ADOLESCENT EMOTIONAL & COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC POLICIEES
Cognitive development refers to the growth of a person’s thinking and reasoning abilities. The process of cognitive development happens in different ways for different individuals and more so, it might happen between the years 6 to 12 and 12 to 18 depending on one individual to another (Casey et al., 2018). This is also the period when a person experiences adolescence. Therefore, cognitive development can be associated with the experiences of adolescence. The objective of this paper is to explore how adolescent emotional and cognitive development should be used to influence public policy. The paper considers the possibilities of differentiating adolescent emotional from cognitive development and more so, if there a particular view of adolescent development which is better for informing public policy.
Adolescence is the period in a person’s life which marks the transition of growth from childhood to adulthood. This stage of life is characterized by various changes and developments in various parts of a person’s body. Some of the changes and developments are physical meaning that they can be observed easily (Casey et al., 2018).
On the other hand, some changes and developments are not tangible but can be observed by considering some of biological processes that an individual demonstrates. In simpler words, adolescence stage comprises of all the changes and developments which occur in a person in the aspects of cognitive development, psychosocial and emotional development (Casey et al., 2018). This means that there is so much relationship or association between adolescent emotional and cognitive development in the body of a person. For this reason, it is wise to assert that there is no essence of separating adolescent emotional and cognitive development but instead, the two should be addressed together. More so, a person’s behaviour is largely influenced by a person’s emotions. However, a person’s emotions are not the only factor that can influence their behaviour. There are other factors at play. One of these factors is the person’s cognitive ability. This means that adolescent emotions and cognitive development are quite entangled and there separating or holding each as distinct from the other would not be appropriate.
A proper understanding of adolescent emotional and cognitive development of a person can be incorporated among other factors to influence public policy. Public policy describes the framework upon which social laws are built. There public policies in a particular community or country go hand in hand with virtues for morality which distinguish bad and good behaviour (Olivo & Schiöth, 2019). In this context, it is true that the behaviour of a person is influenced significantly during the adolescence stage. This is the stage in which a person develops and adapts to a particular line of discipline. However, the stage is characterized by significant challenges in modelling the expected behaviour according to standards and rules established by the public policy. In this context, considering the issues that a person goes through adolescent emotional and cognitive development could be of great importance when implementing public policies.
Adolescent emotional and cognitive development should be incorporated as another dimension for establishing public policies. During the processes that take place during this stage, a person shifts from being an concrete thinker (one who thinks of objects that they are in contact with or what they already know only) to being abstract thinker (one who can think of imaginary things which they never interacted with for seen before) (Olivo & Schiöth, 2019). Abstract thinking is one component of the cognitive ability of an adult. It is this kind of thinking that a person starts thinking of love, reasonable spirituality, advanced mathematics and more so, one has the ability to think of other abstract issues such as crimes and other behaviours, especially those involving sexuality. This leads to a condition that is occurs mostly in adolescent. This condition is referred to as personal fable. An individual in this condition tends to have a belief that they are special and unique when compared to others. An individual in this behaviour is usually convinced that there can be no any fatal consequence resulting to their behaviour regardless how bad it is. Therefore, it is important to have procedures that incorporate the understanding and concepts of adolescent emotional and cognitive development as a component of establishing public policy.
On the other hands, some research conducted in this topic affirms that adolescents experience more risk as compared to adults (Lambert, 2017). The fact that an adolescent is aware of a particular risk does not divert them from avoiding the risk-taking behaviour. It is the work of the brain to process all the emotions of a person. This means that a person cannot process any emotion without the participation of the brain. In this context, adolescents tend to experience emotional satisfaction from behaviour which is associated with a tendency for high risks. On the other hand, the primary goal or obj3ective of public policies is to curb or regulate the behaviour of everyone in society for a peaceful coexistence among the people in that particular community. However, there cannot be a peaceful coexistence in the community if the public policies do not monitor the behaviour of the adolescents. For this reason, it is undeniable that a proper understanding of the concepts of adolescent emotional and cognitive development is of significant influence when it comes to establishment of public policies.
This means that these processes play a major role the behaviour of a person. A person’s behaviour has a very close relationship or association with public policies. In other words, public policies acts like a platform form upon which social laws and requirements are created. The laws established in accordance to public policy have the primary purpose of modelling an individual’s behaviour (Lambert, 2017). In this case, this is a dire need to establish the reason for incorporating the understanding of adolescent emotional and cognitive development of a person into the processes and procedures of development of public policy development.
Various scholars have different views or understanding of the adolescent emotional and cognitive development in human beings. Some of these views are those made by Fischer and Steinberg. After reviewing the views by the two scholars, my opinion is that both views are quite instrumental when it comes to the issues of informing the public policies. However, Steinberg views demonstrate some evidences that provide for public policies which demand for protection of adolescents from harm due to their behaviour (Steinberg, 2020). This cannot be achieved without a proper understanding of the processes that occurs during adolescence and the experiences that adolescents undergo through. The reason for this is that scientific evidences prove that the brain for adolescents is quite immature when compared to that of an adult. In this case, an adolescent might fall into a victim for making wrong judgement not because they are willing to, but because that is what their mind tells them to do. However, the public policy makers should understand this and improve the public policies so that they anticipate and accommodate for the behaviour of the adolescents.
References
Casey, B. J., Cannonier, T., Conley, M. I., Cohen, A. O., Barch, D. M., Heitzeg, M. M., … & Orr, C. A. (2018). The adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study: imaging acquisition across 21 sites. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, 32, 43-54.
Olivo, G., Gaudio, S., & Schiöth, H. B. (2019). Brain and cognitive development in adolescents with anorexia nervosa: a systematic review of FMRI studies. Nutrients, 11(8), 1907.
Lambert, H. K. (2017). Differential associations of threat and deprivation with emotion regulation and cognitive control in adolescence. Development and psychopathology, 29(3), 929.
Steinberg, L. (2020). Should the Science of Adolescent Brain Development Inform Public Policy? | Issues in Science and Technology. Issues in Science and Technology. Retrieved 28 August 2020, from https://issues.org/steinberg/.