I have been bugged for years by a “fact” touted about kids’ brains. What probably bothers me the most about it is the fact that it diminishes the belief that young people can be deep thinkers as well as giving an excuse for stupid behavior. I hadn’t thought about this pet peeve for a while until I read Eric Barker’s “Barking Up The Wrong Tree” earlier this month. I’ll just quote him here:
No, Their Brain Isn’t Broken
We’ve all heard the same story over and over: “Their brains aren’t fully developed until age 25!”
Where did this idea come from? A 2006 paper by Adriana Galván. And guess what? She thinks everybody interpreted her study wrong. What her work actually shows is that young people are better at goal directed behavior than adults. Yes, really. So what’s the real problem here?
Galván says teen brains aren’t underdeveloped – they just have different priorities. Their prefrontal cortexes work just fine, thank you. They just don’t care as much about the things parents do.
Science, the same science that brought us gravity and Advil, is now telling us that teen brains aren’t broken, they’re just less focused on homework and chores and much more motivated by social rewards — like status, respect and autonomy. You know, the stuff we rarely give them. Most adults treat teens like they’re toddlers but taller.
I don’t disagree that our brains continue to develop into our 20s. In fact, I’m guessing that, as we continue to evolve, it may take longer with time. But, it’s been less than 200 years since average life expectancy wasn’t more than 50. A whole lot of people who were getting stuff done and living full lives were middle aged by 25. Somebody’s prefrontal cortex was working just fine.
My college allegedly discontinued a Humanities course series for freshmen and sophomores based on this misinterpretation. It was a challenging series, but probably one of the best parts of my liberal arts education. Doesn’t challenge help your brain develop? It certainly challenged mine.
While I’m not going to go out and get a “No, Their Brain Isn’t Broken” t-shirt (or maybe I will), I just had to get this off my chest and on virtual paper. The handful of people who even see this might remember me getting my feathers ruffled over this myth. (OK, I can think of one.) I’ll stop here before I get started on how ridiculous it is to think that middle schoolers are completely uncontrollable.
Recharting at a new latitude 