What best describes the difference between the behavior of a 17-year-old girl and her 13-year-old brother?

What best describes the difference between the behavior of a 17-year-old girl and her 13-year-old brother?

• A. She is more capable of resolving conflicts
• B. She is more capable of reasoning hypothetically
• C. She is more concerned with peer approval
• D. She is less imaginative

Answer: (B)

Adolescents develop formal operational thinking, which includes hypothetical-deductive reasoning—the ability to think about possibilities, abstract relationships, and plan outcomes without needing concrete examples. A 17-year-old is more likely to exercise this kind of reasoning, while a 13-year-old often operates more concretely, reasoning about things that are directly observable. That’s why the statement describing her as more capable of reasoning hypothetically best captures the difference between them. Other options touch on social or emotional factors, not the cognitive shift that comes with maturation into formal operations. For example, resolving conflicts and peer approval are influenced by social development and situation, not the core change in thinking style. Imagination isn’t typically reduced with age; the key difference is the emergence of abstract, hypothetical thinking.

Adolescents develop formal operational thinking, which includes hypothetical-deductive reasoning—the ability to think about possibilities, abstract relationships, and plan outcomes without needing concrete examples. A 17-year-old is more likely to exercise this kind of reasoning, while a 13-year-old often operates more concretely, reasoning about things that are directly observable. That’s why the statement describing her as more capable of reasoning hypothetically best captures the difference between them.

Other options touch on social or emotional factors, not the cognitive shift that comes with maturation into formal operations. For example, resolving conflicts and peer approval are influenced by social development and situation, not the core change in thinking style. Imagination isn’t typically reduced with age; the key difference is the emergence of abstract, hypothetical thinking.