According to Piaget, formal operational thought begins to develop in early adolescence and consolidates
at about age 15, with full adult-like cognitive capabilities emerging as a result of the interaction of physical
maturation and environmental experience. However, not all types of formal thinking emerge simultaneously,
and so Piaget applied the notion of horizontal d´ecalage to the emergence of formal operations,
just as he did to concrete operations. Horizontal d´ecalage refers to the sequential acquisition of concepts
across different content areas within a single stage of cognitive development. For example, children at
the stage of concrete operations are able to conserve quantity before weight, and weight before volume.
Thus, Piaget recognised that concrete operational thought does not develop simultaneously for all the
properties of material, with the conservation of some properties occurring before others. Bond (2010) has
investigated horizontal d´ecalage in Piagetian tasks such as the pendulum task in longitudinal research with
Australian secondary students. Using Rasch modelling, a statistical technique that yielded empirical evidence
of developmental sequencing in these cognitive tasks, Bond confirmed Piaget and Inhelder’s general
account of formal operational thought development, as well as identifying wide individual differences.
Research into individual differences in formal operations has revealed that Piaget and Inhelder may
have overestimated the cognitive abilities of adolescents from their experiments that exclusively involved
middle-class Swiss samples during the 1950s and 1960s. Later studies showed that only about half of
older adolescents and adults achieve complete formal operational thought, and some adults and adolescents
never achieve this type of thinking (e.g. Lakoff, 1994; Sugarman, 1988). For instance, cross-cultural
Piagetian research which flourished during the twentieth century revealed that in some non-Western societies,
reasoning often does not extend into formal operational thought (Dasen, 1977). It appears that
development of formal operations is heavily dependent on sociocultural context, including the degree to
which the environment calls upon different types of thinking; and not purely on the processes of accommodation
and assimilation proposed by Piaget (Cole, 2006; Greenfield, 2000).
Later researchers argued that the ‘pure’ forms of reasoning accessed by Inhelder and Piaget’s
(1955/1958) formal operational tasks might only apply in academic settings, and that everyday problem
solving involves much less systematic reasoning (e.g. Bartsch, 1993). For example, in dealing with the
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issues involved in substance use, risky driving behaviour and sexual relationships, teenagers might not
use the same systematic ways of thinking that are encouraged in the science classes they attend. Everyday
issues may require applied reasoning that draws on life experience and social judgements, outside of
‘pure’ scientific method and logic. The solution of complex, socially based problems would probably not
be arrived at using the same step-by-step systematic reasoning that would solve the pendulum problem,
for example. In everyday problem solving, taking the circumstances surrounding a problem into account
often leads to the ‘best’ or most mature solution, but it might not be a solution that is fully logical in a
Piagetian sense.
This more flexible and pragmatic approach to ambiguous problems demonstrates what some
researchers have termed postformal thinking (Labouvie-Vief, 1986; Sinnot, 1998). As adolescents grow
into young adults, postformal thought becomes more common. Thus, for older adolescents, the cognitive
challenge consists of converting formal reasoning from a goal in itself into a tool used for broader
purposes and tailored to the problems at hand (Myers, 1993).
The impact of formal operations on adolescent behaviour
The development of formal operational thought impacts adolescents’ behaviour in a number of ways.
During the period of concrete operations, children are relatively unquestioning of adult authority and
the explanations that are given to them for family rules, such as bedtimes. However, formal operational
thought enables teenagers to think more critically and flexibly about such things and to argue with
their parents more skilfully than they could as children, often using multiple viewpoints. For instance,
a teenager will come up with a multitude of ideas as to why it is not a good idea to go to bed at
10.00 pm.
The development of formal operational thought increases the critical thinking ability of adolescents.
552 PART 5 Adolescence
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Formal operations lead to expansions in education and social relationships. Adolescents are able
to better assimilate the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of their culture; and to understand
philosophical and abstract topics at school. For example, unlike primary school children, high school
students are able to undertake literary analysis and can understand abstract concepts in science that
would not be possible using concrete operational thought. Formal operational thought also makes
teenagers more skilful at cultivating friendships, potential dates and social contacts — since they are
able to project themselves into future possibilities and can anticipate the consequences of various social
strategies.
Increased critical thinking can render adolescents acutely judgemental of adults and the perceived shortcomings
of their systems, values and institutions. Thus, during adolescence, individuals are more likely
to become involved in various political and social movements, and want to change society in ways that
would make it better in their eyes. Indeed, Mao’s Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s in China
and the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1930s were predicated on the political activism of youth. The
current support being shown for far-right political parties in Europe and the Americas could be another
area of increased involvement by late adolescents.
Like the teenagers of previous generations who waved little red books or burned books in bonfires,
feelings of injustice are keenly felt by today’s adolescents, as they try to reconcile their ideals with the
realities of the way that the world works. In doing so, some adolescents overgeneralise their new-found
logical skills (Leadbetter, 1991). They believe that all problems, including ambiguous problems, such as
achieving world peace, can be solved by the proper application of rational principles and careful reasoning,
with admonishments such as, ‘If only people would be reasonable . . . ’ This attitude can render
teenagers idealistic in adults’ eyes, and might prevent them from appreciating the practical limits of logic
(Bowers, 1995). Thus, adolescents may fail to notice that some problems, by nature, resist the application
of general logic and may have situational, social and emotional aspects that do not lend themselves to
straightforward solutions.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How much and when do you actually use the type of formal operational thinking described by Piaget and
Inhelder? How often and when do you use what researchers describe as postformal thinking? What do
your answers imply about the place of formal thought in adolescents’ overall development?
10.7 Information-processing theories and adolescent
cognitive development
LEARNING OUTCOME 10.7 Critique how information-processing theorists conceptualise cognitive
development during adolescence.
As was described in the chapter on theories of development and the chapter on physical and cognitive
development in middle childhood, information-processing theorists explain human cognition as a complex
system of information storage and retrieval, analogous to computer hardware and software, with
several distinctive processes, including attention, encoding, memory and thinking. Information processing
approaches to cognitive development involve analysis of how developmental changes in underlying
cognitive processes contribute to more sophisticated cognition as the individual matures, thus allowing an
increase in cognitive outcomes, such as greater knowledge and improved skills. This development is seen
as a continuous process. Thus, it differs from the Piagetian approach that assumes more abrupt, stage-like
transformations in thinking. Nonetheless, the two approaches are similar in that they seek to understand
the processes of cognitive development, and recognise that later advances are built upon a foundation of
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earlier cognitive achievements (Halford, 2004). Information-processing theory assumes several mechanisms
underlying changes in cognition, with specific components undergoing considerable development
during adolescence. These components and how they contribute to improved information processing are
illustrated in figure 10.4, with the specific developments in each component or process explained as
follows.
FIGURE 10.4 An information-processing model of cognitive development
Similar components of information processing are involved in childhood and adolescent cognitive
development, as illustrated in this diagram. However, during adolescence, significant
developmental changes occur in several components, including increased capacity in short-term
memory, more efficient control processes and a wider knowledge base stored in long-term memory,
as well as metacognitive knowledge involving thinking strategies.
Control processes
Attention
Recognition
Rehearsal
Organisation
Meaningfulness
Environmental
stimuli
(input)
Response
(output)
Short-term
memory
(STM)
Increased
size
Increased efficiency
Sensory
register
(SR)
Long-term
memory
(LTM)
Greater
specific
expertise
Greater
knowledge
about problemsolving
One of the most fundamental components of information processing is attention, which involves the
individual’s capacity to focus their cognitive resources on the task at hand. It may be conceptualised as
sustained attention, where the individual maintains attention over a prolonged period of time; selective
attention, where the individual screens out irrelevant stimuli and focuses only on task-relevant stimuli;
and divided attention, where the individual attends to more than one stimulus or set of stimuli simultaneously.
During adolescence, increased attentional capacity over that demonstrated in childhood occurs;
particularly in selective attention, with processing of task-irrelevant information decreasing as adolescence
progresses (Davison, 1996). Divided attention also improves during adolescence, with teenagers
having a greater capability of carrying out two or more competing tasks simultaneously (Manis, Keating,
& Morrison, 1980). This phenomenon might explainthe tendency of teenagers to do their homework in
front of the television, or with loud pop music blasting from media players.
Speed of information processing has been observed to increase significantly during adolescence. This is
possibly the result of physiological changes in the brain, including the myelination of nerve fibres, which
improves the conductivity of neurons. For example, Hale (1990) found that reaction time that reflects
processing speed increased significantly from early adolescence to mid-adolescence, so the processing
speed of 15 year olds matched that of young adults. Greater information processing speed is linked to
better performance on cognitive tasks (Rodrigue, Kennedy, & Raz, 2005).
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Memory is a vital process that underlies cognitive development and undergoes considerable change in
the adolescent years. Memory is generally divided into short-term or working memory, involving information
retention for up to 30 seconds, and long-term memory, involving the relatively permanent storage
of information. The different stages of the memory process, including encoding, storage and retrieval, are
vital in remembering — and failure in any at any of these stages can result in forgetting (see figure 10.4).
Significant increases in working memory have been recognised during adolescence (Luciana, Conklin,
Hooper, & Yarger, 2005). This factor underlies the advances seen in adolescents’ abilities to process
sequentially more complex and cumulative pieces of information. Adolescents are better able than children
to hold larger numbers of informational ‘bits’ in working memory, while they simultaneously operate
on them. Similar numbers of informational bits can easily overload younger children’s more limited working
memories. For example, Year 1 children can remember three or four random digits, but high school
students usually remember six or seven digits. When Year 1 children ask an adult how to spell a word,
they can only hold two or three letters in their mind at a time, and the adult has to present them slowly
and singly or in pairs; for example, ab . . . or . . . ig . . . in . . . al. By contrast, high school students can be
presented with much longer strings of letters and still reconstruct the word accurately.
Australian researcher Halford has developed cognitive complexity theory that relates to increasing processing
capacity underlying the cognitive advances seen between childhood and adolescence. In 1993
Halford proposed that the number of concepts or ideas that can be processed in parallel increase in an
orderly manner according to age. Unary relations involving a single idea or a concept can be processed
in infancy, whereas binary relations involving two concepts such as comparing the size of two different
objects are possible by the end of infancy and the beginning of early childhood. Ternary relations, such
as Piaget’s transitivity task (see the chapter on physical and cognitive development in middle childood),
require the information-processing capabilities of middle childhood, whereas problems involving four
elements (quarternary relations) usually cannot be solved until adolescence has been reached. Thus, the
processing capacity available at different ages limits the complexity of the task that can be mastered.
Halford’s (1993) theory also recognises the role of cognitive strategies, which can improve the performance
of cognitive tasks. Such strategies are perhaps the most important component of information
processing that contributes to the cognitive developments seen in adolescence. Developing more sophisticated
strategies for dealing with information involves metacognition — the ability to think about one’s
own thought processes. This capability emerges in childhood, but only becomes fully operational in adolescence.
Thus, teenagers are better able to understand their own thinking processes than children are,
and readily know such things as the amount of time they will need to spend studying for an upcoming
test, or the best approach for memorising material (Kuhn & Franklin, 2006).
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
How well do you think the information-processing approach explains the cognitive changes that occur
during adolescence? Are there other aspects of human functioning that might also be important in the
cognitive advances seen during adolescence?
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