Today in Psychology of Adolescence, we talked about teenage risk-taking. Apparently, studies performed have revealed that, while teenagers by age 15 posses nearly their full adult logical and rational capabilities, it all goes to shit when their friends (or any kind of peer group) is around.
Interestingly, this is actually a hard-wired part of adolescent brain development. Parts of the brain that deal with logic, decision-making, forward-thinking and self-regulation, and parts that deal with social and emotional stimuli, develop differently. At puberty the first - the socioeconomical network - becomes assertive quickly, but only slowly matures - unlike the logical centres, which, again, are pretty much fully developed by 15. The balance between these two sides that lets people actually control their emotions during emotional or social stimuli doesn't come about until about age 25.
I had a bit of a chuckle to myself in today's class, because over the past few years I've had the fortune to meet a handful of people who exude this developmental characteristic to-the-T: Girls, who, despite being very smart and capable of intellectual conversation, were excessively prone to acting BAT SHIT CRAZY, unabashedly selfish, instantly hyper-emotional, and stupid, whenever any element of emotional or social interaction was triggered.
It all makes sense now.
PS: If you happen to be one of the people I'm talking about, and you've found your way here, Yes, I'm talking about you.
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