Paul Thompson in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” , claims that 14 year old Brazil, charged in last May’s shooting of middle school teacher Gunrow, was found guilty of second degree murder. Paul Thompson supports his by first explaining that Brazil was only 12 when the incident happen. He then says since he was only 12 , his brain was and still is not fully developed. Lastly the author says ,” teenagers are not yet adults , and the legal system shouldn’t treat them as such. Thompson’s purpose is to get the world to know , if children are not yet adults, why are they being treated like one in the legal system in order to stop it.
In “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains,” Paul Thompson--a neuroscientist at UCLA--argues that minors should not be sentenced as adults because their brains are not the same as adults’ brains. Even though Thompson believes that minors should be held accountable for their crimes, he presents evidence from recent studies to explain the differences between the brains of minors and adults. It is not surprising that Thompson uses logical evidence to defend his position, given that he is a scientist. However, Thompson frequently uses emotional persuasion--or pathos--to convince his readers that sentencing minors as adults is both unjust and uninformed. Through his use of structure and emotionally charged language, Thompson attempts to convince readers
Inventing Ourselves; The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain by Sarah-Jayne Blakemore 1 chose this book because I have an interest in the brain and neurology, something I've been considering as a future career. The brain is something that is so complex and the teenage brain is even more. The adolescent brain goes through so many changes that I and my classmate have all felt not so long ago and the fact that I had the chance to read about it in a book that is very easy to understand and an author who doesn't want to demonize teens as they go through this developmental process. As previously stated this book talks about the development of the adolescent brain. Some major talking points Blakemore goes over are, the brain structure, societal pressure on teens and how it affects their development, why adolescents make the choices they do, and
Imagine that you were Phineas Gage's coworker looking at a huge iron rod go through the pointy end of a rod enter his left cheekbone, pass behind his left eye, through the front of his brain, and out the middle of his forehead just above the hairline. Phineas Gage: A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science mentions the process of how the accident happened and the recovery after the accident, the Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of a Teenage Brain then cites the process of a teenage brain and showing the thought process of the teenage brain. Both of these texts help tie together the connection of Phineas Gage and the adolescent brain. Phineas Gage was involved in an experiment that went wrong and let's just say it ended with a tamping iron straight through his head. After the tamping iron accident, Phineas's behavior and brain begin to be more similar to an adolescent's behavior and brain because he has made some very impulsive, made risky decisions, and used lots of vulgar language towards women, coworkers, and his peers.
Twenty percent of teenagers with major depression develop bipolar disorder within 5 years. (“Bipolar Disorder Statistics”). Bipolar disorder is defined as a brain disorder that causes unusual mood swings, activity level, and unable to carry out daily activities. (“Bipolar disease”).
The Teen Brain The excerpt from “The Teen Brain:Still Under Construction” by NIMH, the author believes the teen brain is still developing hormonal,intellectually, and emotionally which affects teen behavior. To begin, the teen brain has growing hormones which affects their impulsive behavior. Huge horomonal changes play a factor in a teens social life and behavior. “ As with reproductive hormones, stress hormones can have complex effects on the brain, and as a result,behavior.”
Connor-Smith describes how the brain will affect teenagers and what happens to their brains, while Zimmermann describes what happens in the brains of young children. Connor-Smith tells us that adults have developed a chemical defender in their brains for when they have anxieties that will soothe them and generate positive thoughts. However, teenagers don’t have this defender and are therefore more likely to get more upset over embarrassing situations. Connor-Smith says, “Unfortunately, the systems that trigger embarrassment and fear of rejection fire up years before the systems that tame bad feelings.” While Connor-Smith explains the result that having unbalanced systems in our brain can do to us, especially as teenagers and the inability to soothe our anxieties, Zimmermann explains how small children are constantly building more connections and pruning away those connections that we don’t use as often.
While there are some aspects of Gopnik’s essay on the problems with today’s adolescent mind that I can agree upon, there’s a few blatant issues with her writings. Firstly, Gopnik’s essay title immediately has a negative connotation surrounding it by suggesting there is something “wrong” with the teenage mind. Gopnik presents many issues plaguing youths, such as poor diet, and lack of exercise; in addition she briefly blames the industrial revolution and the information revolution as leading factors in why children are failing to achieve adulthood sooner in life and why they’re hitting puberty so quickly, however, she seems to focus primarily on teens and early adult’s brain chemistry.
Definition of Mood Disorder Mood disorders as diverse in nature. Mood disturbances are intense and happen long enough to be clearly dysfunctional and many times lead to serious problems
Thompson, in the article “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” (2001) claims that teenagers should not be tried as adults after committing a crime because their brains are not fully developed. In this article Thompson supports all of his ethos claims by using logos and real facts that have been cited, this gives him the title to an author who uses the strongest ethos. In Thompson’s article he talks about a child named Nathaniel Brazil, who was only fourteen when he shot his own teacher at a middle-school because the teacher wouldn’t allow him to get out of class early to say goodbye to a girl. Brazil was later tried in court and found guilty of second degree murder. When Thompson writes about Brazil and his charges he claims that, “in recent
This helps to justify that maturity is not dependent on age but in fact dependent on the people they surround themselves with. In summary, maturity develops as a person ages but it develops at a certain time in their life based off of their life experiences. When a person experiences things that are mature, they learn lessons from those experiences and learning lessons at any age helps shape a person into being more
Phineas and the adolescent brain are similar and different in physical and mental in many ways. Phineas Gage was a guy that had a medical Myrical happen. With this Myrical though there were a few things he had to face. These things had similarities and differences to adolescents. Adolescents are the undeveloped teenage brain.
People with bipolar disorder experience unusual and intense emotional states called “Mood Episodes”, which represent a drastic change from a person’s usual mood and behavior, (National Institute of Mental Health). A. Mood episodes can be very explosive and irritable, (National Institute of Mental
It is a disruptive, long-term condition that effects my daily life, my performance in school, and my relationships with others. Since this illness is categorized by extreme mood swings, it has a major effect on daily life. A mood swing can occur at any time which causes a lot of anxiety. Mood shifts may occur only a few times a year or as often as several times a week. (“Bipolar Disorder”)
During this time, teenage brains actually lose important matter in certain regions of the brain. A statistic referring to the teenage years, from a Sacramento Bee article titled “Startling Finds on Teenage Brains” stated that, “Gray matter, which brain researchers believe supports all our thinking and emotions is purged at a rate of 1 percent to 2 percent a year during this period” (Thompson 89). Essentially, this is proof that teenager’s decision making isn’t under their full control and can cause them to act out. There are also some regions of the teenage brain that are more developed than others and this actually turns out to be a bad thing. In a New York Times article Richard Freidman explains that, “Adolescents have a brain that is wired with an enhanced capacity for fear and anxiety, but is relatively underdeveloped when it comes to calm reasoning” (1).
