Page - 125 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

Development of thinking 125 transitive property: when A = B and B = C, then it is easy to see that A = C. This Piaget calls a milestone in cognitive development: The principle novelty of this period is the capacity to reason in terms of ver- bally stated hypotheses and no longer merely in terms of concrete objects and their manipulation. This is a decisive turning point, because to reason hypothetically and to deduce the consequences that the hypotheses necessar- ily imply (independent of the intrinsic truth or falseness of the premises) is a formal reasoning process. (Piaget 1972b, 3) Simple logical operations are possible in the pre -adolescent stage as long as they remain concrete: the latency child can distinguish among classes, relations, numbers etc., but not in the form of hypotheses posited beforehand. Reversibility is not yet developed, as Piaget showed in a famous experiment involving two dif- ferently formed containers, one higher but narrower and the other wider but lower. When water is poured from one container into the other, a child of seven believes the quantity of water to be different since its level is higher in the narrower con- tainer. Here, the child is considering only the parameters, not the transformation involved. In contrast, hypothetical reasoning implies the subordination of the real to the realm of the possible, and consequently the linking of all possibilities to one another by necessary implications that encompass the real, but at the same time go beyond it. (Piaget 1972b, 3) Such operations involving possibilities, particularly when posited under ideal conditions, are what enable mathematical thought – for instance, the knowledge of the perfect circle or an absolutely constant ballistic curve and a point without extension. Adolescents are fond of utopias and visions for the future, particu- larly as linked to their own ambitions (the dream of being an astronaut or movie star, for instance). Thinking in possibilities opens new, creative areas. As Goethe wrote: “One must be young in order to do great things” (Goethe’s letter to Ecker- mann, 1811–14). This turning point in cognitive development also leads to a new quality of dis- cussion and entails the ability to reflect on one’s own thought, a level of meta - reflection that is not yet accessible to children. In a fruitful, constructive discussion, adolescents can address the other partici- pants’ viewpoints in the sense of a hypothesis (when they do not agree with the standpoint) and then accordingly draw conclusions. After evaluating these conse- quences, they can then evaluate the argument. Through his or her ability to think hypothetically, a person can develop interest in problems extending beyond his or her own field of experience.