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184 PILLAR 2 Development and Learningchildren at this age simply can%u2019t get it. Introducing these courses in high school is a different story. By adolescence, most young people will have the mental tools to take on complex and abstract concepts.Of course, adolescents don%u2019t think with perfect clarity and logic all the time. According to David Elkind, this is an age when one tends to focus on the self, often imagining that one%u2019s own feelings are unique.25 Falling in love for the first time may lead to the feeling that this experience is unlike anything anyone else has ever felt. And a first breakup can be so intense that it%u2019s nearly impossible to believe that others (even parents!) have had similar experiences.This focus on the self makes some adolescents prone to impulsive behavior and risk taking (for example, think of the time you spent time scrolling through video after video instead of finishing homework, the teens who start smoking, or those who take risks on mountain bikes or skateboards). As we learned in the previous section, this may be partly biological, too. The brain%u2019s frontal lobes, which are largely responsible for long-term planning and impulse control, aren%u2019t fully mature until about age 25.26Despite this focus on self, people of your age are fully capable of idealistic thinking and can quickly recognize and condemn hypocrisy and injustice. You and your same-age friends tend to work hard for causes in which you believe. In addition, your newfound formal operational skills may lead you to examine your own and others%u2019 religious beliefs on a much deeper level than your childhood understandings allowed.27,28 This ability to think about your own thinking is called metacognition, and it%u2019s an important skill that can help you process information and learn more effectively. Thinking metacognitively helps you start to figure out who you are and what matters to you.29MoralityOne special aspect of cognitive development is morality%u2014a sense of right and wrong. Psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg wondered how and why we make certain right and wrong decisions. His theory of moral reasoning demonstrates how our way of thinking about moral situations changes with our level of development.30,31In his research, Kohlberg posed moral dilemmas to his research participants. For instance, he asked people if it was OK to steal thousands of dollars%u2019 worth of an unaffordable medicine if the drug would save the life of an ailing loved one.Kohlberg used people%u2019s answers to these questions to identify their thought processes. He was not especially interested in whether a person would actually steal the drug; instead, he wanted to know why they thought it was OK (or not OK) to steal the drug. In other words, he wanted to capture the moral reasoning individuals used to make their decisions about this and other scenarios. From the answers he received, Kohlberg developed a theory that organized moral development into three levels in which the focus shifts from concern with self (preconventional), to concern with fitting in (conventional), to concern with broader ethical principles (postconventional). We can think of these levels as three rungs on a moral ladder (Figure 11.2):1. Preconventional moral reasoning. This primitive level of moral reasoning is characterized by a desire to avoid punishment or gain reward. Most children younger than the age of 9 show this type of moral reasoning, and some adults never progress beyond this level. Examples of statements that indicate preconventional reasoning include, %u201cIt is wrong to steal the drug because you might wind up in jail.%u201dGrowing Cognitive CapabilitiesTeenagers are often eager to exercise the reasoning skills that mark their entry into Jean Piaget%u2019s formal operational stage. For some, this takes the form of involvement in society%u2019s important ethical debates. For example, students across the country have demonstrated for increased gun control in the wake of school shootings.Roger Kisby/ReduxLAWRENCE KOHLBERG (1927%u20131987) Created a three-stage theory of moral development.Lee Lockwood/The Chronicle Collection/Getty Images%u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.