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Keganr Adolescence

May 30, 2018

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    1The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth:"Whaddaya Want from Me?"

    Peter and Lynn are wide awake at two in the morning, but they areno t having a good time. They are having a teenager. Matty, theirson, was due home two hours ago. He is sixteen, his curfew is midnight,( and they have heard nothing from him. They are wide awake and angry,and most of all, they are worried.But this is not going to be one of those nights that changes anyone'slife. Nobody is going to die. Nothing of this night will be on the news.This is the ordinary night nobody writes about. Matty is going to comehome in another half hour hoping his parents have long since gone tosleep so he can assure them tomorrow that he was in "only a little pasttwelve." "When his hopes are dashed by the sight of his wide-awake parents, he will have an excuse about somebody's car and somebody else'smother and a third person who borrowed the first person's jacket withhis car keys and left the party early, and maybe it's just because it's nownearly three in the morning, but the story will sound to Peter and Lynnso freshly made up that all its pieces barely know how to fit together.Lynn won't be thinking about it now, but only six years ago-not along time to her-she had been struck by how independent Matty hadbecome. This clingy kid who seemed to need her so much had becomea little ten-year-old fellow full of purpose and plans, in business forhimself, with a sign on his bedroom door: "Adults Keep Out." A part ofher missed the little boy who didn't want to be left alone, but a biggerpart of her was pleased for both of them by this development. But sixyears later, at two-thirty in the morning, it will no t occur to her to say,

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    16 The Mental Demand ofAdolescence"Matty, my son, I'm so impressed by the way you.-areaEleto take c a r e ~ - - -of yourself, by how much you can do for yourself, by the way you justgo wherever you want to and come home whenever you want to, byhow little you seem to need your'dad and me. You:re really growing up,son. Your dad and I just wanted to stay up until two-thirty in the morn-ing to tell you how proud we are!" No, what it will occur to Lynn to sayis something more like "This isn't a hotel here, buddy! You can't just comeand go as you please! You're a part of a family, you know! Your fatherand I have feelings, too! How do you think we feel when it's two in themorning and we haven't heard a thing from you? We're worried !sick!For all we know you could be splattered all over the highway. Howwould we know? You don't call us! It's time you joined this family,buddy, and started thinking about somebody other than just yourself!"Peter and Lynn want something more of Matty now than they wantedwhen he was ten. What even delighted them then, Matty's "independence," is a source of anger, worry, and frustration now when it showsup as a "lack of trustworthiness."But what kind of thing is it Matty's parents want of him? One ~ s w e r is that it is a behavior, a way of acting. They want him to stop doingcertain things he does and start doing others. But a little thought revealsthat it is more than behavior Peter and Lynn want from their son. InLynn's exasperated words we can hear that she is also asking for a certain attitude in Matty. She doesn't just want him to do the right thingfor whatever reason. Even if he did always get home at the appointedhour, but did so only because he wanted to avoid the certain consequences of his parents' terrible swift sword, his mother would not honestly be satisfied. No, she wants to feel that she and her husband canretire from the Parent Police and start relating to their growing-up sonas a trustworthy, self-regulating member of a common team. She wantshim to "behave," but she wants him to do so out of his feelings formembers of the family of which he sees he is a part. So perhaps the"something" Matty's parents want from him is more than behavior; it isabout feeling a certain way. They want him to feel differently aboutthem, about his willingness to put his own needs ahead of his agreements, about his responsibili ty to his family. What at first seemed to bea claim for a certain out er behavior now appears to be about his inne rfeelings.But where do these inner feelings come from? Or, to put it another

    The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth 17way;-what-would--have-to-change-in order for-Matty's feelings tochange? The answer, I believe, is that Matty's feelings come from the I';way he understands what the world is all about, the way he knows who "he is, the way h: cares about what his ~ a r e ~ t s care about: In ?rder for Matty .really to feel dIfferently about commg m at two-thirty m the morn inghe would have to know all this differently. What Lynn and Peter andany other parent of teenagers like Matty really want is for Matty tochange not just the way he behaves, not just the way he feels, but theway he knows-not just what he knows but the way he knows. So, oddas it sounds, and unlikely as it is that they would ever think about it thisway, what Lynn and Peter most want at three in the morning, now thatthey know their son is alive and well, is for his mind to be different.They want him to alter his consciousness, to change his mind. (That,and for them all to get some sleep!)As it turns out, Matty' s parents are not the only ones who want him tochange his mind. In fact, like every teenager in America, Matty is alsounder a rather constant barrage of expectations at school, in the com

    munity, and even with some of his friends to know the world in a waydifferent from the now "too independent" way it took him nearly thefirst decade of his life to achieve. Sometimes we will hear these expectations proclaimed in public discourse by the schools, the Department ofLabor, or the politicians. Most of the time these expectations are present but p rivate-parti cular, subtle, and unspoken in the intimate arenasof family and neighborhood.

    What do we want of Matty? Well, as I say, lots of hings-lots ofquitedifferent-sounding things. Some people Want Matty to be employable.Now, what does this mean? When we look into it, it is always less thatthey want him to know specific content or skills he can bring into theworkforce ("Nah, we can teach him all that when we hire him") andmuch more tha t they want him to be someone they can count on, someone who shows up on time, someone who can ge t along with others,someone who can develop some loyalty to the company, someone it isworth putt ing in the time and money to t rain because when he makes acommitment he will keep it.

    Other people want Matty to be a good citizen, a member of a democratic society. What does this mean? Well, for most people it does notreally mean they hope he will go to the polls regularly and vote at election time. I t usually means they hope he won' t break into their homes

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    18 The Mental Demand ofAdolescencewhen they are visiting their relatives in Florida.-It means that in a SQ c i - - - ety with a great deal of personal freedom, they hope Matty won' t abusethat freedom.

    The people who actually lmow Matty, his family and his friends, wanta similar thing for Matty, though they express it ilia way that is morepersonal than "good citizenship." They want him to be decent andtrustworthy, someone who will hold up his end of a relationship, someone who will take them into account. They want to lmow that if Mattyhas a midnight curfew and he's going to be late they can count on himto call.

    Th e schools want all these things from Matty and more besides. Theywant him to be able to think well-reflectively, a b s t r a ~ t l y , critically.They want him to understand the denotative meaning but also the connotative meaning, data and inference, instance and generalization, example and definitiori.In addition to all these, we have expectations about how Matty feels.

    No t only clinicians and therapists and school counselors, but in manyinstances teenagers' parents and even their friends want them to be ableto identify and share an inne r psychological life. We expect teenagers toidentify their inner motivations, to aclmowledge internal emotionalconflict, to be to some extent psychologically self-reflective, and to havesome capacity for insight and productive self-consciousness.As if this isn't enough, a lo t of people want Matty to have good com

    mon sense, a whole different thing from thinking well. They want himto lmow that he should look before he leaps, tha t he should consider thelonger-term consequences of choices that may seem momentarily appealing but are ultimately too costly.They want him to lmow the difference between reasonable risk and foolish risk. They want him to havefriends but not be led around by them. They want him to have a mindof his own.And a lo t of peoplewant t hat mind to have values, ideals, beliefs, principles-and not just values about good conduct th at will help them feelsafe lmowing they are sharing the street with Matty. Because they careabout Matty independent of their own welfare, they want h im to have,and to feel he is ready to begin having, a meaningful life. Because theadults that surround Matty differ among themselves over what constitutes a meaningful life, which particular values, beliefs, and ideals theymay want him to have will differ. In the 1960s and 1970s there wereadults who wanted teens to value patriotic duty and there were those

    The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth 19who wanted them1:o-value the-questioning of,. and-resistance-to, authority. In the 1990s there are adults who want teens to value safe sex andthose who want them to value abstinence. There are adults who wantteenage girls to take on the values of traditional femininity and thosewho want them to value retaining the pluck and energy of their childhood voices. But although these adults may differ among themselvesover which ideals they think teens should form, and no doubt they aremore aware of what distinguishes them from each other than what theyshare, what they do share is a common claim upon adolescents to formideals to which they feel loyal, with which they are identified, and fromwhich they can lean toward what they imagine would be a better futurefor themselves and the world of which they are a part.

    So, we want Mat ty to be employable, a good citizen, a critical thinker,emotionally self-reflective, personally trustworthy, possessed of common sense and meaningful ideals. This is a lot to want. It grows out ofour concern for ourselves, our concern for others who live with Matty,and our concern for Matty himself. Will he be up to all these expectations?

    To answer that we have to ask the same question we asked of hisparents' disappointed expectation at two in the morning. \Vhat kind ofexpectation did they have? I have suggested that although it looks likean expectation about how Matty should behave, it is really an expectation about more than his outer behavior, and although it looks like anexpectation about his inner feelings or attitudes, it is about even morethan this, because his feelings and atti tudes come from how he lmows. Ithink the same th ing can be said about every ()ne of the expectations Ihave just mentioned. They are all about more than how we want teenagers to behave, more than how we want them to feel, more than whatwe want them to lmow. They are all expectations about how we wantthem to lmow, the way we want them to make meaning of their experience. They are claims on adolescents' minds.Although we don't realize it, we have some shared expectations aboutwhat the mind of a teenager should be like. \Vhatever definition of "adolescence" we might cull from a textbook, the one that is operatingmost powerfully on the human being who happens to be going throughadolescence is the hidden definition derived from the culture's claims orexpectations about how an adolescent should lmow.

    Th e very word adolescence shares an intimate relationship with theword adult: both come from the same Latin verb, adolescere, which

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    20 The Mental Demand ofAdolescencemeans "to grow up." Th e past participle of the same word is adultus,"having grown up," or "grown-up." T h e w o r a a d 0 7 e ~ ~ ~ ~ e , ilien, s u g g e s ~ - ' that by looking at what a culture asks its youth to "grow up to " we candiscover that culture's definition of adulthood, the implication beingthat the culmination of adolescence constitutes adulthood. This mayhave been true once, but is it true today?

    How do we want an adolescent's mind to change? Let 's back up a bit.At some point in childhood, usually by the age of seven or eight, children undergo a quahlative change in the way they o r g . a o i z e - - t h . @ - ~ -1ng;1lielr-reel1ng, and their social relating. They move beyond a fan-

    t a s y - f i l l e c r C O n S t r U c t i o n - - ~ T t h ; - ' w o r l d in ;Inch toy dinosaurs canplauSI151y transform themselves into the six-foot singing Barney, and instead come to scrutinize Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park for the timesterrors he may have allowed to creep into his depiction of Tyrannosaurusrex. In other words, theLbegin to construct a concrete world that conform; for the first time to the laws of nature, a n ~ _ t P . ~ ~ , . i n t e J ] . ~ ~ t ~ d J ! } ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ [ ~ ~ , ~ E I r @ ~ i ~ i ~ ' ! E ~ I ~ E ~ T h e y read Ti;; GuinnessBook of World Records to learn about the biggest cookie ever baked and

    the most expensive stationery ever printed.!f .At the same time: they move b e ~ o n d . a socially egocentric construct tIon of the world, m whIch they Imagme that others share the sameImind and views as they do, and come to recognize that people haveI eparate minds, separate intentions, and separate vantage points. They\ stop engaging bewildered parents in the second half of conversations,the first half of which they have conducted in the ir own head ("So whatdid you and Richie do after that?" the four-year-old may ask hermother, who has no idea what her daughter is talking about). Wherebefore their speech was a more ancillary or peripheral aspect of theirsocial interac tion, it now becomes the necessary bridge between distinctminds.2At the same time, b ~ . 1 : g ~ f seven or eight, most

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    22

    THE DURABLE CATEGORY(or Class or S e t ) - - - - - - - - ~ -

    contains. elements or members. .'

    (1) Things seen as Durable Categories

    properties

    (distinct from one's perceptions) and so are constructed as concrete.

    (2) Others seen as Durable Categories

    contain their own intentions

    (distincL from my wishes)

    and so are constructed as having distinct pointsof view and minds of their own.

    (3) The Selfseen asaDurable Category. .. contains Its own

    preferences and abilities

    and so is constructed as having .enduringdispositions, ongoing needs, self-interest.

    Figure 1.1 Th e Principle of Durable Categories

    r

    The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth 23

    tary perceptions of them to being about their existence as propertybearing "dasses" wiiliongoing rules about wliateleme ntsmay- or maynot be properties, irrespective of my perceptions. It changes other people from being principally about my wishes in relat ion to them to beingabout their existence as property -bearing selves distinct from me, withongoing rules about which intentions or characteristics actually belongto this class, irrespective of my wishes. I t changes my own desires frombeing principally about my present impulse to being abou t the class ofmy ongoing, time-enduring needs or preferences, which class or category may contain my moment-to- moment impulses or wishes. What Iam suggestin is that the ability to construct a concrete world, indepen:dent points of view, an a property-bearing self is expressive 0 a smglefuiTIi.otconsciousness. A common o r g ~ l p ~ Q e r O f

    ~ ' i s a t W O i 1 z , t I i : e d u r a b l e category. Now we can ask: How adequatewould this order of mind be for Matty in meeting his parents' expectations on a Saturday night?

    Whether it is a community's demand that Matty be a "good citizen"or his family's demand that he "keep us in mind," both are really aspectsof a common expectation that Matty will be able to take out loyalty toor membership in a wider human community than the one defined byhis own self-interest. In the private realm of personal relations we arehearing from Matty'S parents a hope or an expectation that he will demonstrate to them a trustworthiness born out of their accurate sense thathe not only knows what they care about but in some way shares in whatthey care about, that he attends to what they care about not merely toget his own needs met or to calculate the consequences of defying t . . ~ e m , but because these are to some extent what he cares about too. Theywant to believe that he will care about wha t they care about-for example, that everyone in the family keeps his word or that everyone in thefamily recognizes everyone else's need to know they are all right-evento the extent of subordinating some of his own particular inte rests (staying out past midnight with his friends) to that shared interest. Matty'sparents, in other words, want to experience themselves in real relationship with their son, who is fast becoming a young man. He is lookingmore like a young man, talkin:g more like a young man, and demandingthe greater freedoms of a young man. Although they may not exactlyknow it, they believe that if they are to see him more as a man than as achild, they should be able to experience him on the othe r side of a relationship that no longer requires them to regulate an unsocialized, self-

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    24 The Mental DemandofAdolescenceinterested creature who needs their behavioral limits and who is constantly testing whethe r they will e f f e c t i v e I y l e ~ p - p l a ~ i - ~ : n d k ~ e p - w i n ~ ning a game of control. Their expectation is that Matty's own relationship to what he knows they care about will allow them to feelthemselves included in shared bonds of mutual trust and concern.This is an expectation, clearly, that goes beyond what Matty willknow. It is an expectation about how he will know what he knows.

    I WOUld Matty be able to meet this expectation if he knew the world! through the order ofmind I call "durable categories," the order ofmindi that first comes into being around t he age of seven or eight?If he were knowing the world through the principle of durable categories, he could certainly understand his parents' poin t ofview, see it asdistinct from his own, provide his parents with the accurate sense thathe understood their po int ()fview, and even "take on" this pointofviewwhen it cost his own' point of view nothing. He could thereby confusethem into thinking that he actually identifies with their point of view:that he not only understands their sense of its importance but sharesthat sense. He could do all this from a durable categories order ofmind.

    But all this is not their expectation.I n order for him actually to hold their poin t of view in a way in whichhe could identify with it, he would have to give up an ultimate or absolute relationship to his own point of view. In order to subordinate hisown point ofview to some bigger way of knowing to which he would beloyal, in order to subordinate it to some integration or co-relation between his own and his parents' poin t of view, in order for his sense ofhimself to be based more on the preservation and operation of this corelation than on the preservation and operation ofhis own independentpoint ofview-for all this to happen, Mattywould have to construct hisexperience out of a principle that was more complex than the principleof durable categories. He would have to construct his experience out of~ ~ j p c i p l e t h . a . ! . . s u b s u ~ ~ 1 i l i ~ t h e p ~ ~ l i l e of ~ ~ a 5 I e Cafe.jones to a hIgher ?rder P ~ I t ; . ~ . ~ ! ~ . i . 9 . w ~ ~ ~ s ~ F --2,?entaI_I?ropertIes a : . i ~ ~ } E b ~ r 5 i " , ~ h e . ~ Q J l l d _ 1 ! ~ ~ L g ~ ~ ~ i p l e that haC!d u r ~ ~ . L ~ ~ ~ g ~ " . ~ w - J ~ . ~ r r (see F i g u r ~ ~ T 2 r : ~ ~ ]!icf R ~ ! ~ ~ , ~ _ d e m a n d , m o t h e r w o r ? " ~ . 2 . i ~ ~ , I D l - _ U J i l r . e e e . g . n . i z . e d _ d r u . W .. that

    i \ ! . ~ t . ! Y ~ ~ . P E E ~ ~ S : i j i ~ n t ~ L Q F , g i ! i r i i t i o E ; , , i l i 2 , l ! I ~ t , Q ~ " 2 t e n ~ ~ ~ L ~ ~ g I i : . . . . t ! v e I Y : ' J ! ! 2 L ~ ~ < : ' > ~ 1 2 l : : ; ~ : " J ? - .. s ! 1 E g Q r l G a . L , . k n Q m n g = I t . i s ~ e l . f f i m " " t h 4 t J i t

    s h o . u l d ~ b . e . . a b l e ~ t o ~ m i k e categorical knowing a1t"eLerp.ent,p..,.a.,Flew;."pFin-- ' ' ' ' ' ' ~ ' ' ' _ , , , , , ( : - = - , , , , , - , , - , = ' ' " ; ' = ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' : ' . ' ' ' ' ' ~ 1 ' r . c ' ' : : 1 ' . r . . . r : . ~ , ~ ~ , - " -. ~ ' " what we mig ht call 'cross-categorical" knowing.

    The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth 25In_Dther words,J,fwe_know-that M atty considers staying on at the

    party past his curfew although he is aware tha t his parents want him inthe house by his curfew, we still really do not know how he understandsthe situation i n which he finds himself until we see what principle ofmental organization he brings to bear on these particulars. If he makeshis own point of view or his own intentions, preferences, or needs thebasic context in which to decide his course of action, then his decisionto stay or not to stay will be governed by one set of calculations ("WillI get caught? \Vhat will happen if I get caught? Is s t ~ y i n g at the partyworth running these risks? How can I keep from gettIng caught? Howcan I keep from being punished if I am caught?"). Ifhe subordinates hisown point of view to the relationship between his point of view and hisparents' point ofview, or}fhe subordinate.:.-the construction a

    _s.e..t of p.;}r.rifular intentions, preferences, or needs to the constructIonofs'elf identified in the relationship between flis own c o l l e c ~ ~ -

    t i ~ ~ ; - P r e f e r e n : e e s : a n c r needs (one category) and those of his pa?eiits_ , , , - , , , , , , , . ~ . , ~ ~ , , , " < . . . . : ~ ~ . - - . . . . . : . - . - - - ~ - - ~ - - -

    THE PRINCIPLE OF THE DURABLE CATEGORY. (In the Interpersonal Domain)

    A HIGHER ORDER PRINCIPLE(Durable Categories as an eiementof anewprinciple)

    Figure 1.2 The Transfonnarion from the Principle ofDurable Categories to a Higher Order Principle

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    e vren r emanao . o escence(another category), then he frames the situation as something quite different, ~ n d the decision to stay D r n o t t o - s t a y w i l l - b e g 0 v e r n e d - b y - a - ~ whole dIfferent set of calculations ("Will my staying be damaging to theb o ~ d of trust ?etween my parents and me? How can I stay? I'd feel sog U I l ~ ; what wIll they th ink of Tle if I disregard our agreement?"). ThesequestIOns betoken the existence of a different way of being in one's involvements with others, tha t of orientingnot just to what will happen tome or to my wants but what will happen to my bond or connection orrelationship. Relationships thus move from being extrinsically valuableto being intrinsically valuable. This different way of knowing is whatLynn and Peter expect ofMatty.4

    And Lynn and Peter are not alone. As it turns out, every one of theexpectations we generally hold of teenagers makes the identical demand! The expectation that Matty will be a "good citizen" as a memberof a t ~ w n , a schoo!, or any social institution that has rules for goodorder IS an expectaTIon not only that he will understand the institution'srules and regulations, not only that he will understand the consequences ofviolating them, and not only that he will keep from violatingthem, .but that he will share in the bigger purposes of social regulationand faIr treatment those rules serve. The expectation is not merely that1 V o 1 a ~ will be well contained by his fear of the consequences to him ofvIOlaTIon, tha t the system will work its controlling forces on him. Werethat the expectation, the principle of durable categories would beenough to allow Matty to meet it. No, the expectation is that Mat ty willbe a f e l ~ o w citizen, h imself a sharer in the idea and activityofpreservingthe socIetal bonds of the commonwealth. To do this, Matty will need away o ~ ~ o w i n ? at least as complex as the cross-categorical principle.And It IS not Just these more prosocial expeCtations that require crosscategorical knowing. All the expectations do. Wanting someone to sub~ r d i n a : e his s ~ l f - i n t e r e s t to the needs and value of a relationship seemslIke qUIte a d i f f e r e ~ t thing from wanting someone to think abstractly.But for Matty to think reflectively, inferentially, connotatively, or themaTIcally requires that the concrete (a durable category) become an el~ m e n ~ . o f h i s ~ ~ i n ~ ~ ~ l e ~ f ~ o w i n g rather than the principle of knowingItself . DefiruTIon IS 1ll1rumally a cross-categorical way of knowing because It takes the concrete example as an instance or an element of abigger principle ofknowing that includes all the concrete examples. Examples must therefore be an element or member, not the principle itself. "Inference" is a minimally cross-categorical way of knowing be-

    cause it takes the category of datum or fact as an instance or element.Data must therefore be element,-not principle. Reflective thinking requires a mental "place" to stand apart from, or outside of, a durablycreated idea, thought, fact, pr description. The idea, thought, fact, ordescription is made subordinate (as figure or element) to a superordinateground or principle that is now capable of "bending back" (the literalmeaning of reflective) its attention to focus on its own products. Each ofthese expectations about thinking is really an expectation for yet another expression ofwhat it means to think abstractly.s But each of theseexpectations for "abstractness" is identical in its organizational principleto the expectations for interpersonal trustworthiness.The expectation that adolescents experience their emotions as innerpsychological states is also a demand for the subordinating or integrating of the simpler, categorical self ("I'm mad a t my sister. I like BLT

    sandwiches. I don't like it when my father cooks my eggs too runny")into a more complex context that relates to the categorical self ("I'mmuch more confident. I used to be just super insecure, very selfconscious"). Thus, the expectation that adolescents be able to identifyinner motivations, hold onto emotional conflict internally, be psychologically self-reflective, and have a capacity for insight all implicate thecross-categorical capacity to experience the sel f in relat ion to a given setor category rather t han as the set or category itself.6The construction of values, ideals, and broad beliefs also requires atleast a cross-categorical principle ofmental organization. Knowing that

    people are operating from such a principle tells us nothing about whattheir values or ideals will be or what they will "set their hearts on." Butto construct any kind of generalizable value or ideal they must subordinate the factual and the actual to the bigger array of the possible or thecurrently contrary-to-fact.7The very idea of the futtire as something one lives with as real in the

    present rather than as the-present-that-hasn't-happened-yet requiresthe SaIne cross-categorical emancipation from actual/factual/presentreality. The most common kind of lack of common sense we find inteenagers is often mistakenly referred to as "poor impulse control," animprecise characterization paying too much respect to the "raging hormones" view of adolescence. The categorical order of mind is enoughto handle impulse control. What we are asking here of adolescents ismore complex, because it is rarely urunediated impulses t hat actuallylead adolescents into the more foolish risks they are willing to run.

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    The Mental Demand ofAdolescenceMuch more often it is an embeddeclness in the short-te rm immediate,present-a present lacking a live relatibri to The-Tonger-term f t . i t u r e . 8 - ~ ~ -What Lynn and Peterwant of heir son, what his teachers want whathis neighbors want, what his potential employers want-whatwe ~ d u l t s want of teenagers-is not just a new set of behaviors or even a new

    c o l l e c ? o ~ of disparate mental abilities. What we want is a single thing:new way of making sense) c b a n g ~ d aSdramatic~ e chan?e a G h i W ~ d e ! g , o e s between the ages of five and t ~ ~ ~ e common, smgle orgaruzatIOnal principle at work in every expectationwe have. of adolescents entails the subordination and the integration ofthe earlIer form-durable categories-into a new form capable of simultaneously relating one durable category to another. The principleofmental organization reflected in all the expectations of adolescents ist h i s ~ t e g o ~ c a l or c r o s s - c a t e ~ o ; ; ! : a l construction (see Figure 1.3).

    DURABLE CATEGORIES(Second Order of Consciousness)

    CROSS.CATEGORICAL MEANING.MAKING(Third Order of Consciousness)

    Figure ~ . 3 The T ~ a n s f o n n a t i o n from Durable Categories to CrossC a ~ e g o h ~ l . M e a r u ~ g - M a k i n g (and its products in the cognitive,soclOCogrutlve, and mtrapersonal-affective domains)

    The Hidden Curriculum ofYouth 29II y now it should be clear that ~ ~ e n I refer to " ~ I l ~ : __c>!_"!llental" or! "ktlowing>'Tam n()ti-eterr.ing to t h i n k i ~ g processes. alone. I r ~ f e r I ring to the person's meanmg-constructIve or meamng-organlZatIonal,I capacities. I am referring to the s ~ l e c t i v e , i n ~ e r p ~ e t i v e , e x e c ~ t i v e , c ~ n -\

    \ struing capacities tha t psychologIsts have histOrIcally assocIated WithI the "ego" or the "self." I look at people as the active organizers of theirexperience. "Organisms organize," the developmental psychologistWilliam Perry once said; "and human organisms organize meaning.,,9This kind of "knowing," this work of he mind, is not about "cognition" }'alone, if what we mean by cognition is thinking divorced from feelingand social relating. It. is about the o r g ~ z i n g principle we bring :0 our ,thinking and our feelings and o ur relatIng to others and our relatIng toparts of ourselves.I n The Evolving Self I looked at psychological growth as the unselfconsc!ous d e v e ~ o p m e n t s:rccessively more c o m ~ l e x principles for organizmg experIence. BUlldmg on the work of Plaget and those whocame after him, I took the idea of such principles ofmental organization '-k.and extended its "breadth" (beyond thinking to affective, interpersonal, 71'and intrapersonal realms) and its "length" ( b e y o ~ d c h i l d h o o d and adolescence to adUlthood). I have already mentioned three of these princi-ples for organizing experience (their differing capacities are summa-rized in Tab le 1.1). 'The first and least c o m ~ ) { of these E r i n c i E l ~ , s is the one most commonly used by young children, we principle of independent elements.

    Their attachment to the momentary, the immediate, and the atomistic 'makes thei r thinking fantastic and illogical, their feelings impulsive andfluid, their social-relating egocentric. J;he second of t h e s e r ~ c ~ l ~ . ~ e durakle c a ~ e g o r y , the principle child.ren usually evolve. in l a ~ e n c y , orbetween the ()fsevep: 3!,?:,g !:n. Durmg these years, chIldren s capacity_to organize t I l l i i g ~ o t h e ~ ~ . e l f as possessprs of e l ~ m e n . ! : ,properties enables their thinking to become concrete and logIcal, theIr _f e e ~ b e made up of time-enduring needs and dispositions ratherthan momentary impulses, and their social-relating to grant to themselves and to others a separate mind and a distinct point of view. The---!hlrd of these p r i : g Q , ~ cross-categoricalknowing, is the one we unwittingly expect of a d o l e s c e n ~ r ~ J ! h l ~ e -$ories to th...$, i n t e r a c g Q . ! L b . ~ t h . m - m . a k ~ g abstract,their feelings a matter of inner states and self-reflexive e m o ~ f confident," "guilty," "depressed"), and their social-relating capable of

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    - - - - - - - - ~ = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ~ ~ - ~ - - . ,/ /

    Table 1.1 Three Principles of Meaning OrganizationFirst PrincipleRoughly 2 to 6 yearsLogical-Cognitive DomainCan: recognize that objects exist independent of own sensing of them ("object permanence")Cannot: distinguish own perception ofan object from t he actual properties ofthe object; construct a logical relationbetween cause and effect

    Social-Cognitive DomainCan: recognize that persons exist separate from oneselfCannot: recognize that other personshave their own purposes independentof oneself: take another person's pointof view as distinct from one's own

    Second PrincipleRoughly 6years to teens

    Can: grant to objects their own properties irrespective of one's perceptions; reason consequentially, tha t is, according to cause and effect; cons truct a narrative sequence of events;relate one point in time to another; constructfIxed categories and classes into which thingscan be mentally placedCannot: reason abstractly; subordinate concreteactuality to possibility; make generalizations;discern overall patterns; form hypotheses; construct ideals

    Can: construct own point of view and grant toothers their distinct point of view; take the roleof another person; manipulate others on behalfof own goals; make deals, plans, and strategiesCannot: take own point ofview and another's simultaneously; construct obligations and expectations to maintain mutual interpersonal relationships

    Third PrincipleTeenage years and beyond

    Can: reason abstractly, that is, reason aboutreasoning; th ink hypothetically and deductively; form negative classes (for example, theclass of all not-crows); see relations as simultaneously reciprocalCannot: systematically produce all possiblecombinations of relations; systematically isolate variables to test hypotheses

    iCan: be aware of shared feelings, a g r ~ e m e n t s , and expectations that take primacy oyer indi-vidual interests 'Cannot: const ruct a generalized system regulative of interpersonal relationships and relationships between relationships

    HUldenCurrfculum ofYouth

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    loyalty and devotion to a communtty of people or ideas larger thant h T ~ : ! p ? n ~ i p l e s share several ~ ~ ~ - rtant features. First, - t h : ; ~ r e n ~ ~ ~ e r e l y prmcipies for h o ~ one . t h m ~ but f ~ r h.ow one constructs expen e n ~ e more generally, mcludmg OJAe's thinking, feeling, and socialrelatmg .Second, they are principles for the organization (the form orcompleXIty) of one's thinking, feeling, and social-relating, not the content . o ~ one's t h ~ n g , feeling, or social-relating. Knowing tha t someone IS m the gnp of the second principle tells us a lo t about how he orshe thinks orfeels, but it doesn't really tell us anything aboutwhat he orshe thinks or feels. .II Third, a principle of mental organization has an inner logic or, morep r o p e ~ l y ~ p e a k i n g , an "epistem.ologic." Th e root or "deep Structure" of:ny ~ r ~ ~ I p l e of mental organization is the subject-object relatiOJ;tship.

    (ObJect refers to those elements of our knowing or organizing that we

    can reflect on, h:mdle, l ~ o k at, ?e .responsible for, relate to each other,take control ?f, mternalIze, asslillliate, or otherwise operate upon. Allthese expresslOn suggest that the element of knowing is not the wholeof us; it is distinct enough from us that we can do something with it." S u b j ~ c t " r.efers t h o ~ e elements of our knowing or organizing thatwe are IdentIfied With, tied to, fused with, or embedded in. We haveobject; we are subject. We cannot be responsible for, in control of, or

    -!.eflect upon ~ a t ' : ' " ~ ~ s u b j e ~ t . S ~ b j e : t is i ~ e > d i a t e ; oQjectislleat-ate. SubJect IS ~ ~ ~ c : . . , ~ ~ - a : " ~ : i ~ . s t , ~ ~ ~ ~ . \ V h ~ e c n H d

    lJeV01:es the. secon.d p r ~ c I p l e , for example, the momentary impulse orthe ~ e . d I a t e p e ~ c e p t I o n then moves from being the subject of herexpenencmg to bemg the object of her experiencing. Now the durablecategory (not i m ~ u l s e but ongoing preference or need; no t appearancebut concrete reality) becomes the new subject of her experiencing. Andthis new subje :t governs or regulates or acts on what has become object(she c o n ~ o l s Impulses; she reflects on appearance and distinguishes itfrom reality). If the adolescent evolves the third principle, then durablec a ~ e g o r y moves from being the subject of one's experiencing to being theobject of one's experiencing. ~ o w cross-categorical meaning-making~ n o t c o n c r ~ t e ~ e s s but abstraction; not the ultimacy of self-interest butItS ~ u b ~ r d m a t I ? n to a relationship) becomes the new subject of ex-

    j p e ~ I e ~ c m g , acting upon or regulating what has become object. Eachil prmciple of mental organization differs in terms of what is subject and

    ewhat is object, but every principle is constituted by a subject-object re-lationship;------------.---- ----------- -----------

    Fourth, the different principles of mental organization are intimatelyrelated to each other. They are not just different ways of knowing, eachwith its preferred season. One does not simply replace the other, nor isthe relation merely additive or cumulative, an accretion of skills.Rather, the relation t r a n s f ~ ~ v e . : ~ 9 ~ ~ l i t a . E L ~ 1 2 p d i E ~ L P . 2 ~ . Each successive p r ~ b s ~ E : . c o ~ : e ~ s s e s the prior p r i n c i p ~ ~ . I h a t ~ ~ ~ ~ _ w ~ ~ ! 2 j ~ . . t Q c q I D : - e $ ~ ? . h j J ~ ~ t ' - t Q ~ ~ , , ~ i i l . ~ ~ & E ~ ~ t t ; ~ ~ ~ I H ~ f ~ ~ Q ! ~ ~ ~ I ; ; ; : f E ~ ~ ~ ~ ; ~ ~ ~ r ~ r f ~ " ' ; ~ ; ~ ~ ~ th . . . . ' , _. Lz.z,, _ ~ J ~ . " . , _ . , _ J I L . ~ , , " z , ~ " .."'o.'c"'-.'c . , ,>,>,0'.. " " . ~ ~ , , , < " " " ' ~ > ~ , > ' o _ , " ' > ~ _ , , .=, . . ". . ...",.-.-geometric ' ~ ~ a r o g y for the relation between these three prindpresmightbe that of the point, the line, and the plane: each subsequent geometricform contains the previous one. A line is a "metapoint" in a sense; itcontains an infinite number of points, but as elements subordinated tothe more complex organizational principle of he line, where earlier thepoint was itself an organizational principle. Similarly, a plane is a"metaline," an organizational principle containing line as an element.

    We can see this analogy almost literally at work by considering howpeople might lftake use of the three principles to explain a movie suchas Star Wars, which had broad age-appeal because it was no doubt interesting to moviegoers with a varietY of organizational principles.Young children using the first principle demonstrate no sense of a storyor of a logical connection between one par t of the movie and another.Instead, they talk about a single poin t in time in the movie, or they talkabout a single character with no indication that they understand his importance to the story ("I loved Chewbaka; he was so big and hairy").Children using the second principle can subordinate point to line butnot line to plane; they can string the events together to create a linearnarrative of the story at a concrete level, but they do not organize anabstract theme of which this particular story is an expression. "What themovie is about" is the l inear sequence of events that happened in themovie (as any exasperated parent knows who has asked this question,but was not prepared for the marathon recounting of the entire storythat followed). It is only by making recourse to the third principle thatthe movie migh t be "about" the battle between good and eVil or somesuch thematic abstraction in which the line of the story's plot is subordinated to a larger field or plane of consideration. In othe r words, the

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    34 The Mental Demand ofAdolescenceprinciples of mental organization axe_D9tonl;V:''naturaLepistemologies-''- (subject-object structures found in nature), they are developmentallyrelated to each other: each one is included in the next.10Fifth and finally, the suggestion that a given individual may over timecome to organize her experience according to a higher order principlesuggests that what we take as subject and what we take as object are notnecessarily fixed for us. Thy: ~ n ~ J W L I 2 ~ r 1 J . l ~ J l ~ t . " , U ~ o ~ ~ " E ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , ; , . ! ! : ~ 1 1 ' ~ r ; ~ ' ~ ~ ~ ~ s ~ a a r ~ , E ~ ~ ~ ~ i i l t ~ ~ ; ~ f 7 ~ F , ~ ~ ~ e ~ ~ ~ ; ~ " Z a ' ~ ~ " h a ; e l t ' f c r a t l l e r " t h - ; ; ~ " ; 2 b ; ' ~ ; d ~ ~ ' ~ b " ' " ' i t J " " t h T ~ i ; " t h ; ~ ; ~ ~ o w e ' r 1 i i r : ~ ; ; : l i ! . ' ; : : . ~ , ' ; : ' ! : ' 1 ~ ~ I ! : ' ' ' r \ ' ' ~ ~ ! ~ : ' ~ ~ i ~ ~ ~ " " " " " ' ~ ~ ~ ' i l . ' ! < I l . \ ' l ' I ~ < ; < ; , . " " " \ ( \ l ' ; : ~ .

    " , ~ a y I know to conceptualize ~ e " ~ ~ . ' I ! . - h ~ - , , , 1 ! M ~ , ; It is a way of conc e p t u a J . i Z l n f ~ f f i ' e " " g r o W f f i ' ~ o r ' f f i e ~ d tI1atis as faithful to the self-psychology of the West as to the "wisdom literature" of the East.roshis and l a m ~ ~ 1 < L ~ 2 . . w t h q t h ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ opmgaolITty to relate t(), ' Y h ~ t we .were formerly a ttached to. I I h , . ~

    ~ E ~ " ~ ~ E i ~ g J l i I ( 2 i I i E ~ 2 ~ ~ i i ~ i i l l ? E M ~ , . G l ~ } . ~ ' w ! 2 _ " ! " ' ~ ~ ! " ~ ~ ~ : S : ! ~ ~ , . ~ i j Y ~ , ~ t , r n ~ S l . n J ? ~ , ~ ~ ~ ~ 9 J 1 , f j E ~ 1 ! E . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ , , , ~ i ~ ~ ~

    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ t ~ F ~ f ~ ! * ~ t ; * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ r : o ~ 1 e ~ : e ~ ; : ~ ~ t c ~ : : ~ ness," highlighting all five of these featuresY (I use the term "order"not in the sense of "sequence" but in the sense of "dimension." Eachsuccessive principle ~ ' g o e s meta" on the last; each is "at a whole different

    - . ; ( f ; ~ ..order" of consciousness.)-In The Evolving Sel f I explored psychological growth as the unselfconscious development of more inclusive and complex principles for organizing experience. Here I want to suggest that to the list of p h ~ n o m e n a a culture creates and we study we should add "claims on the minds ofits

    members." This book examines the relationship between the principleswe may possess and the complexity of mind t hat contemporary cultui-eunrecognizedly asks us to possess through its many claims and expectations-the mental demands of modern life. The Evolving Selfwas particularly concerned with the costs inherent in the processes of growth.This book is also concerned with a kind of psychological cost or burden,the one we must bear if the demands made of us are over our heads.In this chapter we have seen one-half of an untold story about present-day adolescence. What gives to that which we call "adolescence" acoherence as a distinct time of life might be something more than adistinct biology or even a distinct psychology possessed by those in thisage group. Surely adolescents reflect a variety of biologies and a variety

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    36 The Mental Demand o f A d o l e s e e n e e ~ - - -of psychologies. But something that might be true across the myriaddiversities within any real group of teens is the common claim uponthem for a distinct level of consciousness. In spite of all our present-daydifference, in the midst of the current American experience of morepluribus than unum, lacking a self-conscious commonality ofvalue, purpose, or persuasion, divided by geography, race, gender, and social position, it appears th at there may exist, nonetheless, this odd and interesting national concert, an unwitting collective agreement about whatwe want from the adolescent mind. This is half of the story, the realanswer to the adolescent's question, "Whaddaya want from me?" Theother half has to do with whether adolescents can giveus whatwe want.