Assignment Instructions: For this assignment you will write a minimum 4 page expository paper analyzing the theoretical cognitive processes involved in decision making. Specifically, you will discuss decision making in the context of bad decision making by adolescents. Please utilize the following case study in developing your paper: Tim is a 17-year-old male who is on summer break from school. Tim’s friends asked him to go with them on Friday night to a party in a nearby large city. However, Tim’s parents have forbidden him from traveling to the town and have explicitly told him that he cannot go. Tim’s parents are aware that the friends he would like to go with have gotten into legal trouble in the past for underage drinking, however, Tim assured his parents that they would not be drinking and would not get into any trouble. After Tim informed his friends that he could not go, they began pressuring him to sneak out of his home and go with them anyway. Due to the pressure from his peers, Tim snuck out of his house and went with them to the party. While Tim was at the party, a noise complaint was made due to loud music, and the police were dispatched to the party to investigate the complaint. Tim and his friends were detained by the police and he had to call his parents to have them pick him up from the police station. Include the following in your paper: ? What does research show regarding the tendency for adolescents to make bad decisions? ? What factors impact bad decision-making during adolescence? (describe at least 3) ? What regions of the brain are implicated in bad decision making from a developmental perspective? ? Analyze how Bayes’s Theorem can be applied to the case study including the following: ? How can prior probability, conditional probability, and posterior probability be applied to the decision-making process? ? Do human’s reason in the fashion described by Bayes’s theorem? Why or why not? ? How do the following apply to the case study based on Bayes’s Theorem: ? Base-rate neglect ? Conservatism ? Probability matching ? Gambler’s fallacy ? Utilizing your knowledge of cognitive psychology and decision making, how might Tim’s parents have better prevented Tim’s poor decision? Your assignment should be a minimum 4 page expository essay, not including the title and reference pages, and should include the following elements: ? Title page: Provide your name, title of assignment, course and section number, and date. ? Body: Answer all the questions in complete sentences and paragraphs. ? Your responses should reflect professional writing standards, using proper tone and language. The writing and writing style should be correct and accurate, and reflect knowledge of skills and practice in the human service profession. ? Reference page: Sources listed in APA format. ? Include a minimum of three scholarly or academic sources to support your responses and conclusions. ? Use Arial or Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced and left aligned. ? Use standard 1" margins on all sides. ? Use APA formatting and citation style.
 

Decision-Making Processes

Introduction

Parents face diverse challenges when bringing up their children. Dealing with adolescents sometimes challenges parents due to random behavior changes. Parents must, however, understand that this stage is sensitive since peer pressure is high. Additionally, adolescents usually experiment with numerous aspects as they discover new things. While parental guidance is required, adolescents sometimes fail to recognize its importance in governing their actions, searching for autonomy and freedom. However, lack of parental input may lead to bad decisions like drinking, smoking and other outcomes. While teenagers and adolescents are sensitive, their behavior may lead to undesired outcomes like addiction and crime. Therefore, it is essential to understand the motivating factors for teenagers and adolescents that influence parental interventions to guarantee better outcomes. This project analyses a case focusing on the reason and motivation for engaging in inappropriate behavior. The information provided can influence positive interventions focusing on analyzing the underlying behavioral outcomes that teenagers exhibit.

Discussion and Analysis

Tim is presented as a 17-year-old boy who has been pressured to attend a Friday night party. His mother was against this idea since she learned about the ill behavior of the friends with whom Tim would attend the party. Tim listed and promised not to attend the party with his friends. However, the friends pressured Tim into sneaking out of his home on Friday to attend the party. Tim snuck out and attended the party. While at the party, the neighbours called in the police because of loud music. Tim, among his friends, was detained. Tim needed to call his mother to fetch him from the police station.

Teenagers are likely to make bad decisions due to various factors. In addition, various actions influence their tendency to make bad decisions. One of the issues that have influenced behavior change in teenagers and adolescents is peer pressure. In the case mentioned above, Tim had initially agreed that he would remain at home and avoid the company of his friends. His mother had advised against going to the party with him since they had made bad decisions. However, Tim attended the party without his mother's authorization and knowledge. Thus, he attended the party out of peer pressure. The second factor is the failure to anticipate the potential outcomes that are associated with their choices. This factor is related to the inability to analyze a situation and weigh the benefits and drawbacks linked to the potential outcomes. The third and most common factor that may influence adolescent decisions is making choices based on impulses. This factor best describes the incident above where Tim changed his mind about going to the party regardless of the previous discussions with his mother.

Form a developmental dimension, and the human brain is a complex and useful organ that comprises numerous regions. These regions provide the ideal platform for determining certain situations depending on the arising issues. For example, the prefrontal cortex region is responsible for influencing behavior and decision making. However, teenagers and adults use different brain regions in influencing their decisions. For example, while adults use the prefrontal cortex, teenagers utilize the amygdala. However, the frontal cortex is adversely affected by bad decisions (Baltz, Yalcinbas, Renteria & Gremel, 2018).

Baye's theory explores the relationships between events and their outcomes, focusing on the probability and conditional expectations of the projected results. In decision making, each person focuses on several aspects like the projected outcomes and the available information. The priority probability associated with a given event is likely to change whenever new information is availed. This approach can be used to assess the consequences of a given event. For example, attending the party would attract punishment from the mother. However, attending the party only happens if Tim succumbs to peer pressure and sneaks out of his home. New information like the potential of police officers raiding the party would have changed the projected outcomes. The new information would shape the decisions made since Tim would probably not have attended the party. For example, given the new information mentioned above, Tim would be afraid of being detained by the police. Therefore, event A which is attending the party, would not have occurred. Similarly, event B, which is sneaking out of his home, would not have occurred.

Often, humans reason along the line of Baye's theory. Many people consider the consequences of their actions before undertaking them. However, adolescents may fail to consider the implications of their actions regardless of new information to their initial perceptions. For example, Tim chose not to go to the party since he knew that the team would engage in bad decisions and behavior like drinking. Therefore, many people may fail to appreciate Baye's theory's decision-making process in reasoning and segmenting options. The base rate fallacy can be used to show the challenges of the decision making process. When presented with new information, some people may single out the additional evidence putting less weight on the prior knowledge in making decisions. This approach affects the quality of the decisions made (Benjamin, Bodoh-Creed & Rabin, 2019). Likewise, individuals suffering from conservatism in decision making fail to revise their perceptions when presented with new information. On the same note, probability matching is where the projected outcomes are proportional to the initial base rates (MaBouDi, Marshall & Barron, 2020). This approach affects the quality of decisions made since the underlying parties can verify the effectiveness of the new information and their initial ideologies.

On the other hand, the gambler's fallacy believes that the projections linked with a given outcome following a series of results differ from the probability of a single one. This fallacy holds when there are independent events. Further, this fallacy is true when these events are distributed identically.

Tim made the decision based on peer pressure. His mother could have prevented such an occurrence following the ideal frameworks. It is essential to note that Tim's mother influenced his decisions based on discussions to present additional information. The mother would use Baye's theory in providing additional information. Additional information would allow Tim to evaluate the consequences of the actions. Establishing punishments as a reward can help the mother to influence positive decisions. Tim would learn that his actions would attract either a positive or negative reward/. A negative reward would be punishment like being grounded. On the same note, providing additional information would allow Tim to revise his prior knowledge about the projected action.

Conclusion

Dealing with adolescents sometimes is challenging for parents. The decision-making process is long and complex since it requires various resources to ensure maximum returns. In the case mentioned above, Tim snuck to attend a party against his mother's knowledge. This decision was made based on peer pressure and lack of concern for the consequences. This behavior can be explored through Baye's theory. The theory shows that the probability of the projected outcomes influences decisions made. Unfortunately, teenagers sometimes fail to follow the reasoning and decision making processes informed by Baye's since they are affected by external factors like peer pressure. Therefore, parents need to communicate with their kids to ensure that new information is introduced into their reasoning and decision making processes. The additional information can be used as a framework for influencing better decisions. Therefore, the decision-making process is complex and vital for avoiding bad behavior and outcomes.