The Beautiful Teen Brain (National Geographic, cover story, Oct 2011)
Beautiful Brains
Moody. Impulsive. Maddening. Why do teenagers act the way they do? Viewed through the eyes of evolution, their most exasperating traits may be the key to success as adults.
Although you know your teenager takes some chances, it can be a shock to hear about them.
One fine May morning not long ago my oldest son, 17 at the time, phoned to tell me that he had just spent a couple hours at the state police barracks. Apparently he had been driving "a little fast." What, I asked, was "a little fast"? Turns out this product of my genes and loving care, the boy-man I had swaddled, coddled, cooed at, and then pushed and pulled to the brink of manhood, had been flying down the highway at 113 miles an hour.
"That's more than a little fast," I said.
He agreed. In fact, he sounded somber and contrite. He did not object when I told him he'd have to pay the fines and probably for a lawyer. He did not argue when I pointed out that if anything happens at that speed—a dog in the road, a blown tire, a sneeze—he dies. He was in fact almost irritatingly reasonable. He even proffered that the cop did the right thing in stopping him, for, as he put it, "We can't all go around doing 113."
He did, however, object to one thing. He didn't like it that one of the several citations he received was for reckless driving.
"Well," I huffed, sensing an opportunity to finally yell at him, "what would you call it?"
"It's just not accurate," he said calmly. " 'Reckless' sounds like you're not paying attention. But I was. I made a deliberate point of doing this on an empty stretch of dry interstate, in broad daylight, with good sight lines and no traffic. I mean, I wasn't just gunning the thing. I was driving.
"I guess that's what I want you to know. If it makes you feel any better, I was really focused."
Actually, it did make me feel better. That bothered me, for I didn't understand why. Now I do.
David Dobbs
Reader Comments (10)
Dear Mr Dobbs
I just read the full article on National Geographic Italia and I am shocked....
It is what I always thought about teenagers !
I'm glad that there are scientific studies that demonstrate that, and also that you've explained it so clearly. I'm mother of 2 boys aged 11 and 13 and I really want to thank you.
I think this article is Bright enlightening
David Dobbs argues that risk taking behavior in teenagers confers evolutionary advantage gained from seeking adventure and exploring new terrain. His claims are premised on functional MR imaging confirming structural brain changes with age and anthropological changes during human evolution. He states "their (teenagers) most exasperating traits may be the key to success as adults." Dobbs could well to discuss cross-cultural differences in child rearing that modulates (permits or restrains) the teenage inclination to explore and take inordinate risks. This is well demonstrated by the fiery debate surrounding Amy Chua's exacting impost of discipline (the "Tiger Mother" strategy) that produced two high achieving responsible and creative daughters. Although I am not an advocate of Chua's rigorous (some may say cruel) method, teenage rebellion can be suppressed by strict yet responsible parenting and schooling. "Beautiful Brains" strikes me as possessing an element of post-hoc justification for bad teenage behaviour and the insufficient dispensation of discipline and deserved punishment. On another note, the psychological behavioral studies underpinning Dobb's argument are all susceptible to the Hawthorne and social desirability effect-when teenagers know they are being observed and studied, they will take additional care to minimize measures of their risk-taking and plainly bad behaviour. We all want to be seen in a good light- teenager or not.
These days it is common to blame behavioural issues on biology and ignore the social aspects. Adolescence is no exception. The real ‘problem’ with youth today is they do not receive genuine initiation. We have to look at traditional societies to see what real initiation is like. Around puberty boys leave their families and undertake intense experiences −rites of passage− guided by the elders. These are transformative experiences: the boy ‘dies’ and the man is created. A fascinating account of traditional initiation is given by the West African Malidoma Patrice Some in his book Of Water and the Spirit. On the role of elders he writes:
‘Elders and mentors have an irreplaceable function in the life of any community. Without them the young are lost − their overflowing energies are wasted in useless pursuits. The old must live in the young like a grounding force that tames the tendency toward bold but senseless actions and shows them the path of wisdom. In the absence of elders, the impetuosity of youth becomes the slow death of the community.’
Our fast paced society disregards the wisdom of the elders. Naturally impressionable, youth are exploited rotten by commercial interests and the media. They have little chance of becoming psychologically mature human beings. Like Baby Jane, they never grow up, they just grow old. Worth reading is ‘The Age of Endarkenment’ by Michael Ventura, an excellent short article on the plight of youth and is found in Crossroads, The Quest for Contemporary Rites of Passage (1996). It is available online at:
http://www.well.com/~mareev/TIMELINE/Sixties_great_writing/Ventura-Age_of_Endarkenment.html
It's already a serious matter when it comes to teenagers which are in the stage of adolescence, they're really in a situation where in they are prone to troubles.
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I believe control over teens should be imposed by parents. We understand that this is a great time for them to explore but there should be always limitation. Thanks for sharing.
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Sometimes it is a stressful experience to have a teenager. But I think parents could learn much on their experience. It is just right to provide freedom to the teenager but I believe there should be always limitation.
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I disagree with this post and many of the comments, though what I'd really like to see is a broader discussion. Americans have a long and troubling history of attributing higher risks by minority groups to deficient cognitive abilities, and today's "teen brain" commentaries (based on neuroscience that is at a very primitive stage, and ignoring even more disturbing findings on the deficiencies of middle-aged and elder cognition) seem an extension of discredited "biodeterminist" notions. To date, researchers and commentators have failed to incorporate the crucial fact that as a whole and within every race and locale, teenagers and young adults suffer poverty rates 2 to 3 times higher than middle-aged adults. For nearly every comparable risk, white and Asian teens display lower rates than African and Native American 40- and 50-agers. Without incorporating socioeconomic status and environments of poverty, these are difficult to explain based on "teen brain" notions.
I discuss these issues in papers (sorry for self-promotion) published in the Journal of Adolescent Research (special teen-brain debate, January 2010) and Journal of Safety Research (vol 40, 443-48). At similar levels of poverty, teenagers and middle-agers display similar rates of crime, gun fatality, traffic fatality, and other "adolescent" risks.
Finally, having worked with teenagers and their families for 15 years, I do not believe authors should indulge stereotypes of teenagers as "maddening," "impulsive," "moody," etc., any more than we would allow racial or gender stereotypes. Teenagers are individuals, and they display a full range of behaviors just as adults do. Frankly, negative stereotypes of teens are flattering to grownups and allow us to dismiss any conflict with them as due to their innate flaws while excusing our mistakes. FBI and CDC reports show today's parents and over-40 adults are imposing record levels of middle-aged drug abuse, crime, imprisonment, and family instability on youths, and it may be no accident that we are seeing theories disparaging adolescents as inherently crazy to avoid uncomfortable scrutiny of unsettling adult trends. I suggest that journalists, commentators, and scientists adopt the same strict standards toward negative stereotypes of adolescents that we now apply to race or gender, and that the many positive attributes of modern young people in terms of dramatically lower rates of racism, xenophobia, religious bigotry, homophobia, and other prejudices (as well as many risky behaviors) compared to their elders be integrated into what is now a very one-sided, anti-youth discourse.