Adolescent brains are a part of the teen's body, the reason why teens have “risky behavior and cloudy judgment is because of the plasticity of the brain. Adolescent brains have incredible plasticity because the brain is still forming and it’s not sure what to do. The brain doesn’t know how to respond; it’s developing new paths and experiences." (MindShift) Adolescent brain development should be blamed for the child’s own behavior, it’s still a part of their body. I believe your brain is a part of your body and you as a person can control it, but you just don’t know how to. We should still be blamed for our actions. Kids have no control over the amount of plasticity in their brain. There are 6 parts of a brain. If one part of the brain …show more content…
It’s not because we want to it’s just who we are. There is something called a prefrontal cortex, “that helps link past experiences to the current situation.” (Mindshift) The prefrontal cortex’s job is to make decisions, it’s the center of the brains emotions, it notices threats and rewards. We might not use our prefrontal cortex as much as we should but it’s because it’s taken by our emotions. A lot of teens today are getting bullied and that’s what causing these bad actions. What we really need to do is stop bullying. All the bad emotions toward a person are bad for his/her brain. In the article, it states that the prefrontal cortex is usually hijacked by a person’s emotions, emotions that are created when you're bullied, broken up, friend trouble, etc. I do believe that we are in control and that we are still the reason we do the things we do, it's not just because we have something in our brain that isn't working as well as it should be. Some people believe that there would be no bullying, but they were wrong. Bullying is inevitable it's going to happen to you at some point in life, we have to grow up throughout the years and our prefrontal cortex will grow up with
Paul Thompson in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” claims that a teenager is not an adult and should not be treated as one. Thompson supports his claim by first explaining about the research his group has done. He then describes the results of the research by stating, “But what really caught our eye was a massive loss of brain tissue that occurs in the teenage years… are only being lost in the areas controlling impulses, risk-taking and self-control”(Paragraph 7). This means that during the teenage years, those part of the brain are vastly immature. Lastly, the author explains that during this reshaping of the brain, it does not remove their accountability. He also states, “While research on brain-tissue loss can help understand
In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare explains the idea that parental support is needed for teenagers. In the play two teenagers secretly get married and then commit suicide. Parents should let their kids do what they want but they can’t let them run loose..The amount of parental guidance in a teens life affects them greatly.
On the contrary Jenkins argues that if that was the case, then teens would kill at roughly the same rates all around the world. On my behalf I concur with Jenkins because everyone is responsible for their own actions and behavior. Consciousness, is what awares our minds whether we decide if we want to do something or not and what is right and wrong. If brain underdevelopment is supposedly one of the reasons, then why aren 't my siblings and I kill people like the other juveniles who are. Professor Stephen Morse reasons that “the actual science does not in any way negate criminal culpability”. We cannot incriminate science or anything because every individual will be different in many aspects because every kid matures and grows at different ages and stages. For example, from my own experiences I have seen a twelve year old child be more mature and formal than a thirty year old adult. In some cases, some children mature when they go through puberty, others till later or maybe even at a very young age.. The “underdevelopment brain” argument should not be an issue to interfere with why a juvenile should not be trial to life in prison. Although a teenager will suggest and demand that their emotions ran high, which was why they killed somebody and their
Similarly, going along with the prior rebuttal of the importance of differentiating juvenile’s characteristics and actions of that of an adult, science is compiling more evidence of its vitality. Many adults can look back and reminisce about an action he or she did when younger and say, “Wow I cannot believe I did that.” Science has proven the reason behind that is because an adolescent’s brain has not yet fully matured. Tsui states “Studies conclusively established that the brain of an adolescent is not fully developed, particularly in the area of the prefrontal cortex, which is critical to higher order cognitive functioning and impulse control” (645). The facts of scientific research need to be taken into consideration when distinguishing
American Psychological Association experts state that on average when compared to adults, 16 and 17 year-old juveniles are more: emotionally volatile, aggressive, impulsive, reactive to stress, vulnerable to peer pressure, likely to take menacing risks, prone to dramatize short-term advantages, under mind the long term consequences of their actions, and are likely to omit alternative courses of action. This may have something to with the fact that the adolescent brain is under developed. For example, according to experts at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Law and Brain Behavior “Modern neuroscience is demonstrating that the teen behavior we all observe has a brain signature that can be scanned...” and “ Their frontal lobes, the regions that synthesize and organize information, that consider the consequences of actions, and serve to inhibit impulsive behavior are not fully developed, nor will they be until the early to mid 20s.” (Edersheim, Beresin, Schlozman 2013) The front of the brain contains important nerve circuitry that functions by ...
...to the article Startling Finds on Teenage Brains by Paul Thompson from Sacramento Bee, published on May 25, 2001 “...brain cells and connections are only being lost in areas controlling impulses, risk-taking, and self-control.”, during this loss of brain tissue, the juvenile cannot their impulses which can cause erratic behavior. Juveniles may not even mean to act this way they just do. It may even be something that they are necessarily aware of. Or they may be aware of it but do not notice the need to change. Juveniles just need a something to keep them out of trouble and not everyone has one.
Paul Thompson in the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains”, claims that the youth thinks differently, especially when it comes to them facing criminal charges. Thompson supports his claims by first citing an example of a real case involving a minor. He then cites research from reliable sources as evidence to back up his claim. Lastly, the author investigates the law system’s way of handling the case mentioned previously in the article as a way to leave options open for the viewer. Thompson’s purpose is to convince the audience that though the research given shows that youth suffer brain tissue loss in their teen years, it gives them no excuse for violent behavior so that he can possibly give a well informed side of the argument. The
McMahon’s “Inside Your Teenager’s Scary Brain” discusses how adolescent’s brains are delicate and can easily affect their development in a good or bad way, depending on the individual’s experiences. According to Jensen, a Harvard neuroscientist and senior neurologist at two Boston hospitals, “teenage years comprise one of the brain’s most critical periods of development”. She parallels her experiences with her own children with observations of teens in general. With new research continuing to surface, studies illustrate how susceptible juvenile’s brain are and how this could generate different techniques on how society, parents, and teachers handle them.
Beautiful Brains by David Dobbs is an article about why teenagers usually take more risks than adults. In the article Dobbs begins by discussing how his son once got in trouble for speeding down a highway just because he was curious to know what it felt like. He then goes into asking why teenagers often do "stupid" things and then explains that teens have always done that throughout time. He provides scientific evidence that the brain changes between the ages of 12 to 25 affecting our decision making. One way that a reader could interpret this data is that teenagers have a hard time using new parts of their brain and seem to be in a state of retardation. Dobb also describes the reckless acts of teenagers in order for them to adapt to any situation.
In the nonfiction article “The Teen Brain: Still under construction” by NIMH, the author believes the teen brain is still developing emotionally, intellectually, and hormonally.
Laurence Steinberg, a distinguished University Professor of psychology, specializing in child and adolescent psychological development, wrote an article Should the science of adolescent brain development inform public policy: neuroscience has made tremendous progress in studying the adolescent brain, opening opportunities--and raising challenges--for using the knowledge to inform a variety of public policies for Issues ,Science and Technology, Spring
Juveniles are not mature enough or developed psychologically, and, therefore, do not consider the consequences of their actions. In the article, “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” by Thompson,
The Development of the human brains can affect our behavior in many ways. The teenage brain or adolescent brains does not process the
It has been found that juvenile brains are not yet fully developed. The parts of the brain specifically still changing during the teen years include the brain circuitry involved in emotional responses and impulsive responses. Teen emotional reactions are intense and urgent (National Institute
Most of the body’s functions such as, thinking, emotions, memories and so forth are controlled by the brain. It serves as a central nervous system in the human body. The mind is the intellect/consciousness that originates in the human brain and manifests itself in emotions, thoughts, perceptions and so forth. This means that the brain is the key interpreter of the mind’s content. Jackson and Nagel seem to resist identifying what we call “mental events” with brain events, for different reasons, while J.J.C. Smart takes the opposing view.