present each view, and then evaluate each one by identifying the best evidence confirming each view and the best evidence disconfirming each.  Only then, given the evidence for and against these two views, tell me where you stand on the issue. Where you stand could be that one is right, the other wrong, both are wrong, both are right (perhaps because they interact), can’t yet tell. (10 points)