Adolescence is a wonderful age when children grow up and become different people. During this short time, they adopt an understanding of many aspects of life that were hidden from them before. In scholarly language, and according to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, they obtain an ability for abstract, formal thinking compared to the previous stage of concrete operational thinking. This ability entails moral reasoning, including judgments on good, evil, and time (Arnett, 2018). Adolescents also obtain the ability to metacognition and understand metaphors and sarcasm. However, they still do not have well-developed pragmatic thinking of older adults, and their reflective judgment, multiple thinking, relativism, and commitment are still developing. This paper will discuss how adolescents mature within the framework of Piaget’s theory of cognitive thinking, using examples from the Netflix series “Derry Girls.”
In the Episode 2 of Season 1, there are many examples of how the girls and a boy demonstrate the development of their psychology and cognitive abilities. The episode begins with the younger girls singing in the coir on the school stage a rather dull song about love. The director focuses on the facial impressions of older girls who apparently perceive the irony of the situation but remain respectful to the younger girls and the school rules. It is also shown how they become embarrassed by the tension brought by new perceptions mixed with the sexual feelings stimulated by their physical development and a hormone boom (Arnett, 2018). Eventually, this tension is released when they hear about the trip to Paris, which could be perceived as a metaphor for sex and freedom.
The director sees the comedy in juxtaposing younger girls’ rejection of sexual aspects of life and older girls’ attempts to share their feelings by using metaphors and avoiding tensions with others by using sarcasm. Another bright example of still developing the ability of pragmatic thinking is depicted in girls’ attempts to get access to the ‘trust account’ of their parents, for which they receive the “no” answer. The idea comes from the younger girls who evidently show a lack of pragmatic thinking, pushing the older girls into a potentially embarrassing situation.
Older girls, being overwhelmed by emotions, sometimes show even a lack of concrete operational thinking. When Michelle steals the bulletin board at Finnula’s Diner, the girls feel like winners at first, but then the boy tells Michelle why she didn’t just unstick the notices. Irene, Clair, and Michel show some problems with pragmatic thinking, and their adults – with relative reasoning, reflective judgment, and multiple thinking, when they are punished to clean up in Finnula’s diner.
First, the girls, frightened by Finnula’s reaction, lose the ability to appreciate the extent of their guilt and accept the demand for free labor as a just punishment. Secondly, not intending to embarrass the girls, their adults reject fair demands for Finnula to demonstrate reflective judgment and weigh all pros and cons, and accept punishment (Arnett, 2018). As a result, frightened teenagers make a great mess, using sauces instead of detergents and starting a fire.
From an emotional point of view, the desire for freedom and recognition of the sexuality of the world and oneself wins out, thanks to the ability of girls to skillfully use their cognitive and communication abilities. Interestingly, girls’ ability to communicate with adults and ask for help puts them in a more advantageous position compared to a boy who tries to meet his needs on his own. Therefore, it can be assumed that the ability of girls to join forces and negotiate contributes to their cognitive development, which occurs faster than that of boys.
For example, girls demonstrate a better understanding of adults’ opinions, and aspects of the trip with the class, which is an illustration of their better ability to reflection and multiple thinking. Girls also demonstrate some commitments that prevailed in their families and that were developed because of their upbringing. For example, when Michelle points out that Claire wears pants, although it was forbidden in the last century, she demonstrates a commitment to feminist positions, which is generally typical of Irish culture.
In general, the film is interesting from the point of view of analyzing the cognitive abilities of teenagers. The use of metaphors and sarcasm is especially interesting – the metaphor of Paris, which is a symbol of sexual looseness, the metaphor of a burger with chicken, which is a symbol of sexual stiffness, the metaphor of finding a job as a quest for independence, and the metaphor of fire as the desire to be freed from injustice (Arnett, 2018). Where girls cannot find words and other ways of civilized expression of their needs, they turn to actions that are full of metaphorical meaning. Adults, not to lose touch with girls and wanting to provide them with moral support, cheer each other up and reduce the level of tension, also use metaphors. However, adults try to use more subtle metaphors, which are not yet understood by teenagers.
Thus, it was discussed how adolescents mature within the framework of Piaget’s theory of cognitive thinking. The examples from the Netflix series “Derry Girls” were provided as an illustration. The most important cognitive changes in adolescent thinking, according to Piaget, are the ability for formal thinking, abstract thinking, and moral reasoning, understanding metaphors, and sarcasm, and the ability for pragmatic thinking. These changes were demonstrated in the episodes with going to Paris announcement, stealing the bulletin board, and serving time in Finnula’s Diner.
Reference
Arnett, J. J. (2018). Adolescence and emerging adulthood. Pearson.