ABSTRACT
Whether it is refraining from eating a piece of pie or a marshmallow, or from running a yellow light just as it turns to red, individuals use some form of control over their thoughts and actions. This act is referred to as self-control, defined as the ability to suppress inappropriate desires, actions, thoughts, and emotions in favor of appropriate goal-oriented ones (Casey, 2015). This capacity changes throughout development as a function of maturing cognitive and motivational processes. In this chapter we focus on the developmental period of adolescence, a time of increased risk taking. We highlight how the differential development of interacting motivational and cognitive control neural processes may help to explain the inflection in risky behavior during this period. These changes vary not only by development but also across individuals. These individual differences in self-control may put some adolescents at an increased risk of putting themselves in harm’s way more than others. We conclude by discussing why the adolescent brain may have evolved this way and how we might use these developmental changes to the adolescent’s advantage.
