Module 2 pevq1o. in• the.

Whole Person
At the end of this module, I can:
1. Discuss the relationship among physiological, cognitive, psychological, spiritual,
and social development to understand my thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
2. Evaluate my own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
3. Show the connections between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in actual life
situations.

You have learned that your unique self is a result of the

interplay of the different components of your personality,
namely, your body, thoughts, feelings, experiences, and Big
spirituality. The wonders and challenges of what you are Idea
going through now, as an adolescent, add meaning to who The wonders and
you are and to the person you will be in the future. Thus, in challenges of what you are
going through as an
this module, you will be given the opportunity to learn and adolescent add meaning to
understand the elements of self, including physiological, who you are and the person
cognitive, psychological or emotional, social, and moral or you will be in the future.
spiritual, as well as their implications to you. Let us start
with understanding what adolescence means.
When you hear the word "adolescence," what word
immediately comes to mind? You may think of words such as "body changes," "peers," and
"questions." There must be a lot of words to describe adolescence; some may be fun, but
some may also mean responsibility. Puberty which is part of adolescence has its onset at
ages 10-11 for girls and 11-12 for boys. Adolescence, from 13 to 19 years old, is considered
as a transition from childhood to adulthood, a passage from one stage to another (Hurlock,
1982).
The physical and psychological changes, as well as rapid mental development changes,
take place inevitably. To prove that they are adults already, they strive to establish their
personalities however instantaneously and frustratingly. Looking through rose-tinted glasses,
teenagers see things around them as they want to see them, which can also be disappointing.
Changes regarding sexual maturation and attainment of reproductive capacity may be
overwhelming and catch you off guard, but they are integral to your personality as they affect
your attitude and behavior. More so, rejection is a primary issue during adolescence. The pains
brought about by not belonging, unaccepted, and being alone place a teenager in a difficult
situation. Hence, they are easily influenced by peers. Such influence is called peer pressure.
All these contribute to the teenagers' heightened emotionality. Frustrations and other negative
emotions may make adolescence a problematic or challenging period for many teenagers.
Hence, adults who guide or raise teenagers express having difficult times with teenagers under
their care and see this stage as an ordeal on their part as well. Yet, all of these wonders and
challenges make adolescence an important crossroad in your journey. Now, let us deepen your
understanding of what adolescence means by learning about the different changes that you are
experiencing. Try this first activity.
Activity 1: Check Yourself
This initial activity will help you recall and identify physical changes that you
experience during adolescence and the coping mechanisms that you used to deal with such
changes.
Instructions: Answer this question:
What physical changes did you experience when you were 13?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

1%
*•.i./.4
Using your journal, answer the following questions:
1. How did you feel about these changes that you observed about yourself at the onset of
adolescence?
2. How did you cope with such changes?

Physical or Physiological Changes and Their Implications

You started to experience various body changes when you were around 13 years old,
which is the onset of adolescence for most
children. Girls start their growth spurt earlier
than boys, but boys eventually grow taller
than girls. Also, boys' muscles grow larger
than girls', so that after adolescence, boys
are usually physically stronger than girls.
When you stand in front of a mirror, you
will see that your body size in terms of your
height and weight has rapidly increased and
you are approaching to attain your full
bodily growth. Your thin and long trunk
when you were an older child has broadened
at the hips and shoulders, and you may
notice a pronounced waistline. You will see
your arms and legs to be seemingly in the
Fig. 2.1. Typical appearance of adolescents in
right proportion to your hands and feet when males (left) and in females (right).
you reach puberty. Source: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u5loK03CT9o/
UMV1s19t2M1/AAAAAAABIUY/ENz7fM9iKCc/
s1600/Jeric+Gonzales+Thea+Tolentino+Teen+G
en.jpg
 Moreover, you can notice physical changes in your sex organs, which are your primary
sex characteristics. The boys' testes or gonads rapidly grow bigger for a year during early
pubescence. Similarly, shortly after the rapid change in the testes, the penis also grows
markedly. Boys come to know that there is production and release of sperm, spermarche,
when they experience nocturnal emissions or wet dreams. This is an indication that their male
reproductive organs have become mature in function and that they are already capable of
reproduction. In girls, the uterus, Fallopian tubes, ovaries, and vagina, grow rapidly during
puberty. Menarche, or the first menstrual period, marks a girl's sexual maturity and is
indicative of her capacity to be pregnant.
Furthermore, you have observed a lot of noticeable physical changes on yourself with
the development of the secondary sex characteristics. These characteristics are your physical
features that distinguish males from females as well as those that give you sex appeal
(Hurlock, 1982). For the boys, their voice becomes husky at first and then eventually lowers
in pitch. Boys hear their voice break, which is not true for girls. Boys' muscles markedly
grow and give shape to their torso. Body hair appears after the pubic hair has almost
completed its growth. Girls, on the other hand, come to have a fuller and more melodious
voice. Girls' hips become wider and rounder, which resulted from the enlargement of their
pelvic regions. Their breasts also develop and their muscles grow in size and strength, which
give their arms, shoulders, and legs shape. Pubic
hair and body hair appear together with the
development of primary sex characteristics.
Both boys and girls experience markedly
rapid physical development because of the
hormonal changes that take place in the body.
Androgens and estrogens are hormones or
chemical substances produced by endocrine
glands that actively affect physical growth and
development. These hormones are present in both
males and females; however, each of them
functions more strongly in one sex than the other.
Testosterone is an androgen that is strongly
associated in the physical maturation of boys.
Increased level of testosterone in males is related
to changes in height, deepening of voice, and
development of genitals, as well as sexual desires Fig. 2.2. Acne outbreaks are common
and activities. On the other hand, estradiol is an during the teenage years, most
estrogen that is strongly associated in the physical especially in girls.
development of girls, such as widening of hips, Source: http://pimple.com.sg/wp-
and breast and uterine development. More so, content/ uploads/2012/01/Pigmented-
sebaceous glands and apocrine glands become Scars-294x300.jpg
more active during this stage; the former cause
acne and other skin problems, and the latter produce perspiration that results, at times, in body
odor. These hormonal changes especially among girls may trigger weight gain and is often
associated with obesity.
 As more physical changes take place among
adolescents, their concerns about their physical appearance Big
may also increase. According to Stice and Shaw (2002), only
few adolescents experience body-cathexis or satisfaction with
Idea
Boys and girls
their bodies. This may be so because physical attractiveness is experience rapid physical
one of the major concerns of teenagers as their social development brought about
experiences underline its importance. As an adolescent, you by the hormonal changes
may have already realized that some people treat those who that take place in their body
during early adolescence.
are attractive better than those who are less attractive. As
such, many adolescents do various

things td prove to themselves that

they are attractive which may put
their safety, health, and even their
life goals at risk. This also explains
why some teens are shy and
cumbersome in appearing in public
as well as in expressing their ideas.
Some teenagers are too self-
conscious to do even simple
activities such as walking along

the school corridor, and they may

even be sensitive to criticisms. As
such, some teenagers have low
self-esteem and lack self-
Fig. 2.3. Several beauty products can help you prevent
confidence. acne outbreaks and body odor. Source: http://www.
On the other hand, you need ahappyhippymom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/
to remember that it is back-to-school-basket-GC-copy.jpg
understandable to get affected by
these body changes. To be able to
cope well during this stage, you need to make some
adjustments—on how you view the things that are
happening inside and outside your body. You may put
emphasis in maintaining physical hygiene to reduce acne
and body odor, performing physical exercises to be fit and
avoid becoming fat, and doing other ways to attain physical
attractiveness. Yet, it is only through self-acceptance that
you become brave enough to face the "whole you".
 Write TRUE if the statement is correct, and FALSE if it is incorrect. Write your answers on
the blanks.
1. An urge for independence is felt during this stage.
2. Boys usually start their growth spert earlier than girls.
3. Widening of the hips is caused by the hormone called testosterone.
4 During adolescence, most teenagers gradually seek for their identity.
5. Release of spermarche among boys indicates sexual maturity.
6. Secondary sex characteristics are physical attributes that distinguish males from fe -
males.
7. Hormones are chemical substances produced by endocrine glands.
8. Estradiol is an estrogen that is strongly associated with the physical development of
girls, such as deepening of the voice, widening of the shoulders, and increase in
height.
9. Obesity is commonly associated with hormonal changes.
10. Physical attractiveness is one major concern among adolescents.

Activity 2: You Are Your Thoughts

This activity will help you identify certain beliefs about yourself, which may be positive or
negative. You will also be exploring evidence that supports such beliefs.
Instructions:
1. Using the activity sheet, write the following:
a. In the first column, write one belief about yourself.
b. In the second column, write your experiences that may support this belief.
c. Finally, in the last column, write the experiences that does not support this belief.
For example:
Belief "I am not good in reciting"
Experiences that support your belief:
a. I stutter when I speak.
b. My knees tremble when I stand in front.
c. I cannot establish eye contact with people around me.
Experiences that do not support your belief:
a. When I practiced for an hour every day for one week, I was able to deliver my speech
well.
b. I got a final grade of 85 in my English class last year.
c. When I am at home, I can speak in English fluently.
Experiences That Support Experiences That Do Not
Belief
Belief Support Belief

2. Using your journal, identify another belief and list the experiences that support and disprove
this belief.
1. What makes it easy to identify certain beliefs about yourself?
2. Why is it important to list experiences that support your positive or negative belief about yourself?
Cognitive Changes and Their Implications
Have you ever asked yourself how and why you think the way you do right now? During
adolescence your brain goes through significant structural development stages as well. At
this stage, the neurons in the corpus callosum thicken and
connect the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere of
your brain, making the brain process information faster
and more effectively. Development is also observed in the
prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making,
reasoning, and controlling one's emotions. Likewise, the
amygdala, the seat of your emotions such as anger,
sadness, and happiness, matures much earlier than the
prefrontal cortex. Thus, while your amygdala is already
amygdala
fully developed to recognize your emotions, your
prefrontal cortex is not yet adequately mature to reason
prefrontal and understand your experiences objectively and may fail
cortex to control intense emotions. Hence, your feelings or
emotions sometimes dominate your capacity to think
logically.
Fig. 2.4. The parts of the brain However, as
showing the prefrontal cortex and
the cognitive
Big
amygdala. While the prefrontal cortex
controls most of the logic, the apparatuses develop,
amygdala controls all the emotions.
teenagers become
more capable of
Idea
thinking abstractly, instead of thinking only of the here and Changes in your cognitive
now. According to Jean Piaget, an adolescent's cognitive ability are manifested by your
ability for abstraction and advanced reasoning is a ability to think more abstractly,
characteristic of the formal operation period that he to process information into
meaningful messages, and to
explained in his theory of cognitive development. This understand complex
means that you can now follow clear logic and reason, situations,
such that you can already process information into
meaningful messages and understand complex situations
for you to solve problems.
Further, teenagers begin thinking more often about the process of thinking itself or
metacognition. This results in increased introspection, but may also lead to some sort of
egocentrism or preoccupation with the self Hence, you may have thoughts that the people
around you are constantly watching you and making you feel self-conscious. Moreover,
cognitive development during this stage is characterized by thinking which is not anymore
limited to a single scope; rather, thinking means looking at a situation through more
complicated lenses and seeing them as relative. Thus, you tend to ask a lot of questions, not
only about yourself, but also about everything in your environment. You are no longer
comfortable with simple explanations but you look for a deeper meaning of things. This is
why you begin to question policies, rules, and norms. At home, some of the adolescents
express their doubts about their parents' ways of raising them as well as the principles and
beliefs of their families. You may tend to compare the parenting styles at home and that of
your peers'. As such, you get confused with a lot of things and your curiosity to prove things
to yourself increases. This also results to being pickle-minded or tendency to be indecisive
and leads you to explore and experiment. Moreover, the lack of clear plans or fast-changing
decisions prod a teenager to engage in risky behaviors such as cutting classes, cheating,
smoking and/or drugs, drinking alcoholic beverages, lying, computer game addiction, and
stealing.
 As such, you are encouraged to pause and study the situation before making decisions.
It will be helpful to consult a trusted adult such as your parent/s, your teacher/s, or your
guidance counselor in your school regarding your situation.
Psychological or Emotional Changes and Their Implications
Activity 3: Emometer
This activity will help you realize that emotions have varying degrees and that emotions
are affected by your thoughts.
Instructions:
1. Think of your favorite feeling. Is it excitement? amazement? surprise? Then think of
a feeling that bothers you often. Is it anger? fear? disappointment? Choose one that
you want to focus on in this activity.
2. Based on the chosen feeling, identify thoughts that come to your mind.
3. Write these thoughts in the box provided below. Align these thoughts with the
corresponding intensity of your chosen feeling indicated by the emometer.

Emometer

My Thoughts
Boiling Hot

Warm

Cool and Calm

In your journal, answer these questions:
1. What causes your feelings or emotions? What makes these feelings or emotions over-
whelming for you?
2. How do your thoughts affect your feelings?

As a transition period, adolescence has often been described as a period of "storm and
stress" (Hurlock, 1982). Teenagers like you experience a lot of emotional ups and downs.
You get easily excited with some situations (e.g., you giggle when you see your crush pass
by, you jump for joy when you receive a tablet computer from your parents). However, you
also tend to easily show your irritation (e.g., you feel upset when your parents ask you to
stop playing a game on your computer, you easily get depressed when your request is not
granted). When confronted by complicated situations, your emotions can sometimes be
really overwhelming.
Although there are adolescents who experience the emotional storm and stress in this
period, most adolescents are emotionally unstable from time to time. For example,
adolescents may be happy with their relationships with their boyfriends or girlfriends, but
they would get easily affected with just the slightest problem. Also, being envious of others
who possess more material things is common among adolescents. According to Hurlock
(1982), teenagers use these material possessions as status symbols. Nonetheless, as you
approach the end of this developmental stage, emotional stability is gradually attained. Your
emotional patterns as an adolescent can be differentiated from those when you were a child.
You eventually gain a degree of control on how you express your emotions.
Emotional maturity should be achieved by the end of adolescence. One indicator that
you have finally attained
emotional maturity is when you know how to express your
emotions in a socially acceptable manner. Another important indicator is when you face
difficult situations. You exercise
critical thinking before being emotionally carried away. Your become less reactive to
provocations and emotionally heated situations, reflecting moods that do not swing from
one emotion to another. You also realize that lessons can be learned from each difficult
experience, and that you gain important life skills from each obstacle you conquer. These
realizations are important in your journey toward self-actualization.
Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. Thickening of the corpus callosum indicates that
A. your brain can now process information faster
B. you can now think more effectively
a. Only letter A is correct. c. Only letter B is correct.
b. Both A and B are correct. d. Both statements are incorrect.
2. Failure to control intense emotions indicates that
a. neurons in the corpus callosum are undeveloped
b. your prefrontal cortex is not adequately developed
c. the amygdala failed to control your emotions
d. the brain needs to heal from injuries
3. Which is not a characteristic of cognitive development during adolescence?
a. Tendency to ask a lot of questions
b. Tendency to look for deeper meanings
c. Tendency to question parents' style of upbringing
d. All of the above
4. Emotional maturity is achieved during
a . p u b e r t y c . a d u l t h o o d
b . end of adolescence d. early adolescence
5. Which does not relate to emotional maturity?
a. Acting impulsively
b. Expressing emotions in a socially acceptable manner
c. Thinking critically before making any decisions
d. Remaining composed despite annoyance
 hat. Have I Learned So Far?

Social Changes Changes and Their I►_nnlications

Activity 4: Picture Perfect
This activity will help you form deep relationships with members of your team. This
activity also aims to enhance your social skills through collective efforts and creativity.
Instructions:
1. Do this activity with your group mates. There should be four
groups in your class.
2. From your teacher, get the small, rolled pieces of paper containing
the event or scenario that the group has to demonstrate (e.g., facing
peer pressure, being left alone, attending a party, being bullied).
3. Allot three minutes for the discussion on how the group can create a perfect
picture that will illustrate the scenario or event.
4. Wait for your teacher to say, "Freeze!" This signals that time is up. The group that best
captures the given scenario shall receive a point.
5. With your group mates, answer the following questions:
a. What was your contribution to the performance of your
group?
b. If your group lost the game, list the things
responsible for it.
c. What did you learn from the activity?
d. What social skills were demonstrated by your group
during the activity?
Social Changes during Adolescence
Social pressures and demands add to the stress and storm of the adolescence years.
You need to make social adjustments to overcome challenges.
Your attitude, speech, interests, appearance, and behavior are heavily influenced by your
peers, as you spend more time outside your home in your teenage years. Peer acceptance
becomes very important. As you go through adolescence, you may prefer fewer friends and
intimate relationships. Also, you become curious about relationships with the opposite sex and
experience physical attraction to them. You begin to look for a relationship wherein you are
comfortable sharing your feelings and experiences.
However, if not handled well, your need for belongingness may lead to your conforming
to the standards of your
peers without
considering the
consequences. Thus,
peer pressure,
or the expectation that
you comply with the
norms of your peer
group, is commonly
experienced. This is
shown when you are
easily influenced by
others. You give in to
drinking alcoholic
beverages and learn to
smoke to avoid being labeled as "kill joy" or "KJ." Also, instead of studying your lessons
after class, you may join your friends to play computer games or stroll in the mall. They may
even "unfriend" you on the social media if you do not join them in a drinking session. At an
extreme, some adolescents even cut classes, take illegal drugs, and perform sexual activities
with their peers because of peer pressure. It is, therefore, important that you should choose
your friends wisely.
Early adolescence is characterized by bias regarding the members of the opposite
sex. As they progress through the years of adolescence, social insight improves (Hurlock,
1982). You become more capable of judging members of the opposite sex objectively.
Thus, you can now relate with them and adjust in social situations more easily. Further, the
more you participate in social gatherings, the more socially competent you become, which
is manifested by your ability to carry on conversations, behave properly in front of people,
and have confidence to share your talents.
Moreover, choosing a leader who would represent the peer group is important for
teenagers. As such, they want leaders who are admired and respected by others and a good
reflection of their peer group.
To successfully make social adjustments, you need to enhance your social skills.
Doing so will let you be comfortable in social settings, carry yourself gracefully in front of
others, and enjoy the company of your peers. To cope well with social pressures, however,
you should also learn to clarify your boundaries so that you maintain self-reliance.
 1. How do you satisfy your need for belongingness?
2. In what ways do your friends influence you?

Activity 5: The Paper Collage

This activity aims to help you appreciate your traits, abilities, and talents as a
teenager. It will provide the opportunity to look deeper into your role as a teenager and
analyze the importance of this stage in your life.
Instructions:
1. Prepare the following materials:
a . b o a r d p a p e r d . o l d m a g a z i n e s
b .t i s s u e p a p e r o r a r t p a p e r e. pair of scissors
c .glue or paste
2. Using the materials, create a collage that will illustrate your meaning and purpose in
life as a teenager.
3. Also, you may cut letters, words, and phrases from the used magazines to add
captions and labels to your collage.
4. When you are done, you have to choose a partner and share your thoughts about the
following questions:
a. How do you feel about the activity?
b. What is most important in your life right now?
c. What do you think is the purpose of your existence?
d. What kind of life do you want to lead?
Moral/Spiritual Changes and Their Implications
You might still be wondering about the questions posed to you in the activity. Your
answers to these questions will help you in your journey, as they indicate your moral
framework and how you perceive your purpose in life.
Moral development starts with obeying your elders when you were a child to more
internal, moral thinking during adolescence. According to Kohlberg, adolescents should
have attained the postconventional reasoning or have developed moral reasoning based on
the universal human rights. Also, when faced with a moral dilemma, adolescents must be
able to stand on what their personal conscience dictates them to do. For example, you know
that cheating during a test is bad and that giving the answers to the test to a classmate is
wrong. However, one of your "friends" sat beside you to copy your answers because he was
not able to study. He whispered that if you do not share your answers with him, he would
"unfriend" you. This person is quite popular in your school so you know that you would be
left out of some social activities should this person make good on his threat. What would
you do? You can ask yourself these questions: What is more important to you now? What
would your personal conscience tell you to do?
 Looking closely at the situation, it would be easier to just let him copy your answers
and not suffer the consequences from doing what is right. Yet, if we judge the situation
through postconventional morality reasoning, you should stand your ground, do what you
think is right, and perceive the situation as a personal decision based on the personal codes
you installed as your own operating system. Adolescents who deviate from their own
general principles and act upon the wishes of others even though these are wrong are more
likely to suffer from self-condemnation (Hurlock, 1982).
Further, during this stage, you come to critically think about how the world is usually
ran by adults, and you want to validate established norms by experimenting on them
yourself. You want to build your own moral codes, which you will use as bases in judging
what is right and what is wrong. These moral codes include your own personal and social
codes that guide you to control your behaviors and act accordingly. Your values as well as
your religious and spiritual views affect your commitment to this set of codes, which also
influence the clarity of your values.
However, you will definitely agree that building and sticking with a moral code is
difficult for adolescents. Doing a wrong act becomes socially accepted especially when sound
logic and reason are used to justify it by its end. Through mass media, children and teenagers
see inconsistencies in upholding these moral standards, which add up to the confusion.
Hence, having developed a sound conscience or the inner force that makes external
controls unnecessary (Hurlock, 1982) plays an important role in assuming responsibility in
your life. Moreover, being focused will assist you in your journey on how you want to live
your life. Your moral judgment becomes clearer when you see your life purpose. Such a
personal journey may be a lot smoother when you know what roads to travel and which
crossroads to take, and committing one's self to do good.
Relationship of Thoughts, Feelings, and Behaviors
Your thoughts, feelings, and actions interplay with one another. Your thoughts
determine your mood or emotions. You act upon what you think and feel. Your way of
thinking is influenced by your personal, familial, and social experiences, which may not all
be positive. These experiences contribute to the thoughts that we automatically think in
response to an experience. Let's take a closer look on your automatic negative thoughts
(ANTs) or anxiety-provoking thoughts that just seem to come into our mind without any
basis, which can make you feel sad, hopeless, and angry. Consider this example. You failed
in a math quiz and your automatic negative thought was, "I can't do math. I'm just not good
in this course." As a result, you feel sad about the result and afraid of the subject; you also
feel demotivated to study your math lessons. Hence, you skip attending the subject.
Further, you may also be nurturing ANTs unconsciously. The more you believe
them, the more pessimistic and unhappy you become. The more you believe that you are
dumb because you failed a math quiz, the more you become anxious and afraid to learn the
lessons. Or you do not have the confidence to talk to your math teacher. More pitifully,
such thoughts may stop you from solving other problems.
 Hence, the way to overcome these negative feelings is to challenge your negative
thoughts. Remember that ignoring your negative thoughts would not drive them away. To be
able to challenge your negative thoughts, you need to acknowledge them first. In being aware
of them, you will know how they affect you. You can use your emotions to identify your
negative thoughts. Notice the thoughts that come to your mind when your mood changes.
Write these thoughts in your journal. Once you are fully aware of your negative thoughts, you
may start challenging them. Here are some of the questions that will help you do so:
What are your experiences that support such thoughts?
What are your experiences that disprove them?
Are you confusing facts with your thoughts?
Are you only paying attention to the sad part of your experience?
Are you expecting yourself to be perfect?
As your thoughts and feelings fuel your whole body, you will act accordingly. Positive
dispositions bring about good-natured feelings, which are reflected in your facial expressions
and your body movements.
Likewise, when you recently just encountered a sad experience such as the death of a
friend, your feelings generate sad thoughts, and you may notice that your body feels heavy and
that you move slowly. On the other hand, pleasant feelings are elicited when you receive a
reward from your parents for getting an excellent grade, or when you consciously think of
happy thoughts.
Table 2.1 presents positive feelings grouped into eight major ones.
Table. 2.1. Eight major positive feelings
Open Happy Alive Good
confident ioyous playful calm
accepting thankful energetic peaceful
free satisfied courageous comfortable
sympathetic glad optimistic pleased
interested important liberated relaxed
satisfied delighted free blessed
kind great wonderful encouraged
reliable fortunate thrilled content
Love Interested Positive Strong
considerate concerned eager free
affectionate affected keen sure
sensitive intrigued determined certain
tender inquisitive earnest unique
devoted curious bold secure
sympathy fascinated brave impulsive
close engrossed optimistic tenacious
passionate absorbed confident hardy
Adapted from http:www.coachme.ca
Lastly, your bodily reactions influence your thoughts and feelings. When you are
tired, your body produces sluggish thoughts and you may get easily irritated or sad about
petty things.
Thus, the interplay of your thoughts, feelings, and actions significantly affect your
attitudes, behavior, and personality. Further, this influence is an underlying factor contributing
to your uniqueness as a person. When you take charge of the way you think and deliberately
choose what thoughts to entertain, you control your emotions and how you express them. An
emotionally stable teenager knows how to let off emotional steam in a socially acceptable
manner (Hurlock, 1982). Taking control of your thoughts and your emotions is an indicator
that you are slowly maturing.
Encircle the letter of the correct answer.
1. Adolescents tend to participate more in social gatherings. What does this statement
mean?
a. Social competence of teenagers is enhanced.
b. Social insights of teenagers improve.
c. Teenagers become more confident in their talents and abilities.
d. All of the above
2. Which statement indicates that postconventional reasoning among adolescents is
achieved?
a. They begin to question their parents' moral beliefs.
b. They consult their peers about certain acceptable standards.
c. They can stand for what they believe is right.
d. They conform to the standards of their peers.
3. What would adolescents likely suffer from when they act upon someone's request or
demand even though it goes against their principles or moral beliefs?
a . S e l f - b l a m e c . S e l f - d e v a l u a t i o n
b .Self-condemnation d. Self-assurance
4. Psychologists believe that our thoughts influence our feelings and behaviors. Which
of the following best illustrates this statement?
a. My parents love me, so I feel frustrated when they do not allow me to attend
parties.
b. If I fail in a quiz, then I should study harder next time.
c. When the teacher calls my attention because I am talkative, it means that she is
concerned with my personal growth.
d. Coming late to class means that I should wake up earlier next time.
5. Which statement illustrates emotional stability?
a. You can evade certain situations.
b. You can express emotions in a socially acceptable manner.
c. You can confront people.
d. You can ignore the person who hurt you.
 Beyond Walls 2.1 Apply It in Real Life

Track: Academic
You are a nursing student, and as part of your requirements in one nursing subject,
you are to report on the reproductive system of adolescents. Your classmates should
understand that when individuals reach adolescence, their body is already capable of sexual
reproduction. Hence, adolescents must also know how to take care of their body. To make
your report more interesting, you are required to prepare a PowerPoint presentation that
includes concepts and illustrations of the reproductive system of both male and female.
After your report, you will give a quiz to your classmates to assess if they learned from your
report. Their scores must be equal to or more than the cut-off score of 60%. Also, your
teacher will evaluate your report according to the following criteria: mastery of the topic (40
points), organization (20 points), delivery (20 points), and multimedia presentation and
supplementary materials (20 points).

Extend Your Knowledge

Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. To deepen you understanding
about their relationships, visit http://www.thoughtsfromatherapist.com/2012/07/12/
thoughts-emotions-behaviors-triangle/ (accessed on 18 September 2015) and read the
article entitled "The Thoughts, Emotions, and Behaviors Triangle."

ESSENTIAL LEARNING
The adolescence stage (13-19 years) is considered as a transition from childhood to
adulthood, a passage from one stage to another. Your experience of physical and
psychological changes may be overwhelming, and such changes may contribute to your
emotionality. Cognitive changes include your ability to think logically and abstractly,
which indicates your capacity to analyze and solve difficult situations. Also, during this
stage, you experience social changes, which include establishing friendships and intimate
relationships with others; thus peer acceptance and belongingness becomes important to
you. As a teenager, you gradually begin to seek for identity, and you are no longer content
with behaving like your peers. Hence, you tend to exert effort to clarify who you really are,
what you can do, and what you can contribute to the world. Moral or spiritual development
is also crucial during this stage. Moral development starts with obeying one's elders during
childhood to more internal, moral thinking during adolescence. Kohlberg stated that you
should have developed moral reasoning based on the universal human rights; hence, when
faced with a moral dilemma, you must be able to stand on what your personal conscience
dictates you to do. These moral changes also influence your values and religiosity, thus
affecting your commitment to certain moral standards. Finally, these changes in the various
elements of self are manifested in your ability to think, feel, and act. Thus, thoughts,
feelings, and actions are closely related to each other.