Transcript

BEN OAKLEY

Bradley, you’re a psychologist working in school with teenagers and teachers. Now, we know that physical development finishes between the ages of roughly 15 and 17. When does the brain stop developing?

BRADLEY BUSCH

Well, I guess the brain is always developing. It’s constantly evolving and changing. This is what neuroscientists call ‘neuroplasticity’. I think the biggest change happens in the adolescence year, often peaking at about age 22, 23.

With advancements in technology, I think in the last 10 or 15 years, we’ve been able to learn so much about the brain. And what we now know is this adolescence, this period of change in the brain, happens much longer and into much later in life.

BEN OAKLEY

When you’re working with teenagers in your sessions, what are the three things that they talk about most, afterwards?

BRADLEY BUSCH

So the three things I think they find most interesting are, one, areas about self-control, two, about the impact that peers have on your decision-making, and three, how they deal with mistakes and failures. So first of all, if we look at impulse control, they’re fascinated. There’s a really interesting study called the ‘marshmallow experiment’. It happened about 40 years ago.

A researcher gave young students a marshmallow. And they said, if you can wait, when I come back I’ll give you two. So it was basically a test of delayed gratification. Can you put off instant rewards, for long-term success?

Now, for some of the students, as soon as he left the room they ate the first marshmallow, but others were able to wait much longer. In follow-up studies of these same students, they found that those who were able to wait, who were able to delay their gratification, performed much better, not only in school but also later on in life.

Self-control is quite hard to improve. So one of the things we recommend to them is, where possible, avoid the temptation in the first place. In the first study, the students who were able to close their eyes and not look at the marshmallow waited longer. And so we take this as an indication. So, for some students-- say, for doing revision-- much better to have your phone turned off or completely out of the room, so you’re not even tempted by it in the first place.

The second thing that teenagers talk about a lot is the issue of peers on their decision-making. We know that the teenage brain is much more sensitive to social status than adults. We know teenagers seek out and crave the approval of their peers.

To give an example, everyone knows that smoking, in the long run, increases your chance of getting cancer. But the risk for students if they don't do that is they might be socially excluded from the group. And the risk of social exclusion is much more prominent in teenagers than in adults and, as such, often drives their behaviour.

BEN OAKLEY

And what practical guidance do you give them, in that scenario?

BRADLEY BUSCH:

One of the things we tell them is to ask themselves, would they do these decisions, these behaviours, if they were on their own, as opposed to part of the group. Also, I think if they can go home at the end of the day, look themselves in the eye in the mirror, and say they were happy with how they performed, how they behaved, that's the main aim.

The third thing that students find really interesting is the role and actual importance of mistakes and setbacks. Often students are so driven by not wanting to look bad, not wanting to make a mistake, not wanting to look dumb. Whereas what we actually teach them is that mistakes and failure at some stage are inevitable and actually, if used right, can help them improve.

So we often talk to them about the importance of failing better. One thing that we find quite useful is, after a mistake or after a setback, for them to ask themselves, what would I do differently next time? What would I do differently next time is a really good questions for students to ask, because it shifts the focus away from the past, onto the future. It isn’t a judgement on who they are and their abilities, but it focuses on how they can develop and how can they get better.

BEN OAKLEY

Bradley, thank you so much for those useful insights.

BRADLEY BUSCH

No problem at all. Thank you.