ABSTRACT
A theoretically important issue is the degree to which cognitive development in different domains is coordinated. Two important domains which have received considerable attention recently are physical and interpersonal reasoning, yet no adequately designed studies comparing them have been reported. We conducted a multitrait, multimethod investigation of the development of logical and interpersonal reasoning among adolescents (ages 12, 14, and 16 years) by devising group written measures of standard physical and interpersonal reasoning tasks. The results indicate that correlations between different measures within each domain were no greater than correlations between measures from different domains (rs = .50 and .44, respectively). Also, on qualitative stage comparisons, fewer subjects showed formal reasoning on the interpersonal measures than on the physical reasoning measures. Significant age effects (p < .001) were obtained for each measure.
