Summary of Laurence Steinberg's Age of Opportunity

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 We must reassess how we are raising our young people because we’ve learned a lot about adolescence as a stage of development since the 1990s. Adolescence is now a much longer period, and children are entering it earlier than ever.
#2 The adolescent brain is highly plastic, which means it can change and develop based on the environment it is in. This is both good and bad news. If we provide our adolescents with positive, supportive environments, they will flourish. But if the environments are toxic, they will suffer in powerful and enduring ways.
#3 The brain is highly plastic during adolescence, and this period of growth is more sensitive to experience than any other in our lives. The brain’s malleability allows change for the better, but it also allows change for the worse.
#4 American adolescents are not doing well. There have been no gains in scores on standardized tests of high-school achievement since the 1970s, and American adolescents continue to underperform teens from many industrialized countries that spend less on schooling.

Sujets

• Adolescence
• Maturation

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 01 mai 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669398257
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Laurence Steinberg's Age of Opportunity
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4 Insights from Chapter 5 Insights from Chapter 6 Insights from Chapter 7 Insights from Chapter 8 Insights from Chapter 9 Insights from Chapter 10 Insights from Chapter 11 Insights from Chapter 12
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

We must reassess how we are raising our young people because we’ve learned a lot about adolescence as a stage of development since the 1990s. Adolescence is now a much longer period, and children are entering it earlier than ever.

#2

The adolescent brain is highly plastic, which means it can change and develop based on the environment it is in. This is both good and bad news. If we provide our adolescents with positive, supportive environments, they will flourish. But if the environments are toxic, they will suffer in powerful and enduring ways.

#3

The brain is highly plastic during adolescence, and this period of growth is more sensitive to experience than any other in our lives. The brain’s malleability allows change for the better, but it also allows change for the worse.

#4

American adolescents are not doing well. There have been no gains in scores on standardized tests of high-school achievement since the 1970s, and American adolescents continue to underperform teens from many industrialized countries that spend less on schooling.

#5

The United States continues to have problems with violence, obesity, and drug use among teenagers. It has one of the highest rates of youth violence in the developed world, and has to resort to arming its school personnel or drugging its students to establish order in its classrooms.

#6

The rate of adolescent suicide in the United States is consistently higher than the international average, and suicide attempts and suicidal ideation among American high-school students are on the rise.

#7

The brain changes that take place when adolescence begins make us more easily excited, emotionally aroused, and prone to getting angry or upset. However, these brain changes take place considerably earlier in adolescence than the brain changes that strengthen our abilities to control our thoughts, emotions, and actions.

#8

The lengthening of adolescence is the reason for the growing divide between the haves and have-nots. It is also the last chance we have to put individuals on a healthy pathway, and expect our interventions to have substantial and enduring effects.
Insights from Chapter 2

#1

I have extremely vivid memories of my adolescence, which is unusual for someone who was extremely fortunate in that his life as a teenager was untouched by family disruption, serious illness, death, or dramatic changes in our standard of living.

#2

The reminiscence bump, which is the tendency for people to recall more events from their adolescence than other periods, is not due to better memory during those years. It is because events that typically take place in adolescence are more momentous and emotion-laden, which leads to more memories.

#3

The adolescent reminiscence bump is the result of the brain’s hypersensitivity during this time period. Because certain neurotransmitters are released when we experience something that elicits strong negative or positive feelings, the brain is more easily remembered.

#4

The adolescent brain is particularly sensitive to its environment, and this explains why we are so much more likely to remember events from this period. We must be especially thoughtful and careful about the experiences we give people as they develop from childhood into adulthood.

#5

The brain is not as plastic as it is at younger ages, but it is not as rigid as it was once thought. We are not born with a finite number of brain cells, and we produce new neurons as we age.

#6

The brain is plastic, meaning it can be molded like industrial plastic. The brain changes from being more moldable to being more fixed as we age, and this is true both developmentally and chronologically.

#7

Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to change and adapt to the environment. It is a fundamental component of our evolutionary heritage, and it allows us to acquire new information and abilities. However, this malleability is a risk, because it opens the brain’s windows to the outside world.

#8

There are two types of brain plasticity: developmental and cognitive. During developmental plasticity, the brain is being built, and its wiring is changing in profound ways. During this period, some children’s brains are better organized than others.

#9

The developing brain is shaped by passive exposure and active experience. Because the brain is more malleable during periods of adult plasticity than during periods of developmental plasticity, experiences can affect the brain in a much more permanent way during adolescence than during adulthood.

#10

The brain is not built all at once. Brain systems that govern our most fundamental abilities, like vision, hearing, and the ability to learn, have very early and brief sensitive periods, which are typically during the first months of life.

#11

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