Adolescents and decision making
The first aspect of theoretical framework is the adolescent decision making processes which is important in order to understand the way in which the process of making choices (or buyer behaviour in marketing terms) is thought to occur.
Adolescence is a complex developmental period with physical, hormonal and neurological changes influencing behaviour while their environment bombards them with ever increasing information loads and performance demands (Crone 2009, Sowell, Thompson, Leonard, Welcome, Kan and Toga 2004). Adolescence is an intense period of introspection and so, perhaps, it is not surprising that this is the time these children will lose their interest in the world around them, in how things work - in science. Disenchantment in science is a concern to many researchers and it comes during a pivotal time in adolescent’s development of an adolescent’s brain when neurons are being pruned and connected, life-long preferences are set and plans made (Sowell et al., 2004). Adolescents are digital, visible and social, communicating easily through social media (e.g. Facebook, twitter, and google +) which has been identified as a major driver of change in the marketing world (Nicholas, 2009; Neilsen, 2011). The most popular activity for the 15-17 year olds was online social networking with 88% reporting they had used it for this (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). This generation is referred to as ‘digital natives’ as they do not remember life before the information age. They use a range of virtual community platforms and consider technology as a part of life rather than good or bad as adults often do (Brooks 2008; Nicholas, 2009; Ruhi, 2010). There has been significant progress in the field of adolescent judgment and decision making in the past decade (Albert & Steinberg, 2011). From mid adolescence there is little improvement in information processing or logical reasoning through to adulthood and yet adolescents show many differences to adults in behaviour and decision making (Albert & Steinberg, 2011; Crone, 2009; Stanrock, 2010). Most decisions are based on a suite of cognitive and affective biases, heuristics and these may or may not be supported by logic. Rational choice behaviour is poorly supported by empirical findings however a pervading mindset exists that we must justify our reasons on rational rather than expressive grounds (Abelson, 1995). Indeed the way in which questions are asked about behaviour, (called ‘framing’) appears to influence responses as people seek to rationalise the decisions they have made and to make choices based on the representation (Shafir, 1993; Tversky & Kahneman, 1986, 1991). Most adolescents show excellent decision-making competence however contemporary researchers now regard this decision process as unique to adolescents rather than simply the operation of an incomplete adult brain. |
Adolescents vary from adults in their decision making processes in three important ways. First they have increased sensitivity with respect to rewards and social information meaning adolescents show lower ability than adults in regulating their behaviour and emotional responses in a social environment (Silvers, McRae, Gabrieli, Gross, Remy, & Ochsner, 2012). The second major difference is an underdeveloped cognitive control to supress impulsive behaviour (Blakemore, 2003; Crone, 2009). The final difference is the adolescent timeframe where high levels of temporal discounting means adolescents have a preference for short term gains even though these are of less value (Wheelan & McHugh, 2009).
In summary, the adolescent brain is a dynamic unique environment where there is hypersensitivity to rewards and reduced cognitive capacity to regulate behaviour. Although good decision making is well within an adolescent’s capabilities, they will be influenced by short-term gains and by the social environment within which their decisions are made. These factors must be taken into consideration when considering the theories that have been generated to study behaviour and motivation as we are adults viewing the behaviour of
adolescents whose decision making process is quite distinct from adults. |
This affects the way in which adolescents should be asked questions about their attitudes and behaviour and supports a research methodology involving an initial step of asking students directly for their ideas about the fundamentals of science choice rather than using an adult perspective to anticipate the adolescent mind.
The next section deals with the Theory of Reasoned Action which is the theoretical framework for the study.
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