The characteristics of the formal-operational phase to be discussed here are
abstract thought, propositional thought, hypothetical-deductive thought and
interpropositional thought.
Abstract thought
Adolescents who have progressed to the formal-operational phase are capable
of abstract thought, dealing with abstract concepts and understanding abstract
relationships. For example:
• They think and reason about such concepts as love and hate, justice and
injustice.
• They apprehend relationships between such concepts as mass, energy
and force.
They begin to display a sensitive attunement to the rationales, intentions
and behaviours of other people. For example, a person might say something
that is not meant at all, such as 'The food is delicious' when the
underlying sentiment is that the food is decidedly unappealing. Rationales,
intentions and behaviours of other people are also questioned. In the adolescent
phase social, political and religious systems are especially
questioned and examined. The adolescent in the concrete-operational
phase is more dependent on direct personal experience, and his comments
on any issue will be less sophisticated than those of the adolescent who
is capable of formal-operational thought.
• Their spatio-temporal mobility is also more advanced than that of adolescents
in the concrete-operational phase. They are capable of projecting
into the past and the future, and of creating new, original situations.
• They are also much more critical about themselves than adolescents in
the concrete-operational phase. They constantly measure themselves
against ideal models or against the peer group. They are also capable of
reflecting on their own ideas, and they try to penetrate the conceptual
world of others. They are inordinately sensitive about the impression they
make on others, and they want to be part of the group. They are egocentric
in that they think others are just as preoccupied with them as they
are with themselves. This egocentricity differs from that displayed in the
concrete-operational phase in that they persuade themselves that others
share their favourite concerns. They also create a personal fable for themselves
in which they are the leading figures that are uniquely unlike other
people.
Egocentrism usually wanes towards the end of adolescence when adult roles
and responsibilities are accepted. The most notable deficiency in the cognitive
processes of the adolescent whose thinking is still in the concrete-operational
phase is the absence of abstract thought.
Propositional thought (the real compared to the possible)
Piaget sees the relationship between reality and possibility as the pivotal
characteristic of the formal-operational phase of cognitive development. It
is decisive for the other characteristics of this phase (Inhelder & Piaget 1958).
Piaget further maintains that the possible is primary and the real secondary
for the adolescent.
The formal-operational youth adds concern with 'can' or 'maybe' to the
former exclusive concern with actuality or 'here and now'. Questions concerning
the future now acquire immediacy and certain accepted facts are
investigated, hypotheses are formulated and deductions are made. The adolescent
is therefore analytical. By contrast, concrete-operational adolescents
cannot contemplate and deal with hypothetical and futuristic problems, and
they tend to adhere rigidly to a particular problem-solving method even if
the correct solution cannot be found. The arbitrary nature of methods is
understood better by formal-operational youths, who therefore try out alternative
problem-solving methods and consequently have more dynamic thought
processes, take longer to reach decisions, and engage in long conversations
and arguments with confidant(e)s about decisions.
Propositional thought entails substitution of verbal statements for objects,
with the result that the importance of language for formal-operational thought
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://1.mzansilittrends.co.za/2018/04/09/characteristics-of-the-formal-operational-phaseeducation-resources/