Public Policy Guideline

The use of psychology for setting public policy guideline is like a large bonfire in the mountains. It generally is useful and provides many added benefits; however it can be very destructive if not used carefully in the proper way and at the proper time. Because cognitive and emotional development studies often allow political bias, have low ecological validity, and neglect the development of the individual, they should be used conditionally and carefully or not at all. There is no standard for what traits of development should be applied to which policies under discussion, so instead of unbiased scientific inquiry each political ideology can pick and choose which traits affect the public policy they are seeking, effectively masquerading

The proper way includes impartial criteria selection. The proper time is when the studies reflect real life situations and include individual assessment for ethical situations. The benefits of following these guidelines for adolescent policy making, is that predetermined ideas will not promote certain policies, the science will be a great tool for real life situations, and individuals will not be neglected. In this way Psychology will cautiously play a guiding role, so that fewer mistakes will be made and more adolescents will be dealt with in a just manner.

References:

Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., Woolard, J., Graham, S., & Banich, M. (2009a). Are adolescents less mature than adults?: Minors' access to abortion, the juvenile death penalty, and the alleged APA" flip-flop.". American Psychologist, 64(7), 583-94. Fischer, K. W., Stein, Z., & Heikkinen, K. (2009). Narrow assessments misrepresent development and misguide policy: Comment on Steinberg, Cauffman, Woolard, Graham, and Banich (2009).

Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., Woolard, J., Graham, S., & Banich, M. (2009b). Reconciling the complexity of human development with the reality of legal policy: Reply to Fischer, Stein, and Heikkinen