Read This/ Not That

This is where you can see different sources according to relevant themes to the blog topic. But before doing so, please consider the issue of credibility of the sources:

Peer-Reviewed Articles: The articles in Theme 1 to Theme 4 are all peer-reviewed; that is, they cite all the sources that are not their own, which makes it easy for us to see if the authors overstate or level information. Scientists expect critiques when they publish their works in peer-reviewed magazines, so they are careful not to make sweeping claims like newspapers and magazines do. It is important to know scientific findings, especially in psychology, often have many limitations.

How about Newspapers or Websites?: The rest of the articles come from newspapers and a website, which may not be as credible as peer-reviewed articles because of the reasons mentioned above. However, the newspaper article in Theme 5 is recommended because it cites sources well, such as that who said what in which study. The rest of the articles in Not That, however, contain less information on primary sources, which makes it difficult to check if they do not overstate or level information. Still, they can be a good starting point for further research.
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Read This/ Articles Recommended
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Theme 1: Don’t Ignore Social Factors When Talk about the Teenage Brain

Males (2009) argues that recent brain studies have failed to take social contexts into account when they talk about their findings. For example, a higher crime rate is seen in people who are poor as well as are a group of ethnic minority. Males also mentions that adults in the U.S. commit many more crimes than adolescents. In conclusion, Males implies that teenagers may engage in risky behaviors because of external forces rather than innate brain development according to their biological ages.

On the other hand, Johnson and Sudhinaraset (2010) criticize Males (2009), arguing that social environments by themselves cannot explain teenagers’ risk-taking behaviors. Still, they state that the link between the brain development and risk taking is still correlational. They also state that most scientists in the field think that the brain development theory and social learning theory go hand in hand. This is important because popular scientific magazines and newspapers often fail to address social factors when they report on brain development.

Theme 2: Don’t Think That We Have the Perfect Measurement for All the Decision Making Skills

Hooper et al.’s (2004) study shows that development of decision making is related to some parts of the brain, using a famous psychological measurement called the Iowa Gambling Task. Simply put, the game tests on how willingly you aim at the high reward in a card game even when you know the lower reward earns more in total. However, the authors admit that the measurement cannot be used to study all the skills related to decision making. That is, different risky behaviors use different skills that may have not been studied yet.

Theme 3: Don’t Assume that Adolescents Do Not Know What Is Risky

Van Leijenhorst, Westenberg, and Crone (2008) discovered that risk perception ability is equal in both adolescents and adults. That is, adolescents do know what is wrong and risky. Although we could still argue that adolescents cannot just inhibit their behaviors that they know are wrong, we are still not 100% sure what separates the teenage brain from the adult brain.

Theme 4: Don’t Put Younger Adolescents and Older Adolescents All Together When Talk about Brain and Risky Behaviors

Brody (2007) quotes a scientist’s comment, arguing that parental supervision is needed for younger adolescents, since their ability to learn from a consequence (e.g. learn not to gamble after losing money) is not as well-developed as adults’. However, please note that they only talk about younger adolescents, not older adolescents.

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Not That/ Articles Not Recommended
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Theme 5: Don’t Believe What You are Told Right Away without Checking the Source

A New York Times article (Anonymous, 2008) describes the recent brain research, lending support to the undeveloped teenage brain. However, it does not include any reference nor mention the importance of social factors in teens’ risky behaviors.

Similarly, Cooke (n.d.) states, without any citation, that teens do not think binge drinking is very dangerous, which contradicts the finding of Leijenhorst, Westenberg, and Crone (2008) in Theme 3.

Theme 6: Don’t Always Believe Everything Psychologists Say

A psychologist/mother (“Teens,” 2007) wrote a letter to Brody’s (2007) article. She criticizes Brody on not mentioning the latest brain research showing that the brain will not fully develop until the mid-20s. However, the letter does not mention the importance of social factors. Therefore, do not assume automatically that psychologists are always correct; this is only a letter without any sources cited, and she will not get reviewed on this letter by any other scientists.


References


Anonymous. Teens and decision making: What brain science reveals. (2008, April). New York Times Upfront, 140(13), 18-20. Retrieved May 18, 2010, from Platinum Periodicals. (Document ID: 1460776351).

Brody, J. E. Teenage risks, and how to avoid them. (2007, December 18). New York Times. Retrieved from May 18, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/18/health/18brod.html

Cooke, B. (n.d.). The teenage brain. Retrieved from June 6, 2010, from http://life.familyeducation.com/teen/growth-and-development/36499.html

Hooper, C. J., Luciana, M., Conklin, H. M., & Yarger, R. S. (2004). Adolescents' performance on the iowa gambling task: Implications for the development of decision making and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Developmental Psychology, 40(6), 1148-1158. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.6.1148

Johnson, S. B., Sudhinaraset, M., & Blum, R. W. (2010). Neuromaturation and adolescent risk taking: Why development is not determinism. Journal of Adolescent Research, 25(1), 4-23. doi:10.1177/0743558409353339

Males, M. (2009). Does the adolescent brain make risk taking inevitable? A skeptical appraisal. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24(1), 3-20. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.seattleu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=35946696&site=ehost-live

Teens and Decision Making :[Letter]. (2007, December 25). New York Times (Late Edition (east Coast)), p. 4. Retrieved May 18, 2010, from New York Times. (Document ID: 1403800841).

Van Leijenhorst, L., Westenberg, P. M., & Crone, E. A. (2008). A developmental study of risky decisions on the cake gambling task: Age and gender analyses of probability estimation and reward evaluation. Developmental Neuropsychology, 33(2), 179-196. doi:10.1080/87565640701884287