Imagine if there existed a group of people who laugh easily, could learn faster than anyone in this room and who embrace the uncertainty of life. We might call them superhumans. We'd certainly study them, celebrate them, we'd want to be them.
Well, it turns out this magical group of people walk among us. But we don't call them superhumans. We call them teenagers.
Teenagers or adolescents or people between the ages of 10 to 25. And although this time in life has tended to get a bad rap, I'm going to tell you three things we could all learn from this amazing time in life.
You might ask yourself, how does she know so much about teenagers? Well, besides the fact that I used to be one and that I'm now the parent of one, I'm also a neuroscientist who has spent the past 25 years doing research on the adolescent brain. And I've learned that there's an explosion of growth during this time in life that leads to some pretty amazing superpowers. For example, besides when we are babies, our brains are most fertile for learning during adolescence, and that's necessary for us to become adults.
So what can all of us in this room learn from adolescents? Well, the first is they don't shy away from uncertainty. Most adults fear uncertainty. We don't like when we don't know what's going to happen next. But teens, they embrace the surprises in life, whether it's their first job or they're learning to drive or their first kiss. These things are thrilling because of the uncertainty. It's because the adolescent brain doesn't panic when things are new or unexpected, and in fact, it releases more dopamine in these moments. You may know that dopamine is a hormone that we release when we're doing something we love. Well, it's also a motivating chemical that literally motivates adolescents to embrace the uncertainty and to see the surprises in life as positive learning opportunities. And that attribute during adolescence, to lean into the new and unexpected aspects of what comes at us, is important for us to prepare for adulthood. So that's lesson number one, to lean into uncertainty.
What's the second thing we could learn from adolescents? How good they are at challenging the status quo and stirring things up. These are incredible leadership qualities that make them visionary emissaries of the future. And because their brains are designed to respond and embrace uncertainty, they're OK rejecting what has been in favor of what could be. And that's because the adolescent brain isn't so worried about everything that can go wrong, and instead is exhilarated by the possibility of making change. And thank goodness we have a time in life when we're so bold and adventurous.
But we're not the only ones on this Earth who think that way. It turns out that most species on Earth have an adolescent period, when we're more likely to take risks and explore the world. All animals do what human adolescents do during this time. We spend more time with peers, we squabble with adults, we eat more food, and we stumble through a changing social landscape because becoming an adult doesn't happen overnight. Whether you're a puppy or a human adolescent, it takes time, experience and learning. But guess what? This is what makes the adolescent brain so special. It's literally designed to help kids transform into the next dimension of life. And they do this by learning, by taking risks, by sometimes making mistakes.
When our kids are babies, we don't challenge this process. A baby learning to walk actually falls about 100 times a day. A baby learning to talk babbles before producing words. And sometimes they stumble while they're doing this. And our teenagers are doing the same thing. They're not learning to walk and to talk, of course, but they're also learning new skills. And in this way, they're kind of like scientists because they're exploring the world around them through trial and error. So that's the second lesson, is to feel comfortable stumbling and to experiment and to stir things up.
What's number three? Teenagers are strategic risk takers. I'll let that sink in and then I'm going to say it again. Teenagers are strategic risk takers. And this is because their brains are really good at deciding when they should and shouldn't take a risk. More than you might think, their risks aren't random, and in fact they may be beneficial. I know this because we did a brain-imaging study in the lab, and we found that while the adults were really good at talking themselves out of taking a risk, even when it made sense to do so, the teenagers were more deliberative. And we were blown away to see that their brains were evaluating the positive risks and the negative risks. And this was tied to activation in a brain region that is really good at helping us weigh the pros and cons of taking a risk.
And you might wonder, well, is taking a risk in the lab the same as taking a risk in real life? And the answer is it doesn't really matter because the brain treats all risk taking the same. And so what we learned from the study is that adolescents are more willing to take risks because of the changes happening in their brain, and that this is beneficial for them to do so. And when I say beneficial for them to do so, I'm not talking about the bad risks that might get them into trouble. I'm thinking about the good risks that we see teenagers take all the time, like leaving home for a new adventure or standing up for things that they believe in. These are the good risks we want to encourage. And it's not to say that teenagers never worry about taking a risk or never get nervous about it, but they're just more focused on the rewards. And that's because they're lucky to have a really excitable reward system. All of us release dopamine when we're doing something we love, as I mentioned before. But during adolescence, similar to in times of uncertainty, the brain releases more dopamine when it receives a reward. And if adults felt that same rush when we got a reward or took a risk, we'd all act a lot more like teenagers.
So I hope by now that you agree with me that adolescents are pretty special and that sometimes they get a bad rap, but are they perfect? No one's perfect. For one thing, they doubt themselves. The very part of their brain that helps them be powerful, social creatures can lead to self-doubt and social comparison. And they want to be accepted by their peers. In fact, all of us do. For them, it means adopting the same fashion trends or liking the same music. And it's a delicate balance between wanting to be accepted by a peer group and also wanting to stand out and be unique. And that's something that we all grapple with throughout life. But for adolescents, it may be higher stakes, because this kind of interest in wanting to be accepted by a peer group can lead to the unhealthy aspects of conformity, like body shaming or eating disorders, or seeking approval from the wrong sources.
So what can we as adults do to help them gain their confidence? Well, for one, we can encourage that positive risk taking that I mentioned before. The other thing we can do is to cheer them on, whether they're winning or whether they're stumbling through that learning process that leads to adulthood.
So in closing, I'll just remind us that adolescence is a formative time in life that is necessary for all of us and for our species and that we can learn a lot from adolescence. And whether or not you lean into uncertainty and taking risks, I do hope that you'll embrace a more teen spirit.
Thank you.
(Applause)
