Three experiments explored the development of formal logical reasoning between Grades 4 and 12 and the role of semantic content in the solution of Wason's (1966) selection task problems. In Experiment 1, subjects in the 8th, 10th, and 12th grades were tested on several familiar-content and several abstract-content selection problems. In Experiment 2, subjects in Grades 4, 8, and 12 were assessed on the familiar problems used in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, subjects in Grades 4,6, and 8 were tested on novel familiar-content problems, familiar-content problems with conditional clauses reversed, a meaningful but unfamiliar problem, and an abstract problem. The results suggested that formal logical reasoning is not generally present during the 4th or 6th grades and that formal logical competence becomes available in adolescence. A general facilitation effect was found for familiar semantic content, but this was qualified by one anomalous familiar-content problem in each experiment. The results are discussed in the context of the competence-moderator-performance model, which maintains that both logical knowledge and world knowledge are necessary but distinct features of adequate reasoning performance.A major issue in the field of deductive reasoning concerns the role of logic versus the role of semantic content in determining performance on reasoning problems. One theoretical approach (Overton, 1985;Staudenmayer, 1975) maintains that the development of a logical competence is a necessary prerequisite for solutions to deductive reasoning problems. According to this approach, specific content effects operate as moderators of logical competence to inhibit or enhance successful task performance. From this perspective, both formal reasoning processes and the real-time information-processing strategies related to content effects play essential roles in determining task performance. A second theoretical approach (Griggs, 1983;Mandler, 1983) asserts that formal reasoning processes play little or no role in task performance. According to this approach, task performance is virtually totally determined by context variables such as those provided by specific semantic contents.The aim of the present research is to explore both the role of the development of formal logical reasoning and the role of semantic content in the solution of deductive reasoning problems. The development of formal logical reasoning is represented in Piaget's theory (Inhelder & Piaget, 1958) erton, 1982;Overton, Byrnes, & O'Brien, 1985) have supported the prediction that a fully developed formal logical competence is not available before adolescence. These studies, which focused specifically on conditional inferences, were not, however, solely concerned with the acquisition of logical competence. In addition, the research explored several factors, including task interpretation, cognitive style, and semantic content, as moderators of the logical competence once that competence had been acquired. The present research is also framed by this competence-mode...

This study examined the developmental progression of deductive reasoning between Grades 6 and 12 and the role of semantic content relevance in the solution oftbe Wason selection task. A rating procedure was used to establish the degree of relevance between antecedent and consequent clauses of conditional (if .... then .... ) propositions. Results were consistent with the general position that formal deductive reasoning becomes available in adolescence and that relevant propositional content is not a sufficient condition for adequate deductive reasoning performance. High-relevant content enhanced level of performance for those having deductive reasoning competence, and lowrelevant content failed to support adequate performance. Findings are interpreted within the distinction between the use of the inference rule competence and the facilitation of relevant semantic content.A considerable body of contemporary research has demonstrated that the ability to reason deductively undergoes a transformation and a well-defined developmental progression between the ages of approximately 10-11 years and 17-18 years

This study examined how college students give directions from maps, either with maps perceptually available, or after maps had been memorized. Six aspects of direction giving were coded: use of landmarks, use of relational terms, use of cardinal directions, use of mileage estimates, and frequency of omission and commission errors. In accord with predictions, males used more mileage estimates and cardinal directions than did females and made fewer errors. Use of cardinal directions and mileage estimates were rarer, in relation to opportunities to use them, than use of landmarks and relational terms. Correlations among the dependent variables suggested that use of relational terms and use of cardinal directions may trade off, with speakers using one or the other but not both. Results are discussed in the context of the distinction between competence and stylistic preference.

The authors considered how the way in which knowledge is organized influences scientific reasoning. They adopted a constructivist approach to reasoning in which many-to-one schemata, linguistic mapping, and meaningful relations are assumed to be important components of hypothesis-testing skill. College students received a variant of Wason's selection task in which the semantic content was either familiar or unfamiliar and the interclause relations either did or did not express entailment. Results showed that entailment, which reflects knowledge organization, was more important than familiarity in determining adequate performance. These findings imply that the constructivist view proposed here is a more adequate account of reasoning than others because it alone emphasizes the organization of knowledge as important.

The American Law Institute's Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution: Analysis and Recommendations contains a set of detailed reform proposals for the allocation of custodial responsibility for children among parents, including the approximation rule. This article examines two bodies of social science evidence that explicitly or implicitly were used to justify the approximation rule, attachment theory and research and research on the impact on children of shared parenting arrangements subsequent to divorce. These two bodies of evidence used to justify the approximation rule are reviewed and evaluated to provide an assessment of its social‐based rationales.