The Development of Functional Persuasive Skills in Childhood and Early Adolescence

CLARK, RUTH ANNE, and DELIA, JESSE G: The Development of Functional Persuasive Skills in Childhood and Early Adolescence. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1976, 47, 1008-1014. A coding system was developed for the classification of persuasive requests and their support in terms of the level of perspective-taking ability implied in the strategy. Responses of children in grades 2 through 9 to 3 hypothetical, but common, persuasive communication situations were coded within the system. In addition to using a greater total number and a greater variety of strategies, older children used strategies reflecting progressively more advanced modes of perspective taking. Consistent with related developmental research in the social cognitive domain, the major developmental advance occurred between second and third graders, third and fourth graders, and eighth and ninth graders.