When a teenager makes the ‘stupid choice’, their brain is working exactly as designed

pikselstock/Shutterstock When an adult refuses to let an injustice pass – stands up to a bully, or asserts their rights – we call it principle. When a fifteen-year-old retaliates to an insult thrown in a school corridor, risking detention, we call it a failure to think ahead. It’s easy to ascribe this to a not-yet-developed teenage brain: a convenient shorthand for assuming they simply cannot weigh consequences properly. But this misunderstands the teenage brain. It works in a way that has been…