Perspective Taking

Question 1

Social cognition:

Answer 1

Any thoughts involved in understanding the mental states of others and engaging in social interactions that guide our decision making.

Question 2

Perspective taking:

Answer 2

Our ability to understand a situation from another person’s viewpoint.

Question 3

Perspective taking research was conducted by who?

Answer 3

Selman

Question 4

Perspective taking research method and findings

Answer 4

Selman asked children aged 4-6 how they felt in scenarios involving dilemmas to investigate the development of perspective taking.
- One scenario involved a child called Holly (who promised her father not to climb trees), preparing to climb a tree to save a kitten.
- Based on a child’s response to why people in the story behaved the way they do, they were catagorised to a particular stage of perspective taking.
- This was found to correlate with age

Question 5

Selman suggested that development of perspective taking occurs…

Answer 5

…as you biologically mature

Question 6

Name drop all of Selman’s stages:

Answer 6

• Stage 0 - Socially egocentric
• Stage 1 - Social Information role-taking
• Stage 2 - Self-reflective role-taking
• Stage 3 - Mutual role taking
• Stage 4 - Societal role taking

Question 7

Stage 0:

Answer 7

Socially egocentric

Question 8

Stage 1:

Answer 8

Social Information role-taking

Question 9

Stage 2:

Answer 9

Self-reflective role-taking

Question 10

Stage 3:

Answer 10

Mutual role taking

Question 11

Stage 4:

Answer 11

Societal role taking

Question 12

0: Socially Egocentric:

Answer 12

• 3-6 years
• A child cannot distinguish between their own perspective and that of others
• Able to identify the mental states of others but they are unaware of the social causes behind these mental emotions. Their ability to perspective take is governed by their own perspective.

Question 13

1: Social Information role-taking

Answer 13

• 6-8 years
• The child can now tell the difference between their own perspective and that of others - DIFFERENTIATION.
• They understand that the reason behind people having different perspectives is their differences in social experiences.
• However, they can only focus on one perspective at a time, typically that of their own

Question 14

2: Self-reflective role-taking

Answer 14

• 8-10 years
• Child can put themselves in the position of another person and fully appreciate their perspective. But they can only focus on one external perspective at a time.
• Moreover, a child can now reflect on how they are perceived by another person

Question 15

3: Mutual role-taking

Answer 15

• 10-12 years
• A child can look beyond a 2-person situation and imagine how themself and the other person looks like from a third person’s perspective
• A child can also now consider 2 perspectives at the same time - INTEGRATION

Question 16

4: Societal role-taking

Answer 16

• 12-15+ years
• Children at this stage understand now that the perspectives are affected by social norms and beliefs.
• They also understand that people make decisions based on social conventions

Question 17

Evals for Selman’s theory:

Answer 17

+ Supporting evidence for the idea that perspective taking develops in stages
- Selman overly focused on the role of bio maturation on dev of PT, thus ignoring other factors
+ Practical applications in the form of training + diagnosis
- Doesn’t account for the role of culture in development of PT

Question 18

Strength of Selman’s theory: Supporting evidence for the idea that perspective taking develops in stages

Answer 18

Selman gave perspective taking tasks to 60 children aged 4-6. He found a positive correlation between age and the ability to take different perspectives such as the one in the Holly scenario. Furthermore, none of the children had regressed, supporting the notion that the stages identified by Selman are progressive age-related developmental sequence. A further analysis conducted on the same ppts few years later again confirmed that the development happens in a developmental sequence without skipping any stages. This supports Selman’s theory it shows that he was correct in his ascertion that perspective taking develops in a fixed linear order. His theory increases in validity

Question 19

Weakness of S’s theory: he is overly focused on the role of bio maturation on development of PT, thus ignoring other factors.

Answer 19

Whilst perspective taking is a cognitive ability, there is more to children’s social development than their cognitive abilities that come with age. S’s theory does not take into account a range of other factors that impact a child’s perspective taking development. For example, Fiztgerald and White found that development of PT skills was related to parenting style. Children had more growth in PT when their parents encouraged them to take perspective of a victim during instances when a child themself may have caused harm. This shows that biomaturation is not the sole factor that facilitates PT development factors like parental style mediate the development of PT. As Selman does not account for this, his theory is incomplete. Therefore stages of PT decrease in v.

Question 20

Strength of S’s theory: practical applications in the form of training + diagnosis.

Answer 20

Selman has shown perspective taking is a crucial aspect of social cognition which develops over time. This can be used to develop PT in children who may lack it.
1. Children who act as bullies - may not able to see from perspective of others hence why punishment may not change behaviour. It is better to facilitate a natural way of fostering PT (e.g. role play) to encourage them to transition to the next stage of PT - thus developing a better social cognition and decrease bullying.
2. As Selman identified ages for each stage of PT, this acts as a tool to help diagnose child with deficits in PT, e.g. child unable to tell difference between own and perspective of others - might have disorder such as autism and thus needs support.
SB: Selman’s theory is not purely theoretical and has the structure to improve lives and help schoolkids. Therefore, theory increases in utility.

Question 21

Weakness of Selman’s theory = doesnt account for role of culture in development of PT

Answer 21

Shali Wu et al: found that young adult chinese ppts did significantly better at PT tasks (a communication game) than matched Americans. Whilst Americans often failed to take perspective of fellow Americans, this rarely happened among Chinese. THose from China have INTERDEPENDENT SELVES where their identity involves others. Americans have INDEPENDANT SELVES where identity doesnt involve others. Those with interdependant - better at PT.
WB: shows that biomaturation is not only influencer on PT dev. Rather your culture mediates PT dev. Therefore, Selmans theory incomplete - reduces in validity