Investigated the reasons children (ages three through eight) give in supplication situations. Findings clearly demonstrate the development of reason-giving strategies in children. (PD)

Uses William B. Stiles' discourse analysis system to determine whether there are general differences in the way individuals varying in construct system development use their utterances to establish understanding with each other. Finds that construct system development was positively correlated with edification and question response mode use, and…

Investigates 14-year-old students' ability to recognize argumentation without having systematic instruction; and whether the identification of argumentation is an independent skill. Finds that after a 20-minute explanation, a large proportion of 14-year-olds could not identify simple argumentation. Concludes that identifying argumentation is a…

A study was conducted to see if there was a developmental progression in the type of persuasive appeals selected by children; that is, whether the appeals could be ordered in terms of the degree to which the children accommodated the views of others. The subjects, 211 kindergarten through twelfth grade students, selected one of four messages they…

Compared two approaches to assessing the development of persuasive skills in children: asking them to generate messages versus having them select from preformulated messages or strategies. Also investigated the approach of asking children to indicate their rationale for choosing a particular message. Found more success with message generation than…

Studies children's justification of message choices as characteristics of their reasoning processes. Indicates that interpersonal reasoning increases in sophistication and complexity over the age groups studied and that females reason at a higher level than males. Situational influences on level of interpersonal reasoning were also found. (JMF)