Adolescents and Social Cognition

Although Piaget primarily limited his research of adolescent reasoning to
mathematical and scientific concepts, he did consider the role that formal
operations play in the adolescent’s social life. David Elkind continued research
in this area by noting that features of formal thinking are reflected in
adolescent personality characteristics. According to Elkind, the ability to
think abstractly and hypothetically enables adolescents to develop their own
idealistic, theoretical views of the world. The ability to distinguish between
reality and theory, however, can lead to disillusionment and the recognition
that adolescents’ idols have “feet of clay.” Elkind identified an adolescent
egocentrism that he equates with the heightened self-consciousness of adolescence.
This egocentrism demonstrates itself in two types of social thinking—
personal fable and imaginary audience.
In personal fable, young adolescents see themselves as unique and special.
Personal fable may lead adolescents to take unnecessary risks because
they believe they are so different from others: “I can drink and drive.” “Only
other people get pregnant.” Personal fable also makes adolescents believe
that no one else can understand how they feel or offer any useful suggestions:
“No one has ever had a problem like mine.” In imaginary audience,
adolescents believe that “everyone” is watching them. Elkind sees this selfconsciousness
as an application of hypothetical thinking: “If my characteristics
are so obvious to me, they must also be obvious to everyone else.”

Cognitive changes also affect social behavior by inducing changes in social
cognitive development. Social cognition refers to an individual’s understanding
of people and of interactions among people. According to Piaget,
changes in cognition are reflected in the way people think about themselves
and other people. The thinking of preadolescents (seven to eleven years)
begins to focus less on the obvious features of objects, events, and people.
They are better able to translate patterns of behavior into psychological
characteristics, such as concluding that a particular person is “nice” or
“rude.” They are becoming less egocentric, better able to appreciate that
people have different points of view. It is not surprising, then, that they are
better able to see the world from the perspective of another person. As they
enter formal operations (eleven or twelve years and older), adolescents are
able to think in more logical and abstract ways. These changes are reflected
in their ability to describe people in abstract terms, such as “cooperative” or
“uncoordinated,” and compare people along psychological dimensions.

Robert Selman has observed that changes in social cognition occur in
stages that closely parallel Piaget’s stages of cognitive development. According to Selman’s research, most concrete operational preadolescents (ages
ten to twelve) recognize the existence of different points of view. Many of
them, however, have difficulty evaluating conflicting perspectives or understanding
how perspectives relate to membership in different social groups.

As adolescents become more fully formal operational (twelve to fifteen
years and older), they become able to understand the relationship between
another person’s perspective and their membership in social systems. For
example, the difference between two people’s points of view may reflect
their membership in different racial or ethnic groups. Progress through
Selman’s stages also is influenced by social experiences. In other words, it is
possible for a person to mature intellectually and to become less egocentric
without becoming skillful at adopting others’ points of view.