Running head: PEPSI CASE STUDY 1

PEPSI Case Study

Ashley Moreno

College of Southern Nevada

Principles of Educational Psychology

PEPSI Case Study Paper

Wed. November 30, 2016

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Abstract

This paper focuses on a case study performed on a 16-year-old high school student named Barry.

The major sections of this paper are titled PEPSI and Conclusion. The PEPSI section

contains five subsections titled Physical, Emotional, Philosophical, and Social, and

Intellectual. Each subsection thoroughly describes the teens development in that area. At the

end of each subsection may be improvement recommendations. The Conclusion section simply

wraps up the entire paper.

Keywords: Barry, teenager, physical, emotional, philosophical, social, intellectual

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PEPSI Case Study

The study was performed on Barry, a 16-year-old high school junior student. Barry is

male and relatively new to the CCSD school district as he moved here from California about two

years ago. According to the student, the move has improved each developmental area covered in

this paper physical, emotional, philosophical, social, and intellectual rather than worsen

them.

PEPSI

P: Physical

E: Emotional

P: Philosophical

S: Social

I: Intellectual

Physical

Physical development begins at infancy and continues into late adolescence (Thomas,

2013). This type of development mainly concentrates on general fitness and gross and fine motor

skills, which involves control of various muscles and physical coordination.

General fitness. 16-year-old Barry is 5 foot 8 inches tall (68 inches) and he weighs 135

pounds (61 kilograms). According to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), this

places him somewhere between the 25th and 50th percentile of boys his age (2000). The NCHS

states that the average height of 16-year-old boys is 5 foot 7 inches tall (69 inches) and the
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average weight is 135 pounds (61 kilograms). While Barrys exact percentile is unknown, it is

safe to say that he is closer to the 50th percentile than he is to the 25th.

Gross motor skills. Gross motor skills involve the movement of larger muscles such as

arms, legs, feet, or the entire body (Einon, 2014). Common examples of gross motor skills

include: catching a ball, balancing, climbing, jumping, and running. All of the above are

activities that Barry enjoys performing. He has been in numerous sports teams since he was in

middle school. The 16-year-old is currently in a volleyball team at school, which he has been

waiting for since the end of last years volleyball season. All in all, Barry has absolutely no

trouble performing activities that involve the use of his larger muscles.

Fine motor skills. Fine motor skills involve the movement of smaller muscles such as

hands, fingers, wrists, and toes (Kelly, 2014). Common examples of fine motor skills include:

writing, using computer keyboards, turning pages, and eating. While Barry is not necessarily

struggling with the use of his smaller muscles, his fine motor skills do need improvement. His

handwriting is sometimes illegible, which affects his school grades. He also has difficulties using

a computer keyboard. Barry types out his sentences with both index fingers rather than using

multiple fingers at once. This makes typing out school assignments a tedious process.

Extra: Diet. It is not uncommon for 16-year-olds to munch on a bag of chips or a burger,

but Barry eats more junk food than he should be eating. The types of food a person eats

determines their physicality. As mentioned earlier, Barrys at a normal height and weight for

someone his age. This is most likely due to the fact that he exercises enough to burn of the

calories he racks up eating his favorite foods.

Recommendations. To improve his handwriting, Barry should spend at least 30 minutes a

day copying down a variety of sentences. The same should be done with a computer keyboard.
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The continuing advancement of technology will only make strong typing skills that much more

necessary. Barry should also try to cut down on the amount of junk food he eats to keep him

from developing any health problems later on.

Emotional

Dr. Carolyn Saarni has stated that emotional development is the discovery and evolution

of a wide range of emotions (Saarni, 2011). Saarni divided emotional development in adolescents

(13+ years) into the three following categories:

1. Regulation/Coping: adolescent is aware of their emotion cycles (e.g., guilt about

feeling angry), which promotes emotional growth and coping.

2. Expressive Behavior: adolescent adopts strategies to improve their self-presentation

in order to impress others.

3. Relationship Building: adolescent is aware that emotions can affect the quality of a

relationship.

Regulation/Coping. Barry is aware of his emotion cycles, but he does not seem to grow

whenever a cycle occurs. For example, the teen feels guilt after shouting at someone close to

him. The guilt is there to help Barry think twice before performing the same action, but he does

not seem to understand this because he continues to shout at others when he is angry.

Expressive Behavior. Saarnis definition of this category does not fit Barry at all. He has

chosen to improve his self-presentation, but he has done it for himself and not for others. Author

Denise Witmer defines this category as the development of an adolescents unique personality

and opinions (Witmer, 2016). This definition is a better fit for Barry since he has never been one

to alter himself for his friends or family.

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Relationship building. Teenagers often have trouble expressing or regulating their

emotions (American Psychological Association, 2002). Barry is definitely one of those teenagers.

As mentioned earlier, he often shouts at others in anger. He has to be told more than once to

perform necessary tasks because one time is not sufficient, but Barry grows more irritated each

time someone tells him to do his homework or clean his room. It could easily be blamed on

teenage rebellion except for the fact that he feels genuine anger and expresses his anger in ways

that have affected his familial relationships.

Recommendations. Barry should find an alternative to shouting at others. When he feels

his temper rise, he should release his anger productively. Since he is a physical guy, he should try

to do this using exercise.

Philosophical

Philosophy can be defined as a particular type of thought or style of thinking (Pecorino,

2000). Most teens have the knowledge and reasoning ability to make rational decisions, yet

millions of them are making not-so-great decisions on a daily basis.

A 2011 study performed on 890 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30 revealed that

mature performance was seen more in those over the age of 22 (Hutcherson, 2011). The

individuals were given a test that asked them to rearrange a stack of colored balls to match

different photos. Those 22 and above performed better than those 22 and below because they had

better impulse control, which helped them come up with a plan for each stack arrangement.

Based on that study, it is safe to say that a majority of teenagers simply do not think

before they act. Barry does not fall under that category, though. He is always coming up with
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positive and negative outcomes of virtually every decision he makes. Nothing goes down until

Barrys decision is absolutely foolproof.

In his book The Teenage Brain, Dr. Frances E. Jensen emphasizes the fact that the human

brain does not fully develop until a person is in their mid-20s (2015). At 16-years-old, Barrys

brain still has maybe a decades worth of development to go. Despite that fact, the 16-year-old

has managed to make it this far without making a decision he will regret for the rest of his life.

Recommendations. No recommendations for this developmental area.

Social

Social development involves learning the values, knowledge, and skills that allow people

to effectively relate to others and to positively contribute to their family, school, and community

(Social development, n.d.).

Family. Barry tends to not help around his household. His parents work long hours, so

they do not always have the time to keep the house tidy. Barrys mother still tries to clean the

house after a long work day even though she would much rather spend that time in bed. Her son

is perfectly able to clean his room or wash the dishes to give his mother more time to rest, but he

often chooses not to because doing so does not benefit him in any way.

School. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS),

around 7.8 million high school students participate in sports (High School, 2014). Barry has

been one of those 7.8 million students since his first year of high school.

Freshman year: football and basketball.

Sophomore year: football and volleyball.

Junior year: football and volleyball.

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Participating in these sports has given Barry the chance to make friends with new students every

school year. While Barry has the ability to get along with anyone, he prefers to spend most of his

time with the friends he made while playing on the volleyball team his sophomore year. The teen

often refers to them as the friends he wishes he had in California.

Community. A study performed in 2005 by the Corporation for National and Community

Service revealed that 55 percent of youth ages 12 to 18 participate in volunteer activities (2005).

Although Barrys parents have been encouraging him to volunteer, the teen has never once taken

their advice. He says that he does not have the time and he is not all that wrong. Barrys weekday

typically involves school from 7:00 AM to 1:16 PM, then volleyball practice from 2:00 PM to

5:00 PM. After practice, Barry hits the gym with his friends for a couple of hours before going

home to work on his school assignments. On the weekends, he chooses to talk to his friends and

play videogames. This is when his parents often choose to talk about volunteering.

Recommendations. Barry should spend less time playing videogames with his friends

and more time at home helping out around the house. It is possible to find a balance between the

two, which Barry can attempt to do. He should also listen to his parents and volunteer

somewhere during the weekends. Since he enjoys sports, he can volunteer with local sports

teams.

Intellectual

Thomson Gale (2008) states that intellectual development typically refers to the changes

that occur due to growth or experience in a persons ability to do one or more of the following:

Think

Reason
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Relate

Judge

Conceptualize

Barry has no trouble with the abilities mentioned above. He especially excels at reasoning

and relating. As mentioned earlier, Barry considers every possible outcome before coming up

with a concrete decision. He uses logic to come up with reasons why he should do something a

certain way and he explains those reasons when asked. The teen has no trouble relating to others,

which explains excellent social skills.

Piaget. Jean Piaget was a psychologist who spent his life observing and recording the

intellectual abilities of infants, children, and adolescents (Edwards, 2014). Piaget formulated the

following four stages of intellectual development:

1. Sensory Motor Period (0-24 Months)

2. The Preoperational Period (2-7 years)

3. Period of Concrete Operations (7-12 years)

4. Period of Formal Operations (12 years and above)

Since Barry is 16-years-old, he falls under Piagets fourth stage. In this stage, adolescents

are able to think logically about abstract ideas or events that can potentially occur (Piaget

Stages, 2015). Adolescents in this stage can also formulate hypotheses and logically use

symbols related to math and science. This stage perfectly describes Barry. The teen excels at

math and proudly calls it his favorite subject. His math homework is always jam-packed with

steps that all lead up a (correct) solution. He also enjoys talking abstract ideas such as freedom,

happiness, and love. He has literally spoken for hours about the meaning of life.

Recommendations. No recommendations for this developmental area.

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Conclusion

A teenagers life is never an easy one, but 16-year-old Barry seems to be making it

through this stage just fine. While he excels at most developmental areas, there are still certain

aspects of the developmental areas he struggles with such as handwriting and expressive

behavior. Barry will certainly improve that and so much more as the years go on. After all, he

does have his whole life ahead of him

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References

American Psychological Association. (2002). Developing Adolescents: A Reference for

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Corporation for National and Community Service. (2005). Youth Helping America: The Role of

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http://www.nationalservice.gov/pdf/05_1130_LSA_YHA_SI_factsheet.pdf

Edwards, L.C. (2014). Intellectual Development. Education.com, Inc. Retrieved from

http://www.education.com/reference/article/intellectual-development/

Einon, D. (2014). What's the difference between fine motor and gross motor skills? BabyCenter,

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fine-motor-and-gross-motor-skills

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