Week 11 post 2

I just took the survey on these blogs and I realize that I have been writing roughly 90% of what is expected. I am assuming that we are supposed to read the chapter and instead of writing what we find interesting, we are supposed to make questions and link parts of the chapter to other articles. I have been writing about the discussion material, the research articles used for those, personal experiences and insights, and what I learned while reading the chapters. For this second post, I will try to incorporate another source.

The topic of postformal thought was discussed first in the chapter 18. This type of thought is involved with problem-solving. This occurs during young adulthood when the person no longer needs others to solve a problem. This type of thought incorporates facts as well as creativity and imagination. This is the first time we see the aspect of faith into thinking (Berger, 492). To discuss this further, I found an article entitled "Cross-Category Friendships and Postformal Thought among College Students." This what social interaction amongst friends can help to develop. "Friendships provide the potential for complex social interactions and are an ideal context in which to explore the relation between cognitive development and the negotiation of social differences" (Galupo, Cartwright, Savage, 208).
To analyze this the researchers sent out a questionaire to two universities and received completed versions from 251 women and 49 men. The results were that "Individuals high in postformal thought had more social category differences in their existing close relationships than individuals low in postformal thought" (Galupo, Cartwright, Savage, 208). To me this means that individuals who are able to incorporate individuality, fact, learned material and experiences, creative thought, faith, and imagination are able to communicate better with their friends or are able to make friends more easily. For me personally, I would rather be friends with someone who can think for themselves, have unique thought, be imaginative, and still listen to reason. This means the person can speak for themselves and may be a well-spoken individual who can accept and reject topics without oversight. A person who does not have this and gets into an argument may be stubborn, easily frustrated, and opinionated because they do not have all of these aspects into their thought processes.

Berger, K. S. (2011) The Developing Person Through the Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers. 

Paz Galupo, M. (2010). Cross-Category Friendships and Postformal Thought among College Students. Journal Of Adult Development, 17(4), 208-214.