Adolescent Psychology Lab



Adolescent Psychology Lab

Director: Dr. Daniel K. Lapsley (danlapsley@nd.edu)

Graduate Students: Paul Stey (pstey@nd.edu)

The Adolescent Psychology Lab researches adolescent and moral development at the interface of social cognition and developmental psychology. Our research broadly fits within two primary sectors. First, we examine the processes underlying ego and identity development during adolescence, and during the transition into adulthood. Along this line, we are interested in constructs such as adolescent invulnerability and risk-taking, adolescent-specific manifestations of narcissism, and functional separation from one’s parents.

Second, we are interested in promoting moral identity and personality development. We focus on how social cognitive structures underlie these developments. For example, how do we form representations of moral individuals? Do these representations influence our own propensity to act? And more broadly, how are moral individuals different from others? In investigating these processes, we often take a cognitive approach by assessing the relative effects of deliberative and implicit processing on moral actions.

Recent findings from this lab include the following:

1. College undergraduates who endorse prosocial goals (i.e., influence the social structure, help others in need) demonstrate more adaptive development than their peers even 14 years later.

2. Some narcissistic perceptions can benefit adolescents. For example, perceiving oneself as “omnipotent,” or a particular source of influence, can lead to increased self-worth and decreased susceptibility to depressive onset.

3. Adolescents who perceive themselves as “invulnerable” to the risks confronting others are more likely to take risks and perform delinquent acts. However, some forms of invulnerability may benefit adolescents, as it can lead to decreased self-esteem and anxiety problems.

4. When forming representations of moral stimuli, we do so in accordance to our daily use of metaphor. For example, we describe people as of “high character” or as “low-down scoundrels.” Accordingly, we represent moral personality traits along a vertical dimension, in that we respond quicker to moral cues when they are higher in the visual field.

5. Explicit and implicit measures of moral identity often find different results, suggesting the need to go beyond mere questionnaire measures, and investigate methods such as trait Q-sorts and response time tasks.

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