Selman's levels of perspective taking evaluation

Question 1

There is supporting evidence for perspective-taking

Answer 1

POINT: There is supporting evidence to show that perspective-taking improves with age

EVIDENCE: Cross-sectional studies such as Selman found that there were a significant positive correlation between age and the ability to take different perspectives in scenarios, like that of Holly and the kitten, using children aged 4 to 6.

Longitudinal follow up studies such as Gurucharri and Selman (1982) found that perspective-taking develops with age in each child

EXPLANATION: this shows that there is strong evidence that social cognitive abilities do improve with age and are not just the result of individual difference in social cognitive ability in different groups

Question 2

Reseach suggests children with ADHD and those on the autistic spectrum have problems with perspective-taking

Answer 2

POINT: Research suggests children with ADHD and those on the autistic spectrum have problems with perspective-taking

EVIDENCE: Marton et al (2009) compared 50 8-12-year-olds diagnosed with ADHD with a control group on performance on perspective-taking tasks

Those with ADHS did worse on understanding scenarios identifying the feelings of each person involved and evaluating the consequences of different actions

EXPLANATION: This is a strength of Selman’s work because the research has useful application to understanding atypical development in social cognition

Question 3

Selman’s methods have allowed to research cultural differences in perspective-taking

Answer 3

POINT: Selman’s methods have allowed us to research cultural differences in perspective-taking

EVIDENCE: Wu and Keysar found that young adult Chinese participants did significantly better in perspective-taking than matched Americans

EXPLANATION: This shows that there is more to the development of perspective-taking than cognitive maturity because the difference must be due to cultural different inputs

Question 4

There is mixed evidence for the importance of perspective-taking

Answer 4

POINT: There is mixed evidence for the importance of perspective-taking

EVIDENCE: Valkenburg (2008) found a negative correlation between age, perspective taking and coercive behaviour

EXPLANATION: This suggests that perspective-taking is imp[ortant in developing proscoailbehvaior

HOWEVER, Gasser and Keller found that bullies displayed no difficulties in perspective-taking

EXPLANATION: This is a problem for Selman’s approach as it suggests perspective-taking may not be an important factor in the development of socially desirable behaviour