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Speaking of Psychology

Encore - Understanding the teenage brain, with Eva Telzer, PhD

Speaking of Psychology

Kim Mills

Health & Fitness, Life Sciences, Science, Mental Health

4.3781 Ratings

🗓️ 9 August 2023

⏱️ 32 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

There’s a common stereotype is that teenagers’ brains are immature and underdeveloped, and that teens are “hard-wired” to take unwise risks and cave to peer pressure. But psychologists’ research suggests these negative stereotypes are unfounded and that the teen years are a time opportunity and growth as well as risk. Eva Telzer, PhD, explains why teens take more risks and why that risk-taking is sometimes beneficial, why parents have more influence than they think, and how social media and other technology use may be affecting teens’ behavior and development.   For transcripts, links and more information, please visit the Speaking of Psychology Homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:23.1

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0:27.6

Speaking of psychology is taking a summer break, so we're rerunning one of our favorite episodes

0:32.5

from the past. Last August, I talked to psychologist Eva tells her about what scientists are learning about

0:39.6

the teen brain, why teens take more risks, and why that risk-taking can lead to benefits

0:45.6

as well as harms. We hope you enjoy this episode from the archives. Speaking of psychology,

0:51.0

we'll be back with new episodes on August 23rd. Thank you for listening.

0:57.1

There may be no stage in life that's more maligned than adolescence.

1:02.0

When people think of teenagers, the words that may come to mind include moody, impulsive,

1:07.4

risk-taking, and self-centered.

1:10.1

In the movies, on TV and in our imaginations, teenagers

1:13.5

drive too fast, they experiment with drugs and alcohol, and they cave to peer pressure

1:18.5

to take other unwise risks. Looking back, many of us probably remember doing a few of those

1:23.9

things ourselves when we were teens. And teenage brains, so the stereotype goes,

1:29.0

are driving these actions. These brains just haven't developed enough for young people to make

1:34.0

good decisions. But researchers are increasingly finding that this negative view of the adolescent brain

1:39.2

is inaccurate and incomplete. Yes, teenagers are still a work in progress, but the brain changes that

...

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