Running head: EMERGING ADULTHOOD 1

Emerging Adulthood

Bhupal Gautam

PSY 1100

Thomas Hanson

12/08/2017
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Part 1: Physical Development

Dear Samantha,

Thank you very much for inviting me in your 21st birthday party. Party was remarkably

wonderful. I enjoyed a lot. Everything was fine except your concern afterwards i.e. It is all

downhill from here. Samantha, you have just stepped on your emerging adulthood stage of life

and you are so pessimistic. It is true, your age is an age of instability and self-focus. You are in a

transition period of becoming a matured adult and this type of thinking is very common. You are

in the age of feeling in between therefore, you may think what to do, where to go, and what

career to choose. You are quite emotional in this period. Instead of being pessimistic, there are so

many reasons to be optimistic and positive toward the future.

It is an age of possibilities. You have opportunities to transform your life into the best

future. emerging adulthood presents an opportunity to reorient their lives in a more positive

direction. (Santrock, 2018 p.300). You may experience hard time during this period but

constant endeavors, and positive attitude of life are essential factors.

It is a period when your thought is more reflective, relativistic and contextual. Your

thinking is more realistic and provisional. As young adults engage in solving problems, they

might think deeply about many aspects of work, politics, relationships, and other areas of life.

(Santrock, 2018 p.312). Therefore, keep endeavoring to achieve the goal, you will achieve the

best outcome.

Your age is a time of great creativity. In your age, many inventors have invented many

things. For example, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telecommunication system in his
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twenties. Pascal created the first mechanical calculator in your age. You have the best creative

power in this age, and you are diverting your energy towards negativities. It is a period of

increased physical strength and emotion. The only thing you have to do is control your emotion

and divert it towards the positive thinking rather than negativity.

Part II: Risky Behaviors

To understand why adolescents and emerging adults take risks, it is important to

understand what is happening in their brain. As puberty begins, the prefrontal cortex also begins

to develop at an amazing rate, paralleling brain growth in the first three years of life. The

prefrontal cortex controls judgment, emotions, inhibition control, decision making, and

abstraction. (Lokteff, 2010). As an emerging adult, on the way to maturity, this part of the brain

is rapidly expanding by creating new synapses between neurons that allow them to think and

respond on new levels. At the same time, the prefrontal cortex also goes through a pruning

process in which neurons rarely used are discarded to increase efficiency in the brain. Leading

researchers in adolescent development suggest that it is the lack of socio-emotional control that

often drives impulsive and risky behavior, not the lack of cognitive processes. Emerging adults

have more than twice the mortality rate of adolescents. (Santrock, 2018 p.303).

Emerging adulthood could be destructive if the emotions is not properly managed. It may

end up with unimaginable consequences. It happens once in my life. Several years ago, I was on

a rafting trip with a group of early twenties. We were enjoying three days rafting trip. During the

trip, in the middle of flowing river, one of my friends proposed to jump into the river to cross it.

All were excited to jump including me. Ignoring the warning of the guide, we jumped into the

river. Most of us crossed the river by hook and by crook, but one of our friend was carried away

by the river. Some people including our guide jumped into the river to rescue him but it was our
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unfortunate we could not get him back. He disappeared forever. Two days intense search, his

body was found but we lost our friend. We were so terrified and regretted that it was the worst

moment of our life while facing others. It was a tragedy which occurred due to our temporary

swing in mood. After that tragedy, I have never tried to play in river with high current. If we

thought a little bit over our plan before jumping, we would not lose our friend.

Emerging adults design perspective to construct a self that could enable them to be agents

of both their own development and the development of others. While talking about constructive

behavior during emerging adulthood, I remembered the moment when I decided to set up a

fitness club in my locality. I was about 20 at that time. As a team, we raised funds, and collected

some donations to set up the club. Later, we went to the local government office, and were able

to get some funds for youth. By the end of a month, we had enough funds to start. Later, that

club flourished and became popular destination of many youths in the city.

Both of above mentioned events were performed in my emerging adulthood stage. The

first event was tragic. It was our sudden decision to jump into the river without precaution and

speculation. We all were driven by momentary emotion, and mood swing therefore, we endured

such a devastating consequence. The second event was also the outcome of momentary decision,

but it was a creative and constructive. We used our emerging adulthood energy in a right way,

and achieved a right outcome. Therefore, its up to you, where to use energy. If you use your

energy in a right and creative way, it leads you to the wonderful outcome. If you misuse your

energy haphazardly, and put yourself in a wrong path, the consequences will be devastating.
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References

Lokteff, M. (2010, September). The Brains of Emerging Adults, Risk Taking, and the
Consequences for Camp. https://www.acacamps.org/.../brains-emerging-adults-risk-taking-
consequences-camps accessed 6 Dec. 2017.

Santrock, John W. Essentials of Life-Span Development. McGraw-Hill Education, 2018.