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ADOLESCENT GIRLS, SOCIAL COGNITION AND TECHNOLOGY Diane Thembekile Levine A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Warwick Centre for Education Studies June 2015 Table of Contents Table of Contents .............................................................................................. 1 List of tables ..................................................................................................... 5 List of Figures ................................................................................................... 7 List of key findings .......................................................................................... 10 Abbreviations .................................................................................................. 13 Acknowledgements ......................................................................................... 15 Abstract ............................................................................................................ 17 1. Prevalence of technology and socio-technical change ....................................................................... 19 2. Why focus on adolescent girls? .................................................................................................................... 21 3. Broad versus deep ............................................................................................................................................. 23 4. The purpose of this study ............................................................................................................................... 24 5. Novelty .................................................................................................................................................................... 25 6. Developing the research questions: a personal perspective ........................................................... 27 7. Thesis organization ........................................................................................................................................... 30 Chapter 2: Key Concepts .................................................................................. 33 1. The review process .......................................................................................................................................... 33 2. Adolescence and puberty ............................................................................................................................... 35 2.1 Puberty in the context of this study .......................................................................................................... 35 2.2 What are puberty and adolescence? ........................................................................................................ 35 2.3 What happens at pubertal onset? ............................................................................................................. 37 2.4 Biology and behaviours ................................................................................................................................. 38 2.5 A sociological description of adolescence .............................................................................................. 41 2.6 Life course perspectives ................................................................................................................................. 46 3. Technological concepts ................................................................................................................................... 47 3.1 Adolescent girls and technology ................................................................................................................ 49 4. Social cognition ................................................................................................................................................... 53 4.1 Attachment and relationships .................................................................................................................... 55 4.2 Self and identity ................................................................................................................................................ 64 4.3 Self: a brief theoretical overview ............................................................................................................... 65 4.4 Identity: a brief theoretical overview ...................................................................................................... 72 4.5 Attribution .......................................................................................................................................................... 79 4.6 Mentalizing/theory of mind ........................................................................................................................ 81 5. The conceptual fraMework: a network of ideas ................................................................................... 88 5.1 More cross-fertilization and connection than anticipated ............................................................ 90 1 5.2 Hubs ....................................................................................................................................................................... 93 5.3 Outliers ................................................................................................................................................................. 94 5.4 Moving forward ................................................................................................................................................ 96 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................. 98 1. The research questions ................................................................................................................................... 98 2. The saMple ......................................................................................................................................................... 100 2.1 FA1 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 103 2.2 SS2 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 104 2.3 EE3 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 104 2.4 JL4 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 105 2.5 TL5 ....................................................................................................................................................................... 105 2.6 CI6 ........................................................................................................................................................................ 106 2.7 HA7 ...................................................................................................................................................................... 107 2.8 MR8 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 107 2.9 LS14 ..................................................................................................................................................................... 108 2.10 TR9 .................................................................................................................................................................... 108 2.11 CE10 ................................................................................................................................................................. 109 2.12 HN11 ................................................................................................................................................................ 110 2.13 IL12 ................................................................................................................................................................... 110 2.14 WA13 ............................................................................................................................................................... 111 3. EpisteMological and interdisciplinary foundations ......................................................................... 112 3.1 Interdisciplinarity: Pandora’s Box ......................................................................................................... 112 4. The Methods ...................................................................................................................................................... 125 4.1 Overview ..........................................................................................................................................................