Reconciling the Complexity of Human Development
With the Reality of Legal Policy
Reply to Fischer, Stein, and Heikkinen (2009)
Laurence Steinberg Temple University
Elizabeth Cauffman University of California, Irvine
Jennifer Woolard Georgetown University
Sandra Graham University of California, Los Angeles
Marie Banich University of Colorado
The authors respond to both the general and specific con-
cerns raised in Fischer, Stein, and Heikkinen’s (2009)
commentary on their article (Steinberg, Cauffman, Wool-
ard, Graham, & Banich, 2009), in which they drew on
studies of adolescent development to justify the American
Psychological Association’s positions in two Supreme
Court cases involving the construction of legal age bound-
aries. In response to Fischer et al.’s general concern that
the construction of bright-line age boundaries is inconsis-
tent with the fact that development is multifaceted, variable
across individuals, and contextually conditioned, the au-
thors argue that the only logical alternative suggested by
that perspective is impractical and unhelpful in a legal
context. In response to Fischer et al.’s specific concerns
that their conclusion about the differential timetables of
cognitive and psychosocial maturity is merely an artifact of
the variables, measures, and methods they used, the au-
thors argue that, unlike the alternatives suggested by Fi-
scher et al., their choices are aligned with the specific
capacities under consideration in the two cases. The au-
thors reaffirm their position that there is considerable
empirical evidence that adolescents demonstrate adult lev-
els of cognitive capability several years before they evince
adult levels of psychosocial maturity.
Keywords: policy, science, adolescent development, chro-
nological age
In our article (Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham,& Banich, 2009, this issue), we asked whether therewas scientific justification for the different positions
taken by the American Psychological Association (APA) in
two related Supreme Court cases—Hodgson v. Minnesota
(1990; a case concerning minors’ competence to make
independent decisions about abortion, in which APA ar-
gued that adolescents were just as mature as adults) and
Roper v. Simmons (2005; a case about the constitutionality
of the juvenile death penalty, in which APA argued that
adolescents were not as mature as adults). On the basis of
our reading of the extant literature in developmental psy-
chology, as well as findings from a recent study of our own,
we concluded that the capabilities relevant to judging in-
dividuals’ competence to make autonomous decisions
about abortion reach adult levels of maturity earlier than do
capabilities relevant to assessments of criminal culpability,
and that it was therefore reasonable to draw different age
boundaries between adolescents and adults in each in-
stance.
In their commentary on our article, Fischer, Stein, and
Heikkinen (2009, this issue) raised both general and spe-
cif ...
Does fact presentation method affect death penalty attitudes? Shelby Ullrich
Having the right to an impartial jury is a key component of the American criminal justice system, especially in capital punishment cases. It is important to consider how jurors' attitudes can affect trial outcomes and how attitudes can be most easily swayed. This experiment tested the hypothesis that a death penalty facts formatted emotionally is more influential than death penalty facts formatted logically. Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to read facts in an emotional or logical format. All participants responded to various types of questions to measure their attitudes about the death penalty. The results were insubstantial as there was only a slight difference between the conditions. Nonetheless, there is much more research needed in this area to better understand the dynamics of persuasion through the format of information.
Attitudes toward suicide may influence the
treatment content and outcomes. Hence, this study aimed to
investigate how public attitudes toward suicide were influenced
by (1) their degree of idealism; and (2) their degree of
relativism. A questionnaire survey with Suicide Perception
Scale and Ethic Position Questionnaire was carried out on 50
male and 50 female participants (aged 21 and above) from
Klang Valley, Malaysia to obtain answer. The findings
supported both hypotheses, indicated that (1) higher idealism is
associated with lower level of acceptance toward suicide; and
(2) higher relativism is associated with higher level of
acceptance toward suicide. In sum, variations in public’s
attitude toward suicide were related to individual differences in
personal ethical ideologies and moral philosophies.
Does fact presentation method affect death penalty attitudes? Shelby Ullrich
Having the right to an impartial jury is a key component of the American criminal justice system, especially in capital punishment cases. It is important to consider how jurors' attitudes can affect trial outcomes and how attitudes can be most easily swayed. This experiment tested the hypothesis that a death penalty facts formatted emotionally is more influential than death penalty facts formatted logically. Fifty-seven participants were randomly assigned to read facts in an emotional or logical format. All participants responded to various types of questions to measure their attitudes about the death penalty. The results were insubstantial as there was only a slight difference between the conditions. Nonetheless, there is much more research needed in this area to better understand the dynamics of persuasion through the format of information.
Attitudes toward suicide may influence the
treatment content and outcomes. Hence, this study aimed to
investigate how public attitudes toward suicide were influenced
by (1) their degree of idealism; and (2) their degree of
relativism. A questionnaire survey with Suicide Perception
Scale and Ethic Position Questionnaire was carried out on 50
male and 50 female participants (aged 21 and above) from
Klang Valley, Malaysia to obtain answer. The findings
supported both hypotheses, indicated that (1) higher idealism is
associated with lower level of acceptance toward suicide; and
(2) higher relativism is associated with higher level of
acceptance toward suicide. In sum, variations in public’s
attitude toward suicide were related to individual differences in
personal ethical ideologies and moral philosophies.
Gay Marriage Essay Thesis. How to Write a Gay Marriage Essay: Persuasive Essa...Sara Roberts
Essay Gay Marriage PDF Same Sex Marriage Homosexuality. Gay Marriage Should Be Legalized Essay Example Topics and Well .... What is same sex marriage essay. Same Sex Marriage. 2022-11-01. Position paper on gay marriage. Legalization of Same Sex Marriage. 2022 .... Pros and cons of gay marriage essay thesis. Gay Marriage - persuasive essay. - A-Level Sociology - Marked by .... Same Sex Marriage Essay Essay on Same Sex Marriage for Students and .... Gay Marriage Essay Legal Studies - Year 11 HSC Thinkswap. Thesis Statement For Gay Marriage - Bookmark Milfs. Narrative Essay: Homosexual marriage essay. thesis workshopsss Same Sex Marriage Homosexuality. Gay Marriages Essay. The Subject of Gay Marriage in the United States Essay Example Topics .... Gay marriage research essay. GAY MARRIAGE outline. Expository essay: Proposal argumentative essay on same sex marriage and .... Essays on gay marriage and religion - eyeofthedaygdc.web.fc2.com. Sample argumentative essay on gay marriage - Same Sex Marriage Essay .... Gay marriage research paper introduction. Same Sex Marriage Essay .... Same Sex Marriage Essay 19/20 Legal Studies - Year 12 HSC Thinkswap. Gay Marriage Sample Essay Same Sex Relationship Homosexuality. Gay Marriage Argument Essay Marriage Same Sex Marriage. Gay marriages essay - Custom Essays amp; Research Papers At Affordable Prices. Persuasive Essay-Gay Marriage by mickyway on DeviantArt. gay marriage thesis statement pro. Homosexual marriage essay - Get Help From Custom College Essay Writing .... How to Write a Gay Marriage Essay: Persuasive Essay Example and Tips .... Gay Marriage and Religion Free Essay Example. PDF Same-Sex Marriage and Legalized Relationships. Benefits of gay marriage essay. 9 Advantages and Disadvantages of Gay .... Gay marriage legalisation essay scholarships. Gay rights essay thesis writing. Pro gay marriage essay conclusion words Gay Marriage Essay Thesis Gay Marriage Essay Thesis. How to Write a Gay Marriage Essay: Persuasive Essay Example and Tips ...
httpjcc.sagepub.comPsychology Journal of Cross-Cultur.docxwellesleyterresa
http://jcc.sagepub.com
Psychology
Journal of Cross-Cultural
DOI: 10.1177/0022022194252002
1994; 25; 181 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Deborah L. Best, Amy S. House, Anne E. Barnard and Brenda S. Spicker
Effects of Gender and Culture
Parent-Child Interactions in France, Germany, and Italy: The
http://jcc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/25/2/181
The online version of this article can be found at:
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
On behalf of:
International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology
at:
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http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/01650254.html
Perspectives on gender development
Eleanor E. Maccoby
Stanford University, California, USA
Two traditional perspectives on gender development—the socialisation and cognitive perspectives—
are reviewed. It is noted that although they deal quite well with individual differences within ...
Blended Sentencing Laws and the PunitiveTurn in Juvenile JusChantellPantoja184
Blended Sentencing Laws and the Punitive
Turn in Juvenile Justice
Shelly S. Schaefer and Christopher Uggen
In many states, young people today can receive a “blended” combination of both a
juvenile sanction and an adult criminal sentence. We ask what accounts for the rise of
blended sentencing in juvenile justice and whether this trend parallels crime control
developments in the adult criminal justice system. We use event history analysis to model
state adoption of blended sentencing laws from 1985 to 2008, examining the relative
influence of social, political, administrative, and economic factors. We find that states
with high unemployment, greater prosecutorial discretion, and disproportionate rates of
African American incarceration are most likely to pass blended sentencing provisions.
This suggests that the turn toward blended sentencing largely parallels the punitive turn
in adult sentencing and corrections—and that theory and research on adult punishment
productively extends to developments in juvenile justice.
INTRODUCTION
During the “get tough” era of the 1980s and 1990s, many US states ramped up
the severity of punishment for both first-time and repeat criminal offenders.
Reforms in the criminal court included three-strike laws, mandatory minimums,
sentencing guidelines, and truth in sentencing legislation (Tonry 1996; Clear and
Frost 2013). Despite the juvenile court’s orientation toward making decisions in the
“best interest of the child,” more punitive policies also began to creep into the
juvenile justice system during this period (Howell 2003, 2008; Ward and Kupchik
2009). Most notably, states began expanding legal mechanisms, such as direct file
transfer and mandatory waiver laws, to transfer adolescents to adult criminal court
(Zimring 1998, 2000; Feld 1999, 2003; Griffin 2003; Kupchik 2006; Steiner and
Wright 2006; Fagan 2008; Johnson and Kurlychek 2012).
Because these legal mechanisms to transfer youth to adult court coincided with
a juvenile crime boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such measures generally
met with broad public support. Among persons aged ten to seventeen, the juvenile
arrest rate for violent index crimes nearly doubled between 1984 and 1994, rising
from 279 to 497 per 100,000, before descending to a historic low of 182 by 2012
Shelly Schaefer, corresponding author, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal
Justice and Forensic Science at Hamline University. She received her PhD in Sociology from the
University of Minnesota. She can be contacted at Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue North,
St. Paul, MN 55124; phone (651) 523-2145; fax (651) 523-2170; [email protected]
Christopher Uggen, PhD, is Distinguished McKnight Professor in the Department of Sociology at
the University of Minnesota. He can be contacted at [email protected]
We thank Lindsay Blahnik for her research assistance on this project and four anonymous
reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions on ea ...
1-Racism Consider the two films shown in class Night and Fog,.docxcatheryncouper
1-Racism:
Consider the two films shown in class "Night and Fog", and "Mr. Tanimoto's Journey". What do you think are the salient similarities, if any? What are the crucial differences? Why?
2- Slavery New & Old
Bales notes that New Slavery is very different from Old Slavery. What are some of the differences he describes? What are the links between New Slavery and the Globalized Economy?
Bales also notes that there are things we each can do to end slavery, but that this requires taking a "very dispassionate look at slaves as a commodity" (Bales 250). Why?
Finally, he suggests that activism without a broad-based explanatory framework is worse than none at all. Why does he think so? Do you agree? Why or why not?
3- Human- The Film
How, if at all, does the film "Human" resonate with or reflect themes explored in What Matters? Which of the characters was most compelling to you, and why?
4- Culture and Power Create Scarcity
Recognize that power and culture are inseparable, one does not exist without the other, and currently the dominant form of culture is based upon industrial production requiring essentially infinite energy supplies – which do not in fact exist. So we collectively face a terrible problem. And yet the greatest burden of this problem is being borne by those least able to do anything about it, while at the same time those who benefit most from the economic inequalities imposed by the culture of industrial production and imposed scarcity are unwilling or unable to recognize that things cannot continue as they are. This is our dilemma; one we must solve now or ignore and risk facing unimaginable chaos later.
Concerned about the ultimate implications of his theories about space, time and energy, Einstein pointed out that 20th century problems would never be solved by 19th century thinking. Indeed, by the same token, 21st century problems will not be solved with 20th century thinking either. The same can be said for oversimplified false dichotomies between 'conservatives' and 'liberals' and particularly 'capitalism' and 'communism'. The latter pair of binary opposites are 19th century ideas while the former are legacies of the 20th century.
We are well beyond the political and economic circumstances that informed such artificially limited conceptualizations of the human condition in many, many ways. And yet, these same tired inaccurate philosophical cages are still supposed to encompass the almost infinite variety and subtleties of contemporary global and local political economies? This is essentially the problem Einstein was concerned with when he noted the conceptual poverty of such willed ignorance. Our technological capacity has outstripped our cultural mechanisms of maintaining social control (consider greed: how much is enough?) and exacerbated our ability to impose physically violent solutions to complex and entirely negotiable problems. Our challenge now is to reassert the primacy of compassion and respect for differenc.
1-http://fluoridealert.org/researchers/states/kentucky/
2-
3-School fluoridation studies in Elk Lake, Pennsylvania, and Pike County, Kentucky--results after eight years.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1229128/?page=1
4-American Association for Dental Research Policy Statement on Community Water Fluoridation
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022034518797274
5- Ground-Water Quality in Kentucky: Fluoride - University of Kentucky
http://www.uky.edu/KGS/pdf/ic12_01.pdf
6-Kentucky Oral Health Program Brochure - Cabinet for Health.
https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dmch/cfhib/Oral%20Health%20Program/beigebrochureoralhealth80107.pdf
7-
8-
9-
PIIS00028177146263
98.pdf
746 JADA, Vol. 131, June 2000
Enamel fluorosis is a hypomineralization of the
enamel caused by the ingestion of an amount of
fluoride that is above optimal levels during
enamel formation.1,2 Clinically, the appearance of
enamel fluorosis can vary. In its mildest form, it
appears as faint white lines or streaks visible
only to trained examiners under controlled exam-
ination conditions. In its pronounced form, fluo-
rosis manifests as white mottling of the teeth in
which noticeable white lines or streaks often
have coalesced into larger opaque areas.2,3 Brown
staining or pitting of the enamel also may be
present.2,3 In its most severe form, actual break-
down of the enamel may occur.2,3
In recent years, there has been an increase in
the prevalence of children seen with enamel fluo-
A B S T R A C T
Background. Few studies have evaluated the
impact of specific fluoride sources on the prevalence of
enamel fluorosis in the population. The author con-
ducted research to determine attributable risk percent
estimates for mild-to-moderate enamel fluorosis in two
populations of middle-school–aged children.
Methods. The author recruited two groups of
children 10 to 14 years of age. One group of 429 had
grown up in nonfluoridated communities; the other
group of 234 had grown up in optimally fluoridated
communities. Trained examiners measured enamel
fluorosis using the Fluorosis Risk Index and meas-
ured early childhood fluoride exposure using a ques-
tionnaire completed by the parent. The author then
calculated attributable risk percent estimates, or the
proportion of cases of mild-to-moderate enamel fluo-
rosis associated with exposure to specific early fluo-
ride sources, based on logistic regression models.
Results. In the nonfluoridated study sample,
sixty-five percent of the enamel fluorosis cases were
attributed to fluoride supplementation under the pre-
1994 protocol. An additional 34 percent were
explained by the children having brushed more than
once per day during the first two years of life. In the
optimally fluoridated study sample, 68 percent of the
enamel fluorosis cases were explained by the children
using more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste
during the first year of life, 13 percent by having
been inappropriately given a fluoride supple.
1. Consider our political system today, in 2019. Which groups of peo.docxcatheryncouper
1. Consider our political system today, in 2019. Which groups of people are
excluded from participating in the political process?
Please identify at least two groups of people who are excluded and engage with at least one of your colleagues and explain why you either agree or disagree with the group of people that they identified. As always, use your critical thinking skills to answer this.
2.
What speech is protected under the
first amendment
and what speech is
excluded
from first amendment protection? And why?
.
1-Ageism is a concept introduced decades ago and is defined as .docxcatheryncouper
1-Ageism is a concept introduced decades ago and is defined as “the prejudices and stereotypes that are applied to older people sheerly on the basis of their age…” (Butler, Lewis, & Sutherland, 1991).
DQ: What are some common misconceptions you have heard or believed about older adults? What can you do to dispel these myths?
2-Please use textbook as, at least, one reference.
3-Please abide by APA 7th edition format in your writing.
4-Answers should be 2-3 Paragraphs made up of 3-4 sentences each
UNIT 1 CHAPTER 4 LIFE TRANSITIONS AND HISTORY (ATTACHED)
.
1. Create a PowerPoint PowerPoint must include a minimum of.docxcatheryncouper
1.
Create a PowerPoint:
PowerPoint must include a minimum of 12 slides (including Title Slide and Reference slide). Ensure that information is cited in-text throughout the presentation. Use inspirational quotes, graphics, visual aids, and video clips to enhance your presentation. Ensure that information included on your slides is properly paraphrased and cited; the use of direct quotes is prohibited. A minimum of three sources should be included (your textbook counts); ensure sources are credible.
Once you have chosen your format, choose a type of stress (schoolwork, family, job, a relationship, etc) and answer all of the following questions:
1. Give examples that causes the stress.
2. Describe healthy coping mechanisms you can use to help with stress.
3. Discuss of the warning signs of stress is in your life.
4. Describe the short-term effects stress can have on an individual.
5. Describe the long-term effects stress can have on an individual.
.
1. Compare vulnerable populations. Describe an example of one of the.docxcatheryncouper
1. Compare vulnerable populations. Describe an example of one of these groups in the United States or from another country. Explain why the population is designated as "vulnerable." Include the number of individuals belonging to this group and the specific challenges or issues involved. Discuss why these populations are unable to advocate for themselves, the ethical issues that must be considered when working with these groups, and how nursing advocacy would be beneficial.
2.
How does the community health nurse recognize bias, stereotypes, and implicit bias within the community? How should the nurse address these concepts to ensure health promotion activities are culturally competent? Propose strategies that you can employ to reduce cultural dissonance and bias to deliver culturally competent care. Include an evidence-based article that address the cultural issue. Cite and reference the article in APA format.
.
1. Complete the Budget Challenge activity at httpswww.federa.docxcatheryncouper
1. Complete the Budget Challenge activity at: https://www.federalbudgetchallenge.org/challenges/20/pages/overview
a. Keep a record of your selections and why you decided to select them and not the other options. ( keep a record of your selections in piece of paper so you can go back and reflect on your choices in your write-up. For instance, the first choice is about investments. So, on a piece of paper write down whether you selected any of the investment choices and a quick note about why you chose (for example) to spend $30B to establish a National Infrastructure Bank but didn't select to invest in the other options.) your selections as those reflect your own personal, subjective, choices. I will grade the assignment based on whether you have provided a thoughtful written response that answers the questions posted on the instructions.
b. When you’ve finished, save your results summary page.
2. Write a 2.5+ page summary overview of your experience, discussing your budget selections and analyzing your responses. Use the following questions to guide your response, but don't be limited by them:
a. What was challenging?
b. What was easy?
c. What do your selections say about your policy priorities and political ideologies?
** source: (Author Last Name, Year, pg.)
June 2003: WAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AIR
“Did you hear about it?”
“About what?”
“The niggers, the niggers!”
“What about ’em?”
“Them leaving, pulling out, going away; did you hear?”
“What you mean, pulling out? How can they do that?”
“They can, they will, they are.”
“Just a couple?”
“Every single one here in the South!”
“No.”
“Yes!”
“I got to see that. I don’t believe it. Where they going — Africa?”
A silence.
“Mars.”
“You mean the planet Mars?”
“That’s right.”
The men stood up in the hot shade of the hardware porch. Someone quit lighting a pipe. Somebody else spat out into the hot dust of noon.
“They can’t leave, they can’t do that.”
“They’re doing it, anyways.”
“Where’d you hear this?”
“It’s everywhere, on the radio a minute ago, just come through.”
Like a series of dusty statues, the men came to life.
Samuel Teece, the hardware proprietor, laughed uneasily. “I wondered what happened to Silly. I sent him on my bike an hour ago. He ain’t come back from Mrs. Bordman’s yet. You think that black fool just pedaled off to Mars?”
The men snorted.
“All I say is, he better bring back my bike. I don’t take stealing from no one, by God.”
“Listen!”
The men collided irritably with each other, turning.
Far up the street the levee seemed to have broken. The black warm waters descended and engulfed the town. Between the blazing white banks of the town stores, among the tree silences, a black tide flowed. Like a kind of summer molasses, it poured turgidly forth upon the cinnamon-dusty road. It surged slow, slow, and it was men and women and horses and barking dogs, and it was little boys and girls. And from the mouths of the people partaking of this tide came the sound of a river. A summer-.
1. Connections between organizations, information systems and busi.docxcatheryncouper
1. Connections between organizations, information systems and business processes.
2. There are a number of benefits associated with cutting edge business analytics.
3. Three conditions that contribute to data redundancy and inconsistency are:
4. Network neutrality
5. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
6. Outsourcing IT-advantages and disadvantages
7. The security challenges faced by wireless networks
.
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Essay Gay Marriage PDF Same Sex Marriage Homosexuality. Gay Marriage Should Be Legalized Essay Example Topics and Well .... What is same sex marriage essay. Same Sex Marriage. 2022-11-01. Position paper on gay marriage. Legalization of Same Sex Marriage. 2022 .... Pros and cons of gay marriage essay thesis. Gay Marriage - persuasive essay. - A-Level Sociology - Marked by .... Same Sex Marriage Essay Essay on Same Sex Marriage for Students and .... Gay Marriage Essay Legal Studies - Year 11 HSC Thinkswap. Thesis Statement For Gay Marriage - Bookmark Milfs. Narrative Essay: Homosexual marriage essay. thesis workshopsss Same Sex Marriage Homosexuality. Gay Marriages Essay. The Subject of Gay Marriage in the United States Essay Example Topics .... Gay marriage research essay. GAY MARRIAGE outline. Expository essay: Proposal argumentative essay on same sex marriage and .... Essays on gay marriage and religion - eyeofthedaygdc.web.fc2.com. Sample argumentative essay on gay marriage - Same Sex Marriage Essay .... Gay marriage research paper introduction. Same Sex Marriage Essay .... Same Sex Marriage Essay 19/20 Legal Studies - Year 12 HSC Thinkswap. Gay Marriage Sample Essay Same Sex Relationship Homosexuality. Gay Marriage Argument Essay Marriage Same Sex Marriage. Gay marriages essay - Custom Essays amp; Research Papers At Affordable Prices. Persuasive Essay-Gay Marriage by mickyway on DeviantArt. gay marriage thesis statement pro. Homosexual marriage essay - Get Help From Custom College Essay Writing .... How to Write a Gay Marriage Essay: Persuasive Essay Example and Tips .... Gay Marriage and Religion Free Essay Example. PDF Same-Sex Marriage and Legalized Relationships. Benefits of gay marriage essay. 9 Advantages and Disadvantages of Gay .... Gay marriage legalisation essay scholarships. Gay rights essay thesis writing. Pro gay marriage essay conclusion words Gay Marriage Essay Thesis Gay Marriage Essay Thesis. How to Write a Gay Marriage Essay: Persuasive Essay Example and Tips ...
httpjcc.sagepub.comPsychology Journal of Cross-Cultur.docxwellesleyterresa
http://jcc.sagepub.com
Psychology
Journal of Cross-Cultural
DOI: 10.1177/0022022194252002
1994; 25; 181 Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Deborah L. Best, Amy S. House, Anne E. Barnard and Brenda S. Spicker
Effects of Gender and Culture
Parent-Child Interactions in France, Germany, and Italy: The
http://jcc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/25/2/181
The online version of this article can be found at:
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
On behalf of:
International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology
at:
can be foundJournal of Cross-Cultural Psychology Additional services and information for
http://jcc.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts:
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http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/pp/01650254.html
Perspectives on gender development
Eleanor E. Maccoby
Stanford University, California, USA
Two traditional perspectives on gender development—the socialisation and cognitive perspectives—
are reviewed. It is noted that although they deal quite well with individual differences within ...
Blended Sentencing Laws and the PunitiveTurn in Juvenile JusChantellPantoja184
Blended Sentencing Laws and the Punitive
Turn in Juvenile Justice
Shelly S. Schaefer and Christopher Uggen
In many states, young people today can receive a “blended” combination of both a
juvenile sanction and an adult criminal sentence. We ask what accounts for the rise of
blended sentencing in juvenile justice and whether this trend parallels crime control
developments in the adult criminal justice system. We use event history analysis to model
state adoption of blended sentencing laws from 1985 to 2008, examining the relative
influence of social, political, administrative, and economic factors. We find that states
with high unemployment, greater prosecutorial discretion, and disproportionate rates of
African American incarceration are most likely to pass blended sentencing provisions.
This suggests that the turn toward blended sentencing largely parallels the punitive turn
in adult sentencing and corrections—and that theory and research on adult punishment
productively extends to developments in juvenile justice.
INTRODUCTION
During the “get tough” era of the 1980s and 1990s, many US states ramped up
the severity of punishment for both first-time and repeat criminal offenders.
Reforms in the criminal court included three-strike laws, mandatory minimums,
sentencing guidelines, and truth in sentencing legislation (Tonry 1996; Clear and
Frost 2013). Despite the juvenile court’s orientation toward making decisions in the
“best interest of the child,” more punitive policies also began to creep into the
juvenile justice system during this period (Howell 2003, 2008; Ward and Kupchik
2009). Most notably, states began expanding legal mechanisms, such as direct file
transfer and mandatory waiver laws, to transfer adolescents to adult criminal court
(Zimring 1998, 2000; Feld 1999, 2003; Griffin 2003; Kupchik 2006; Steiner and
Wright 2006; Fagan 2008; Johnson and Kurlychek 2012).
Because these legal mechanisms to transfer youth to adult court coincided with
a juvenile crime boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s, such measures generally
met with broad public support. Among persons aged ten to seventeen, the juvenile
arrest rate for violent index crimes nearly doubled between 1984 and 1994, rising
from 279 to 497 per 100,000, before descending to a historic low of 182 by 2012
Shelly Schaefer, corresponding author, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal
Justice and Forensic Science at Hamline University. She received her PhD in Sociology from the
University of Minnesota. She can be contacted at Hamline University, 1536 Hewitt Avenue North,
St. Paul, MN 55124; phone (651) 523-2145; fax (651) 523-2170; [email protected]
Christopher Uggen, PhD, is Distinguished McKnight Professor in the Department of Sociology at
the University of Minnesota. He can be contacted at [email protected]
We thank Lindsay Blahnik for her research assistance on this project and four anonymous
reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions on ea ...
1-Racism Consider the two films shown in class Night and Fog,.docxcatheryncouper
1-Racism:
Consider the two films shown in class "Night and Fog", and "Mr. Tanimoto's Journey". What do you think are the salient similarities, if any? What are the crucial differences? Why?
2- Slavery New & Old
Bales notes that New Slavery is very different from Old Slavery. What are some of the differences he describes? What are the links between New Slavery and the Globalized Economy?
Bales also notes that there are things we each can do to end slavery, but that this requires taking a "very dispassionate look at slaves as a commodity" (Bales 250). Why?
Finally, he suggests that activism without a broad-based explanatory framework is worse than none at all. Why does he think so? Do you agree? Why or why not?
3- Human- The Film
How, if at all, does the film "Human" resonate with or reflect themes explored in What Matters? Which of the characters was most compelling to you, and why?
4- Culture and Power Create Scarcity
Recognize that power and culture are inseparable, one does not exist without the other, and currently the dominant form of culture is based upon industrial production requiring essentially infinite energy supplies – which do not in fact exist. So we collectively face a terrible problem. And yet the greatest burden of this problem is being borne by those least able to do anything about it, while at the same time those who benefit most from the economic inequalities imposed by the culture of industrial production and imposed scarcity are unwilling or unable to recognize that things cannot continue as they are. This is our dilemma; one we must solve now or ignore and risk facing unimaginable chaos later.
Concerned about the ultimate implications of his theories about space, time and energy, Einstein pointed out that 20th century problems would never be solved by 19th century thinking. Indeed, by the same token, 21st century problems will not be solved with 20th century thinking either. The same can be said for oversimplified false dichotomies between 'conservatives' and 'liberals' and particularly 'capitalism' and 'communism'. The latter pair of binary opposites are 19th century ideas while the former are legacies of the 20th century.
We are well beyond the political and economic circumstances that informed such artificially limited conceptualizations of the human condition in many, many ways. And yet, these same tired inaccurate philosophical cages are still supposed to encompass the almost infinite variety and subtleties of contemporary global and local political economies? This is essentially the problem Einstein was concerned with when he noted the conceptual poverty of such willed ignorance. Our technological capacity has outstripped our cultural mechanisms of maintaining social control (consider greed: how much is enough?) and exacerbated our ability to impose physically violent solutions to complex and entirely negotiable problems. Our challenge now is to reassert the primacy of compassion and respect for differenc.
1-http://fluoridealert.org/researchers/states/kentucky/
2-
3-School fluoridation studies in Elk Lake, Pennsylvania, and Pike County, Kentucky--results after eight years.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1229128/?page=1
4-American Association for Dental Research Policy Statement on Community Water Fluoridation
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022034518797274
5- Ground-Water Quality in Kentucky: Fluoride - University of Kentucky
http://www.uky.edu/KGS/pdf/ic12_01.pdf
6-Kentucky Oral Health Program Brochure - Cabinet for Health.
https://chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dmch/cfhib/Oral%20Health%20Program/beigebrochureoralhealth80107.pdf
7-
8-
9-
PIIS00028177146263
98.pdf
746 JADA, Vol. 131, June 2000
Enamel fluorosis is a hypomineralization of the
enamel caused by the ingestion of an amount of
fluoride that is above optimal levels during
enamel formation.1,2 Clinically, the appearance of
enamel fluorosis can vary. In its mildest form, it
appears as faint white lines or streaks visible
only to trained examiners under controlled exam-
ination conditions. In its pronounced form, fluo-
rosis manifests as white mottling of the teeth in
which noticeable white lines or streaks often
have coalesced into larger opaque areas.2,3 Brown
staining or pitting of the enamel also may be
present.2,3 In its most severe form, actual break-
down of the enamel may occur.2,3
In recent years, there has been an increase in
the prevalence of children seen with enamel fluo-
A B S T R A C T
Background. Few studies have evaluated the
impact of specific fluoride sources on the prevalence of
enamel fluorosis in the population. The author con-
ducted research to determine attributable risk percent
estimates for mild-to-moderate enamel fluorosis in two
populations of middle-school–aged children.
Methods. The author recruited two groups of
children 10 to 14 years of age. One group of 429 had
grown up in nonfluoridated communities; the other
group of 234 had grown up in optimally fluoridated
communities. Trained examiners measured enamel
fluorosis using the Fluorosis Risk Index and meas-
ured early childhood fluoride exposure using a ques-
tionnaire completed by the parent. The author then
calculated attributable risk percent estimates, or the
proportion of cases of mild-to-moderate enamel fluo-
rosis associated with exposure to specific early fluo-
ride sources, based on logistic regression models.
Results. In the nonfluoridated study sample,
sixty-five percent of the enamel fluorosis cases were
attributed to fluoride supplementation under the pre-
1994 protocol. An additional 34 percent were
explained by the children having brushed more than
once per day during the first two years of life. In the
optimally fluoridated study sample, 68 percent of the
enamel fluorosis cases were explained by the children
using more than a pea-sized amount of toothpaste
during the first year of life, 13 percent by having
been inappropriately given a fluoride supple.
1. Consider our political system today, in 2019. Which groups of peo.docxcatheryncouper
1. Consider our political system today, in 2019. Which groups of people are
excluded from participating in the political process?
Please identify at least two groups of people who are excluded and engage with at least one of your colleagues and explain why you either agree or disagree with the group of people that they identified. As always, use your critical thinking skills to answer this.
2.
What speech is protected under the
first amendment
and what speech is
excluded
from first amendment protection? And why?
.
1-Ageism is a concept introduced decades ago and is defined as .docxcatheryncouper
1-Ageism is a concept introduced decades ago and is defined as “the prejudices and stereotypes that are applied to older people sheerly on the basis of their age…” (Butler, Lewis, & Sutherland, 1991).
DQ: What are some common misconceptions you have heard or believed about older adults? What can you do to dispel these myths?
2-Please use textbook as, at least, one reference.
3-Please abide by APA 7th edition format in your writing.
4-Answers should be 2-3 Paragraphs made up of 3-4 sentences each
UNIT 1 CHAPTER 4 LIFE TRANSITIONS AND HISTORY (ATTACHED)
.
1. Create a PowerPoint PowerPoint must include a minimum of.docxcatheryncouper
1.
Create a PowerPoint:
PowerPoint must include a minimum of 12 slides (including Title Slide and Reference slide). Ensure that information is cited in-text throughout the presentation. Use inspirational quotes, graphics, visual aids, and video clips to enhance your presentation. Ensure that information included on your slides is properly paraphrased and cited; the use of direct quotes is prohibited. A minimum of three sources should be included (your textbook counts); ensure sources are credible.
Once you have chosen your format, choose a type of stress (schoolwork, family, job, a relationship, etc) and answer all of the following questions:
1. Give examples that causes the stress.
2. Describe healthy coping mechanisms you can use to help with stress.
3. Discuss of the warning signs of stress is in your life.
4. Describe the short-term effects stress can have on an individual.
5. Describe the long-term effects stress can have on an individual.
.
1. Compare vulnerable populations. Describe an example of one of the.docxcatheryncouper
1. Compare vulnerable populations. Describe an example of one of these groups in the United States or from another country. Explain why the population is designated as "vulnerable." Include the number of individuals belonging to this group and the specific challenges or issues involved. Discuss why these populations are unable to advocate for themselves, the ethical issues that must be considered when working with these groups, and how nursing advocacy would be beneficial.
2.
How does the community health nurse recognize bias, stereotypes, and implicit bias within the community? How should the nurse address these concepts to ensure health promotion activities are culturally competent? Propose strategies that you can employ to reduce cultural dissonance and bias to deliver culturally competent care. Include an evidence-based article that address the cultural issue. Cite and reference the article in APA format.
.
1. Complete the Budget Challenge activity at httpswww.federa.docxcatheryncouper
1. Complete the Budget Challenge activity at: https://www.federalbudgetchallenge.org/challenges/20/pages/overview
a. Keep a record of your selections and why you decided to select them and not the other options. ( keep a record of your selections in piece of paper so you can go back and reflect on your choices in your write-up. For instance, the first choice is about investments. So, on a piece of paper write down whether you selected any of the investment choices and a quick note about why you chose (for example) to spend $30B to establish a National Infrastructure Bank but didn't select to invest in the other options.) your selections as those reflect your own personal, subjective, choices. I will grade the assignment based on whether you have provided a thoughtful written response that answers the questions posted on the instructions.
b. When you’ve finished, save your results summary page.
2. Write a 2.5+ page summary overview of your experience, discussing your budget selections and analyzing your responses. Use the following questions to guide your response, but don't be limited by them:
a. What was challenging?
b. What was easy?
c. What do your selections say about your policy priorities and political ideologies?
** source: (Author Last Name, Year, pg.)
June 2003: WAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AIR
“Did you hear about it?”
“About what?”
“The niggers, the niggers!”
“What about ’em?”
“Them leaving, pulling out, going away; did you hear?”
“What you mean, pulling out? How can they do that?”
“They can, they will, they are.”
“Just a couple?”
“Every single one here in the South!”
“No.”
“Yes!”
“I got to see that. I don’t believe it. Where they going — Africa?”
A silence.
“Mars.”
“You mean the planet Mars?”
“That’s right.”
The men stood up in the hot shade of the hardware porch. Someone quit lighting a pipe. Somebody else spat out into the hot dust of noon.
“They can’t leave, they can’t do that.”
“They’re doing it, anyways.”
“Where’d you hear this?”
“It’s everywhere, on the radio a minute ago, just come through.”
Like a series of dusty statues, the men came to life.
Samuel Teece, the hardware proprietor, laughed uneasily. “I wondered what happened to Silly. I sent him on my bike an hour ago. He ain’t come back from Mrs. Bordman’s yet. You think that black fool just pedaled off to Mars?”
The men snorted.
“All I say is, he better bring back my bike. I don’t take stealing from no one, by God.”
“Listen!”
The men collided irritably with each other, turning.
Far up the street the levee seemed to have broken. The black warm waters descended and engulfed the town. Between the blazing white banks of the town stores, among the tree silences, a black tide flowed. Like a kind of summer molasses, it poured turgidly forth upon the cinnamon-dusty road. It surged slow, slow, and it was men and women and horses and barking dogs, and it was little boys and girls. And from the mouths of the people partaking of this tide came the sound of a river. A summer-.
1. Connections between organizations, information systems and busi.docxcatheryncouper
1. Connections between organizations, information systems and business processes.
2. There are a number of benefits associated with cutting edge business analytics.
3. Three conditions that contribute to data redundancy and inconsistency are:
4. Network neutrality
5. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).
6. Outsourcing IT-advantages and disadvantages
7. The security challenges faced by wireless networks
.
1-Experiences with a Hybrid Class Tips And PitfallsCollege .docxcatheryncouper
1-Experiences with a Hybrid Class: Tips And Pitfalls
College Teaching Methods & Styles Journal, 2006, Vol.2(2), p.9-12
Notes
This paper will discuss the author's experiences with converting a traditional classroom-based course to a hybrid class, using a mix of traditional class time and web-support. The course which was converted is a lower-level human relations class, which has been offered in both the traditional classroom-based setting and as an asynchronous online course. After approximately five years of offering the two formats independently, the author decided to experiment with improving the traditional course by adopting more of the web-based support and incorporating more research and written assignments in "out of class" time. The course has evolved into approximately 60% traditional classroom meetings and 40% assignments and other assessments out of class. The instructor's assessment of the hybrid nature of the class is that students are more challenged by the mix of research and writing assignments with traditional assessments, and the assignments are structured in such a way as to make them more "customizable" for each student. Each student can find some topics that they are interested in to pursue in greater depth as research assignments. However, the hybrid nature of the class has resulted in an increased workload for the instructor. The course has been well received by the students, who have indicated that they find the hybrid format appealing.
2-Undergraduate Research Methods: Does Size Matter? A Look at the Attitudes and Outcomes of Students in a Hybrid Class Format versus a Traditional Class Format.
Author
Gordon, Jill A.
Barnes, Christina M.
Martin, Kasey J.
Publisher
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Is Part Of
Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 2009, Vol.20 (3), p.227-249
Notes
The goal of this study is to understand if there are any variations regarding student engagement and course outcomes based on the course format. A new course format was introduced in fall of 2006 that involves a hybrid approach (large lecture with small recitations) with a higher level of student enrollment than traditional research methods courses. During the same time frame, the discipline maintained its traditional research methods courses as well. A survey was administered to all students enrolled in research methods regardless of course format in fall 2006 and spring 2007. Student responses are discussed, including information concerning the preparation, design, cost and benefits of offering a hybrid research methods course format.
3- Distance Education: Linking Traditional Classroom Rehabilitation Counseling Students with their Colleagues Using Hybrid Learning Models.
Author
Main, Doug
Dziekan, Kathryn
Publisher
Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
Is Part Of
Rehabilitation Research, Policy & Education, 2012, Vol.26 (4), p.315-321
Notes
Current distance learning technological advances allow real and virtual classrooms to unite. In this .
RefereanceSpectra.jpg
ReactionInformation.jpg
WittigReactionOfTransCinnamaldehye.docx
Wittig Reaction of trans-Cinnamaldehyde
GOAL: Identify the major isomer of the Wittig reaction
E,E-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene OR E,Z-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene
Attached are the:
1. Drawing of the overall reaction
2. Drawing of the structure of the two possible isomers
3. Reference NMR spectra of what is labeled trans, trans-1,4-diphenyl-1,3-butadiene
4. IR spectra
5. UV vis spectra
6. 1H NMR not-detailed
7. 1H NMR detailed
8. BASED ON # 4, 5 and 7 Identify the major isomer of the Wittig reaction, can the integration values of the NMR be used to give approximate percent of each isomer
IR.jpg
UV-visSpectra.jpg
NMR.jpg
NMR-DeterminePredominantIsomer.jpg
...
Reexamine the three topics you picked last week and summarized. No.docxcatheryncouper
Reexamine the three topics you picked last week and summarized. Now, break out each case into a list of ethical and legal considerations that might help to analyze each case—summarize the considerations in two paragraphs for each case.
For each case, also ask one legal and one ethical question that might present. Consider the principles of ethics from Week 1 and the laws addressed this week. You should also use outside references to dig deeper into each case for your list.
3 topics identified in paper below from last week
· The Principal of Justice
· Autonomy
· Non-maleficence
Health Care Ethics
Health care ethics is a set of beliefs, moral principles and values that guide health care centers and related institutions to make choices with regard to medical care. Some health ethics include: respect for autonomy, justice and non-maleficence (Percival, 1849).
The principle of justice in health care ensures that there is respect for people’s rights, fair distribution of health resources and respect for laws that are morally acceptable. There are mainly two elements in this principle; equity and equality. Equity ensure that are all cases have equal access to treatment regardless of the patients’ status in ethnic background, age, sexuality, legal capacity, disability, insurance cover or any other discriminating factors.
It is important to study this ethical issue of justice since there have been an increasing report of doctors and medical staff failing to administer certain treatment services to certain kind of patients. Consequently, there have been debates in countries such as the UK over the refusal to give expensive treatment to patients who are likely to benefit from the treatment but cannot afford it. One ethical in the principle of justice is as to whether the health care center is creating an environment for sensible and fair use of health care resources and no particular type of patients are shun away or stigmatized. The legal question is whether the health care center is breaking the law against inequality and discrimination particularly racism, tribalism, gender insensitivity and other discrimination noted and prohibited in the country’s constitution.
The second area of health care ethics is respect for autonomy. Autonomy means self-determination or self-rule. Hence, this principle stipulates that one should be allowed to direct their health life according to their personal rationale. The patients have a right to determine their own destiny freely and independently as well as having their decision respected (Pollard, 1993).
This principle is important for study because not many people would not want to be treated as those with dementia; a disease involving loss of mental power. Many people are afraid of the prospect of not being able to decide their own fate and exercise self-determination. An ethical question in this principle of respect for autonomy is whether the health care center ensures that the patient is provided with ...
Reconstruction
Dates:
The Civil War?_________
Reconstruction? ________
9-9-12
*
*
9/7/2010
Foner Chapter 15
"What Is Freedom?": Reconstruction, 1865–1877
*
After the Civil War, freed slaves and white allies in the North and South attempted to redefine the meaning and boundaries of American freedom. Freedom, once for whites only, now incorporated black Americans. By rewriting laws, African-Americans, for the first time, would be recognized as citizens with equal rights and the right to vote, even in the South. Blacks created their own schools, churches, and other institutions. Though many of Reconstruction’s achievements were short-lived and defeated by violence and opposition, Reconstruction laid the basis for future freedom struggles.
Introduction: Sherman Land
From the Plantation to the Senate
*
After the Civil War, freed slaves and white allies in the North and South attempted to redefine the meaning and boundaries of American freedom. Freedom, once for whites only, now incorporated black Americans. By rewriting laws, African Americans, for the first time, would be recognized as citizens with equal rights and the right to vote, even in the South. Blacks created their own schools, churches, and other institutions. Though many of Reconstruction’s achievements were short-lived and defeated by violence and opposition, Reconstruction laid the basis for future freedom struggles.
Click image to launch video
Q: Chapter 15 includes a new comparative discussion on the aftermath of slavery in various Western Hemisphere societies. You see important commonalities in the struggle over land and labor in post-Emancipation societies. How do you situate the experiences of former slaves in the United States in this borrowed content.
A: Well, just as slavery was a hemispheric institution, so was emancipation. It’s useful for us in thinking about the aftermath of slavery in the United States, the Reconstruction era and after to see what happened to other slaves in places where slavery was abolished. What you see is a similar set of issues and conquests taking place everywhere slaves desire land of their own—this is the No. 1 thing, they want autonomy, they want independence from white control. All of these regions are agricultural, everywhere former slaves demand land. In some places they get land fairly effectively, like in Jamaica, West Indies, where there’s a lot of unoccupied land they can take. In some places they don’t, but that battle to who’s going to have access to land and economic resources is a commonality in the aftermath of slavery. So too is the effort of local plantation owners trying to get the plantation going again and to force slaves to work back on the plantations, or if not, to bring labor from somewhere else—in the West Indies they bring workers from China, from India, from southeast Asia to replace slaves who were moving off on land of their own. They can’t quite do that in the United States—they tried to bring ...
Record, Jeffrey. The Mystery Of Pearl Harbor. Military History 2.docxcatheryncouper
Record, Jeffrey. "The Mystery Of Pearl Harbor." Military History 28.5 (2012): 28-39.Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
According to the article "The Mystery of Pearl Harbor," it briefly examines the reason why Japan starts a war with the United States. On December 7th, 1941, Japan with about 182 aircrafts from the first assault invade U.S. Pacific fleet of Pearl Harbor. Japan's ultimate goal was to overthrow East Asia. The main point of this article is mainly for Japan's goal for economic security and determined to achieve their goal to conquer East Asia. Moreover, they wouldn't let U.S. stop them. Japan was humiliated to be dependent on the United States, including American imported oil. Ultimately, they fought a war that could not won since U.S. was more superior. United States outproduce Japan in every category of ammunition and armaments. If someone were to ask me what this article was about, I would say that this article is an inevitable defeat from Japan.
I believe this source was definitely helpful. This article made me realize how important Pearl Harbor is. If anything, we could have lost to the Japanese and everything would change. Personally, I believe our army played a significant role during the war between Japan and United States. I believe that this source is reliable. This source can be slightly biased because in the article, it says “If the Pacific War was inevitable, was not Japan's crushing defeat as well? If so, then why did Japan start a war that, as British strategist Colin Gray has argued, it "was always going to lose?”
This article can clearly be used for a American history classes. Several of the first paragraphs include a clear understanding and a great topic for students to discuss. This would benefit students who does not know anything about Pearl Harbor. This would be appropriate for students to realize what America has been through during the 1940’s. I admit I now have a better understanding of Pearl Harbor, this article enhanced my perspective and changed the way I view it.
Hanyok, Robert J. "The Pearl Harbor Warning That Never Was." Naval History 23.2 (2009): 50-53. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.
This article particularly argues that Americans believe that the surprising attack from Japan Navy planes could not have happened without some sort of conspiracy or warning. Without a doubt, Americans thought that U.S. political and military leaders kept this serious warning from Pearl Harbor’s commanders. Furthermore, the National Security Agency Documentary, “West Wind Clear seemed to be not found. Robert Hanyok’s attempted to clear up the issue and as a result, the warning for the chief Navy doe- breaker was just a figment of his imagination.
I believe that this article offers reliable sources. Hanyok provides source documents for historical scholars and researchers. This article was extremely helpful due to the controversy with the “West Wind Clear. The goal of this article was basically des ...
Reasons for Not EvaluatingReasons from McCain, D. V. (2005). Eva.docxcatheryncouper
Reasons for Not Evaluating
Reasons from McCain, D. V. (2005). Evaluation basics. Arlington, VA: ASTD Press, pp. 14-16.
Below are reasons to not evaluate, but there are things you can do to overcome these reasons!
· Click Edit (upper right on the tool bar) to get into edit mode.
· Add at least 2 ideas to the page to overcome one or more of these reasons for not evaluating. Please explain in enough detail that someone reading this wiki will be able to understand it!
· Add your name in parenthesis after your idea so we know who contributed which idea!
· Click Save (upper right on tool bar) to save your changes.
1. Evaluation requires a particular skill set.
· Doing evaluation requires no particular skill. It only requires a desire to look into it a course or program and ask the right questions that would answer the whether or not the course was effective. There are many tools that would help in doing an evaluation. (D. Clark)
· Skills can be learned. Learning to evaluate is simply another avenue of training. If the skills to evaluate do not exist in your organization then the training may need to start at the Trainer level before moving on to more organizational specific training, (D Casper)
2. Evaluation is not a priority.
· In order to make progress in any learning environment, it is necessary to initiate check points and measurements producing an evaluation of knowledge (Valle)
· Evaluation is never a priority until things are going bad and the reason is not clear, Evaluation helps us understand where the issues are. (Jim K)
3. Evaluation is not required.
· Currently, as students we are being evaluated to check in our progress ion order to measure our understanding of the tasks given. We get a grade, it is required for this course.(Valle)
· Why are you only providing what is required? Why not go a little further and make the training better? (J. Sprague)
4. Evaluation can result in criticism.
· In order to grow as a person or a company we all need criticism, of course this needs presented in a positive light and in a way that people can learn and grow. (Jim K)
· In today's culture where everybody gets a trophy or everybody gets an "A" no matter how they perform it is not "PC" to criticize someone and hurt their feelings! Criticism is what motivated me to succeed and go beyond just what is normal! We need to stop equating "Criticism" with "Fault Finding" and realize we do more harm than good by not pointing out shortcomings and errors. (D Casper)
5. You can't measure training.
· In my place of work in the industry, we had to measure training. Time was spent in educating employees into new ways to create a product, cost effectiveness, supply management chain and distribution. Measuring effectiveness of the training was in direct correlation with the success of the given product into market.(Valle)
· You can always measure whether or not the training was successful. The key is to look for the right types of measurements. It may be measured ...
Recognize Strengths and Appreciate DifferencesPersonality Dimens.docxcatheryncouper
Recognize Strengths and Appreciate Differences
Personality Dimensions® is the latest evolution in presenting Personality Temperament Theory. It builds on research conducted in Canada over a period or two decades, and the foundations established by the work of Carl Jung, David Keirsey, Linda Berens, as well as a history of Temperament that spans 25 centuries.
The Personality Dimensions® system utilizes a convenient card sort and short questionnaire to reveal personality preferences. In addition to being the first Temperament assessment to incorporate the Introversion/Extraversion dichotomy, Personality Dimensions® also uses four colours along with short descriptors and symbols to represent the Temperament preferences: Inquiring Green, Organized Gold, Authentic Blue, Resourceful Orange. These combined aspects create a common language of understanding with a high level of retention.Know your Personality Dimensions to...
·
· Express yourself appropriately
· Appreciate yourself & others
· Negotiate more effectively
· Narrow gaps and differences
· Identify potential problems early
· Elevate morale and enthusiasm
· Optimize team performance
· Support and encourage others
· Organize efficient teams
· Yield higher productivity
· Influence others positively
Analyzing Personality Demensions:
Introverts:
· Tend to get their energy by spending some time alone.
· Prefer to think things through in their head before sharing their ideas with the larger group. They will often listen to other ideas, conversations and reactions, taking it all in, digesting it and then share their thoughts and ideas with the larger group. By the time they share an idea it has been given a lot of consideration -- they are not just thinking out loud.
· Learn best when they have the time for quiet reflection and are able to work on their own.
· May actually find that the standard brainstorming process shuts down their creative juices as it does not allow them the time they need to internally process information before building on it or reacting to it.
· Often prefer to keep their thoughts and feelings to themselves until they are totally comfortable with the people they will be sharing them with.
· Have a tendency to think through the consequences of a situation before acting.
· Preferred mode of problem solving is to have some quiet time alone to think, reflect on the situation and formulate a solution. They often become energized by this process.
· Project a sense of quiet and calmness. Their body language and tone of voice tends to be softer.
· Tend to have a small circle of people who they call true friends. These are people with whom they are comfortable and are willing to share their thoughts and feelings with.
What causes an Introvert stress at work
Introverts tend to like things to be quieter than Extraverts. A noisy work environment can cause real stress for an Introvert.
They can find it exhausting to work with Extraverts. If an Introvert has to work in situations ...
Real-World DecisionsHRM350 Version 21University of Phoe.docxcatheryncouper
Real-World Decisions
HRM/350 Version 2
1
University of Phoenix Material
Real-World Decisions
Read the following scenarios, which represent real-world decisions, and respond to each in 150 to 200 words.
Scenario One
You are the director of production at a multinational company. Your position is in Tokyo, Japan. Recently, this division experienced production quota problems. You determine that you must identify a team leader who will lead the work team to tackle the problem. You identify several possible team leaders, including Joan, a manager who is an expatriate US citizen and has recently arrived in your company’s Japanese office. You are also aware of Bob, a European national who has worked at the facility for about a year. His experience includes reengineering production processes at one of the company’s production facilities in Europe. The final candidate is Noriko, a Japanese national who has been at the facility for several years.
Questions
The team you assemble is composed of American expatriates and Japanese nationals. Compare the three candidates for the position. Based on cultural norms and traditions, what cultural factors and management styles may benefit or present obstacles for others on the team? Explain.
Response
Scenario Two
You have been assigned to an overseas position with your company. The local government of the host country offers gifts periodically to senior management as a way of thanking them for opening a facility and employing locals. These gifts include cash or merchandise into the thousands of dollars. Typically, to refuse a gift is considered an insult. Your country’s policy is to prohibit employees from accepting anything from clients and customers of more than $50. Your employer values its relationship with the host country and government officials, and it intends to continue operating in the venue.
Questions
How would you address a situation where you are presented with a gift of more than $50? Explain your rationale. How could your actions affect your company? How could your decision affect your working relationship with your company’s and the host country’s officials?
Response
Scenario Three
Christine, the leading expert in information technology (IT) organizational design, works for a large consulting firm and has been asked to work on a temporary assignment in Saudi Arabia. One of her firm’s biggest revenue-generating customers is embarking on an initiative to redesign the IT structure to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and to align the business unit’s output with the organization’s strategic objectives. The customer has read research reports and articles Christine has published, and the chief executive officer has asked Christine to handle this project. She is excited about the professional challenge of the assignment, but she is unsure of adopting customs and practices in a Muslim country.
Questions
Discuss the ethical considerations for Christine and her company. What implications m ...
Real Clear PoliticsThe American Dream Not Dead –YetBy Ca.docxcatheryncouper
Real Clear Politics
“The American Dream: Not Dead –Yet
By Carl M. Cannon and Tom Bevan
March 6, 2019
Solid pluralities of Americans think their country is heading in the wrong direction, have lost faith in its prominent public institutions, and believe both major political parties are an impediment to realizing the American Dream. Nonetheless, that dream persists – threatened, yes, but not nearly dead.
These are the findings in the latest poll from RealClear Opinion Research, focusing on how Americans view their future possibilities and how much economic guidance and oversight should be provided by government. The answers provide a road map for the 2020 election season.
Nearly four times as many respondents say the American Dream is “alive and well” for them personally (27 percent) as those who say it’s “dead” (7 percent). The overwhelming majority express a more nuanced outlook. Two-thirds of those surveyed believe the American Dream is under moderate to severe duress: 37 percent say it is “alive and under threat” while another 28 percent say it is “under serious threat, but there is still hope.”
“In this poll, most people are telling us that the American Dream isn’t working as they believe it should be,” said John Della Volpe, polling director of RealClear Opinion Research. “The overwhelming number of people are not seeing the fruits of working hard, whether it’s through a professional (finances) or a personal (happiness) lens.”
The panel of 2,224 registered voters was probed for its views on other foundational aspects of 21st century American civic life, including their views of capitalism and socialism, and how they see the future unfolding for the younger generation of Americans.
Asked, for example, whether the American Dream is alive for those under 18 years of age, the attitudes were decidedly pessimistic -- especially among Baby Boomers and the so-called Silent Generation (Americans born between the mid-1920 and mid-1940s), those who have been in control of our public and private institutions for decades. While 23 percent of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation voters say the American Dream is alive for them (already the lowest percentage among all age groups) only 15 percent say they believe it will be there for the next generation.
Measuring attitudes about the American Dream means different things to different people. For this survey, RealClear Opinion Research defined it for the poll respondents by using Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, which describes the American Dream as “a happy way of living that can be achieved by anyone in the U.S. especially by working hard and becoming successful.”
As one would expect, perceptions of the health of this idea differ by party, age, education and class. Among the most striking findings in the survey were the variances by ethnicity. Asian-Americans are the most likely to say the American Dream is working for them (41 percent) – twice the percentage as Hispanics. Despite such differences, ...
Recommended Reading for both Papers.· Kolter-Keller, Chapter17 D.docxcatheryncouper
Recommended Reading for both Papers.
· Kolter-Keller, Chapter17 Designing & Managing Integrated Marketing Communications
· Kolter-Keller, Chapter18 Managing Mass Communications: Advertising, Sales Promotions, Events & Experiences and Public Relations
· Kolter-Keller, Chapter19 Managing Personal Communications: Direct and Interactive Marketing, Word of Mouth and Personal Selling
· PDF link to Kolter_keller 14th edition :
· http://socioline.ru/files/5/283/kotler_keller_-_marketing_management_14th_edition.pdf
· Keller,K.L.(2001).Mastering the Marketing Communications Mix: Micro and Macro Perspectives on Integrated Marketing Communication Programs. Journal of Marketing Management, Sep2001, Vol. 17 (7/8), 819-84.
· Luo, Xueming and Donthu, Naveen; Marketing's Credibility: A Longitudinal Investigation of Marketing Communication Productivity and Shareholder Value; The Journal of Marketing. Oct., 2006, Vol. 70, Issue 4, p70-91.
· Wright, E., Khanfar, N.M., Harrington, C., & Kizer,L.E. (2010). The Lasting Effects Of Social Media Trends On Advertising.Journal of Business & Economics Research, Vol. 8 (11), 73-80
Grading Rubric for both papers
· Identifies all or most of the key issues presented by the case.
· Discussion of issues reflects strong critical thinking and analytical skill.
· Discussion/analysis makes all or most of the recommendations called for by the case issues.
· Recommendations are supported by data from all or most of the relevant case facts and exhibits data.
· Data are creatively manipulated and applied. Discussion and recommendations are presented clearly, logically, and succinctly with no or few grammatical or other errors.
· Discussion/analysis reflects strong understanding of principles presented in course readings/materials.
· Where relevant, discussion/analysis employs proper APA style. Length limitations and other form/format requirements (if any) are followed.
1.The Changing Communications Environment 2 pages
Emerging media technologies have vastly empowered customers to decide whether or how they want to receive commercial content. Consumers are no longer passive recipients of marketing communications and the real challenge for a marketer is how to regain the customers’ attention through the clutter.
1 Web-based technologies can be combined with traditional media to build a successful marketing communication campaign. Cite two specific examples of companies/brands using this combination approach and discuss what made these campaigns successful. Did the two use similar techniques?
With the help of relevant examples, can you describe how modern technologies can be used to promote interactivity between the product and the customers? In this context discuss the use of social media to generate excitement around a brand. Can you cite any recently launched new products that have managed to achieve this?
2.Personal Application Paper, one and a half pages
Provide a detailed overview of Procter and Gamb ...
Redd 1PART 11. Target Child Jacob Birthdate April.docxcatheryncouper
Redd | 1
PART 1:
1. Target Child: Jacob
Birthdate: April 14,2012
Classroom: Pre-K
Chronological age range 3years 5mos-3years 6mos
Week#
Date
Time
Total Time
Area Observed
Children/Teachers
1
9/14/15
12:56-1:33
36 minutes
Whole classroom
All children(class list log)
1
9/16/15
12:15-12:22
7 minutes
Classroom and cubbies(for spelling of names)
All children (class list log)
2
9/21/15
11:50-1:00
1hour 10 minutes
Lunch table, carpet area, block area, sink area
Jacob, Kaylee, Jane, Michael, Miss Stephanie, Miss Ashely and Trent
2
9/25/15
11:04-12:07
(11:15-11:50- Outside time)
1hour 3 minutes
Playground, carpet area, lunch table
Jacob, Miss Ashely, student teacher, Mikey, Dominic, Kaylee, Farouq and Quinn
3
9/28/15
10:04-11:10
1hour 6minutes
Block area, dress up/kitchen area, art table, bathroom
Jacob, Miss Ashley, Student teacher, Kaylee, Dominic, and Jane
3
9/30/15
10:01-10:46
45minutes
Kitchen area
Jacob, Kaylee, Jane and Alexander
1-3
Total time for Weeks 1-3 (in hours & minutes) = 4 hours 47 minutes
Inside:4hours 12minutes
Outside: 35 minutes
Week#
Date
Time
Total Time
Area Observed
Children/Teachers
4
10/5/15
9:58-10:54
56minutes
Art table, Kitchen/Dress-up area, Hallway
Jacob, Miss Holly, Kaylee, Dominic, Jane, Mikey, Alexander, Farouq, Victoria and Caliana
4
10/7/15
10:48-12:15
(11:06-11:43-Outside time)
1hour 27 minutes
Playground, carpet area, lunch tables
Jacob, Kaylee, Caliana, Trent, Michael, Student teacher, Alexander, Quinn
5
10/13/15
9:16-10:30
1hour 14minutes
Carpet and kitchen area
Jacob, Miss Holly, Michael, Lucy, Dominic, Kaylee
5
10/15/15
9:15-10:30
1hour 15 minutes
Easel, water station, art table, block area
Jacob, Student teacher, Jane, Caliana, Michael, Trent, Victoria and Dominic
6
10/19/15
10:00-11:55 (11:00-11:55-
Outside time)
1hour 55minutes
Kitchen area, playground carpet area
Jacob, Miss Stephanie, Quinn, Kaylee, Trent and Jane
6
10/21/15
10:00-10:50
50minutes
Kitchen area, playground paint table
Jacob, Kaylee, Victoria, Joshua, Miss Stephanie, Miss Kelly, Harper, Quinn and Alexander
4-6
Total time for Weeks 4-6 (in hours & minutes) = 6hours 37 minutes
Inside: 5hours 9minutes
Outside: 1hour 28minutes
Week#
Date
Time
Total Time
Area Observed
Children/Teachers
7
10/26/15
9:53-10:33
40minutes
Block area and Kitchen area
Jacob, Miss Stephanie, Miss Ashley, Trent,
8
11/2/15
11:17-12:10
(11:17-11:43-
Outside Time)
53minutes
Playground and lunch table
Jacob, Trent, Harper, Miss Holly, Kaylee, Michael and Jane
8
11/4/15
11:02-12:45
(11:06-11:50 Outside Time)
1hour 43 minutes
Playground, lunch table, and carpet area
Jacob, Kaylee, Miss Ashley, Trent, Joshua, Quinn, Farouq, Dominic, and Lucy
8
11/6/15
2:07-3:00 (2:19-2:49 Outside Time)
53 minutes
Carpet area and playground
Jacob, Miss Ashley, Kaylee, Caliana, Harper, Quinn
9
11/9/15
10:53-12:00
(11:01-11:43 Outside Time)
1hour 7minutes
Playground, lunch table
Jacob, Kaylee, Miss Holly, Miss ...
Strategies for Effective Upskilling is a presentation by Chinwendu Peace in a Your Skill Boost Masterclass organisation by the Excellence Foundation for South Sudan on 08th and 09th June 2024 from 1 PM to 3 PM on each day.
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
How to Build a Module in Odoo 17 Using the Scaffold MethodCeline George
Odoo provides an option for creating a module by using a single line command. By using this command the user can make a whole structure of a module. It is very easy for a beginner to make a module. There is no need to make each file manually. This slide will show how to create a module using the scaffold method.
Executive Directors Chat Leveraging AI for Diversity, Equity, and InclusionTechSoup
Let’s explore the intersection of technology and equity in the final session of our DEI series. Discover how AI tools, like ChatGPT, can be used to support and enhance your nonprofit's DEI initiatives. Participants will gain insights into practical AI applications and get tips for leveraging technology to advance their DEI goals.
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Reconciling the Complexity of Human DevelopmentWith the Real.docx
1. Reconciling the Complexity of Human Development
With the Reality of Legal Policy
Reply to Fischer, Stein, and Heikkinen (2009)
Laurence Steinberg Temple University
Elizabeth Cauffman University of California, Irvine
Jennifer Woolard Georgetown University
Sandra Graham University of California, Los Angeles
Marie Banich University of Colorado
The authors respond to both the general and specific con-
cerns raised in Fischer, Stein, and Heikkinen’s (2009)
commentary on their article (Steinberg, Cauffman, Wool-
ard, Graham, & Banich, 2009), in which they drew on
studies of adolescent development to justify the American
Psychological Association’s positions in two Supreme
Court cases involving the construction of legal age bound-
aries. In response to Fischer et al.’s general concern that
the construction of bright-line age boundaries is inconsis-
tent with the fact that development is multifaceted, variable
across individuals, and contextually conditioned, the au-
thors argue that the only logical alternative suggested by
that perspective is impractical and unhelpful in a legal
context. In response to Fischer et al.’s specific concerns
that their conclusion about the differential timetables of
cognitive and psychosocial maturity is merely an artifact of
the variables, measures, and methods they used, the au-
thors argue that, unlike the alternatives suggested by Fi-
scher et al., their choices are aligned with the specific
2. capacities under consideration in the two cases. The au-
thors reaffirm their position that there is considerable
empirical evidence that adolescents demonstrate adult lev-
els of cognitive capability several years before they evince
adult levels of psychosocial maturity.
Keywords: policy, science, adolescent development, chro-
nological age
In our article (Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham,&
Banich, 2009, this issue), we asked whether therewas scientific
justification for the different positions
taken by the American Psychological Association (APA) in
two related Supreme Court cases—Hodgson v. Minnesota
(1990; a case concerning minors’ competence to make
independent decisions about abortion, in which APA ar-
gued that adolescents were just as mature as adults) and
Roper v. Simmons (2005; a case about the constitutionality
of the juvenile death penalty, in which APA argued that
adolescents were not as mature as adults). On the basis of
our reading of the extant literature in developmental psy-
chology, as well as findings from a recent study of our own,
we concluded that the capabilities relevant to judging in-
dividuals’ competence to make autonomous decisions
about abortion reach adult levels of maturity earlier than do
capabilities relevant to assessments of criminal culpability,
and that it was therefore reasonable to draw different age
boundaries between adolescents and adults in each in-
stance.
In their commentary on our article, Fischer, Stein, and
Heikkinen (2009, this issue) raised both general and spe-
cific objections to our conclusions. The general issue con-
cerns how developmental evidence may or may not inform
the construction and analysis of legal age boundaries. The
3. specific issues involve the conclusions we drew from our
analysis of data on age differences in cognitive capabilities
and psychosocial maturity. We appreciate the opportunity
to reply to both of these concerns.
When psychologists agree to provide guidance on
matters of law, they must be able and willing to simulta-
neously plant their feet in two worlds—that of social sci-
ence and that of legal policy and practice. These worlds
operate on different principles and with different expecta-
tions. Social scientists are accustomed to providing com-
plicated answers to seemingly simple questions, whereas
legal professionals typically want simple answers to com-
plicated ones. Social scientists avoid casting things in black
and white, whereas legal professionals are often forced to
do so.
The question at hand is whether developmental scien-
tists can provide meaningful guidance that can help legal
Editor’s note. June P. Tangney served as the action editor for
this article.
Authors’ note. Laurence Steinberg, Department of Psychology,
Temple
University; Elizabeth Cauffman, Department of Psychology and
Social
Behavior, University of California, Irvine; Jennifer Woolard,
Department
of Psychology, Georgetown University; Sandra Graham,
Psychological
Studies in Education, University of California, Los Angeles;
Marie
Banich, Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University
of Colo-
rado.
5. of 16, as it was at the time of Roper, or should the
minimum age be raised to 18? The commentary provided
by Fischer et al. (2009) did not attempt to answer either of
these questions.
According to Fischer et al.’s (2009) view, develop-
ment is far too multifaceted, variable across individuals,
and contextually conditioned to warrant generalizations
about age differences in maturity. From this perspective,
making legal decisions on the basis of chronological age
makes no sense at all. Imagine their answer to the central
question posed in Roper—whether the minimum age for the
death penalty should be left at 16 or raised to 18. One could
easily envision these authors responding that one can “not
assume that people have general capabilities that somehow
apply effortlessly across situations and contexts. . . . [One
needs to] uncover the variety of adolescent developmental
pathways and the patterns of variability across different
contexts” (Fischer et al., 2009, p. 599). Or perhaps they
would have responded by saying that “development . . .
moves at a varying pace along multiple strands in a dy-
namic web across the life course” (p. 598). Astute and
poetic as these observations may be, they are entirely
unhelpful in a legal context.
The position taken by Fischer et al. (2009) can only
lead to the conclusion that when deciding whether an
adolescent should, or should not, be treated as an adult—
for abortion decisions, the death penalty, or anything else
regulated by law— one must make an individualized as-
sessment of the individual’s capabilities, taking into ac-
count the person’s developmental history, life experiences,
cultural background, and current circumstances, not to
mention the “many skills that develop along complex path-
ways from infancy through adulthood” (Fischer et al.,
2009, p. 599). And while it is possible that an individual-
6. ized approach might result in more accurate decisions about
individuals’ levels of maturity, such an approach is impos-
sibly impractical (Woolard & Scott, 2009).1 Imagine a
world in which individualized assessments were necessary
to decide who is allowed to drive, vote, purchase alcohol,
face criminal court adjudication, or see R-rated movies, to
name just a handful of the behaviors that are currently
regulated on the basis of age. Perhaps, as Fischer et al.
implied, under a system of individualized assessment, de-
cisions would be more accurate than they presently are, but
the lines at the Division of Motor Vehicles, the voting
booth, and the multiplex would be awfully long. The social
psychologist Kurt Lewin famously said that “there is noth-
ing so practical as a good theory” (Lewin, 1951, p. 169),
but Fischer et al. surely proved the exception to Lewin’s
maxim. Indeed, one of the most striking features of the
Fischer et al. commentary is the complete absence of any
practical contribution to the legal debates that created the
controversy our article addressed.
Now to the specifics. While agreeing with our basic
argument that different developmental capabilities are rel-
evant to the analysis of different legal age boundaries,
Fischer et al. (2009) contended that our conclusion about
the different developmental timetables of cognitive and
psychosocial development was wrong for two reasons: the
choice of the capabilities we examined (especially in the
realm of cognitive development) and the questionable va-
lidity of the measures we used (especially in the realm of
psychosocial maturity). Had we chosen other attributes to
analyze, they argued, we would have come to different
conclusions about where to draw boundaries between ad-
olescents and adults. And of course they are correct. If, for
example, we had chosen understanding the meaning of
intentionality as the criterion for adult criminal culpability,
7. our analysis would have led us to conclude that 9-year-olds
should be eligible for the death penalty. Had we chosen the
resolution of the midlife crisis as the proper prerequisite for
autonomous medical decision making, we would have con-
cluded that 40-year-olds should be required to confer with
their parents before consulting a physician.
But understanding intentionality and achieving mid-
dle-aged serenity were not the criteria we used. Instead, we
chose to analyze age differences in the specific capacities
that were the focus of the legal opinions produced in each
Supreme Court case. For example, our choice of impulse
control and susceptibility to peer pressure as the targets of
our analysis in our examination of APA’s stance in Roper
was anything but arbitrary. As we noted in our article, these
were two of the central capabilities discussed by Justice
Kennedy in his majority opinion for the court (Roper v.
Simmons, 2005). Kennedy did not mention the “develop-
ment of attachment relationships” (Fischer et al., 2009, p.
598) in the mix of relevant capacities, perhaps because the
age range during which this psychosocial achievement
occurs was thankfully not in play in the court’s deliberation
about which individuals might be subject to execution.
1 We emphasize “might” because legitimate concerns have been
raised about evaluators’ ability to make judgments about
maturity that are
free from racial and other types of bias (Graham & Lowery,
2004).
602 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
Fischer et al. (2009) were on somewhat firmer ground
when they criticized the indices of cognitive development
8. we used in reaching the conclusion that differences in
cognitive capability between adolescents and adults are
negligible. They argued that the abilities we assessed were
too simple and that our analyses relied on measures that
had a strong ceiling effect. We agree entirely that capacities
such as working memory and verbal fluency alone do not
capture the cognitive skills necessary to make informed
decisions about abortion (although the mere fact that no age
differences appear on these tests after age 15 is by itself not
evidence of a ceiling effect).
Indeed, it was precisely because we recognized that
the tests included in our study’s cognitive battery were only
partially relevant to abortion decision making that we in-
cluded in our article other evidence about the comparability
of adolescent and adult thinking, evidence that Fischer et
al. (2009) overlooked. We presented findings from our
earlier study of competence to stand trial (Grisso et al.,
2003), which showed no significant age differences after 15
years in the abilities specified under the law as relevant to
adjudicative competence, such as the ability to comprehend
courtroom procedures or identify and reason with relevant
facts. As we noted, “This general pattern, indicating that
adolescents attain adult levels of competence to stand trial
somewhere around age 15, has been reported in similar
studies of decision making across a wide variety of do-
mains . . . and in many studies of age differences in indi-
viduals’ competence to provide informed consent” (Stein-
berg, Cauffman, et al., 2009, pp. 586 –587). In fact, the
finding of no age differences beyond age 15 was observed
in studies that looked specifically at competence to consent
to abortion (e.g., Ambuel & Rappaport, 1992). It has also
been seen in a wide range of advanced cognitive capabil-
ities, including logical reasoning (Overton, 1990), self-
monitoring and strategic planning (Luciana, Conklin,
Hooper, & Yarger, 2005), and the advanced understanding
9. of mathematical operations under optimal learning condi-
tions (Fischer, Kenny, & Pipp, 1990).
Fischer et al.’s (2009) concerns about our analysis of
the evidence on psychosocial maturity are harder to
fathom. We argued that the evidence indicates that the
developmental course of psychosocial maturity is relatively
flat in early adolescence but very steep between the ages of
15 and 30. Fischer et al. had no problem with the second
part of our assertion (it fits with their view of development
as fluid and dynamic), but they disagreed with the first part.
(Notably, however, whether psychosocial functioning im-
proves between ages 10 and 15 is irrelevant to the legal
debate at hand, because it had been decided well before
Roper that the death penalty was unconstitutional for
crimes committed before age 16 and because very few girls
younger than 16 seek abortions.) They questioned, on prin-
ciple, the validity of self-report measures of impulsivity,
sensation-seeking, susceptibility to peer influence, future
orientation, and risk perception, which we used to construct
our measure of psychosocial maturity. As we noted in some
detail, the self-report measures we used (whether devel-
oped previously by others or in our research program) have
been validated with behavioral measures of comparable
constructs (Steinberg et al., 2008; Steinberg, Graham, et al.,
2009; Steinberg & Monahan, 2007). Moreover, these and
other studies show that performance on behavioral tasks
designed to assess similar aspects of psychosocial maturity
follows a developmental pattern similar to that seen on
self-report measures.
The bottom line is that Fischer et al. (2009) provided
no evidence that the developmental course of the capabil-
ities we analyzed is different than what we reported. In-
stead, they described an assortment of other capabilities,
10. different from those we discussed, that follow developmen-
tal trajectories different from those that we described. More
important, the developmental phenomena on which Fischer
et al. chose to focus generally are not germane to the legal
questions at hand. In our article, we presented justifications
for how the domains we considered were relevant to the
legal questions under consideration, cited numerous inde-
pendent studies of related constructs in addition to our own,
and drew our conclusions on the basis of patterns observed
across these various studies. The only rationale Fischer et
al. provided for considering domains we neglected, in
contrast, seems to be that they followed different develop-
mental patterns than the ones we did consider.
A particularly puzzling (but ironically telling) part of
Fischer et al.’s (2009) critique involves their description of
a fictional 17-year-old, Sally, to illustrate the complex and
multifaceted nature of maturity during adolescence:
Sally is both immature and mature depending on both the
context she is
in and the measuring instruments used. At school, Sally scores
high on
some measures of cognitive capability, as reflected in her strong
perfor-
mance in her courses; but she is still years away from
sophisticated
reasoning about reflective judgment (the bases of knowledge
about com-
plicated issues). At home during the heat of an argument with
her mother,
Sally does not take multiple perspectives, as she does during
school, but
focuses primarily on her own immediate feelings. But when she
is serving
as a peer mediator, she effectively takes her peers’ perspective.
11. What is
required is a rich portrait of her capabilities in different
contexts and for
different goals.
Sally’s story is typical, not unusual. (p. 598)
Sally’s abilities indeed appear to be “typical” for her
age, in precisely the ways that are relevant to the legal
questions under discussion. She has the cognitive ability to
analyze the problems of others as a peer counselor acting as
a detached observer. However, she reacts impulsively and
cannot control her emotions during arguments with her
mother. In our article, we noted that most 17-year-olds
perform cognitive tasks and make deliberative decisions
similarly to young adults but that 17-year-olds also are
more prone to impulsive behavior, especially in contexts
that do not inspire reasoned deliberation. Despite Fischer et
al.’s (2009) rejection of our measures, methods, and mes-
sage, their prototypical teenager nicely fits the profile we
derived from the extant scientific evidence.
Fischer et al.’s (2009) critique failed to distinguish
between questions that are interesting to developmental
scientists and those that are important for legal policy and
practice in the specific instances of Hodgson and Roper.
Legal policymakers and practitioners want answers that get
603October 2009 ● American Psychologist
right to the point. Yes, development is complicated, mul-
tidimensional, and dependent on the context in which it
occurs. But this pronouncement is little more than a cliché,
and an unhelpful one at that. The fact of the matter is that
12. on many of the cognitive capabilities relevant to making an
informed choice about whether to have an abortion, ado-
lescents do not look all that different from adults. But on
many of the psychosocial capacities relevant under the law
for judging criminal responsibility, adolescents lag behind
adults. And this is why we believe that APA provided
sound, scientifically based advice to the Supreme Court on
two distinct issues requiring consideration of different de-
velopmental capacities. The issues and the science are
complex. But a key responsibility of scientists who are
interested in informing policy discussions is to boil down
this complexity into accessible, data-informed messages
that are useful to policymakers and lawmakers seeking
practical solutions to real-world legal problems.
REFERENCES
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15. 604 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
Narrow Assessments Misrepresent Development and
Misguide Policy
Comment on Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham, and
Banich (2009)
Kurt W. Fischer, Zachary Stein, and Katie Heikkinen
Harvard Graduate School of Education
Intellectual and psychosocial functioning develop along
complex learning pathways. Steinberg, Cauffman, Wool-
ard, Graham, and Banich (2009) measured these two
classes of abilities with narrow, biased assessments that
captured only a segment of each pathway and created
misleading age patterns based on ceiling and floor effects.
It is a simple matter to shift the assessments to produce the
opposite pattern, with cognitive abilities appearing to de-
velop well into adulthood and psychosocial abilities ap-
pearing to stop developing at age 16. Their measures also
lacked a realistic connection to the lived behaviors of
adolescents, abstracting too far from messy realities and
thus lacking ecological validity and the nuanced portrait
that the authors called for. A drastically different approach
to assessing development is required that (a) includes the
full age-related range of relevant abilities instead of a
truncated set and (b) examines the variability and contex-
tual dependence of abilities relevant to the topics of murder
and abortion.
Keywords: adolescence, assessment, cognitive develop-
ment, learning pathway, maturity
16. Children develop many different capabilities alongmultiple
pathways, and they gradually learn to usethose capabilities
across many situations and in
many different emotional states. Steinberg, Cauffman,
Woolard, Graham, and Banich (2009, this issue) oversim-
plified development by dividing it into two categories—
cognitive and psychosocial—and measuring behavior in a
few tasks that did not capture the full range of capabilities
and contexts relevant to the issues of abortion and murder.
Within the full range, children develop many cognitive and
psychosocial capabilities long before age 16, and they
continue to develop others in both areas long after age 16.
The simplifications in the research by Steinberg and col-
leagues omit consideration of the breadth of cognitive and
psychosocial capabilities pertinent to decisions about abor-
tion and murder and thus lead to conclusions about policy
that are misleading.
Consider Sally, a 17-year-old adolescent who has
lived with her mother since she was 7, when her father
moved out after a divorce. Her behavior illustrates the
range of capabilities relevant to the actions of children and
adolescents as well as the importance of contexts for shap-
ing those actions. At age 17, Sally’s relationship with her
mother has become strained. She struggles to control her-
self around her mother. Outbursts and arguments are al-
most daily occurrences. Sally knows that these irrational
arguments typically end in tears and frustration, but she
cannot seem to control herself. She wonders why she
cannot control her emotions at home the way that she did
when she was younger, when during her parents’ divorce
she could “hold herself together” and handle difficult situ-
ations when her mother was in distress.
17. Sally’s situation at school is different from the one at
home. During her parents’ divorce, when she was 6 and 7
years old, she struggled in school, and teachers suggested
that she be held back a year so her skills could develop to
the appropriate level. But now in high school, she excels in
many classes and serves as a peer mediator, volunteering
her time to help her classmates resolve their conflicts. Sally
wonders how she can be so together at school now when
she feels so out of control at home. She finds it curious that
years ago she was a mess in school but was more capable
of holding herself together at home.
Sally’s story exemplifies the variability and complex-
ity of cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal development
during childhood and adolescence. In some respects, Sally
can be viewed as more emotionally mature and psychoso-
cially capable at the age of 7—when the situation de-
manded it—than she is now at the age of 17. On the other
hand, her cognitive capabilities seem to display the oppo-
site trend, changing from below average in grade school to
excellent in high school. In other words, her interpersonal
capabilities—as well as her cognitive and emotional
ones—vary or fluctuate drastically depending on context,
as she indulges in emotionally charged, irrational argu-
ments at home while serving as a peer mediator at school.
Kurt W. Fischer, Zachary Stein, and Katie Heikkinen, Dynamic
Devel-
opment Laboratory, Human Development & Psychology,
Harvard Grad-
uate School of Education.
The writing of this article was supported by grants from the
Harvard
University Graduate School of Education.
19. clear-cut advice for policy. They measured capabilities by
using tasks that are known to have ceiling effects at specific
ages and that have limited ecological validity (little relation
to the everyday lives of adolescents). Thus, they did not
capture the broad spectrum of related and lived abilities
that constitute cognitive, emotional, and interpersonal de-
velopment—assessing instead only part of the pathways for
“intellectual” and “psychosocial” development. For intel-
lectual capabilities, they assessed skills that develop early,
while for psychosocial capabilities, they focused on skills
that develop later, although they did not intend to tie their
measures to specific ages a priori. They conceptualized the
development of capabilities in essentialist and nondynamic
terms, ignored the radical importance of context, and as-
sumed a static picture in which a capability, once it has
been displayed, is taken as simply present.
We examine their perspective on the development of
capabilities in adolescence in terms of two basic research
issues: construct validity (Did they conceive and measure
their basic constructs in a psychologically meaningful
way?) and ecological validity (Were they measuring con-
structs that are meaningfully related to the real lives of
adolescents, especially the complex issues related to abor-
tion and murder?). It is important to note that people
develop differently in separate domains on the basis of their
experiences and interests, and their development continues
far into adulthood in domains on which they focus (Daw-
son-Tunik, 2004; Fischer, Yan, & Stewart, 2003; Kitch-
ener, Lynch, Fischer, & Wood, 1993; Kohlberg, 1984).
Measuring Development in Childhood
and Adolescence: Construct Validity
Steinberg and colleagues (2009) sought to justify the “flip-
flop” in which the American Psychological Association
20. maintained that teens are mature enough to make reason-
able decisions about abortion but not mature enough to be
treated as adults in death penalty cases. They argued that
this apparent flip-flop is justified by research findings that
teens attain adult-like capabilities at different ages in dif-
ferent domains. Specifically, they argued that adolescents’
cognitive capabilities develop earlier than their capacity for
emotional self-regulation and impulse control. To support
this claim, they reported research using a battery of tasks to
measure the proposed differential distribution of capabili-
ties.
Cognitive Capabilities
To assess cognitive maturity, Steinberg et al. (2009) ad-
ministered “tests of basic intellectual functioning” (p. 587),
which included tests of working memory interference, digit
span memory, and verbal fluency. We discuss these tests’
construct validity and their relevance to the larger construct
of “cognitive capacity,” or “cognitive maturity.” Although
the authors acknowledged that theirs was an “incomplete
measure of cognitive capacity” (p. 590), they nonetheless
made the bold claim that general cognitive capacity pla-
teaus around age 16. This claim is spurious on at least two
grounds: (a) These tasks do not adequately represent gen-
eral cognitive capacity, and (b) cognitive capacity, when
more carefully defined, does not plateau around age 16 or
17. The authors used tasks with ceiling effects.
Attempts to measure something like general cognitive
capacity with a single metric or composite go back to
Binet’s laboratory in Paris at the turn of the 20th century,
where intelligence testing was invented. Although Stein-
berg and colleagues (2009) separately assessed IQ in order
to control for it, their measures of “basic intellectual func-
tioning” are quite close to traditional measures of intelli-
21. gence. Even the best tests of intelligence do not capture
Kurt W.
Fischer
596 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
everything about intelligence (Gardner, 1983), let alone a
broader construct like cognitive capacity. Working-mem-
ory interference tasks, digit-span memory tasks, and tests
of verbal fluency—the tasks used by Steinberg et al.—are
known to peak or plateau in the teenage years, and they
constitute only a few of the skills involved in cognitive
development (Horn, 1982).
Cognitive development includes many interrelated
and complex skills, such as logical reasoning (Inhelder &
Piaget, 1958), reflective judgment (Kitchener et al., 1993),
conceptual complexity (Case, 1992; Fischer & Bidell,
2006), and emotion regulation (Benes, Turtle, Khan, &
Farol, 1994; Dawson-Tunik, 2004; Fischer et al., 2003;
Vaillant, 1977). These skills all begin to develop early in
life, continue to develop well into adulthood, and vary as a
function of learning, context, and maturation. In contrast,
the standard tests of working memory and verbal fluency
are simpler tasks that plateau early. More complex skills
such as reflective judgment, logical reasoning, and even
working memory for sophisticated concepts such as con-
servation of energy, evolution by natural selection, and the
role of community in development do not plateau in the
teenage years.
The evidence is substantial that cognitive develop-
ment continues for years beyond the ages of 15 or 16
22. (Dawson-Tunik, 2004; Fischer et al., 2003), and likewise
brain development continues well into adulthood (Benes et
al., 1994). Steinberg and colleagues (2009) were not justi-
fied in claiming that “by age 16, adolescents’ general
cognitive abilities are essentially indistinguishable from
those of adults” (p. 592). Their research indicators of
working memory and verbal fluency may have reached
adult levels by that age, but complex and important cogni-
tive capabilities continue to develop long afterward. Even
vocabulary continues to increase throughout adulthood,
especially for educated people (Horn, 1982). The measures
used by Steinberg et al. fail to capture the broader devel-
opmental patterns that characterize adolescent and adult
cognition.
An accurate portrait of development requires assess-
ment of a diverse set of skills that begin early in life and
move along learning pathways into adulthood (Case, 1992;
Fischer & Bidell, 2006). Some of these skills, such as
standard assessments of object permanence and working
memory, develop quickly and plateau early, while others,
such as reflective judgment, start early but do not plateau
until well into adulthood (Kitchener et al., 1993). Skill-
specific learning sequences develop at different rates de-
pending on a variety of factors, including education (Daw-
son-Tunik, 2004), contextual support (Fischer & Bidell,
2006), and motivation (Fink, 2007). The development of
cognitive maturity thus varies depending on what is mea-
sured and how it is measured. Simpler skills such as work-
ing memory for common words or numbers and under-
standing of the basic requirements of participation in a trial
(testifying honestly, sitting quietly, etc.) may peak by ad-
olescence, but complex conceptual skills such as reflective
judgment, understanding how laws and courts function in
society, and taking perspectives across different cultures do
23. not peak until the 20s or 30s or later—and even then only
in the context of optimal contextual support and education.
Psychosocial Capabilities
The same problems hold for Steinberg et al.’s (2009)
approach to psychosocial capabilities. The measures in
their research represent only a small segment of social
and emotional skills and thus distort the picture for
development of these capabilities. To assess “psycho-
social maturity” (p. 588), Steinberg et al. collected self-
report questionnaires on risk perception, sensation seek-
ing, impulsivity, peer influence, and future orientation.
All measures assessed self-descriptions—not self-regu-
lation, understanding about legal processes, moral judg-
ment, or other capabilities relevant to abortion and mur-
der.
With these instruments, they observed essentially
no change in psychosocial scores, on average, between
the ages of 10 and 17 years and then significant growth
to ages 18 –21 and age 26 and beyond. The problem,
again, is that the measurement tasks truncate the con-
struct and thus drastically constrain the age range in
which development is observable. Different measures of
psychosocial maturity display significant and important
developmental changes at early ages, such as basic so-
ciomoral perspective taking (Kohlberg, 1984; Selman &
Schultz, 1990) and basic interpersonal attunement and
attachment (Cassidy & Shaver, 1999). Children con-
struct their understanding of self and others starting at
birth and show richly textured developmental pathways
for psychosocial skills from infancy through adulthood
(Fischer & Bidell, 2006). Self-reports about risk, impul-
sivity, peer influence, and so forth represent a limited set
of behaviors and do not capture fundamental capabilities
24. Zachary
Stein
597October 2009 ● American Psychologist
for thinking and feeling that are relevant to the issues of
abortion and murder.
Depending on what is measured, the developmental
pattern for psychosocial maturity will differ greatly. Self-
report measures like those used in the Steinberg et al.
(2009) study will show a late onset for psychosocial ma-
turity. On the other hand, standard measures for develop-
ment of attachment relationships or social perspective tak-
ing will show major transformations of psychosocial
maturity at early ages. Infants in the first two years develop
skills for self-regulation with their mothers or other care-
givers. Grade-school children come to grasp the need for
abstract norms and rules and the reasons for controlling
their behavior to follow those norms and rules. These skills
lay the foundation for understanding about abortion and
murder, although sophisticated understanding certainly
awaits development of higher capabilities.
The claim by Steinberg et al. (2009) that “psychoso-
cial maturity” sets in later than “cognitive maturity” is
dependent on the selective use of specific measures. Using
a different set of measures could yield the opposite picture.
For example, the development of abstract reasoning capa-
bilities such as reflective judgment, understanding the legal
system, and taking diverse cultural perspectives lags be-
hind the development of rich emotional and interpersonal
attunements and rule following evident in early childhood.
This comparison would lead to the opposite conclusion
25. from that reached by Steinberg et al.: Psychosocial capa-
bilities develop richly in childhood and early adolescence
(and continue to develop well into adulthood).
Dynamic Webs of Development
Development in any domain—for example, cognitive or
psychosocial—moves at a varying pace along multiple
strands in a dynamic web across the life course (Fischer et
al., 2003). In addition, a capability is not fixed across
contexts, but varies dynamically. Perspective taking with
your mother is different from perspective taking with your
friend, your classmate, or your lawyer. The idea is simply
wrong that once a capability has been displayed at a certain
level in a certain context it will be displayed at that same
level across a variety of contexts. Development unfolds
along diverse pathways and is radically sensitive to varia-
tions in context. Skills mastered in one context can fall
apart in another, needing to be rebuilt to meet the unique
task demands of new situations. Factors that drive such
variation include stress (Ayoub & Fischer, 2006), novelty
(Granott, 2002), and recalibration/self-organization (Van
Geert, 1994).
This kind of sensitivity to context is particularly sig-
nificant in the two examples given by Steinberg and col-
leagues (2009) because the contexts are so vastly different,
as they noted. Reasoning about abortion, where a doctor or
health-care worker can support the teen’s thinking over a
length of time, is very different from acting violently in the
heat of the moment. Teenagers’ capabilities are tied to
contexts and emotional states. Teenagers are not simply
cognitively mature and psychosocially immature. Context
is radically implicated in the nature of capabilities, and the
two cannot be realistically disentangled. Depending on
context and support, the same individual can function in
26. drastically different ways, and there is not one condition
that represents the true capability.
How does this argument apply to Sally’s story? Is she
cognitively mature or immature? Is she emotionally and
socially mature or immature? Is she more mature cogni-
tively or psychosocially? These kinds of questions are
predicated on a simple and essentialist notion of what
capabilities are. Sally is both immature and mature depend-
ing on both the context she is in and the measuring instru-
ments used. At school, Sally scores high on some measures
of cognitive capability, as reflected in her strong perfor-
mance in her courses; but she is still years away from
sophisticated reasoning about reflective judgment (the
bases of knowledge about complicated issues). At home
during the heat of an argument with her mother, Sally does
not take multiple perspectives, as she does during school,
but focuses primarily on her own immediate feelings. But
when she is serving as a peer mediator, she effectively
takes her peers’ perspective. What is required is a rich
portrait of her capabilities in different contexts and for
different goals.
Sally’s story is typical, not unusual. Variability is the
norm at all ages and especially in adolescence. The way
that development and capability are measured can distort as
much as it can reveal. Steinberg and colleagues (2009)
systematically misrepresented the development of the
broad capabilities they studied because of their selection of
measures and their framing of capabilities as fixed and
stable, as opposed to variable and context dependent. With
these oversimplifications, they have created a simple story
for policymakers, but the story is wrong.
Katie
Heikkinen
27. 598 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
Measuring Things That Are Worth
Measuring: Ecological Validity
Because of the many strands of the web of development,
scientists need to be careful about the measures they use
and the claims they make about the implications of their
findings. One way of increasing the likelihood that research
will connect to practical questions and policies is to ask
about the ecological validity of measures and methods.
How do they relate to the everyday lives and behaviors of
adolescents, especially in contexts relevant to the practical
questions?
The real-world behaviors of children and adolescents
such as Sally are not merely the expression of certain
general capabilities functioning at certain age-specific lev-
els. They arise from the complex and unique lives of
individual people, rich with emotion, diverse relationships,
and novel challenges. What is the relation between the
assessment tasks that Steinberg et al. (2009) used and the
dilemmas of adolescent life they are meant to illuminate?
How can performances of working memory interference,
digit span memory, and verbal fluency indicate the capacity
to make a reasoned decision about abortion? Likewise, how
can self-report of risk perception, sensation seeking, im-
pulsivity, resistance to peer influence, and future orienta-
tion indicate the capacity to make decisions about criminal
behavior? Measures should assess the capabilities that are
involved in those kinds of decisions.
Unfortunately, the kinds of tasks and research para-
digms used in the Steinberg et al. (2009) research are
28. common in psychology. They truncate and oversimplify
the range and variability of behaviors while lending them-
selves to neat statistical analyses and simple stories that
distort understanding of real children in living contexts.
They lead to the mistaken belief that capabilities develop in
lockstep, age-fixed sequences and show no variability from
child to child or from context to context. They are divorced
from the lived experiences, behaviors, and challenges that
real people face.
The alternative to these forms of psychological re-
search and measurement (and the essentialist constructs
they engender) is the use of dynamic methods for studying
the development of behaviors in medias res (Fischer &
Bidell, 2006; Mascolo & Fischer, in press). (For more on
these methods and the measures that facilitate them, see
also http://www.lectica.info/; Dawson & Stein, 2008; Fi-
scher & Dawson, 2002.) In real life, people cope with the
many complexities of life “in the middle of things.” They
display their behaviors and reasoning capabilities across a
variety of situations and conditions, dealing with difficult
decisions and situations such as those involved in abortion
and murder. Dynamic structural methods can detect path-
ways for learning and action in these situations and in
related domains such as making sociomoral decisions and
analyzing oneself and others in important relationships.
These methods begin with a common scale (a general ruler)
that captures the ways that people build skills and concepts
in any domain. They analyze activities that relate to the key
domains of interest, such as dilemmas, stories, and situa-
tions that deal with abortion or murder. They depict learn-
ing pathways and limits on capabilities that are based on
people’s activities in the domains of interest. They do not
assume that people have general capabilities that somehow
apply effortlessly across situations and contexts. This kind
29. of research can uncover the variety of adolescent develop-
mental pathways and the patterns of variability across
different contexts.
Conclusion: Narrow Assessments
Create Results That Flip-Flop
The ways in which Steinberg and colleagues (2009) mea-
sured cognitive capacities and psychosocial maturity led
directly to their results and to misleading conclusions. A
simple shift in the assessments used would reverse the
pattern, so that cognitive capacities would seem to develop
during adulthood while psychosocial abilities would seem
to develop during childhood, ending at age 15 or 16.
Simply put, the measures in the study made the results
come out in favor of the hypothesis. Moreover, the mea-
sures lacked a realistic connection to the lived behaviors of
adolescents and thus lacked ecological validity. From a
broad perspective of the full range of capabilities, both
cognitive and psychosocial, development involves many
skills that develop along complex pathways from infancy
through adulthood, with many capabilities developing both
before age 16 and afterward during early adulthood. These
capabilities can be measured by observations of activities
in relevant contexts and placed within developmental path-
ways that capture the full range of skills for those contexts
and eliminate problems with ceiling effects. This dynamic
perspective on developmental science starts with the vari-
ability of skills and finds the principles of order within that
variability, which contrasts with the traditional view of
abilities as fixed and static.
If psychology tells richer, more accurate stories, then
its relation to policy needs to be reframed. Psychologists
cannot draw simple lines in the sand, after which a devel-
oping person can be confidently assigned a full cognitive or
30. psychosocial capability. Development is more complex and
variable than that. Similar problems have surfaced in the
emerging field of mind, brain, and education, where many
people want to use neuroscience and genetics to shape and
define education policy (Stein & Fischer, in press). Admit-
ting the true complexity of human developmental processes
means that, following Habermas (1996) and others, scien-
tists and disciplinary experts should not claim that research
results require a certain policy. Instead, they need to help
inform the public debate about a policy by presenting
relevant evidence that can illuminate the ultimately evalu-
ative decisions about what policies to set, all perspectives
considered and given the facts in hand. This approach is
consistent with Steinberg et al.’s (2009) argument for “a
careful and nuanced consideration of the particular de-
mands placed on the individual for ‘adult-like’ maturity in
different domains of functioning” (p. 593).
599October 2009 ● American Psychologist
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Stein, Z., & Fischer, K. (in press). Directions for mind, brain,
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education: Methods, models, and morality. Educational
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Theory.
Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., Woolard, J., Graham, S., & Banich,
M.
(2009). Are adolescents less mature than adults? Minors’ access
to
abortion, the juvenile death penalty, and the alleged APA “flip-
flop.”
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600 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
35. Are Adolescents Less Mature Than Adults?
Minors’ Access to Abortion, the Juvenile Death Penalty, and the
Alleged
APA “Flip-Flop”
Laurence Steinberg Temple University
Elizabeth Cauffman University of California, Irvine
Jennifer Woolard Georgetown University
Sandra Graham University of California, Los Angeles
Marie Banich University of Colorado
The American Psychological Association’s (APA’s) stance
on the psychological maturity of adolescents has been
criticized as inconsistent. In its Supreme Court amicus
brief in Roper v. Simmons (2005), which abolished the
juvenile death penalty, APA described adolescents as de-
velopmentally immature. In its amicus brief in Hodgson v.
Minnesota (1990), however, which upheld adolescents’
right to seek an abortion without parental involvement,
APA argued that adolescents are as mature as adults. The
authors present evidence that adolescents demonstrate
adult levels of cognitive capability earlier than they evince
emotional and social maturity. On the basis of this re-
search, the authors argue that it is entirely reasonable to
assert that adolescents possess the necessary skills to make
an informed choice about terminating a pregnancy but are
nevertheless less mature than adults in ways that mitigate
criminal responsibility. The notion that a single line can be
drawn between adolescence and adulthood for different
purposes under the law is at odds with developmental
36. science. Drawing age boundaries on the basis of develop-
mental research cannot be done sensibly without a careful
and nuanced consideration of the particular demands
placed on the individual for “adult-like” maturity in dif-
ferent domains of functioning.
Keywords: adolescents, abortion, juvenile death penalty,
Supreme Court, APA
In its landmark 2005 decision abolishing the juveniledeath
penalty (Roper v. Simmons, 2005), the U.S. Su-preme Court
held that the inherent immaturity of ado-
lescents relative to adults mitigated teenagers’ criminal
responsibility to the extent that it barred the imposition of
capital punishment for crimes committed under the age of
18, regardless of their heinousness. Prior to this decision, in
the United States, individuals could be executed for capital
crimes committed at the age of 16 or older. By a 5-to-4
vote, the Court ruled that this age boundary should be set at
18, rather than 16.
Developmental science was front and center in the
Court’s ruling, which drew extensively on an amicus curiae
brief submitted by the American Psychological Association
(APA, 2004) and was informed by a recent summary of
relevant research on psychological development during
adolescence that was published in this journal (Steinberg &
Scott, 2003). Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony
Kennedy drew attention to three specific aspects of adoles-
cents’ immaturity that diminished their criminal culpabil-
ity: their underdeveloped sense of responsibility (and dif-
ficulty controlling their impulses), their heightened
vulnerability to peer pressure, and the unformed nature of
their characters. As Justice Kennedy wrote,
37. First, as any parent knows and as the scientific and sociological
studies respondent and his amici cite tend to confirm, “[a] lack
of
maturity and an underdeveloped sense of responsibility are
found
in youth more often than in adults and are more understandable
among the young. These qualities often result in impetuous and
ill-considered actions and decisions.” . . . The second area of
difference is that juveniles are more vulnerable or susceptible to
negative influences and outside pressures, including peer pres-
sure. . . . The third broad difference is that the character of a
juvenile is not as well formed as that of an adult. The
personality
traits of juveniles are more transitory, less fixed. . . . These dif-
ferences render suspect any conclusion that a juvenile falls
among
the worst offenders. (Roper v. Simmons, 2005, pp. 15–16)
The position taken by APA in its brief—that adoles-
cents are inherently less blameworthy than adults as a
consequence of their developmental immaturity—was
noteworthy not only because it proved so influential to the
Court’s decision but because it appeared, on its face, to
contradict a stance taken by APA in a previous U.S. Su-
Editor’s note. June P. Tangney served as the action editor for
this article.
Author’s note. Laurence Steinberg, Department of Psychology,
Temple
University; Elizabeth Cauffman, Department of Psychology and
Social
Behavior, University of California, Irvine; Jennifer Woolard,
Department
of Psychology, Georgetown University; Sandra Graham,
Psychological
39. Roper v. Simmons (2005), Justice Antonin Scalia drew
unambiguous attention to this issue:
[T]he American Psychological Association (APA), which claims
in this case that scientific evidence shows persons under 18 lack
the ability to take moral responsibility for their decisions, has
previously taken precisely the opposite position before this very
Court. In its brief in Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U. S. 417
(1990),
the APA found a “rich body of research” showing that juveniles
are mature enough to decide whether to obtain an abortion with-
out parental involvement. . . . The APA brief, citing psychology
treatises and studies too numerous to list here, asserted: “[B]y
middle adolescence (age 14 –15) young people develop abilities
similar to adults in reasoning about moral dilemmas,
understand-
ing social rules and laws, [and] reasoning about interpersonal
relationships and interpersonal problems.” (Justice Scalia, dis-
senting, pp. 11–12)
The petitioner in Roper, the State of Missouri, made a
similar point in its brief:
Ultimately, Simmons wants the Court to declare that [drawing
the
age boundary for purposes of death penalty eligibility at 16] is
now “without penological justification” not based on research
that
uniformly reaches that conclusion, but based on inconsistent
research, viewed through the lense [sic] of a stereotype that the
American Psychological Association decried in Hodgson:
“[T]he
assumption that adolescents as a group are less able than adults
to
understand, reason and make decisions about intellectual and
social dilemmas is not supported by contemporary
40. psychological
theory and research.” (Roper, 2004, p. 11)
Concerns about reconciling the scientific arguments
offered in the two cases were also raised by abortion rights
advocates, but in a different context. Indeed, after Laurence
Steinberg met with the Executive Committee of the Society
for Research on Adolescence, asking for the organization’s
endorsement of the APA stance in Roper, the committee
decided not to sign on to the APA brief, fearing that the
argument that adolescents were not as mature as adults (and
thus ineligible for capital punishment) would come back to
haunt those who had worked so hard to secure the abortion
rights of young women. As it turns out, these worries were
not unfounded. Within two years of the Roper decision, the
U.S. Supreme Court heard Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of
Northern New England (2006), which, like Hodgson, con-
cerned minors’ access to abortion without parental involve-
ment. Opponents of adolescents’ autonomous abortion
rights had taken the Court’s characterization of adolescent
immaturity in the juvenile death penalty case and used it to
argue in favor of parental involvement requirements. Citing
the Roper decision, they argued,
Parental involvement is critical to ensure not only that the ado-
lescent’s choice is informed, but that it is freely made and not
the
result of coercion or duress. . . . These concerns are heightened
for
adolescents who, as this Court has recently observed, are more
susceptible than adults to “outside pressure” and other
“negative
influences,” and more likely than adults to make decisions that
are
“impetuous and ill-considered.” Roper v. Simmons, 125 S.Ct.
1183, 1195 (2005). (Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern
41. New England, 2006, p. 15)
It is easy to see why many criticized the APA for its
apparently contradictory positions. On the face of it, the
APA position in the juvenile death penalty case was in
direct opposition to the stance it took in Hodgson. In its
amicus brief arguing for adolescents’ abortion rights, for
example, APA stated,
[B]y age 14 most adolescents have developed adult-like
intellec-
tual and social capacities [italics added] including specific abil-
ities outlined in the law as necessary for understanding
treatment
alternatives, considering risks and benefits, and giving legally
com-
petent consent. (APA, 1989, p. 20)
However, in its amicus brief arguing against the juvenile
death penalty, APA stated,
Given that 16- and 17-year-olds as a group are less mature
developmentally than adults [italics added], imposing capital
pun-
ishment on such adolescents does not serve the judicially recog-
nized purposes of the sanction. (APA, 2004, p. 13)
APA responded to accusations that developmental
psychologists were trying to have their scientific cake and
Laurence
Steinberg
584 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
42. eat it too—spinning the science for the sake of youth
advocacy— by pointing out that the type of decision under
consideration in Roper was not the same as that at issue in
Hodgson:
We [APA] took note of the Hodgson brief in the approval
process
for APA’s brief in [Roper] but concluded that the two cases
were
distinguishable in several respects. [Roper] and Hodgson, while
both dealing with adolescent decision-making, involved very
dif-
ferent legal issues and different types of decisions. Therefore
the
research, which was different in each of the two cases,
addressed
distinct aspects of adolescent behavior and attributes. (Gilfoyle,
2005, p. 1)
There is no question that the legal issues in Hodgson
and Roper differed. The abortion rights case was a 14th
Amendment case involving the amendment’s due process
clause. The central question considered in Hodgson was
whether the state had a compelling interest in mandating
that an adolescent seeking an abortion be required to first
notify both her parents. Several legal issues were relevant,
including whether the notification requirement placed an
undue burden on adolescents (especially those whose par-
ents were divorced or estranged) and whether providing for
a judicial hearing as an alternative to parental notification
(known as a “judicial bypass”) was acceptable, but the
most relevant for the present discussion concerned the
competence of adolescents to make informed and sound
health care decisions on their own. If it could be concluded
that adolescents were sufficiently competent to make an
43. informed decision about whether to terminate a pregnancy,
the state’s interest in requiring parental notification would
be rendered less compelling. Ultimately, the Court ruled
that requiring parental notification was constitutional so
long as a bypass provision was part of the law.
The juvenile death penalty case was an 8th Amend-
ment case involving the amendment’s cruel and unusual
punishments clause. A central issue in Roper was whether
adolescents were mature enough to be held to adult levels
of criminal blameworthiness and, in particular, to a level of
blameworthiness that potentially warranted capital punish-
ment; if they were not, the juvenile death penalty was
excessively cruel. Under a bedrock principle of American
criminal law known as “penal proportionality,” the punish-
ment a guilty party receives should be in proportion to his
or her culpability for the criminal act, and certain factors
are accepted as mitigating the actor’s culpability. These
mitigating factors include diminished decision-making ca-
pability (e.g., decision making that is impulsive or short-
sighted), exposure to coercion, and evidence of the offend-
er’s otherwise good character (Steinberg & Scott, 2003).
As noted earlier, the Court ruled that the inherent immatu-
rity of adolescents, with respect to the impetuousness of
their decision making, their susceptibility to coercion, and
their unformed characters, made them categorically less
blameworthy than the average criminal and therefore not
eligible for a punishment that was reserved for only the
most culpable offenders.
Whether APA in fact “flip-flopped” or, worse yet,
tried to have it both ways, as its critics have contended, is
an exceedingly important question, both with respect to the
decisions about where to draw legal boundaries between
adolescents and adults for various purposes and with re-
spect to APA’s scientific credibility more generally. As
44. some of us have written elsewhere, “scientists’ authority to
enter the policy arena rests largely on the credibility of their
research findings” (Grisso & Steinberg, 2005, p. 620). If
APA’s statements about the state of scientific knowledge
are seen as advocacy masquerading as research, the integ-
rity of the Association’s scientific mission is threatened.
After all, in both Hodgson and Roper, APA took a position
that could be fairly characterized as, at the very least,
friendly to youth advocates. It is crucial, therefore, to
examine the issue empirically. That is the focus of the
present article.
For the past several years, as members of the
MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent
Development and Juvenile Justice, we have been studying
age differences in many of the cognitive and psychosocial
capacities that have been at issue in the Supreme Court
cases discussed above. We have been studying basic intel-
lectual abilities, such as working memory and verbal flu-
ency, but also aspects of psychosocial development, includ-
ing impulse control (Steinberg et al., 2008), future
orientation (Steinberg et al., 2009), reward sensitivity
(Cauffman et al., in press), sensation seeking (Steinberg et
al., 2008), and susceptibility to peer influence (Steinberg &
Monahan, 2007). To our knowledge, ours is the first study
to include both cognitive and psychosocial measures ad-
ministered to the same sample, to include an ethnically and
socioeconomically diverse group of individuals, and to
span the period from preadolescence through young adult-
hood.
Elizabeth
Cauffman
585October 2009 ● American Psychologist
45. On the basis of this work, some of which we summa-
rize in the pages that follow, we believe that APA’s seem-
ingly contradictory positions in Hodgson and Roper are in
fact quite compatible with research on age differences in
cognitive and psychosocial capacities. More specifically,
our findings, as well as those of other researchers, suggest
that whereas adolescents and adults perform comparably on
cognitive tests measuring the sorts of cognitive abilities
that were referred to in the Hodgson brief—abilities that
permit logical reasoning about moral, social, and interper-
sonal matters—adolescents and adults are not of equal
maturity with respect to the psychosocial capacities listed
by Justice Kennedy in the majority opinion in Roper—
capacities such as impulse control and resistance to peer
influence. Not only were the legal issues different in the
two cases, but so are the circumstances surrounding abor-
tion decisions and criminal behavior, and therefore, the
relevant dimensions along which adolescents and adults
should be compared differ as well. Unlike adolescents’
decisions to commit crimes, which are usually rash and
made in the presence of peers, adolescents’ decisions about
terminating a pregnancy can be made in an unhurried
fashion and in consultation with adults.
We recognize that not all abortion decisions are de-
liberative, rational, and autonomous and that not all crim-
inal decisions are impulsive, emotional, and influenced by
others. After all, any decision about whether to abort a
pregnancy or carry it to term has an emotional component,
involves both immediate and long-term consequences, and
may be influenced by the opinions of family and friends.
By the same token, adolescents’ crimes are occasionally
strategic, planned in advance, and executed alone. In gen-
eral, though, when contemplating an abortion, an adoles-
46. cent has time to deliberate before making a final choice and
has an opportunity to consult with an adult expert, whereas
the circumstances leading up to the typical adolescent
criminal offense—robbing a convenience store, for in-
stance—are characterized by heightened emotional arousal,
time pressure, and peer influence.
For example, studies indicate that about half of all
pregnant adolescents contemplating an abortion whose par-
ents are unaware of the situation consult with a nonparental
adult other than medical staff (e.g., a teacher, school coun-
selor, clergyperson, older relative, or adult friend of the
family); this figure is the same among younger (under age
16) and older adolescents (Henshaw & Kost, 1992). More-
over, 35 states require all women seeking an abortion to
receive some type of counseling from the abortion provider
before the procedure is performed, usually including infor-
mation about the specific procedure as well as the health
risks of abortion and pregnancy (Guttmacher Institute,
2009). Twenty-four states mandate a waiting period of at
least 24 hours between the counseling and the medical
procedure (Guttmacher Institute, 2009). Thus, it does not
appear as if a high proportion of pregnant teenagers decide
to terminate a pregnancy under circumstances that are
rushed or in the absence of adult advice. In contrast, studies
indicate that adolescents’ crimes are more often than not
impulsive and unplanned (Farrington, 2003) and typically
committed with peers (Reiss & Farrington, 1991). Thus,
while some of the capabilities relevant to both decision-
making contexts no doubt overlap, the circumstances that
define “mature” behavior in each are clearly different.
Resisting peer influence, thinking before making a deci-
sion, and considering the future consequences of one’s
actions are clearly more important in criminal decision
making than abortion decision making, in part because
47. society structures the latter context to promote consultation
with adults and avoid hasty decision making.
The importance of maintaining a distinction between
cognitive and psychosocial maturity in discussions of the
legal status of adolescents is supported by other research
that has examined age differences in each of these domains.
Studies that have examined logical reasoning abilities in
structured situations and basic information-processing
skills, for instance, have found no appreciable differences
between adolescents age 16 and older and adults; any gains
that take place in these domains during adolescence occur
very early in the adolescent decade, and improvements
after this age are very small (Hale, 1990; Kail, 1997;
Keating, 2004; Overton, 1990). The results of the
MacArthur Foundation Research Network’s earlier study
of age differences in competence to stand trial, which
depends on individuals’ ability to understand facts about a
court proceeding and to reason with those facts in a rational
fashion, also were consistent with these findings. We found
significant differences between the competence-related
abilities of adults and those of adolescents who were 15 and
younger, but no differences between the abilities of adults
and those of adolescents who were 16 and older (Grisso et
al., 2003). This general pattern, indicating that adolescents
attain adult levels of competence to stand trial somewhere
around age 15, has been reported in similar studies of
Jennifer
Woolard
586 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
decision making across a wide variety of domains (e.g.,
48. Grisso, 1980; Jacobs-Quadrel, Fischhoff, & Davis, 1993)
and in many studies of age differences in individuals’
competence to provide informed consent (Belter & Grisso,
1984; Grisso & Vierling, 1978; Gustafson & McNamara,
1987; Weithorn & Campbell, 1982).
In contrast, the literature on age differences in psy-
chosocial characteristics such as impulsivity, sensation
seeking, future orientation, and susceptibility to peer pres-
sure shows continued development well beyond middle
adolescence and even into young adulthood (Scott, Rep-
pucci, & Woolard, 1995; Steinberg & Cauffman, 1996),
although few studies have gone much beyond adolescence
(but see Cauffman & Steinberg, 2000, for an exception).
Consistent with this literature, and in contrast to the pattern
of age differences seen in the information-processing, log-
ical reasoning, and informed consent literatures, studies of
age differences in the sorts of risky behavior likely to be
influenced by the psychosocial factors listed above—such
as reckless driving, binge drinking, crime, and spontaneous
unprotected sex—indicate that risky behavior is signifi-
cantly more common during late adolescence and early
adulthood than after (Steinberg, 2007). In other words,
although adolescents may demonstrate adult-like levels of
maturity in some respects by the time they reach 15 or 16,
in other respects they show continued immaturity well
beyond this point in development.
The MacArthur Juvenile Capacity
Study
Participants
The MacArthur Juvenile Capacity Study was designed to
examine age differences in a variety of cognitive and
psychosocial capacities that are relevant to debates about
the relative maturity of adolescents and adults, especially
49. as they affect judgments of criminal blameworthiness.
There were five data collection sites in the study: Los
Angeles; Irvine, CA; Denver; Philadelphia; and Washing-
ton, DC. Data for the present study come from 935 indi-
viduals ranging in age from 10 to 30 years (M � 17.84
years). Participants were recruited via newspaper advertise-
ments and flyers posted at community organizations, Boys
& Girls Clubs, churches, community colleges, and local
places of business in neighborhoods targeted to have an
average household education level of “some college” ac-
cording to 2000 U.S. Census data. Because we were inter-
ested in characterizing the capacities of “average” adoles-
cents and adults, we did not target individuals on the basis
of their involvement with the legal system but sought
instead to survey an ethnically and socioeconomically di-
verse sample of individuals in the age range of interest.
Individuals who were interested in the study were
asked to call the research office listed on the flyer. Mem-
bers of the research team described the nature of the study
to prospective participants over the telephone and invited
those interested to participate. Given this recruitment strat-
egy, it is not possible to know how many potential partic-
ipants saw the advertisements, what proportion responded,
and whether those who responded were different from
those who did not, although the education level of the
sample is comparable to that of the people in the neigh-
borhoods from which it was drawn.
Data collection took place either at one of the partic-
ipating university’s offices or at a convenient location in
the community. Before beginning, participants were pro-
vided verbal and written explanations of the study, their
confidentiality was assured, and their written consent or
assent was obtained. For participants who were under the
age of 18, informed consent was obtained from either a
50. parent or a guardian.
Procedure
Prior to data collection, all site project directors and re-
search assistants met at one location for several days of
training. The project coordinators and research assistants
conducted on-site practice protocol administrations prior to
enrolling participants. Participants took part in a two- to
two-and-one-half-hour interview that included three sets of
measures: (a) a series of computerized tasks designed to
assess a range of executive functions (not discussed in this
report); (b) a series of questionnaires designed to measure
a variety of psychosocial capacities relevant to discussions
of how adolescents should be treated by the legal system;
and (c) tests of basic intellectual functioning. The tasks and
questionnaires were administered on a laptop computer in
individual interviews. Research assistants were present to
monitor the participant’s progress, reading aloud the in-
structions as each new task was presented and providing
assistance as needed. To keep participants engaged in the
computer tasks, we told the participants that they would
receive $35 for participating in the study and that they
could obtain up to a total of $50 (or, for participants who
Sandra
Graham
587October 2009 ● American Psychologist
were under 14, an additional prize) depending on their
performance. In actuality, we paid all participants ages
14 –30 the full $50, and all participants ages 10 –13 re-
ceived $35 plus a prize (approximately $15 in value). This
strategy was used to increase the motivation to perform
51. well on the tasks but also to ensure that no participants
were penalized for their performance. All procedures were
approved by the institutional review board of the university
associated with the data collection site.
Measures
Of interest in the present report are the demographic mea-
sures and IQ (which were used to ensure that the various
age groups had comparable social and intellectual back-
grounds), the measures of psychosocial capacities, and the
tests of basic intellectual functioning.
Demographic variables. Participants pro-
vided information about their age, gender, ethnicity, and
highest level of education within their household. For
youths 17 years of age and younger, household education
was based on parents’ level of education, as research has
indicated that parental education may be the most stable
component of a family’s social class (Steinberg, Mounts,
Lamborn, & Dornbusch, 1991). For participants 18 years of
age and older, their own educational attainment was used to
index this construct. In order to have cells with sufficiently
large and comparably sized subsamples for purposes of
data analysis, we created age groups as follows: 10 –11,
12–13, 14 –15, 16 –17, 18 –21, 22–25, and 26 –30 years.
The age groups did not differ with respect to gender or
ethnicity but did differ, albeit modestly, with respect to
household education. Accordingly, all subsequent analyses
controlled for this variable. Demographic characteristics of
the sample are presented in Table 1.
IQ. The Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence
(WASI) Full-Scale IQ Two-Subtest (FSIQ-2) (Psycholog-
ical Corporation, 1999) was used to produce an estimate of
general intellectual ability based on two (Vocabulary and
Matrix Reasoning) of the four subtests. The WASI can be
52. administered in approximately 15 minutes and is correlated
with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (r � .81)
and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (r � .87). It has
been normed for individuals between the ages of 6 to 89
years. Because there were small but significant differences
between the age groups in mean IQ, this variable was
controlled for in all subsequent analyses.
Psychosocial maturity. The battery of instru-
ments contained self-report measures of five capacities
frequently mentioned in discussions about age differences
in maturity and their relevance to legal policy. Table 2 lists
these measures and provides sample items from each.
Three widely used and well-validated Likert-scale-
type instruments were used to assess risk perception (the
extent to which one perceives a potentially dangerous or
harmful activity as risky), sensation seeking (the extent to
which one actively seeks experiences that provide thrills),
and impulsivity (the extent to which one acts without think-
ing or has difficulty controlling impulses). Risk perception
was assessed using a modified version of a widely used
measure developed by Benthin, Slovic, and Severson
(1993). The respondent is presented with eight potentially
dangerous activities (e.g., riding in a car with a drunk
driver, having unprotected sex) and asked to indicate how
risky the activity is (� � .82).1 Sensation seeking was
assessed using a subset of six items (� � .70) from the
Sensation Seeking Scale (Zuckerman, Eysenck, & Ey-
senck, 1978).2 Impulsivity was assessed using all 18 items
(� � .73) from three six-item subscales of the Barratt
Impulsiveness Scale (Patton, Stanford, & Barratt, 1995):
Motor Impulsivity, Inability to Delay Gratification, and
Lack of Perseverance. All three self-report measures have
been shown to be significantly correlated with behavioral
indices of their associated constructs. In our sample, scores
53. on the impulsivity self-report measure were significantly
negatively related to the amount of time participants waited
before making their first move on a Tower of London task,
and scores on the sensation-seeking questionnaire were
significantly correlated with sensation-seeking behavior in
a video driving game (Steinberg et al., 2008). In addition,
individuals who were less likely to perceive potentially
risky behaviors as risky were more likely to report engag-
ing in high-risk behavior.
1 The original Benthin et al. (1993) measure also contains an
item
concerning alcohol use. Our analyses indicated that including
this item in
the scale’s construction adversely differentiated the reliability
of the scale
among the younger and older participants, most likely because
the use of
alcohol is risky for minors but not necessarily for adults. As a
conse-
quence, we dropped that item from our scale computation.
2 Many of the items on the full Zuckerman et al. (1978) scale
appear
to measure impulsivity, not sensation seeking (e.g., “I often do
things on
impulse.”) Because we have a separate measure of impulsivity
in our
battery, we used only the Zuckerman et al. items that clearly
indexed thrill
or novelty seeking (see Table 2).
Marie Banich
588 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
54. Two additional psychosocial capacities, resistance to
peer influence and future orientation, were assessed using
new self-report measures developed for this program of
work. Each used a response format introduced by Harter
(1982) in which respondents are presented with two oppos-
ing statements that are both phrased in a socially acceptable
fashion, asked to indicate which best describes them, and
then asked whether the descriptor is “very true” or “sort of
true.” (This format is presumed to reduce social desirability
bias.) Resistance to peer influence (Steinberg & Monahan,
2007) was assessed using a 10-item scale (� � .76) de-
signed to measure the extent to which individuals change
their behavior or opinions in order to follow the crowd. We
have no data on the validity of this measure in the current
sample, but we do in analyses of data from a large study of
serious juvenile offenders. There we found that the pres-
ence of antisocial peers in an individual’s network is more
highly correlated with the individual’s own criminal be-
havior among those who report a low ability to resist peer
influence on this measure than among those who have
equally antisocial peers but score high in self-reported
resistance to peer influence (Monahan, Steinberg, & Cauff-
man, 2007). Studies of the neural underpinnings of resis-
tance to peer influence using this measure have found
neurobiological differences between same-age individuals
who vary in their resistance to peer influence in ways
consistent with the notion that higher scores on this instru-
ment reflect better coordination of affect and thinking
(Grosbras et al., 2007; Paus et al., 2008), a key component
of psychosocial maturity in our conceptualization of the
construct. Future orientation was assessed using a 15-item
scale (� � .80) that measures the anticipation of future
consequences, planning ahead, and thinking about the fu-
55. ture. The validity of this measure is supported by our
finding that individuals who score high on this scale are
more likely to choose a larger delayed reward over an
immediate smaller one in a delay discounting task (Stein-
berg et al., 2009).
A composite measure of psychosocial maturity was
formed by reverse-scoring the measures of impulsivity and
Table 1
Demographic Characteristics of the Sample (N � 935)
Characteristic Percentage
Age (in years)
10–11 12.5
12–13 14.7
14–15 13.8
16–17 15.2
18–21 15.9
22–25 14.6
26–30 13.2
Gender
Male 49.2
Female 50.8
Ethnicity
African American 29.2
Asian American 15.1
Hispanic 21.2
White 24.0
Other/biracial 9.9
Household education
High school 11.9
56. High school graduate 22.8
Some college 34.1
College graduate 21.4
Postcollege 9.7
Table 2
Indices of Psychosocial Maturity
Construct Measure Sample item
Risk perception Benthin et al., 1993 “If you did this activity
(e.g., had unprotected sex), how
much are you at risk for something bad happening?”
Sensation seeking Zuckerman et al., 1978 “I sometimes like to
do things that are a little frightening.”
Impulsivity Patton et al., 1995 “I do things without thinking.”
Resistance to peer influence Steinberg & Monahan, 2007 “Some
people think it’s better to be an individual even if
people will be angry at you for going against the
crowd.
BUT
Other people think it’s better to go along with the crowd
than to make people angry at you.”
Future orientation Steinberg et al., 2009 “Some people take life
one day at a time without
worrying about the future.
BUT
Other people are always thinking about what tomorrow
will bring.”
57. 589October 2009 ● American Psychologist
sensation seeking so that higher scores indicated greater
maturity (i.e., more impulse control and less thrill seeking),
standardizing all five measures, and averaging the stan-
dardized scores. Thus, individuals who score relatively
lower on the composite characterize themselves as less
likely to perceive dangerous situations as risky, more im-
pulsive, more thrill seeking, more oriented to the immedi-
ate, and more susceptible to peer influence. This is very
similar to the portrait of adolescents described by Justice
Kennedy in his majority opinion in the juvenile death
penalty case. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that
the composite model fit the data well (comparative fit
index � .95, root mean square error of approximation �
.075). The five indicators are modestly, but significantly,
intercorrelated (rs range from .14 to .38; average r � .26).
Cognitive capacity. The test battery included
several widely used tests of basic cognitive skills, including
a test of resistance to interference in working memory
(Thompson-Schill et al., 2002), a digit-span memory test,
and a test of verbal fluency. The resistance to interference
in working memory test was one in which participants saw
four probe letters on the screen and then a target. They
were then asked whether the target was among the four
probes. On test trials, two of the four letters presented had
appeared in the previous trial, providing interference with
recall on the present trial. An overall accuracy score was
computed by averaging the number of correct responses
across all test trials. The digit-span memory test was sim-
ilar to that in the Wechsler scales. Participants heard a
series of 13 sequences of digits (beginning with two digits
and increasing to eight) that they were asked to recall
58. forwards and 13 sequences that they were asked to recall
backwards. A memory score was computed by averaging
the total number of forward trials and backward trials
recalled correctly. Finally, the measure of verbal fluency
asked participants to generate, in one minute, as many
words as possible that either began with a specific letter
(three trials) or were members of a category (e.g., fruits;
three trials). A verbal fluency score was computed by
averaging the number of words generated for each of the
six lists.
Because the composite consisted of only three items,
it was not possible to derive a reliable estimate of internal
consistency. However, after examining the intercorrela-
tions among the tests, we found them to be significant
(fluency and working memory, r � .29; working memory
and digit span, r � .39; digit span and verbal fluency, r �
.40). Accordingly, scores on each of the measures were
standardized, and the standard scores were averaged to
create an index of general cognitive capacity. Not surpris-
ingly, our composite measure of general cognitive capacity
is significantly correlated with IQ (r � .46, p � .001).
Unlike IQ scores, however, which are adjusted for chrono-
logical age, the measure of cognitive capacity is not. More
important, because we controlled for IQ in all analyses, any
observed age differences in general cognitive capacity are
not due to age differences in intelligence.
In its original amicus brief in Hodgson, the APA
(1987) made reference to the “cognitive capacity” (p. 6) of
adolescents and cited sources that referred to both infor-
mation-processing abilities (Keating, 1980) and logical rea-
soning (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958) in support of its argument
that adolescents are as cognitively competent as adults. We
acknowledge that our index, which tilts heavily toward
59. measuring how many pieces of information an individual
can process or produce, does not measure logical or moral
reasoning and as such is an incomplete measure of cogni-
tive capacity as conceptualized in the APA Hodgson brief.
Our measure assesses cognitive ability in a highly struc-
tured manner and as such does not tap aspects of executive
function that may be important in novel situations. It is also
important to note that our measure of general cognitive
capacity does not include tests of higher order executive
functioning, such as comparing short- versus long-term
consequences, coordinating affect and cognition, or balanc-
ing risk and reward. Many such executive functions have
both cognitive and psychosocial aspects to them, however,
and given that our interest was in maintaining a distinction
between general cognitive and psychosocial capacities so
as to better examine their distinct developmental timeta-
bles, it was important not to conflate the two. The measures
of psychosocial maturity and cognitive capacity are very
modestly correlated once age is controlled, r(922) � .15,
p � .001. Although our operationalization of general cog-
nitive capacity is not identical to that used by APA in its
argument, it is very clear that the authors of the Hodgson
brief (APA, 1987) were referring to cognitive abilities and
not psychosocial maturity and that the authors of the Roper
brief (APA, 2004) were referring to psychosocial maturity
and not cognitive capacity.
Results
Two analyses of covariance were conducted in order to
examine age patterns in psychosocial maturity and general
cognitive capacity; as noted earlier, both analyses con-
trolled for IQ and household education.
The results of the two analyses are shown in Figures
1 and 2. Each figure presents the age group means for the
standardized composites, with a value of 1.0 added to each
60. Figure 1
Psychosocial Maturity (Standardized Composite
Scores) as a Function of Age (in Years)
590 October 2009 ● American Psychologist
group’s mean for ease of presentation (i.e., to make all
values positive numbers). The analysis of age differences
in psychosocial maturity indicates a significant age effect,
F(6, 900) � 12.577, p � .001. As Figure 1 indicates, age
differences in psychosocial maturity, as assessed in this
study, did not emerge until mid-adolescence but were present
throughout late adolescence and early adulthood. Indeed, pair-
wise comparisons, using a Bonferroni correction, revealed no
significant differences in psychosocial maturity among the
first four age groups (10 –11, 12–13, 14 –15, and 16 –17 years)
but significant differences between the 16 –17-year-olds and
those 22 and older, and between the 18 –21-year-olds and
those 26 and older. In neither case was there a significant
interaction between age and gender, indicating that the pat-
terns were the same among males and females.
The analysis of age differences in cognitive capacity
shows a very different pattern. As with psychosocial ma-
turity, there is a highly significant age effect, F(6, 901) �
58.246, p � .001. However, as Figure 2 indicates, age
differences in cognitive capacity were evident during the
first part of adolescence but not after age 16 —just the
opposite from the pattern seen with respect to psychosocial
maturity. Pairwise comparisons using a Bonferroni correc-
tion indicated significant differences in general cognitive
capacity between each of the first four age groups but no
age differences after age 16.
61. Figure 3 presents these data in a somewhat different way.
Here we show the proportion of individuals in each age group
who scored at or above the mean level of the 26- to 30-year-
olds in our sample on the psychosocial and cognitive com-
posites, graphed in the same figure. As the figure indicates,
general cognitive capacity reaches adult levels long before the
process of psychosocial maturation is complete.
Although our measure of cognitive capacity included
several of the information-processing skills noted in the
APA (1987) Hodgson brief but did not include indices of
the sort of reasoning to which APA referred, it is important
to ask whether the pattern of age differences we found on
this measure resembles that observed using measures of
more sophisticated cognitive abilities of the sort believed to
influence abortion decision making. As we noted earlier, in
addition to the present study, the MacArthur Network also
conducted a study of age differences in capacities related to
competence to stand trial (Grisso et al., 2003). The main
instrument used to assess these capacities was the
MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool—Criminal Ad-
judication (MacCAT–CA), a standardized interview that
measures respondents’ understanding of and reasoning
about their legal situation (Poythress et al., 1999). Al-
though the abilities necessary for competence to stand trial
are not identical to those necessary for competent decision
making about abortion, they are conceptually similar in that
both involve being able to understand and reason with facts
and appreciate the nature of one’s situation.
Figure 4 presents data from the present study along-
side data from the Grisso et al. (2003) study in a way
Figure 2
62. General Cognitive Capacity (Standardized Composite
Scores) as a Function of Age (in Years)
Figure 3
Proportion of Individuals in Each Age Group Scoring at
or Above the Mean for 26- to 30-Year-Olds on Indices
of Cognitive Capacity and Psychosocial Maturity
Figure 4
Proportion of Individuals in Each Age Group Scoring
at or Above the Mean for 22- to 24-Year-Olds on
Index of Cognitive Capacity and on a Measure of
Abilities Relevant to Competence to Stand Trial
Note. MacCAT–CA � MacArthur Competence Assessment
Tool—Criminal
Adjudication, Understanding and Reasoning subscales.
MacCAT–CA data are
from Grisso et al (2003).
591October 2009 ● American Psychologist
comparable to that used in Figure 3, that is, in terms of the
proportion of individuals of different ages who performed
at or above the mean level of the adults in the sample. The
Grisso et al. study included participants ages 11 to 24,
drawn equally from the community and the justice system.
In order to make the appropriate comparison of these data
to those of the present study, we excluded the justice
system subsample from the analyses (the average IQ of that
subsample was 85, substantially lower than that of the
present study), categorized individuals into chronological
age groups that paralleled those used in the present study
(11, 12–13, 14 –15, 16 –17, 18 –21, and 22–24 years), and