- Question on npr piece, "The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet": How do teen brains work differently, ie, what is the role of myelin in the frontal lobe and decision-making?
- Question on Frontline segment, "You Just Don't Understand": What is the role of the cerebellum in decision-making?
- Question on NYTimes article, "The Moral Life of Babies": What is the role of socialization in the moral development of children? What are the implications of socialization on the possbility of a universal moral code?
- When making a decision and taking action, how do you know the benefits outweigh the costs? And, to what extent does it matter? Support with concrete examples.
1. Nerves need Myelin for nerve signals to flow freely and teenagers don't have as much of it as adults do. Teenage brains aren't fully developed yet, the art of their brain that controls the decision making isn't fully functional. The frontal lobe of the brain is accessed much more slowly on a teenager. Myelin doesn't develop fully until the teenager is in their mid twenties. Teenagers can still use their frontal lobe the part that determines decision making, they just access it slower so it isn't as effective.
2. Teenagers use a different part of the brain to asses the emotions they see. The Cerebellum is located in the back of the brain and is the part of the teenage brain that changes most when they're growing up. Like the frontal lobe, this part of the brain also hasn't finished growing until the early twenties of the childs life. it not only is in charge of helping the coordination of our muscles but also the coordination of our thinking process. But since it's still developing and growing it has a hard time sorting out important things that the teenager is being told, from the unimportant things. Almost like it has trouble directing thinking traffic which is why most teenagers choose the unimportant things to remember over the important things like, taking out the trash, or walking the dog.
3.The role of socialization in the moral development of children is very important. Basic interactions will teach the baby what they are, even if they do not know what they are called or why they happen. For instance, babies can tell objects from people. If an object stops moving they lose interest in it but if a persons face stops moving the baby becomes distressed. This shows that socialization is very important to a childs understanding of the world around them because of the things that they see and how they see other people interact with them.
4.When making a decision and taking action based on that decision I think it's hard to tell if the benefits outweigh the costs. It depends on how hard you think about the decision and if you really give the time to think about the costs and the benefits. A common example that I experience at least once a week, is whether to put off certain homework assignments. The benefits of holding off some assignments is usually that I have more time to do art assignments or more time to spend reading a book or blogging on the computer. The costs can be that if I had done that homework when it was first assigned then I wouldn't have so much homework the following night. Most of the time I don't think about possible costs of not doing my homework that night, and I just deal with the stress of having a large load of sudden assignments the next day. This process could also apply to more long term things like... getting a new haircut. I think that it's important to know if the costs outweigh the benefits but I also think it's important to keep in mind how bad you want it. If you know that there could be a high chance of the decision not benefiting you in the end, but you're willing to take that risk any way because there is a chance that it'll work out, then I don't think it's important to keep reminding yourself of all the possible costs.
