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PEPSI Case Study:

Understanding the Five Areas of a 14 years old development

Jennifer Lopez Romero

College of Southern Nevada

May 11th, 2019

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Abstract

Emotional Psychology not only study the way a child is feeling it also study other areas in which

a student grows and developed as they get older. It helps to understand the behaviors of a child

as they move from one stage to the other. In this study I will be presenting the behavior of a

teenager in the five different areas of development. Which are Physical, Emotional,

Philosophical, Social and Intellectual. This paper gives an explanation of the behavior of the

student in each of the different area mention above.

Introduction

Erika Blanco is 14 years old; she lives with her mother and father. With the help and support of

her mother, father and grandmother, I study how she demonstrate the five areas of development.

The five areas of development are Physical, Emotional, Philosophical, Social and Intellectual.

For three weeks, four days per week I was able to see Erika and study her behavior. I ask her

mother and grandmother to record any behavior that was not common in Erika for my study.

Also, I was able to talk to a few classmates of Erika, they told me about Erika behavior while she

was in school.

Physical

Erika is a very tall girl she is about 5.8 inches, according to one of her friends she is the taller girl

in her orchestra class. According to mental help. Net “The average height for adult women is 5.5

inches and women reach their adulthood height between 10 and 16 years old” (Oswalt, A. (n.d.).

). As it can see Erika is about the average of an adult women and she is only 14 years. Erika is

very strong she can easily carry around objects that can be between 20 to 25 pounds. Adolescent
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age is a period of time in which boys and girls go through a lot of physical changes. Erika’s mom

told me that Erika get upset when acne appear. According to Live strong.com “Acne is also a

common effect of puberty that occurs during the preteen and teenage years”. In one of the visits I

saw how Erika was putting some natural treatment on her face to reduce acne. Her grandma told

me that she makes an appointment for Erika so she can go to a dermatologist and receive

professional help. Physical Erika does not look like 14 years old she looks like an adult about 18

or 19 years old. She is taller than her almost every member of her family, she is stronger and

taller than her mom. From the lectures I can said that Erika is an early-maturing girl, according

to our book Psychology Applied to Teaching “early-mature girls are taller and heavier than their

peers and don’t have a thin and leggy fashion model look” (p.94) (Snowman, J., & McCown, R.

R. (2015)) . this is the exactly physical description that I can give for Erika.

Emotional

In this area I could observe how Erika presents negative and positive emotions. In one of the

days that I was at her house I could observed how her mother was talking to her and give her

some recommendations for her trip to California, she was responding by saying “I know mom”.

She seen to be very upset and disgusting while she was listening to her mom recommendations.

According to Very well Family “Fourteen-year-old teens often start to grow convinced they

know everything” (Morin, A. (2019, January 10)). She tried to stop her mom to continue talking

by saying that she already knows what she is talking about. Another fact that I can notices about

Erika is that she is very sensible, according to Mental Health. nep “adolescents born with more

sensitive temperaments may have a more difficult time coping with stressful situations”. (Oswalt,

A. (n.d.)). I did not see Erika under a stressful situation but her mom told me that Erika show

aggressive behaviors when she is under stress or she start crying. Erika is a person that does not
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like to talk about her feelings. According to Psychology Today “Having good emotional access

and the ability to talk about feelings is really important in adolescence when periods of

emotional duress are just part of the normal teenage passage” (Pickhard, C. E. (2010, July 19). It

is very important that teenagers express their feelings, it is easier for a person to understand what

other things or is going through when they talk about their feelings. Her grandma said that

sometimes is very challenge to understand her feelings because she does not like to talk about

her own emotions.

Philosophical

Erika is a very intelligent young lady; I could have the opportunity to see her progress report for

the last quarter and she had A’s and B’s only. She is part of the honor society in the middle

school that she goes. According to our book Psychology Applied to Teaching “Sternberg argues

that part of what make and individual intelligent is the ability to achieve personal goals” (p.123)

(Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015)). talking with Erika I could see how she has so many

goals for her future she wants to study criminal justice. Making her dreams come true is her

biggest motivation to get good great at schools. At her home she helps her mother a lot around

the house, but I could notice that her mom has to be remember her to do some tasks. According

to healthy children .org “Helping out at home teaches kids the importance of contributing to a

team. It also allows them to feel valued and competent, both of which enhance self-esteem.”

(Household Chores for Adolescents. (2015, November 21)). When everyone is doing a task at

home Erika asked her mom in what she can help her, I notice that she like to help in the house

and do it in a good mood. She speaks two language at school and with her friends she only

speaks English and at home with her family she speaks only Spanish. According to Multilingual

Living “The country or school language, often referred to as the ‘majority’ language, can swiftly
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override a parental or ‘minority’ language” (Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2016, May 08)). She can

easily translate something from Spanish to English but have some difficulties translating from

English to Spanish. After observing her speaking both language I can said that Erika is most

fluent speaking in English.

Social

In those three weeks that I was observing her I have the opportunity to go and pick her up from

school. She is very friendly, she walks with her friends, smiling and holding hands. One of her

friends told me that Erika is always with her group of friends at school. Most of the teens in the

groups takes the same classes and they all sit close to each other. “Young adolescents have a

strong need to belong to a group—with peer approval becoming more important and adult

approval decreasing in importance” (Scales, 2010) When she was saying good byes to the

teacher and her classmate and hugging her group of friends. Mom told me that she was a little bit

worried because Erika wanted to imitate the way in which one of her friend’s dress and the way

this other girl behaves. According to healthy family ab “[teenagers are] influenced more by

friends, especially when it comes to behavior, sense of self and self-esteem” (Family, H., Bc.

(2014, November 30)).Erika’s mom notice that she started to uses the same earrings that her

friends uses. Her mom told me that she told Erika, she has to be unique and she does not have to

imitate or be like another person. Other day I went with her to an event that she was inviting, in

some moment she avoids to be social and talk with the people that she did not know and she was

using her phone and smiling. According to mental help. Net “New communication technologies

enable youth to create and to maintain social bonds in completely different ways: e.g., email,

chat rooms, mobile phones with "texting,” (Oswalt, A. (n.d.)). online social networks.” Erika
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spend a lot of her off time using her phone, sometimes her mom calls her attention and ask her to

stop using her phone, but she just does it for a few minutes.

Intellectual

Erika was holding a conversation with her mom and she seen to be more logical in the way she

thinks that her mom. She always tries to see what is right and what is wrong. According to our

book Psychology Applied to Teaching “Moral Character is a disposition to do both what Is good

and what is right” (p.65) (Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015)). Erika has a moral character

when you talk to her about any topic she always try to see what is right and she also always do

what she thinks is the right thing. Sometimes she tries to be perfect in everything she does, but

sometimes she just wants to get things done. While she is in her classes, she always gives good

responds to the teachers. According to the Montessori Place “Thought is a powerful tool in their

hands. Memory is not. But thought is” (Intellectual development in early adolescence. (n.d.))

Erika give amazing respond, very logical and realistic, when you talk to her, it seems that you are

talking with an adult that have live more experiences. But she is not that good remembering

things she needs support to remember everything in details.

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Areas of child development

Erika
(14)

Karla
(15)

Brando
(12)

Kenia
(13)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Intellectual Social Philosophical Emotional Physical

 For a week I ask the parents of this adolescents to write the behaviors of their child in

each of the area listed on the table, also I was able to observe each child for a little bit. I

was able to observe and made a compare and contrasts with Erika because some of them

area Erika’s friends and I was observing Erika she expends some time with some of them.

Conclusion and recommendation for improvement

Erika is girl that in some areas have a higher develop than other adolescents of her ages. I will

recommend Erika’s family to talk to her more and make feel more confident so she can be open

and talk about her feelings. I will invite her to be more active that can help her to reduces her

stress and feel better and also will benefits her life. Also, to be open and meet new people, talk

with different people and this can help her to expand her knowledges
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Citations

Barron-Hauwaert, S. (2016, May 08). Growing Up Bilingual: Adolescence and Fitting In. Retrieved

May 7, 2019, from http://www.multilingualliving.com/2010/11/30/growing-up-bilingual-

adolescence-and-fitting-in/

Family, H., Bc. (2014, November 30). Social and Emotional Changes in Adolescence. Retrieved

May 8, 2019, from https://www.healthyfamiliesbc.ca/home/articles/social-and-emotional-

changes-adolescence-teens

Household Chores for Adolescents. (2015, November 21). Retrieved May 7, 2019, from

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/family-dynamics/Pages/Household-Chores-

for-Adolescents.aspx

Intellectual development in early adolescence. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.themontessoriplace.org.uk/2017/intellectual-development-in-adolescence/

Morin, A. (2019, January 10). Is Your 14-Year-Old Teen Developing Normally? Retrieved May 8,

2019, from https://www.verywellfamily.com/14-year-old-developmental-milestones-2609026

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Oswalt, A. (n.d.). Adolescent Emotional Development. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/adolescent-emotional-development/

Oswalt, A. (n.d.). Adolescent Physical Development. Retrieved May 7, 2019, from

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/adolescent-physical-development/

Piickhard, C. E. (2010, July 19). Adolescence and emotion. Retrieved May 8, 2019, from

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/surviving-your-childs-

adolescence/201007/adolescence-and-emotion

Scales, P. C. (2010). Characteristics of young adolescents. In This we believe: Keys to educating

young adolescents (pp. 63-62). Westerville, OH: National Middle School Association.

Snowman, J., & McCown, R. R. (2015). Psychology applied to teaching. Australia: Cengage

Learning.