Early Adulthood Development

Paper Summary:

In human development, the early adulthood stage is the sixth stage of the period of development of humans. This paper looks at a few theorists and their concepts of the type of development that occurs in this stage of life. The writer concludes that in this stage, an individual learns to recognize alternative moral courses and learns to develop a personal moral code.

From the Paper:

"Under the early adulthood stage, cognitive development of early adults has already reached its formal operational stage, according to Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Under the formal operational stage, the operational thoughts of humans are more "abstract, idealistic, and logical," and adults are no longer confined to concrete thoughts, which are the operational thoughts common among children (Santrock 2000 335). Aside from thinking abstractly, early adulthood stage brings about among humans the ability to solve problems and test solutions, which are the characteristics of hypothetical-deductive reasoning. Piaget formally defines hypothetical-deductive reasoning as "the ability to develop hypotheses, or best hunches, about ways to solve problems" (Santrock 2000 335). Piaget notes that the operational thoughts of adults in this stage is no different from adolescents' operational thoughts, but adults in the early adulthood stage have more methods and ways in approaching and solving the problems presented to them or they encounter."

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