The Development of Interpersonal Reasoning: An Analysis of Message Strategy Justifications

Abstract

The development of children's reasoning processes was studied by asking children to justify their message choices with respect to four specific hypothetical situations. Forty-six children in second-through eighth-grade participated in the study. Interpersonal reasoning, as reflected in message rationales, was found to increase in sophistication and complexity over the age groups studied. In addition, females were found to reason at a higher level than males. Situational influences on level of interpersonal reasoning were also found.