Males andfemales from early, middle, and late adolescent age groups were tested with three arrays in a modified version of a 20 Questions problem-solving task The arrays differed by perceptual and conceptual categorical contrasts. The participants'questions were examined to determine (a) how efficiently they used the categorical information present in the arrays and (b) the frequencies of different question types. Analysis showed that the arrays varied in how efficiently they were solved and that late adolescents were the most efficient at reducing alternatives by their third question. Question types differed predictably by array, exceptfor a slight bias favoring conceptual category questions for an array with a balanced mixture ofperceptual and conceptual properties. Developmental differences in both efficiency and question type seem related, and middle adolescent males exhibited a high frequency of syncretic questions, which may constitute aform of risk taking.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arnett, J.
(1992). Reckless behavior in adolescence: A developmental perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 339-373.
2.
Bakeman, R.
, & Gottman, J. M. (1989). Observing interaction: An introduction to sequential analysis. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
3.
Bartko, J. J.
, & Carpenter, W. T. (1976). On the methods and theory of reliability. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 163, 307-317.
4.
Baumrind, D.
(1987, Fall). A developmental perspective on adolescent risk taking in contemporary America. In C. E. Irwin, Jr. (Ed.), New Directions for Child Development: No. 37. Adolescent social behavior and health (pp. 93-125). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Sciences Series.
5.
Bruner, J. S.
, Goodnow, J. J., & Austin, G. A. (1956). A study of thinking. New York: John Wiley.
6.
Byrnes, J. P.
(1988). Formal operations: A systematic reformulation. Developmental Review, 8, 66-87.
7.
Carey, S.
(1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
8.
Coldren, J. T.
, & Colombo, J. (1994). The nature and processes of preverbal learning. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(4), Serial No. 241.
9.
Denney, N. W.
, Jones, F. W., & Krigel, S. H. (1979). Modifying the questioning strategies of young children and elderly adults with strategy-modeling techniques. Human Development, 22, 23-36.
10.
Eimas, P. D.
(1970). Information processing in problem solving as a function of developmental level and stimulus saliency. Developmental Psychology, 2, 224-229.
11.
Estes, W. K.
(1993). Concepts, categories, and psychological science. Psychological Science, 4(3), 143-153.
12.
Evans, L.
, & Wasielewski, P. (1983). Risky driving related to driver and vehicle characteristics. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 15, 121-136.
13.
Fodor, J.
(1981). The present status of the innateness controversy. In Representations (pp. 257-316).Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
14.
Furby, L.
, & Beyth-Marom, R. (1992). Risk taking in adolescence: A decision making perspective. Developmental Review, 12, 1-44.
15.
Gardner, W.
(1993). A life-span rational choice theory of risk taking. In N. J. Bell & R. W. Bell (Eds.), Adolescent risk taking (pp. 66-83). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
16.
Gibson, E. J.
(1969). Principles of perceptual learning and development. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
17.
Gibson, E. J.
(1988). Exploratory behavior in the development of perceiving, acting, and the acquiring of knowledge. Annual Review of Psychology, 39, 1-41.
18.
Goldstein, F. C.
, & Levin, H. S. (1991). Question-asking strategies after severe closed head injury. Brain and Cognition, 17, 23-30.
19.
Gordon, D. E.
(1988). Formal operations and interpersonal and affective disturbances in adolescents. In E. D. Nannis & P. A. Cowan (Eds.), Developmental psychopathology and its treatment: New directions for child development (pp. 51-73). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
20.
Gordon, D. E.
(1990). Formal operational thinking: The role of cognitive-developmental processes in adolescent decision making about pregnancy and contraception. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 60(3), 346-356.
21.
Heidrich, S. M.
, & Denney, N. W. (1994). Does social problem solving differ from other types of problem solving during the adult years?Experimental Aging Research, 20, 105-126.
22.
Heimler, C. H.
(1987). Focus on life science. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
23.
Holland, J. H.
, Holyoak, K. J., Nisbett, R. E., & Thagard, P. R. (1986). Induction: Processes of inference, learning, and discovery. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
24.
Irwin, C. E., Jr.
(1993). Adolescence and risk taking: How are they related? In N. J. Bell & R. W. Bell (Eds.), Adolescent risk taking (pp. 7-28). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
25.
Irwin, C. E., Jr.
, & Milstein, S. G. (1990). Psychosocial correlates of risk-taking behaviors during adolescence. In R. E. Muuss (Ed.), Adolescent behavior and society (4th ed., pp. 339-355). New York: McGraw-Hill.
26.
Jackson, D.
, & Jelinek, M. (1993). Differential use of constraining questions by gender and matrix. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 76, 887-893.
27.
John-Steiner, V.
(1992). Private speech among adults. In R. M. Diaz & L. E. Berk (Eds.), Private speech: From social interaction to self-regulation (pp. 285-296). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
28.
Jonah, B.
(1986). Accident risk and risk-taking behavior among young drivers. AccidentAnalysis and Prevention, 18, 255-271.
29.
Jonah, B.
, &Dawson, N. (1987). Youth andrisk: Age differences in risky driving, riskperception, and risk utility. Alcohol, Drugs, and Drinking, 3, 13-27.
30.
Jurkovic, G. J.
, & Prentice, N. M. (1977). Relation of moral and cognitive development to dimensions of juvenile delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86(4), 414-420.
31.
Keating, D. P.
(1980). Thinking processes in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology. New York: John Wiley.
32.
Keating, D. P.
(1990). Adolescent thinking. In S. S. Feldman & G. R. Elliott (Eds.), At the threshold: The developing adolescent (pp. 54-89). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
33.
Konner, M.
(1990). Why the reckless survive: And other secrets of human nature. New York: Penguin.
34.
Lakoff, G.
(1987). Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
35.
Lamb, M.
(Ed.). (1987). The father's role: Cross-cultural perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
36.
Lopes, L. L.
(1993). Reasons and resources: The human side of risk taking. In N. J. Bell & R. W. Bell (Eds.), Adolescent risk taking (pp. 29-54). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
37.
Luria, A. R.
(1976). Cognitive development: Its cultural and social foundations (M. Lopez-Morillas & L. Solotaroff, Trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1974)
38.
Manis, F. R.
, Keating, D. P., & Morrison, F. J. (1980). Developmental differences in the allocation of processing capacity. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 29, 156-169.
39.
Markman, E. M.
(1989). Categorization and naming in children: Problems of induction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
40.
Matlin, M.
(1983). Cognition. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
41.
Minshew, N. J.
, Siegel, D. J., Goldstein, G., & Weldy, S. (1994). Verbal problem solving in high functioning autistic individuals. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 9, 31-40.
42.
Mosher, F. A.
, & Hornsby, J. R. (1966). On asking questions. In J. S. Bruner, R. R. Olver, P. M. Greenfield, et al., Studies in cognitive growth (pp. 86-102). New York: Wiley.
43.
Murphy, G. L.
, & Medin, D. L. (1985). The role of theories in conceptual coherence. Psychological Review, 92(3), 289-316.
44.
Nagy, P.
, & Griffiths, A. K. (1982). Limitations of recent research relating Piaget's theory to adolescent thought. Review of Educational Research, 52, 513-556.
45.
Nelson, K. E.
, & Earl, N. (1973). Information search by preschool children: Induced use of categories and category hierarchies. Child Development, 44, 682-685.
46.
Nosofsky, R. M.
(1986). Attention, similarity, and the identification-categorization relationship. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 39-57.
47.
Piaget, J.
(1972). Intellectual evolution from adolescence to adulthood. Human Development, 15,1-12.
48.
Pogrow, S.
, & Londer, G. (1994). The effects of an intensive general thinking program on the motivation and cognitive development of at-risk students: Findings from the HOTS program. In H. F. O'Neil, Jr., & M. Drillings (Eds.), Motivation: Theory and research (pp. 265-284). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
49.
Siegler, R. S.
(1977). The twenty questions game as a form of problem solving. Child Development, 48, 395-403.
50.
Steinberg, R. J.
, & Downing, C. (1982). The development of higher order reasoning in adolescence. Child Development, 53, 209-221.
51.
Stemnberg, R. J.
, & Rifkin, B. (1979). The development of analogical reasoning processes. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 27, 195-232.
52.
Stroop, J. R.
(1935). Studies of interference in serial verbal reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18,643-662.
53.
Takemura, K.
(1994). An analysis of the information search process in the game of twenty questions. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 78, 371-377.
54.
Van Horn, K. R.
, & Bartz, W. H. (1968). Information seeking strategies in cognitive development. Psychonomic Science, 11, 341-342.
55.
Vygotsky, L.
(1986). Thought and language. Cambridge: MIT Press. (Original work published 1934)
56.
Werner, H.
(1948). Comparative psychology of mental development (Rev. ed.). New York: International Universities Press.
57.
Wilson, M.
, & Daly, M. (1993). Lethal confrontational violence among young men. In N. J. Bell & R. W. Bell (Eds.), Adolescent risk taking (pp. 84-106). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
